Import Users Plugin for WordPress
“This plugin was created for people who need to easily add multiple users to their WordPress installation.”
“This plugin was created for people who need to easily add multiple users to their WordPress installation.”
Amit’s Game Programming Information
Amit is a hobbyist game programmer. He must see lots of action.
But I digress. Cause I’m actually reading everything on his site and enjoying it.
Gamasutra - Feature - “Paper Burns: Game Design With Agile Methodologies”
This article talks about the ”Agile” development method, as applied to game development. I can see this as quite applicable to interactive design. We kind of work this way already (though on a much, much smaller scale): we rapid prototype, get the client involved early and often, work flexibly, and test throughout.
The one thing this article alludes to but doesn’t answer to my satisifaction is how costs are controlled. Yes, the traditional ”Waterfall” method (akin to an assembly line) may be inefficient and lead to degraded products, but how does one plan and budget for the potentially limitless iterations of Agile? This may not be an issue in game design, but for projects with strictly fixed budgets and deadlines, I can’t see how this is “controlled” effectively.
Perhaps, I’m just not getting the point that this methodology may apply more for large teams developing really large, really complex projects.
Still, it’s nice to see our approach validated, even if not directly.
When it comes to structuring projects and active source code, I try to lean towards simple and semantic. Mostly.
We’re in the middle of upgrading our office IT infrastructure, so I’m taking the opportunity to overhaul our weak, inconsistent, all-too-organic and out-dated organizational system.
No small task.
I think our biggest problem in this area is the challenge of consistency, given the broad nature of our projects, which include Motion Graphics, Web Development, and Print. Our process flow (per project) can change as well. Sometimes we’re implenting existing art direction and sometimes we’re generating concept and IP from scratch. How does one quantify all these variables into something consistent and understandable.
And why the fuss, you ask?
Several reasons, including:
Here’s what some people have to say on the matter:
Something else I wrestle with is how tightly to integrate our file structures and organizational schemes with our idealized mod7 ”Process“. My definition of process (in the context of design) is: a system or set of activities that brings about a logical set of solutions to a given need or problem. At my process lectures, I talk about an “activities template”:
Each of these activites employ the classic design subcycle:
The ideal convention will also be self-documenting. You shouldn’t need to go through a project later to “clean it up”; chuck out stray files, rename oddly-named comps (finalfinal2b.psd), write a ton of explanatory docs. A good system, when followed, should eliminate all that.
A good system should also be flexible enough to encourage play and unexpected discovery.
Sounds easy enough.