In my last post, I talked about critical mechanics and how to use them to prioritize work. In this post I want to talk about an easy way to turn a critical mechanic into a task list using a very simple concept: the use case.
What Makes This Game Tick?: Prioritizing Development Using Critical Mechanics
One of the hardest aspects of managing game development is prioritization. And nowhere is prioritization more difficult than in the earliest days of a project. If you don’t know what your game is, how the hell are you supposed to prioritize the work? I’ve struggled with this problem in the past and eventually ended up stealing a solution from the start-up world in the form of something I like to call “critical mechanics.”
The Fallacy of “Free”
Cost is often a significant factor in project management – which is as it should be. But, much like using weight as your only measure of fitness, monetary cost in and of itself is not sufficient for proper decision making. You also need to consider the less obvious costs (and savings) of your decisions.