Dev Notes

[Balandar]

Saw this on the forums, sorry for the formatting.

DamionSchubert

04.25.2011 , 06:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctwoz

So I was wondering, at this stage in development, what’s a typical day in the life at Bioware Studios?

The answer to this question is going to vary wildly and dramatically based on who you ask, so I'll answer only for me - keep in mind that my role and position is pretty unique in the team, as I both manage a team of systems designers who do itemization, maps, crew skills and other features, as well as act as a primary liaison from design to several programming teams (yes, that's plural).

So for me, my day is usually a combination of:

- Meetings, and lots of them. Some days, even my lunches are meetings. A project this size takes a lot of communication to keep things rolling smoothly.

- Playtesting

- Triaging issues and design changes

- Managing my team (who are, thankfully, excellent, and take little handholding).

- Writing an occasional design document for a feature or tweak that slipped through the cracks, or needs redesign based on stats and feedback.

When I can sneak in a moment, I try to pop onto the boards and answer a question or two. As you might imagine, though, that time is more limited than I would like.

Quote: Is this stage of development stressful or fun? Can't it be both? I'm currently playing a build very nearly nightly, and it's amazing to see it all coming together so nicely. That being said, it's also incredibly frustrating because we're all perfectionists, and we are constantly pushing to take it to the next level.

Quote: Is everyone putting in long hours? More than 1 shift? Get weekends off? That'll depend on the week and the team - especially if an important imminent build is coming. That being said, even when we take the weekend 'off', we're playing the game a lot - a couple members of my team and I spent Saturday playtesting the group content on Alderaan, which was great fun, but also resulted in several pages of notes for me to fix this week at work.

One of the things that's probably not incredibly obvious to people outside the building is that this project is so big, and has so much content to do, that you can constantly be surprised by work other groups is doing. Usually, this is a good thing. =)

Quote: What do you guys do at the office to blow off steam and have fun? On a team this size, there are a lot of different subcultures that do their own thing. We have a fitness group who prefers to go running instead of take lunch. We have a large weekly poker game, and more than one D&D campaign floating around. We have a large subculture of Magic the Gathering players who I keep intending to go lose to. I tend to hang out with the people who like board games. League of Legends is popular, and you can naturally find players of almost any major MMO you can think of, if you try.

Also, sarcasm. In general, we use sarcasm the way a French chef uses butter - liberally and on everything.

Quote: How do you think the intensity of the next few months will affect your work or personal lives? This late stage a project is always hard, and frequently involves long hours. Fortunately, most of us with spouses are patient and understanding about our career and our passion. In many respects, though, its easier to put the extra oomph on the project now than it was, say, three years ago. Back then, the project was, you know, largely non-existent, amorphous, theoretical. We were still trying to have the fun.

Now we can see what we're building, and what needs to be fixed, tweaked and changed. The game is tangible, and fun. There are issues and flaws, no doubt, and still enormous challenges to take on before this thing gets into your hands. But for the most part, the sense is one of finally seeing everything I've been working on for years finally come to fruition, and as you imagine, its extremely gratifying to watch it happen.

Quote: Are you guys living on frozen burritos? Bioware treats us very well, thank you. Our founders, Ray and Greg, are very proud of the fact that the studio they founded in Edmonton has won numerous 'best places to work' awards for Canada, and they've done their best to import that culture down to Austin where we work.

As for EA - they've largely left things alone, and in general they're very eager for this team and this project to do well.

Quote: Is the Bioware janitor really as talented as people say? Which one? We have a whole cleaning crew. Sadly, most of my interaction with them is 'is that the sound of vacuuming? Is it really that late?'