Southern Methodist University: Production Case Study

By: Michael Staley

Game Production Application
 The magazine, Game Developer, published an article in August of 2012, regarding the
postmortem of Dear Esther. The article provides insight into the beginnings of the idea for the
game, along with the development and post-launch phases. Dear Esther provided revolutionary
concepts and ideas into the FPS genre, which have further pushed the boundaries of games. In this
paper, I will provide an analysis of the postmortem and include lessons about the specific learning
opportunities from the development of Der Esther.

The development of Der Esther was a series of naïve learning curves. I believe that the
best way to describe the project is naivety. The overarching theme from the postmortem was the
lack of preparedness and research regarding the project and industry. This is not to discredit what
they were able to do under their circumstances, however, it provides a reason for the difficulties
in the development phase. The first major cause of this naivety has to do with the institution itself.
Since the game was developed at a university and not a fully pledged studio, it hindered the
development with obstacles that would not be apparent if done within a studio. This problem
caused the development team to lack many qualities or resources that a regular studio would
contain. The root cause of the naivety was not having industry-seasoned staff that would
understand the aspects of creating a game. This problem can be attributed to every part of the
“what went wrong” section of the postmortem. For example, the “deciding to port to a new
engine,” “voice-overs sound different in the studio than in the game,” “game industry works in
dollars,” and “post-administration takes time,” all could be solved by developing within a regular
studio or hiring industry-experienced staff. In each of the paragraphs regarding what went wrong,
the common reason for each one was the lack of research or preparation. Although, the latter of
the two resolutions is more difficult as they state that the university has specific methods for hiring
individuals that slow the process down. These fundamental problems with where the game is
developed have a trickling effect on the development with other problems, such as slowing the
development and working around strict guidelines.
As a producer, I believe that it is crucial to maintain thorough preparation, which is important to
refer to the motto “to prepare, is to over prepare.” In life, we never know what might happen and
the only way to prepare for chaos and the unknown is to over-prepare. The idea of crossing every
“t” and dotting every “i” is imperative when planning for a major project. Furthermore, a producer
should have backup plans in case of a problem in development, which will likely occur. To prevent
these issues from happening in the next project, I would first and foremost insist that research is
the top priority. I would have teams in each department of the studio completing their due diligence
on each aspect and researching how other studios have dealt with various aspects. In any industry,
it is important to use the second mover advantage in the industry because other studios have most
likely experienced similar problems and have provided a way to resolve them. Next, I would hire
more experienced staff that have direct experience in the industry and genre. This change will aid
the studio in smoother development due to the knowledge of the employees to solve problems and
create a higher quality product. Lastly, I would work to separate the organization from the
university so that it would not have to follow the same rules and guidelines as a typical organization
would in a university setting. This change would help the studio be more efficient because the
rules that a university follows are far different from a studio in the gaming industry. The difference
in the rules leads to ineffective leadership and operations, which will cause a less-than-quality
product. The combination of pre-development research, more experienced employees, and
separation from the university would lead to higher-quality games that are developed more
efficiently.

I believe that as a development studio, it is important to develop the staff and keep them
up to date on the industry standard methods and new ideas. That would require the staff to research
their respective area of expertise and to understand other studios' methods. Next, I would start a
conversation with the university for more freedom within the program and organization to allow
for more efficient work. The studio should create new ways for efficiency to minimize downtime.
I believe that the studio contains many great things that helped them achieve their success and they
should not shy away from these foundational aspects. We should continue to make the players’
feedback the top priority and give them the opportunity to provide us with details about their
opinions. Many games in recent years have forgotten the players' opinions, which has doomed
many games. Since our target market is the players of the game, we should aim to cater to what
they want and include their desired aspects. The mod allowed players to get first-hand experience
with the game and provide feedback and ideas regarding the development of the game. This is
immensely valuable to developers as they can create an experience that the players desire. Also, I
would continue to trust the players, which this idea was a fundamental reason for the success of
Dear Esther. On top of that, I would continue to prioritize sound and art direction. These
components are crucial to the player's experience and how they are emotionally attached to the
game. Players are drawn to games that appeal and create an emotional connection, which has an
impact on their retention to the game and studio. If we are able to focus on these concepts, it will
create a loyal player base that is likely to purchase our future titles. Upon analysis, I believe that
there are some methods that we do eliminate from production to increase the efficiency of
development. I would stop the immediate decision and take more time to make an informed
decision on the development path of the game. For example, the decision to port the game to a new
version of the game caused numerous issues that plagued the development. By stopping immediate
“spur of the moment” decisions, it will allow us to understand the cause and effect of major
development decisions.

