作者：Greg Holsclaw

截止期限是否沦为迫使低收入美工与工程师熬夜加班的凶手？或是制作人用于确定最终推出作品的唯一标准？

在此我并不打算探讨截止期限的利弊所在，我只想分享一个独立开发者的观点，以及最后期限如何帮助我推出最新免费iOS游戏《Block You》。

deadlines(from thesaint-online)

作为独立开发者，‘在准备好后推出’的心态十分正常。他不会受到监督方面的驱使，且相应开发成本低于普遍情况（这周拿不到工资，下周也拿不到工资，那么推迟一周又何妨），因此，独立开发者更容易致力于代码编写与绘图，很容易患上拖延症，一下子便耗费数天或数周时间。

我在前两款游戏的开发情况确实如此。它们都超过原先时间的一半以上。当然，这是根据开发进程与性能起效设定的，但如果我本需3个月的项目制作时间实则需要5个月，那我如何能将发行与项目制作时间设定在6或12个月内。以下是我设定截止日期的方法（为自己的开发周期增加时间压力）。

选择下个项目

在10月份的最后一个星期，我们推出了《Lab Bunnies》，其相应更新版本也已整装待发，因此是时候考虑下个目标。我们已经列出了一系列游戏创意，且为此准备了一个月之久，但现在该启动下个项目。

直到11月首周看到苹果在假日期间提前7周关闭发行渠道，因此我决定设置主要截止期限，选择着手开发列表上耗时最短的项目，保证能在苹果关闭圣诞节发行渠道前推出。上两款游戏都是在不断拖延中完成，由于通常会延迟最后期限，因此，为了在截止日期前有效完成项目，我决定制作《Block You》（其它选择包括至少需2个月时间的侧卷轴跑步游戏，或是需更长时间的冒险/故事游戏，因为需要大量图片）。

为了赶在12月21日前完成，我们需要两周用于应用审核（以防出现大变故），这意味着我需在12月7日前提交游戏，而这离我确定项目仅剩5周。我承认，自己在此投入了几个周末时间，但我并没有在加班期间草率了事。正常情况是，每天工作8-10小时，每周仅投入5天时间。

创建时间表

以下是快速回顾我在有效期内从事的事项。

2012年11月12日——创建首个Alpha版本，10天后进入开发阶段。包括制作具有定位图像的首个游戏模型，用于测试核心机制，试验输入控件。

2012年11月19日——创建第二个Alpha版本。完成了三个游戏模型（游戏邦注：为定时模式的长回合制双人游戏）。游戏画面几近定案，同时缩减控制方案。改为适合iPhone 5的规格，并采用低分辨率图像。

2012年11月26日——首次beta测试。添加道具与相应游戏商店。实施能够购买额外硬币、菜单、盈利点等的IAP模式。同时增添Game Center成就机制、排行榜与挑战模式。

2012年12月4日——第二次beta测试（或只推出试用版）。优化图画，完善IAP模式。增添教程与辅助部分。调整适合iPad设备的规模。同时解决其中存在的漏洞与设计问题。

2012年12月7日——从早晨7点半到晚上11点半，在不断修改适合iPad 3的游戏画面（原先画面偏小）后，登陆苹果商店，其中还调整了大量参数，反复检查Game Center与IAP绑定模式。

坦白讲，这是个匆忙过程，而且这是我在苹果推出的作品中最令我担忧的一款。我相信代码中不包含漏洞，但当开发速度减缓时，我总会试图加强构造元素。这也许是项目开发需耗费长时的原因，我们静候游戏达到满意标准。然而这是我应思索的另一个问题。

尽管已逼近截止日期，我们仍会不断删除其中的某些性能。这需另一段时间。它会将我们的注意力集中在核心任务上，如果有效期限迫在眉睫，我们会被迫艰难地选择删除哪些元素。当我首次草拟任务列表时，其中一些零散项目一直是我认为的要点。然而，最终推出的游戏中并没有包含它们。

从某种意义上看，我们最好不要在首款游戏中包含所有元素。我们应避免游戏受到更多性能的干扰。

V1版本中删除的元素

*视频录制与定时游戏回放，包括社交分享功能（炫耀自己的高分）

*对抗Game Center或Facebook好友的异步挑战模式（已完成客户端与服务器代码，但UI尚未启动）

*异步玩法的淘汰赛排行榜

*日常挑战模式

总结

我愿意每个月都以这种高强度压力连续工作12个月吗？不，我从未有过这种想法！但在完成所有事项，并在截止日期内推出总会让我获得一种成就感。而且，我也向自己与他人证明了，游戏项目开发不必历经一拖再拖的窘境。制定截止发行日期既能激发工作激情，又有助于我们将重心放在开发进程上。

如上所述，该游戏尚未完成，但我相信，在假日期间于App Store推出核心游戏部分比为其添加更多性能，并在一个多月后上线更加重要。该游戏的主要更新版本将在一月中旬推出，届时，我希望设置更多实在性的截止日期，借此激发开发动机，提高注意力。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Deadlines, an Indie Experience

by Greg Holsclaw

The following blog was, unless otherwise noted, independently written by a member of Gamasutra’s game development community. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of Gamasutra or its parent company.

