Let's talk
about my favorite video game developer ever.
Vanillaware. Vanillaware...is not
necessarily the best off developer in the gaming world. They have an incredibly unique art style and
all of their games use beautiful hand drawn sprites. Their gameplay also tends to be very
solid. However, not only are they a
small developer, they are also...very unbalanced. George Kamitani himself mentioned that the company consists largely of artists working together and that it was a great experience for him, as an artist and the director of most Vanillaware games, to work with them. However, do you know
what Vanillaware doesn't have a lot of?
Composers. Sound designers. Programmers.
Marketers. The company is a
repository of artistic talent...but of little else. And this is a major problem, no matter how
competent the developer.
 |
| A company of artists. Great for visual flair, lacking in many other areas. |
Balance in
a development team is remarkably important, both for indie developers and for
professional developers. When I say
balance, I refer to two things. The
first is that you have a team with enough materials to finish a game on their
own. Even if the music is sub par or the
art suffers, you have enough skill amongst your team that you can finish the
game. This is a balanced development
staff, where they can do everything that is necessary for a game. There are those who can program, compose, do
sound design, do art, story boards, etc.
The second way of looking at balance in a developer's teams is
recognizing their own weakness. While I
have given Vanillaware crap for their lack of sound design, that is the reason
they outsource. And outsourcing is not
necessarily bad. If you have a balanced
team, but your balance leans more towards art rather than music or game design,
then outsourcing can help bring your game itself back into balance. The team plays to its strengths and the
outsourced party helps to complement those strengths. The important thing to recognize, however, is
that these two ideas of balance do not exist in a vacuum. Balance as I have laid it out means basically
having the ability to finish a game and making the best game possible with the
given materials.
 |
| Despite the fantastic art, Vanillaware frequently needs to outsource or receive assistance to finish their games. This...is not a good thing. |
However, why is this idea of balance so
important? Well, Darwin stated that overspecialization leads
to extinction. Conversely, in game
design, it's a good idea to know your strengths and play to it. I love Vanillaware's art style, story, and
often their gameplay. Know what else I
love? The music of every Vanillaware
game. The music is done by an independent
company, Basiscape. This...isn't
necessarily a big deal, due to the fact that many companies will outsource what
they cannot do themselves. However, let
me ask a question. What happens if
Basiscape is bought out, goes out of business, or simply refuses to work with
Vanillaware anymore? Can they compose
music on their own to match their games?
In the release of Dragon's Crown, they needed Atlus's help to finish the
programming aspect of it and help with translation. Could they have done it without Atlus there
to back them up? For the translation of
their game Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Vanillaware needed the help of Ignition
entertainment. Do you see what I'm
getting at? In game design,
overspecialization is desired to a large degree because it allows a company to
be different from the crowd...the sad tragedy, however, is that the company may
not be able to deliver a finished product specifically because it is different
from the crowd.
 |
| This company goes out of business or refuses to work with them and Vanillaware has no options for music. Basiscape has done the music for almost 100% of Vanillaware's games. |
Vanillaware
creates amazing games, however the stars have to be in perfect alignment for
them to see the light of day. They rely
heavily on other companies for their sound design, assistance with programming,
and for translation so that their games can reach any region outside of Japan. If any of these elements are missing, it is
unlikely a game will be finished, or at least that it will manage a world wide
release. Vanillaware is probably the
most prominent example, but this is also pretty true of indie games as well as
other major developers. Mistwalker leans
heavily on Smile Please for support with music.
Tri-Scape worked with Square-Enix for a while with games like Star Ocean
and the Valkyrie Profile Series. Gearbox
outsourced Aliens: Colonial Marines to several studios, before having to do
revisions on their own. These studios
would, and in some cases did, suffer greatly from their over reliance on outsourcing. It is a tool, but not the only one. I say that the bare minimum you need in a
company is at least one person with the skills to do what you are outsourcing,
just in case.
 |
| Outsourcing is not necessarily a bad thing. I'll take music from Nobuo Uematsu's independent composition company over a homegrown developer any day. However...you can't always count on that, so you need a fallback plan. |
If a
company's support or outsourcing goes belly up, without any way to finish the
game, the project may be abandoned and the studio closed. However, indie developers tend to show that
where there's a will, there's a way, some sitting on games for years until they
can actually get the skills they personally need to finish them or finding
those who can help. If a development
team has balance, namely that if they don't lean too heavily in one direction
towards art, design, story, or music, but have at least one or two people in
every area, they may eventually be able to finish a game. If support does fall through, then the
developer can work on their own to finish their game. Perhaps the most balanced teams are those
that rely on only one or two developers.
