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![Cevat Yerli - Founder & CEO of Crytek
The way Yerli talks about discovering programming feels well-practiced, as do
most of his stories. It takes place around 1990, when he was only 12 years old
"I was playing a game called Kick Off, from a programmer called Dino Dini," Yerli
says, pronouncing his name carefully, almost reverently. "It combined my two
passions [soccer and games]. ... I played so long at this friend's place that I forgot
about time. It got [to be] late, late [in the] afternoon. The sun was going down and I
was supposed to be at home.
"I took my [bicycle], drove downhill and [was lost in] a daydream. And I just
snapped and the next thing I remember I was in a hospital."
Yerli was so consumed by thoughts of Kick Off that he smashed headlong into a
brick wall. He has no memory of the crash.
-Polygon interview 11/07/2013
Dino Dini 2014](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/riskmanagement2-141118004849-conversion-gate01/85/Risk-management-2-320.jpg)
Uploaded byDino Dini
Risk management
The document discusses risk management in video game production. It tells the story of Crytek founder Cevat Yerli, who was so consumed by the video game Kick Off as a child that he crashed his bicycle into a brick wall. It then provides various tools and diagrams for managing risks in game development, such as mapping connected concepts, using robust triangles to represent relationships between risks and flexibility, and depicting the development process as a factory to identify bottlenecks. Key recommendations include minimizing unknowns, increasing flexibility, reducing dependencies, improving efficiency, addressing the biggest risk first, and using techniques like prototyping and applying the theory of constraints.
Risk management
- 1. Risk Management InVideo Game Production Dino Dini 2014
- 2. Cevat Yerli -Founder & CEO of Crytek The way Yerli talks about discovering programming feels well-practiced, as do most of his stories. It takes place around 1990, when he was only 12 years old "I was playing a game called Kick Off, from a programmer called Dino Dini," Yerli says, pronouncing his name carefully, almost reverently. "It combined my two passions [soccer and games]. ... I played so long at this friend's place that I forgot about time. It got [to be] late, late [in the] afternoon. The sun was going down and I was supposed to be at home. "I took my [bicycle], drove downhill and [was lost in] a daydream. And I just snapped and the next thing I remember I was in a hospital." Yerli was so consumed by thoughts of Kick Off that he smashed headlong into a brick wall. He has no memory of the crash. -Polygon interview 11/07/2013 Dino Dini 2014
- 3. Tool 1: Mapof connected concepts Risk Probability Failure to satisfy clearly defined goals Non deterministic processes Project failure of Unknowns Knowns Certainties Probabilities Hard To Measure Easy To Measure
- 4. Risk Probability Failureto satisfy clearly defined goals Non deterministic processes Project failure of Unknowns Knowns Certainties Probabilities Hard To Measure Easy To Measure
- 5. Hard To Measure Easy To Measure Analysis is important. However, human nature means that most often we focus on easy to measure things, regardless of how effective they are in achieving our goals.
- 6. Hard To Measure Easy To Measure Pass Rates Popularity Scores Revenue Example of "Easy Bias": An educational establishment Education What is measured What Matters
- 7. Hard To Measure Easy To Measure Budget Features Time Example of "Easy Bias": The Video Game Industry Entertainment Value What is measured What Matters
- 8. Hard To Measure Easy To Measure More Objective More Subjective There is often little faith in subjective comparisons to track progress, yet these usually matter the most. It is hard to argue with objective comparisons, so these usually overpower any analysis
- 9. Risk Unknowns Themore unknowns you have, the greater your risk So… we should all eliminate unknowns then, right?
- 10. Risk Unknowns Themore unknowns you have, the greater your risk So… we should all eliminate unknowns then, right?
- 11. Tool 2: RobustTriangles Risk Unknowns ?
- 12. Risk The moreunknowns you have, the greater your risk Unknowns This the the video game industry. An artful entertainment medium. It must innovate, and innovation increases unknowns.
- 13. Risk The moreunknowns you have, the greater your risk Unknowns Much of the important development in video games occurred in indie development (before that was a term).
- 14. Risk The moreunknowns you have, the greater your risk Unknowns How can we compensate for increasing unknowns?
- 15.
- 16. Risk Unknowns Flexibility FIXED Choose Between
- 17. Risk Unknowns Flexibility FIXED Choose Between
- 18. Risk FIXED Choose Between Unknowns Flexibility
- 19. Example on anunrobust triangle Quality Resources Time
- 20.
