This week I’m paralysed on some of my simplest decisions while happily making complex decisions quickly, and being incisive and highly effective on others. This problem occasionally crops up in my work and personal life, and it frustrates the hell out of me; I’m going to write about it here, […]
agile
22 posts
Let’s be honest: many games-industry teams/studios abuse Scrum. Then, after months of pain and suffering (and poor project-progress), the team members go to other teams or companies, and take a hatred of Scrum/Agile with them. So it’s interesting to hear from people who’ve made the transition from “Agile/Scrum done wrong” […]
While upgrading Unity, I noticed the current download page is a great example of how it SHOULD be done: Unity 4 has some … issues … with backwards compatibility – but at least they made the “need an older version?” link prominent. And how many old versions can you download? […]
I’ve only played with this for a few minutes, but so far it seems to have an excellent, simple, clear GUI with the core features I’d expect. Way better than any other Git client I’ve seen for Mac. And it’s free! GitHub for Mac v1.2.1 (NB: works with any Git […]
http://www.java-gaming.org/topics/lwjgl16k/25093/view.html “the LWJGL16k competition starts right here, right now.” – Cas The rules First deadline: 25th November 2011 First task: get a black screen running using LWJGL “you’ve got 7 days. All I’m looking for at this stage from you is a blank window opening up and maybe a rotating […]
With Scrum, you’re constantly focussing on: How does the application look / work for the user *right now*? …to the extent that you care more about “does this feature work for the user?” than “is the code/art/architecture for this feature ideal?”. “It’s not done” … “but it looks done!” We […]
One of those things that most business people don’t talk about unless prodded. I’m not sure why, but I assume it’s one aspect of the fear “don’t burn any bridges; don’t let anyone think you can be nasty; don’t let anyone see you’re human”. None of which are healthy, long-term […]
If your startup sells stuff via the internet (you have an online product, service, web-app, etc), this may be the single most important thing to get right (assuming your core idea, team, etc has inherent merit). And yet so many companies spend so much money doing it so wrong. Why […]
The problem It’s a great piece of openness to put your bug lists in the public domain. It makes it easier for your customers and partners to make decisions that save you time because they can see what’s coming and when (and save you money in reduced support requests). It […]
I just received an “invite” to a pay-for event in London about “smartphone development”: an evening in a bar with a couple of speakers and some networking. So … you can go and listen to an iPhone developer, an ex EA person, and an ex Motorola person, and pay for […]
Here are the founding principles of my next startup. It’s incomplete and imperfect, but for where I want to go … it’s a start. Incidentally, if you share them, and want to work with me, you should get in touch (adam.m.s.martin at gmail.com). I’m sure we can find a way […]
(4 posts in one day? Yeah! Too busy to be regular right now. GDC is on the way) At the end of my commentary on the formation of NC West, I added almost as an afterthought a little comment about Europe and the MMO industry: there’s a gaping hole in […]
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1917163/?ps=5 If you have any interest in iPhone development (you have ideas for apps, or you want to start coding for your iphone, or just want to meet other like-minded folks over beers), then come along. Bring friends. Bring iPhones (I’ll bring my laptop so you can download and try […]
Mark Cuban’s blog is an odd one; I really can’t remember why I started reading it (presumably linked by a VC blogger would be my guess), and yet even though I read very few blogs I’ve stuck with his. It’s not like the standard SiValley other investor/commentator blogs. It’s a […]
PHP is weak, crappy, and encourages people to write terrible code. But … if you know what you’re doing, all of those might actually be really really good things. (by the way, if you haven’t already, you should read Eric Ries thoughts on PHP…) “Best Practices” are one of the […]
Lots of ideas and detailed explanation from games industry Producers and production staff on the IGDA Production mailing list here. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that the people who run the Production SIG don’t believe in allowing you – the public – to read their conversations. So all I can do is […]
(I’m quoting a very handy short extract from Clinton Keith’s December 2007 Gamasutra article, so that I can find it again easily later. Clinton is/was the CTO of High Moon Studios, and is probably the most well-known proponent of Scrum in the games industry. Rather than wade through the whole […]
(I’m quoting a very handy short extract from Clinton Keith’s December 2007 Gamasutra article, so that I can find it again easily later. Clinton is/was the CTO of High Moon Studios, and is probably the most well-known proponent of Scrum in the games industry. Rather than wade through the whole […]
a.k.a. how some Publishers view independent Developers This is a quote found buried in the middle of the otherwise completely unrelated, but sometimes highly amusing, “rant to end all rants” about the rise and fall of the talent and skill of the people within the Ruby on Rails development community: […]