Aquaria only had two developers.
Derek Yu focused on art design and story while Alec Holowkwa focused on
programming language and musical composition/sound design. If either left, the game would have probably
fallen through, however because of the closeness of their work and the size of
their team, it would be feasible for one programmer to finish the work of the
other. Dean Dodrill is another good
example, who built Dust: An Elysian Tail on his own for several years. He was the only programmer, so he had to do
all the work. There was no way a
departing team member or outsourcing would ruin his game since it hinged solely
on him. For bigger development teams,
it's best to have at least one or two specialists who can do one thing really
well, like music or programming, that have overlapping skills so if outsourcing
is needed, they can still do work. And
if the outsourcing falls through, the company has a fall back plan.
 |
| Ironically, the developers with the most balance in their teams are the one man development companies. Dean Dodrill built Dust: An Elysian Tail from scratch, all by himself. No risk of failure if outsourcing or support fell through. |
The
important thing to keep in mind, however, is that just because you have a
balanced development team does not mean you should absolutely not
outsource. Remember, the other half of
balance in game development is recognizing fallacies in your own team and
working to correct them. This often
means that if you have a weak sound design team or no time to build cinematics,
then you should outsource them so that the product looks good all around. Outsourcing is a tool that game developers
recognize has its uses. Legend of Iya,
for example, is built entirely by Darkfalz, a pixel artist who also works with
game design and very amateur music. He
recognized his weakness in sound design and decided to outsource to someone who
could give his game a more fitting soundtrack.
That's alright. That's
clever/important to recognize. If this
outsourcing falls through, he can still finish his game with the skills he
possesses, however balance dictates that if music is not his strong suit, then
perhaps it is wiser to outsource. I say,
it is important to use it when appropriate, but not be completely reliant on
it. Have a fallback plan, by having
balance within your development team.
 |
| Legend of Iya is not at its strongest musically, so the creator is outsourcing for music. But he himself CAN make some music for the game, just in case. Balance is about making the game as good as possible...but also having a fallback plan |
So, to
reiterate, balance in a developer's team can mean two things. It means having enough team members with the
skills necessary to finish a game all on their own. However, since people often specialize rather
than having general knowledge in all aspects of game design, they will more
often than not play to their strengths, leaving one area of a game weaker than
the others. In this case, you want to
bring balance to the game itself through outsourcing to people who specialize in
what you lack.
Whatever
you do, don't go into game development completely reliant on the promises or
the work of someone else, because things happen. Contracts are breached, disasters happen,
word comes down from corporate HQ, and sometimes outsourcing just falls through. If you don't have a balanced team, your game
may never see the light of day unless you shop around for another skilled group
of people to help you. This can lead to
delays, wasted time and money, and eventual cancellation. Balance goes both ways. While you want to deliver the best product
you can, you should not be so overspecialized that you cannot finish said
project on your own, at least in my opinion.
It's fine to have specialized team members or even for a development
company itself to specialize in certain things, but always try and remember to
have a fallback. Have balance in your
team so that if you are backed into a corner and left without outside support,
you can still deliver a game to us.
 |
| I just want to encourage developers to have balance. More games means more options which means gamers have more choices for enjoyment. |
No matter
how bad a game, I believe that it is better for something to be released rather
than just outright cancelled. Even
terrible games have some merit in that they can be enjoyably flawed or they
highlight the strength of other games.
So, even if you can't deliver a master piece, have the tools necessary
to release a game at all.
 |
| Kid you not, this glitchy monstrosity of a game got released. And yet Mega Man Legends 3 was cancelled...depressing. At least be able to give us a game, developers. No matter how terrible, I think it's better to have them then to not...even if it's just so we can point and laugh. |
I'd also like to
take a moment and ponder the irony of my previous statements. Many of us hate games like Big Rigs Over the
Road Racing or Ride to Hell because they are egregious examples of a failure of
fundamental game design. However, they
were at least released. And even if they
are terrible to play, they can be used as examples to help other developers
learn. So I stand by my statements. I doubt these teams had proper balance, but
they still managed to finish these products.
The gaming world, even if it is just due to the lack of something to
mock, laugh at, or learn from, would be poorer if these had just been cancelled
and quietly swept under the rug.
