Fail Fast: PopCap's Approach to Quality

by James Gwertzman on Oct 28, 2011

802 views

Presentation from Digital Taipei exploring how PopCap uses the idea of "Fail Fast" to develop its run of high quality games.

More…

Presentation from Digital Taipei exploring how PopCap uses the idea of "Fail Fast" to develop its run of high quality games.

Less

1 Embed 56

http://benpark.tistory.com

Statistics

Favorites: 8
Downloads: 0
Comments: 0
Embed Views: 56
Views on SlideShare: 746
Total Views: 802

Fail Fast: PopCap’s Approach to Quality — Presentation Transcript

Fail Fast!PopCap’s Approach to QualityJames GwertzmanGM of PopCap Asia/Pacific

FAIL!!!

Is this failure? or is it learning?

Reasons for FailureBlameworthy PraiseworthySource: Strategies for Learning from Failure. Amy Edmondson. Harvard Business Review: April, 2011

Waterfall Model Idea Design Execute SHIP! Version 2.0

Agile Model Idea Prototype Test SHIP!

fail fast ?

PopCap’s Fastest Selling Game• More than 10M copies sold so far• More than 90M installs• Available on PC, iPhone, iPad, Xbox, NDS, Android, etc.• Over $1M from iPhone AppStore in 1st week• #1 title on iPhone in China for months

Our most award winning gameTop “Casual” Game in 2009/2010 Puzzle Game of The Year (2009), PC Gamer Top 20 Downloadable Games of 2009 (#13), CNET Nominee, Outstanding Achievement in Game Design Downloadable Game of the Year (2009), Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (2009), Machinima.com Nominee, Casual Game of the Year (2009), Academy of Top 10 Games of 2009 (#3), CrispyGamer.com Interactive Arts & Sciences Best Downloadable Game of 2009, Inside Gaming Nominee, Best Downloadable Game (2009), Game Awards Developers Choice Awards Best Games of 2009, BoingBoing.net Nominee, Best Innovation in Game Design (2009), Game Best Strategy Game of the Year, USAToday.com Developers Choice Awards (2009) Nominee, Best Game Design (2009), Game Developers Finalist, PC Game of the Year, Spike TV Video Game Choice Awards Awards (2009) Best Downloadable PC Game of 2009, CrispyGamer.com Finalist, Downloadable Game of the Year, Spike TV Top Casual Games of 2009, AdrenalineVault Video Game Awards (2009) Casual Game of The Year (2009), Chicago Sun-Times Editor’s Choice Award, Mac|Life Magazine (Sept. ’09) Finalist, Best PC Strategy Game 2009, IGN.com Maximum Kick Ass Award, Maximum PC (July ‘09) Inductee, Game Hall of Fame (2009), MacWorld Editor’s Choice Award, PC Gamer (June ’09) Nominee, Best Strategy Game of 2009, Gamespot.com Editor’s Choice Award, WorthPlaying.com (2009) Best Games of 2009 (#3), PadsAndPanels.com Editor’s Choice Award, GameShark (2009) Best PC Game of 2009, Boysie Awards (Boys Life Heavenly Gold Award, GamingHeaven.com (2009) Magazine) Editor’s Choice Award, Destructoid.com (2009) Best Hand-held & Downloadable Games of 2009, San Editor’s Choice Award, GamePro (July ’09) Jose Mercury News Editor’s Choice Award, IGN.com (2009) Top 5 Games of 2009 (#5), MTV.com Elite Award, 411Mania.com (2009)

FAIL!!!

Add fun,remove frustration.

PlantasiaMarch, 2006

Garden DreamsMarch, 2006

Flower ShopDecember, 2006

Alice GreenfingersJune, 2007

Garden DefenseNovember, 2007

Don’t fear innovation.(or zombies)

FAIL!!!

Choosing the ArtistFAIL!!!Artist #1 Original Concept (George Fan)FAIL!!!Artist #2 Rich Warner #2Artist #3 FAIL!!!FAIL!!! Rich Warner #3Artist #4FAIL!!!(Rich Warner)

Share creative ownershipwith the team.

“Art challenges technology, technologyinspires the art.” – John Lasseter

Importance of feedback Internal play-testing & feedback process Talk about “burrito” and how we review

Seek out feedback.

Prevent players frommaking bad choices.

FAIL!!!

Failing fast takes courage.

FAIL!!!

Measure….

 Woah. I love the abominable snow zombies. Those are awesome. Best build yet! On the level with the yeti zombies, is there any way to unfreeze your sunflowers after they get snowballed? I tried fireballs but to no avail. Whoa, Santa Zombies! I still dont understand what Im supposed to do about the polar bears or why they are even in this game. Dude. They drop the pies you need to feed the Yetis to quell their rage. You know- when they scream "TUNDRAAAAAA!" Itll make sense eventually. Keep playing.

Have fun!!!!!

Fun games Fun office Fun Fun colleagues Fun jobsQuality Heart

Fun Everyone gives feedbackQuality Find the best ideas Serious / Intense work Wildly talented Heart Teams must gel together

FunQuality Be ourselves Feels like home No discrimination Heart You’re important Make a difference in lives

“We make gamers out of people who don’t think they like games.” – Jason Kapalka

Questions? Email: james@popcap.com

Fail Fast: PopCap's Approach to Quality

by James Gwertzman on Oct 28, 2011

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

1 Embed 56

Statistics

Fail Fast: PopCap’s Approach to Quality — Presentation Transcript