[Following Gamasutra's recent, much discussed article on 'quality of life', we follow up with EA_Spouse colleagues and other industry execs with a clear message - crunch doesn't have to happen.]

Game developers know certain things are inevitable -- software bugs that need exterminating, for example. And schedules that invariably lead to excruciating crunch times.

But wait! Crunch - the bane of developers hoping for a superior quality of life - needn't rear its ugly head if the proper steps are taken, say some.

For instance, many studios that create serious games for military, medical, and governmental purposes have found a way to skirt crunch. And so have some companies that build more traditional consumer games.

What's their secret?

Ken Yeast, the director of engineering at LA-based 7 Studios, recalls vividly what crunch was like at Electronic Arts where he managed the engineering staff for Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle Earth.

In fact, one of his teammates was Leander Hasty, the man who put the "spouse" in "EA_Spouse," and whose experiences became legend throughout the industry via an open letter from his fiancée.

"Some people romanticize crunch and say it pumps you up and makes you feel exhilarated," Yeast says. "And that may be true, but only for short periods. It's akin to running. If you've been running at a pretty high speed, you can then sprint, but only briefly. In game development, if you're crunching for any period of time longer than a week or two, your productivity drops very quickly, especially in the quality of your work."

Indeed, nearing the end of the Rings project, Yeast and his team were doing the equivalent of long-distance running.

"Ironically, we had Labor Day off," he remembers, "which was something we had to fight for. And then we didn't take another day off until the product shipped 60-something days later. For two months we worked seven days a week, 12-14 hours a day. The attitude was 'just do whatever it takes to meet the deadline and don't give any excuses about not having the resources. We'll just keep piling resources on.'"

"But, of course, you can't just keep piling resources on. And the increased workload leads to mistakes that resulted in even longer work hours. That's just the nature of crunch. You're better off dialing it back and then you get a better product."

Fast-forward to 7 Studios today where, given Yeast's painful experience at EA, eliminating crunch is an extremely high priority. But, he says, you can't just say no to crunch and everything works according to plan. There are times when Yeast admits that he's not as successful at eradicating crunch as he'd like to be.

"We put a lot of effort into planning, into being dynamic, and being able to adapt to changes," Yeast explains. "But most important is to watch for the consequences of your decisions and understand them."

"At EA, higher-up management wanted a very high level of delivery without seeing the consequences of some of the decisions they were making. If your people are suddenly working extra hours, find out why. What is the mechanism that's broken?"

Yeast is a firm believer in post-mortems. "After you finish a milestone or the delivery of a game," he says, "analyze what went right and what went wrong. That's a great strategy for catching the problems that cause crunch."