
Why I’m Using the Cerny Method of Game Development - etrevino
https://spencerkr.com/post/172697996786/why-im-using-a-30-year-old-development-method-in
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doomlaser
My method of game development usually consists of the gradual unfurling of a
playground area where I create, test, and refine all the controls, mechanics,
enemies, and environments in the game in a jumbled, haphazard mishmash.

Then I start incorporating them into production levels, build out an intro
zone, etc.

The test zone pattern isn't really a conscious decision, but it almost
invariably develops in everything that I end up shipping.

I like Mark Cerny though. I wonder if the 'Cerny Method' was used for Sonic 3
(as an aside, though Sonic 3 is a great game, it contains one of the single
worst video game UX nightmares of all time —
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FogRh7CALFY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FogRh7CALFY)).

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jmbrook
A minor tip I saw on a video about the development of the Doom levels was to
do them in reverse. The theory being that you get better at designing levels
with time and the best levels should be near the beginning. Always liked the
idea, but not had a chance to use it, yet.

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doomlaser
Yeah, John Romero explains that the famous e1m1 was the last level he designed
for the original Doom, in this _fantastic_ developer commentary he did for the
game's first episode with IGN, for the game's 20th anniversary:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUU7_BthBWM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUU7_BthBWM)

 _' the classic horseshoe design'_ \- show inaccessible teasers of later areas
of the stage near the beginning to drive the player forward

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jacques_chester
At least 43-years old, if the first edition of _The Mythical Man-Month_ can be
counted. Over 50 years if you consider the OS/360 project that book was
inspired by. Centuries if you consider prototyping generally as an engineering
practice.

It's pretty sound, in my view -- AAA budgets are gigantic. Spending a few
million on a failed prototype is probably a wise investment compared to
spending hundreds of millions on a failed product.

Edit: original title was "Why I'm using a 30 year old method", hence my
reference to the age of the method.

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TillE
> spending hundreds of millions on a failed product

Where are all these failed products though? I can name Mass Effect: Andromeda
and basically nothing else in recent years. Hollywood has far more big flops.

Big-budget games are almost guaranteed some degree of success. If you follow
the proven formulas and don't mess up, the game sells.

~~~
drawkbox
During the MMO rush due to WoW successes there were lots like Tabula Rasa,
Star Wars Galaxies [1]. Curt Schilling was even part of one that entangled
Rhode Island state funds at 38 studios for Copernicus. [2] Cheyenne Mountain,
where I worked for a while on Unity games, unfortunately never released
Stargate Worlds MMO and burned through 10s of millions, I think 60-70 million
by the end. The main problem was warring design teams, new tech not ready for
primetime and builds not happening early and often and really Unreal wasn't
the best for large MMOs back then (UE3). A recent article "Confessions of an
Unreal Engine 4 Engineering Firefighter" highlights not using continuous
builds as being a big problem in failed games [3]

> _Make Builds and Test Them: Imagine a game has a 2-year development
> deadline. Imagine the first playtest happening 1 year and 9 months into
> development. This happens. Make regular builds of your game and playtest
> them, even starting from week one. If you are a serious game development
> company, you probably should have an automated build pipeline of some sort.
> Pro-tip: Automation is cheaper and more effective than human labor._

Large games like this are generally smarter today taking it to market with
smaller teams and getting funding and alpha/beta feedback all along the way.
Fortnite for instance has been in development with available builds for Epic
using Unreal Engine 4 almost since inception and became a better game for
prototyping/early and often releases.

[1] [https://www.pcgamer.com/the-biggest-mmo-failures-in-
history/](https://www.pcgamer.com/the-biggest-mmo-failures-in-history/)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/38_Studios](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/38_Studios)

[3] [https://allarsblog.com/2018/03/16/confessions-of-an-
unreal-e...](https://allarsblog.com/2018/03/16/confessions-of-an-unreal-
engine-4-engineering-firefighter/)

~~~
EamonnMR
I don't know the story behind it, but fortnight was adapted into a PUBG type
free-for-all mode which seems to have helped its popularity. Being able to
jump on a trend like that so quickly shows impressive flexibility. They didn't
need to make a whole new game to cash in, the ROI is probably crazy.

~~~
drawkbox
Yeah I would say Fortnite was influenced by Overwatch and PUBG and maybe even
Splattoon, but originally probably started out as Epic's Overwatch type game
that Blizzard was successful on.

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mikekchar
Interestingly, I see a parallel with the "vertical stripe" nature of "stories"
in XP. A lot of teams will spend considerable amount of effort making an MVP
(Minimum Viable Product), but when you look at it _nothing_ works properly. It
_can_ be used, but you would never want to use it if you had any other choice.
As the product grows, those pain points never quite disappear and they
complicate the design forever. Even if you are successful, your competitors
can learn from your mistakes and build something coherent that takes
considerably less time -- second to market can have a big advantage.

In contrast, with a vertical stripe, you are encouraged to build something
that is not just done, it is done done. With the information you have now, you
would not change it (NB: this is considerably different than perfect). Each
stripe should be as good as you can make it allowing for imperfect knowledge.

So in the same way you are limiting scope, but trying to make the result
"final quality". From there it is a _lot_ easier to iterate your design. I'm
not sure I think it is necessary to nail down all your decisions quite in the
way the article suggests -- good ideas are good ideas even if you have them
later on in the process. Building on a solid foundation is just dramatically
easier than trying to reinforce a Jenga tower.

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FearNotDaniel
I know nothing about game development, but I can see that a useful analogy is
with a big-budget TV series rather than a movie. Make a pilot episode first,
full production quality, and use that to greenlight (or not) the rest of the
production. Even with one-off movies (or a hoped-to-be franchise) I'm aware
that at least sometimes a test scene is shot and produced up to close-to-
finished quality in order to win support for financing the full production.
This could be a key point of dramatic inflection in a story/character led
piece, or a demonstration of unique special effects ("bullet time" springs to
mind here) if that is the USP of the proposed production.

Like I said, I know nothing about game development, but if I was to get into
that line for some reason I would want my business to be protected by taking a
similar approach.

