Almost without exception, every project leaves the bulk of production until the last 4-6 months of the project. It doesn’t seem to matter if development is scheduled for 12-months or 36-months.
In large part, I think this due to lack of or poor quality pre-production. If, instead, the first 4-months were devoted to rigorous pre-production, the team might be able to hit the ground running. If the core technology was in place: shaders, AI code, primary assets—then the rest of the project could be devoted to generating content. (more…)