D.I.C.E. Summit 2002 - Mark Cerny

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 2 months, 2020–2023
YouTube
98K views · 14 years ago · talk · intermediate · evergreen

Mark Cerny's talk at the 2002 D.I.C.E. Summit on his Method of game development. It lays out how a game project should move from preproduction to production, with preproduction ending only when there is real, playable gameplay to show.

HN people cite it for the rule that a game should not enter full production until the gameplay is proven fun.

“you shouldn't switch from "preproduction" to "production" until you can show (A) here is actual gameplay”
Game design
#markcerny#gamedevelopmentprocess#preproduction#firstplayable#dicesummit

3 comments from Hacker News

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@danbolt2022 · in “Mark Cerny's “Method” at DICE 2002 (video)”
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@tosh2020 · in “Mark Cerny's “Method” of game development (2002)”
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@favorited2023 · in “We're building a browser when it's supposed to be impossible”
You're right that the "vertical slice" approach has been used very successfully in games development, though. Mark Cerny[0] has been evangelizing[1] the idea that preproduction isn't over until you have a "publishable first playable" (a.k.a., a complete vertical slice) of your game. Basically, you shouldn't switch from "preproduction" to "production" until you can show (A) here is actual gameplay, (B) it is, in fact, fun, and (C) you know how to actually implement it. Until you can demonstrate those things, how are you supposed to estimate how long it will take to build? Or that, once you're done, whatever gameplay mechanics you dreamed up are actually entertaining to a player? [0] arcade game programmer, producer / studio exec who got Insomniac and Naughty Dog to scale beyond their founders, & eventual lead architect of the PS4 and PS5 [1] link ▶ this video
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