~~~
etrevino
That's a really great analogy. I may be remembering wrong, but wasn't the
opening scene of Deadpool produced for this very reason?

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epx
Guess all great products were conceived in a creative phase, free of any
planning or bean-counting. Just didn't know this "method" had a name.

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timavr
This is a good approach. The only downside is that depending on the scope of
the game and features involved, the prototype phase can become super
expensive.

What if the design says, that we are going to have characters talking to each
other and it involves voice recording and mocap studio time. This is cost
prohibitive for a majority of the projects at the prototyping phase.

Overall though the two biggest problems in game dev are building what people
want and R&D. When prototyping starts both of those are unknown. Often
prototype proves that certain game mechanic MVP is super fun, but in order to
make it scalable across the whole game, months and months of R&D needs to be
done. For example, one can put a quick level together which plays great, but
to make 40 more levels, a level editor needs to be created, which is a huge
undertaking.

In my experience, if people want what you are making, 9/10 times you can
survive the "bad" production process, due to the fact that even if project
2x-3x over budget, the market will easily 10x-100x initial investment
lifetime.

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movedx
> ... the two biggest problems in game dev are building what people want and
> R&D.

What's even harder again about point one, building something people want, is
this is a purely creative industry so it's REALLY hard to know what people
want.

Making a new coffee machine would involve simple market research to understand
what people want, but painting a picture is a different story entirely!

~~~
emmelaich
>> ... the two biggest problems in game dev are building what people want and
R&D.

Surely that's where getting a production quality level one helps? You really
need to know that as early as possible.

You must resist the Siren's Song of rough prototypes. They could be great
gameplay but awful to look at. Or vice versa.

~~~
movedx
Yep, and I completely agree. I like producing an MVP, but even what the MVP
offers should be production ready.

I think people read "Minimal" in MVP and believe it means, "No monitoring,
logging, error checking, or stability" which of course it does not :-)

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mtreis86
"We have a saying in the House of Commons; that old ways are the safest and
surest ways." Edward Coke 1628

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sitkack
> you should have one level of your game that is indistinguishable from a
> completed professional product

This artifact becomes the goal and the plan. It unambiguously communicates
what is acceptable addition to the game. Fully internalized, it now should be
possible to farm out development have every single level hit the look, feel
and gameplay of the original level. All issues end-to-end have been hit and
addressed, there are no unknown-unkowns at this point.

This is way Rango [0] is so damn good. All the techniques used in the movie
were honed in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. It wasn't just a tech
trailer, they could focus on the story while using cutting edge production
workflows.

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiYFGzAntx4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiYFGzAntx4)

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joveian
I guess these days indie developers often use this method where step one is to
get a high quality first level that is used for crowdfunding to finish the
game.

However, I have noticed that most games start out fun for the first few
levels, so I would say as a game player that developers should really not
worry so much about the art being perfect on the first level before production
but to have a complete game that can be played through that is fun the whole
time. Because from personal experience the vast majority of games do not
accomplish that.

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movedx
True.

I'm just starting out making my first game and I'm beginning with mechanics.
Movement, inventory, NPCs, compbat, character build, stats, etc. Once they're
solid, then I can build whatever worlds I want which includes the art, sound,
and critically, the story.

~~~
joveian
I agree that starting with mechanics is the necessary first step. I have seen
some games where the mechanics made me entirely uninterested in proceeding
past the tutorial or very early game and others where the mechanics made the
game worse the whole time but not completely unplayable. Maybe I see games
unplayable due to mechanics about as often as I see games unplayable due to
technical issues (as someone who generally does not buy games when they are
first released).

It seems to me (without having actually designed games) that level design and
the story can be done with basic artwork and sound and that making sure that
stuff is great before spending a bunch of money on artwork would improve
things.

I wish developers would avoid violence as a core theme of games. There must be
other themes you can use even with the same basic mechanics.

Good luck with your game! I really love story driven games and there are so
few good ones.

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georgeecollins
The way I wish a movie should be is a utopia, but to make a movie, to make it,
is not utopia.

Jean-Luc Goddard