For the next project, I would want to implement new practices and processes to promote
preparedness and increase efficiency. It is crucial to assess the weaknesses of the prior
development and build new procedures around them. First, I would desire to implement a research
phase in the pre-development of the project. This research phase would include each staff member
of their respective department to participate in the analysis of their department in the industry. It
would aid the staff to become more informed on new practices in the industry that they could use
and provide them with insight on issues that have occurred or could occur in development. The
new practice would drastically reduce downtime due to problems and increase efficiency.
Furthermore, it would develop our staff members and help them become more experienced, which
would be invaluable for the future success of the studio. The research phase would be monitored
by the head of each department and an overall report would be formed for the staff to refer to
during development. This phase could include bringing in consultants, who previously worked in
the industry, to provide insight into the methods that they used. Next, I would implement a forum
to allow for direct feedback from the player base. This is crucial to design decisions for the game.
The forum would be used for developers to provide suggestions about what they may add to the
game and see how the players feel about it. As stated in the postmortem, the Mod allowed the
community to make interpretations about the game and provide feedback. This displayed the
strength of the community from the Mod and allowed for a game that was entirely designed for
the player base. This forum would be an extension of that while allowing for direct and conclusion
feedback. The staff could post questions or videos of a level to see the reactions of the dedicated
player base. The forum would include polls about various features that they would desire in the
game along with the ability to listen to live question-and-answer sessions held by the staff. Each
department within the studio would have its own section in the forum to allow for independent
monitoring. Direct communication is more of a collaboration between the developer and the
player, eliminating the unknown and creating more transparency to achieve the best game possible.
This process leads to a complete project meeting the expectations of the players. Lastly, I would
want to implement a checks and balances system in the studio. This includes the process of
checking after a period to assess the direction or state of the project or specific section. It will lead
to more efficiency and double-checking of our current processes. It is meant to eliminate the impact
of problems that we did not see or expect to happen. For example, it would decrease the number
of issues regarding the voice-overs sounding different, industry currency standard, and post-release
administration. The idea of it is to ask our staff questions to assess if we have accounted for or
planned for a certain aspect. It will increase accountability among our staff and promote the
concept of thinking ahead to minimize potential development hazards. These new processes would
aid the efficiency of development significantly.

The history of Dear Esther was unique as it was an idealistic take on the FPS genre. The
beginning of the game started in a Mod, which is the greatest blessing that it could have received.
The concept of stripping the traditional gameplay of an FPS is what defined the success of the
project and kickstarted a following. The project encompassed great concepts during its
development that were important to its success, however, it observed several problems that
provided lessons for the future. The lack of preparedness toppled with uninformed immediate
decisions caused growing pains during the development. The major lesson that I learned was that
preparing is not an option, it is a necessity. It is crucial to the success and efficiency of the project.
Prepare backup plans for your decisions and understand multiple ways of doing something.
Researching your area and understanding what others do in your area is the greatest asset one could
obtain. New guidelines to follow in the future include the research phase, development forum, and
checks and balances to provide a new framework for which the studio can operate effectively. The
guidelines rely on experience and following industry procedures. Also, it provides the foundation
to include players’ feedback in our design decisions. These new guidelines will allow our staff to
be more proactive in development and operate in the future.

The action plan for the next project consists of a nonbiased assessment of our procedures.
From there, we will implement the new processes and procedures by training our staff. First, we
will provide goals for each department and an overall goal for the study. The goals will consist of
efficiency metrics and quality standards. Next, we will take the assessment of our procedures and
further mold our new procedures to specifically fit the project. Then, we will assign the roles and
responsibilities to our staff and how the new procedures affect their current responsibilities. After
that, we will implement our changes and put them into action. It will involve the new research
phase in preparation for development, the forum, and the checks and balances system. In the
following weeks, we will monitor the effectiveness of the new procedures and make adjustments
if necessary. At the end of development for the next project, we will reassess the pros and cons of
new procedures. It will consist of taking a project “exit interview” to understand how the staff felt
about the impacts of the new procedures and account for recommendations.

The postmortem for Dear Esther provided great insight into the unique development of the
project and opportunities for improvement. It was plagued by naivety and uninformed immediate
decisions; however, great foundation concepts came from the project. They introduced concepts
that were not widely known or used in the industry and created a project that was revered by many
in the industry. As a producer, I would emphasize preparation among the development team and
push for experience. There are a lot of great methods that we should continue to use, as they were
pivotal in the success of the project, and we should minimize and stop the methods that caused
inefficiency. In the future project, I would want to implement processes that increase efficiency
and maximize the effectiveness of our staff members. The first project from the studio provided a
significant amount of success and potential, however, with a reformed project management, it
could take the game to new heights.