This is exactly what I’ve experienced
Today’s Gamasutra article mirror’s my personal experience. From concept to final animated game model is a series of COSTLY iterations which is why drawings and a game design document mean crap and why “lightweight” iteration is preferred over building “final-quality” models.
And as he says, “the problems are too varied and the expertise necessary to anticipate them belongs to too many people — animators and riggers, designers, engineers, as well as concept artists and modelers. There is no way to plan it all out on paper.”
“Treat the early models and rigs as tools for refining and proving the concept, not early jumpstarts on the grind of production. Even rapid prototyping can’t completely eliminate glitches, but it can help to insure that they are fewer in number and that they are less costly in terms of work wasted and time lost. ”
Plan all you want… the answers (is it fun, is it practical, etc.) are in the prototype.
Add comment March 4th, 2009