Acquisitions, a Publisher’s Perspective

Craig DuncanDevelopment ManagerExternal Development StudioCraigd@codemasters.com

Building the partnership between the Developer and Publisher…

Why Are Codemasters here at this Event?

Codemasters are here on the invitation of 1C who we are currently working with on the impressive WW2 RTS Battlefield Command.

Codemasters have an active busy acquisitions team always looking to acquire new titles.

Who is here from Codemasters?

Craig DuncanDevelopmentManager

Andrew WaferLead Games

Designer

Both of us are focused to ensuring the delivery of excellence and supporting of

external developers as part of Codemasters External Development

Studio

How the External Development Team works

• Give assistance, focus and expertise to aid externally developed titles

• Coordinates Codemasters activities around the development

• Separate Production and Design responsibility assigned per title

• Whatever it takes mentality!

External Development Expertise

• Project planning assistance– Dedicated full time development manager on your

project.– Dedicated Assistance Development managers.

• Game Design expertise– Dedicated game designers to work with your team,

strengthening your games appeal.

• Development support– Capable of dealing with a wide variety of different

products.

The External Development Studio Team

A ss ita n t D e ve lo p m e n t M a n ag e rs

D e ve lo p m e n t M a na g e rs

S e n io r D e ve lo p m e n t M a na g er

G a m e D e sig n e rs

S e n io r G a m e s D es ig n er

S tu d io H e ad

D e ve lo p m en t D ire c to r A q u isio n s T e am

B o a rd o f D ire c to rs

Codemasters Development Philosophy

• Understand what gamers want now and in the future.

• Constantly examine the evolving marketplace.

• Maintain our commitment to gaming excellence.

• Strive to ensure each title is a worldwide hit.

What a good Publisher Should Provide

• Continual development support and quality assurance facilities

• Established branding• Strength in the international market place• Financial backing• Project management assistance• Game design guidance• Comprehensive marketing, advertising and Web

package• Maximum exposure for your company and game• Global distribution

Production / Project Evaluation

• When the design / game concept has been approved, what next?

• The answer is very easy, although implementing it is a little more difficult.

- When do we deliver?- What this really means is how do we

deliver? - As a publisher it is our responsibility to

protect / maximise the external development investment

How is Production Evaluation conducted?

• By someone with the necessary expertise

• By reviewing / determining unknowns in the development

• By reviewing / determining plans and project schedules

• By working with the developer to get all the information on project risks and issues

Possible outcomes of the production evaluation

• Acceptable– The level of risk is reasonable– The plan for delivery is reasonable– There are good foundations for the

development to occur

• Not Acceptable– Risk to high– Doubts in the ability to deliver– Revisit areas of concern with the developer

Development Set-up

• Assign and Review the Team: Are your staff qualified and experienced enough to make the game you want to make?

• Do you have a dedicated project manager to run your project?

• Define the processes to deliver– Project Planning– Project Reporting– Development Processes– Design Control– Milestone Approval– Risk Management

Review initial Risks and unknowns

• Assess all possible risks and try and mitigate before they occur

• Be honest with the Publisher on what you think the risks are, between us we can resolve things much more effectively than on our own

• You must report risks to your publisher by doing this you are not identifying your weaknesses but instead proving your ability to manage risk

• Development of games is complex so there will always risks and unknowns, the key is being aware and mitigating them quickly

The Right Team

• Technically review the development team ability and experience against the required activities, this must be done thoroughly as weakness in the development team puts more pressure on the other members of the team

• Review the staffing levels against the workload requirements

• Establish communication points, key contacts and responsibilities

A Good Project Plan

• A project plan is a live document throughout the development which should be adapted as more knowledge on the development is known

• Changes to the project plan must be agreed between the developer and publisher

• A project plan if done correctly will assist the process of managing the development

• Identify the critical path in the development• Identify task dependencies and interactions • Identify resource against activities• Ensure frequent defined milestones• Must be maintained

What is the Critical Path in the Development?

• The critical path is the chain of tasks that determines the length of the project or development phase

• Explore and understand your critical path including its dependencies and risks – remember if this goes wrong it pushes out the whole development

• Build in necessary contingency • A good technique is to revisit and build your

critical path at the start if each project phase based on the development information you have from the previous phase

Milestones

• Should mark significant points in the development

• A milestone is usually a delivery to the publisher• Are used for assessing tracking the development

performance• Are tied into contracts and payment models to

de-risk the overall development• Should be frequent, clearly defined and planned

in advance to focus the development• As well as development milestones there are

marketing milestones

Milestone Examples

Development• Technology demo• Prototype code• Core Game play• Alpha• Beta • Master

Marketing• Renders / Artwork • Screenshots• Game information• Demos• Preview Code• Review Code

The Milestone approval process

• Milestones are reviewed and signed off by a committee made up from specialists from production, design and commercial. Depending on the milestone type this may include licensing and / or Marketing

• Milestones are usually reviewed against a product or milestone description

Summary

• Codemasters believes in using its experience to best benefit working with developers to deliver exceptional games

• The developer publisher relationship is a key one which must be focused towards a common goal….. Create Great Games

Some Recent / Future Games