- 21. Often answers why.Groups more concrete concepts More Abstract More Abstract Less AbsLterascst AbLsetrsasc At bstract Often answers how. Serves more abstract needs Tool 3: Abstraction Graph
- 22. Flexibility Organising complexity How? Negotiable constraints Abstraction Simplification Negotiable time Negotiable budget Negotiable features Reducing inter-dependencies Priority List Refactoring Efficiency ?
- 23.
- 24. Reduce effect ofUnknowns Experience How? Prototyping Hire experienced people Training Rapid Protoyping Prototyping Budget Analysis of historical data / Research Faith in (research) process Good management practices Effective assessment of research value Data driven decision making Effective procedures and heuristics Tools Tools Tools Tools Tools
- 25. Rapid Prototyping Focuson core player experience Quick and flexible development environment Develop set of identifying constraints Middleware (e.g. Unity) Design game considering production issues
- 26. Reducing inter-dependencies GameDesign Production Process Design How? Team management Heuristic: Avoid circular dependencies Heuristic: Limit dependencies between art/prog/design Communication Tools Heuristic: Avoid central points of failure Heuristic: TOC
- 27. Efficiency Theory of Constraints (TOC) How? TOC supplies heuristics and methods that help manufacturing to be efficient. However, it turns out that these are also invaluable in software development projects.
- 28. Efficiency How? Heuristic:Keep Theory of Constraints (TOC) all inventory as low as possible Algorithm Find the biggest bottleneck Reduce it Repeat continuously Integrate as you go Do not stockpile Constantly monitor your 'stock' Reassign personnel to remove backlogs
- 29. Development Process asa factory Tool 4: Process Diagram Process Inventory
- 30. Development Process asa factory Specs Design Tasks Dev Work To Check Finished Product Project tracking QA (Unit) Verified work Work to integrate Work to check Defects to find Defects Found Integration QA (Product) Defects to Find Design Issues
- 31. Development Process asa factory Specs Design Tasks Dev Work To Check Finished Product Project tracking QA (Unit) Verified work Work to integrate Work to check Defects to find Defects Found Integration QA (Product) Defects to Find Design Issues QA gets harder when there is more stuff to work through
- 32. Development Process asa factory Specs Design Tasks Dev Work To Check Finished Product Project tracking QA (Unit) Verified work Work to integrate Work to check Defects to find Defects Found Integration QA (Product) Defects to Find Design Issues Imagine the horror after you have used most of your time
- 33. Development Process asa factory Specs Design Tasks Dev Work To Check Finished Product Project tracking QA (Unit) Verified work Work to integrate Work to check Defects to find Defects Found Integration QA (Product) Defects to Find Design Issues What strategy would you use in this case?
- 34. Why stockpiles arebad ● Work can become obsolete due to design changes ● Work could be cut from the product due to time pressure ● Work 'rusts' ● Stockpiles get in the way ● Stockpiles interfere with each other (e.g. finding and understanding bugs) ● Represent risk (not worth anything until integrated) ● Stockpiles damage morale
- 35. Why do stockpileshappen? ● The feeling that everyone should be doing something ● Generating the impression of hard work for naive managers ● Bad communication ● Bad planning ● Bad management
- 36. Stockpiles are sobad... ● That they can outweigh the benefit of continuing to run a process ● Yes, this means that it can actually make things worse ● So you sometimes need the courage to turn a process off
- 37. I can't havepeople doing nothing! ● Yes, you can. They can take a break… come back refreshed... ● You can reassign them to some other task to help with a backlog ● You can get them to refactor their existing work (reducing the need for QA) ● You can assign them to QA if that is what is needed ● You can assign them low risk work ● You can assign them research tasks Anything is better than making a bad situation worse!
- 38. Production Process Design Design, Art and Programming all in one big soup. Integrate QA La-La-Land
- 39. Production Process Design Design Art Programming Integrate QA La-La-Land Minimise dependencies between tracks
- 40. Production Process Design Design Art Programming Integration QA Final testing and integration Happy Land
- 41. What's Your BiggestRisk? There now follows an important heuristic for risk management..
- 42. What's Your BiggestRisk? Always know your biggest risk and deal with it first. Find the biggest risk Mitigate it Repeat continuously How do we mitigate a risk? You know now...
- 43. Conclusion (key points covered) Risk Management Minimise unknowns and their effects Increase Flexibility Reduce dependencies Increase Efficiency Design & management TOC Experience/ Expertise Prototyping Biggest Risk Reduce scope
- 44.