It is Recreation Builders Convention week, and you recognize what which means: Builders giving humbling talks in regards to the troublesome job of creating video games and providing recommendation to keep away from the pitfalls that beset even the top-selling greats. One such speak this yr was Arrowhead CCO Johan Pilestedt’s panel “Helldivers 2: Capturing Lightning in a Bottle” reflecting on the co-op shooter’s wildly profitable launch final yr.
Helldivers 2 was a breakout hit, however as Pilestedt recalled, it was additionally an extended and troublesome manufacturing delayed by poor planning. Satirically, the unique concept for the sequel was to keep away from the type of overcomplicated manufacturing cycles Arrowhead had skilled within the days earlier than Helldivers.
“We had been throwing round some concepts, after which we received a little bit cautious as a result of we have been burned earlier than by making video games which are a little bit bit too sophisticated for what we’re able to, after which having to crunch. It takes a lot power,” Pilestedt stated.
“So we stated, ‘This will probably be straightforward. We are able to most likely do it in 4 years.'”
As everyone knows, it didn’t take 4 years. In accordance with Pilestedt, the ultimate tally was seven years, 11 months, and 26 days. What took so lengthy? Pilestedt chalked it as much as a number of components, just like the problem of rising a studio whereas additionally making a recreation, however he recognized one early mistake that set Helldivers 2 again considerably: skipping pre-production.
“We already knew the place the sport was going to go and headed straight into manufacturing—it was a very, actually, actually dangerous concept,” Pilestedt stated. “All the time do your homework earlier than you begin spending hundreds of thousands and hundreds of thousands and hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in making a recreation.”
We hear the phrase “pre-production” thrown round rather a lot in relation to recreation improvement, however the precept applies to any work. It is all the time higher to know what you need to make—not simply in concept, however the particular form of it—earlier than investing loads of time, effort, and cash. Skipping pre-production is like shopping for an entire grocery cart’s price of elements to make roast hen, then deciding midway via cooking that you simply truly need steak. Time wasted, and hundreds of thousands of {dollars} of hen breast tossed within the bin.
In fact, video games typically change course throughout improvement even after going via pre-production, however the concept is to lock in scope and decrease tectonic shifts in inventive path. That is simpler stated than completed when avid gamers’ tastes change with the wind, however that will get to the center of one other level Pilestedt made throughout his speak: Builders must take extra dangers and fear much less about chasing tendencies.