Deadlines. Love them or Hate them. Are they evil things that demand overtime from underpaid artists and engineers, or the only thing producers can use to nail down those creative types to actually deliver assets?

I don’t want to get into the pros or cons of deadlines, I just want to share my perspective as an indie, and how some deadlines helped us ship our latest free to play, iOS title, Block You.

As an indie developer, the ‘It ships when it is ready’ mentality is very prevalent. Not constrained by typical oversight, with costs less visible than normal (didn’t get paid this week, won’t get paid next week, so who cares if it slips a week), it is easy for an indie to keep plugging away at code and art assets, watching the days and weeks fly by.

That is exactly what happened to me on my first two games. Both missed their original timelines for over 50%. Sure, chalk it up to learning curves and feature creeps, but really, how can I plan a 6 or 12 months of releases and projects, if what I call a 3 month project really takes me 5 month to do. So here is my take at trying to set some deadlines, add some time pressure into my development cycles and see how I do.

Choosing the next project

In the last week of October, we had just launched Lab Bunnies (get it here or read my featured Gamasutra polishing article here), and an update was already in the Apple pipeline, so it was finally time to figure out what was next. We had been building our list of ideas, and prepping them for a month already, but it was now time to pull the trigger and start the next project.

Being the first week in November, seeing the holiday Apple shutdown a mere seven weeks away, I decided I would try a major deadline type project and choose the shortest project we had on the list, and guarantee it gets in the AppStore before the Christmas shutdown. My last two games had dragged on and on, with due dates slipping often, and so as a form of discipline and practicing working against deadlines, I pulled the trigger on making Block You (other options were a side scrolling runner that would take 2 month minimum, or a much longer adventure/story game, with massive art needs).

Working backward from 12/21, needing two weeks for app approval (just in case there is a big backlog), means I needed to submit the game by 12/7, just 5 weeks from when I green lit the project. I admit I worked a few weekends, but I didn’t go overboard on the overtime. Normal 8 to 10 hours days, and just 5 of them each week.

Block You Build Timeline

Here is a quick take in what was done during this brief period of time.

11/12/2012 – First Alpha build went to out 10 days into development. Contained one play mode, with placeholder images. Used to test core game mechanic and touch input controls.

11/19/2012 – Second Alpha build. All three game modes implemented (timed, marathon and 2 player). Game graphics nearly finalized, control scheme tightened up. Sized for iPhone 5 and low-res images implemented.

11/26/2012 – First Beta build. Added items, and game store to buy them. Implemented IAP to buy extra coins, menus, and monetization points included. Game Center Achievement, Leader boards & Challenges added.

12/4/2012 – Second Beta (or only Release Candidate) build. Graphics polished. IAP flow improved. Tutorial and Help sections added. Sized for the iPad. Some bugs and layout issues addressed.

12/7/2012 – Shipped to Apple after a marathon, 7:30 AM until 11:30 PM, day of updating graphics for the iPad 3 (originals were delivered too small) fine tuning numerous parameters and double checking Game Center and IAP integrations.

To be honest, it all felt a rushed, and it was the most worrisome build I have sent to Apple for a release ever. I trust my coding to not deliver buggy builds, but when the pace is slower there is that time for confidence to build up so you know the build is really solid. But maybe that is why stuff takes so long, we wait around to be comfortable. But that is another issue I think.

Notwithstanding hitting the deadline, some features were cut along the way. This is another aspect time boxing development does to you. It focuses us on the core tasks, forcing us to make the hard decisions on what has to be removed if the deadline is looming. When I first drew up the task lists, of few of the chopped items I deemed very essential. But, here we are shipping a game without them.

In some sense, it might be good not to include everything in the first release. Gives the game a chance to be used without the distraction of a few more features.

What was cut from V1 (or what will be in V1.5)

Video recording and replay of timed games, with social sharing options (to brag about high scores)

Asynchronous challenges against Game Center or Facebook friends (client and server code was completed, but UI was not started)

Knockout leaderboard(s) for Asynch. play

Daily Challenges

Summary

Do I want to work under that kind of pressure every month, for 12 months? No, not ever! But there is a great sense of accomplishment in getting it all done, and shipped in the timeframe set. I have also prove to myself and a few others that games projects don’t need to drag on and on. Having a drop dead ship date helped both motivate and focus the development process.

As mentioned above, the game wasn’t quite complete, but I believe having the core game in the app store over the holidays was more important than adding in a few more features, and being out of the store for four more weeks. The major update will be released in mid January, and I am looking forward to setting some more, realistic, deadlines to help provide extra motivation and sharpen my focus.(source:gamasutra)