ABSTRACT

The popular Postmortem column in Game Developer magazine features firsthand accounts of how some of the most important and successful games of recent years have been made. This book offers the opportunity to harvest this expertise with one volume. The editor has organized the articles by theme and added previously unpublished analysis to reveal successful management techniques. Readers learn how superstars of the game industry like Peter Molyneux and Warren Spector have dealt with the development challenges such as managing complexity, software and game design issues, schedule challenges, and changing staff needs.

part |74 pages

Startups

chapter |14 pages

Irrational Games'

System Shock 2
ByJonathan Chey

chapter |10 pages

Bohemia Interactive Studios'

Operation Flashpoint
ByMarek Spanel, Ondrej Spanel

chapter |12 pages

Surreal Software's

Drakan: Order of the Flame
ByStuart Denman

chapter |10 pages

Pseudo Interactive's

Cel Damage
ByKevin Barrett, John Harley, Rich Hilmer, Daniel Posner, Gary Snyder, David Wu

chapter |12 pages

Nihilistic Software's

Vampire: The Masquerade—Redemption
ByRobert Huebner

chapter |12 pages

Ensemble's

Age Of Empires
ByMatt Pritchard

part |72 pages

Sequels and Sophomore Outings

chapter |12 pages

Blizzard Entertainment's

Diablo II
ByErich Schaefer

chapter |12 pages

Epic Games'

Unreal Tournament
ByBrandon Reinhart

chapter |12 pages

Westwood Studios'

Tiberian Sun
ByRade Stojsavljevic

chapter |12 pages

Ensemble Studios'

Age Of Empires II: The Age Of Kings
ByMatt Pritchard

chapter |10 pages

Presto Studios'

Myst III: Exile
ByGreg Uhler

chapter |10 pages

Poptop Software's

Tropico
ByBrent Smith

part |72 pages

Managing Innovation

chapter |10 pages

Lionhead studio's

Black & White
ByPeter Molyneux

chapter |9 pages

Bungie software's

Myth: The Fallen Lords
ByJason Regier

chapter |12 pages

Looking Glass's

Thief: The Dark Project
ByTom Leonard

chapter |12 pages

Dream Works

Interactive's Trespasser
ByRichard Wyckoff

chapter |14 pages

Ion Storm's

Deus Ex
ByWarren Spector

chapter |10 pages

Naughty Dog's

Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
ByStephen White

part |54 pages

Building on a License

chapter |13 pages

LucasArts'

Star Wars™ Starfighter
ByChris Corry

chapter |14 pages

Raven Software's

Star Trek™: Voyager – Elite Force
ByBrian Pelletier, Michael Gummelt, James Monroe

chapter |8 pages

Red Storm Entertainment's

Rainbow Six
ByBrian Upton

chapter |14 pages

Raven Software's

Soldier of Fortune
ByEric Biessman, Rick Johnson

part |37 pages

The Online Frontier

chapter |10 pages

Mythic Entertainment's

Dark Age of Camelot
ByMatt Firor

chapter |12 pages

Multitude's

Fireteam
ByArt Min

chapter |11 pages

Turbine's

Asheron's Call
ByToby Ragaini