[europe merge world tour] supermassive using perforce for agile game development
DESCRIPTION
Presentation from Supermassive Games at the European Merge World Tour - Supermassive using Perforce for Agile Game DevelopmentTRANSCRIPT
Perforce Merge Event 2013
Presented by Jonathan Amor
USING PERFORCE FOR AGILE GAME DEVELOPMENT – Setting up and using Perforce at Supermassive Games – Version control challenges in game development – How we use Agile methodology in the studio
• COMPANY HISTORY
– Established in 2008 in Guildford – Independent development studio – Our published games:
• CURRENT GAMES: – Until Dawn
• CURRENT GAMES: – Wonderbook: Walking with
Dinosaurs
• WHEN WE STARTED – People
• 12 people by Christmas 2008 – Perforce
• One Windows Server – Perforce version: 2010.2
• TODAY – People
• Over 110 people in May 2013 – Perforce
• 3 servers (1 Windows Server, 2 Linux) and a proxy – Perforce versions: 2010.2 and 2011.1
• Current database sizes – 10.7M Ziles – 5.3TB data
• FUTURE – People
• Continuing to grow – Perforce
• Current large project like Until Dawn – 4.6M Ziles – 3.7TB data… and growing
• ‘Next-‐gen’ large project – 5-‐6M Ziles – 12-‐14TB data
• MIXTURE OF PEOPLE – A wide spectrum of Perforce users -‐ extremely technical to very creative
• MIXTURE OF PEOPLE – A wide spectrum of Perforce users -‐ extremely technical to very creative
• FAST-‐PACED CHANGE – In the games – In the business
• THE AGILE ‘MANIFESTO’: – We value INDIVIDUALS AND INTERACTIONS over processes and tools – We value WORKING SOFTWARE over comprehensive documentation – We value CUSTOMER COLLABORATION over contract negotiation – We value RESPONDING TO CHANGE over following a plan
• USING SCRUM
• WE VALUE INDIVIDUALS AND INTERACTIONS OVER PROCESSES AND TOOLS – Get out of your seat… and talk to people! – Iteration to Zind the ‘fun factor’ – … but processes and tools are still important
• WE VALUE WORKING SOFTWARE OVER COMPREHENSIVE DOCUMENTATION – Regular build reviews – Autobuild machines – Branching
• WE VALUE CUSTOMER COLLABORATION OVER CONTRACT NEGOTIATION – Game players – Our publisher – The team
• WE VALUE RESPONDING TO CHANGE OVER FOLLOWING A PLAN – You still need a plan! – A ‘safe’ environment to support change
• A BAD DAY… THAT GOT PROGRESSIVELY WORSE! • WHAT WE SAW:
– Server RAM and CPU not overloaded – Network not overloaded – Perforce processes locked and backing up
• THE SHORT-‐TERM SOLUTION: – I had to act as gatekeeper for check-‐ins!
• ON MORE THOROUGH INVESTIGATION – Revisited the Perforce Knowledgebase – Reviewed the log Ziles – Reviewed client specs – Checked the database
• WHERE WE WENT WRONG? – You think it will never happen to you!
• WHAT WE DID TO FIX IT – Narrowed client specs as much as possible – Changed to a custom ‘sync to head’ batch Zile – Set Max Results, Max Scan Rows and Max Lock Time
• SIZE AND COMPLEXITY OF ASSETS INCREASING – A steady increase in the number of Ziles – A large increase in the size of data
• PERIOD OF CHANGE IN THE INDUSTRY – Need to adapt and change quickly – Need to stand out in the crowd
• BUILDING OUR REPUTATION – High-‐quality games – Focus on character-‐performance and story
• STAYING AGILE – Improve server infrastructure – Implement Streams – Keep iterating
• WEBSITE: www.supermassivegames.com • EMAIL: [email protected]
• Thanks for their help with this presentation to: – Frank Tindle – Ollie Purkiss – Justin Rae