As some of you already know, we’re heading for a new release. In a few weeks time (unless all of our web developers run of to Mallorca or the ozon layer suddenly vanishes or the internet dies or…)there will be some serious updates to Power Soccer, with a bunch of new features, improvements and fixes.

And as always, we think of you when we build this stuff. Yes it’s true! When you have a level 99 guy working at the office, there’s no such thing as messing with the users/players, not listening to what they have to say. So, even if takes a day or three to get used to things, we really hope you’re gonna enjoy the new version.

Curious? Dying to find out?

Can’t tell you much more at this point, but there will be some news on the site any day soon. There’s a certain pre-launch excitement in the air. Can you feel it?

Stuff that’s not supposed to happen always happen. Murphy’s law and all that. The “impossible” suddenly becomes “most likely” when you’re close to a deadline. But still… I really do think this will be our best release so far.

With best wishes for a holiday filled with sun (I’m off for four weeks!) and a new Power Soccer version filled with happy players

// Linda

You know what? I only have two more working days left before it’s time for some lazy vacation time. Four delightful weeks filled with reading (have to buy new books, already finished all of new ones I was gonna read on my vacation), sun (it’s sunny now and it better stay that way!) and just hanging out with the family.

But no, I’m not young enough to believe it’s gonna be like in the commercials - smiling, cheerful, perfect children just happy and greatful to wake up to a new day, spending time with the rest of the family. No. It doesn’t work that way. The insults, stupidity and sibling rivalry will soon fill my days from dusk til dawn. Maybe we’re just not used to spend so much time together? Maybe one isn’t supposed to?

We’re a rather console oriented family though, so the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS are part of our first aid kit for long drives. Or the MP3-players. Basically anything that comes with a pair of headphones letting it’s user shut the rest of the world -family - out.
This is not just a salvation though, the possibilities technology brings. It’s also the evil source of most discussions and battles at home. As long as people have to share. For those of you that haven’t grown up with sisters or brothers, this might come as a surprise.

It’s not a question of what YOU want or have. It’s what you don’t want the others to have. This is the foundation that everything else rests upon.

I’m an only child myself so I’ve had trouble figuring this whole competitive behaviour out. Why is it so important what the others got, or did, or said? Does it really matter?

Oh yes it does.

But I’ve come to realise it’s not genuin evil. It’s not even hate (even if looks and sounds like it a lot of times). It’s just a brother and sister thing. Maybe it’s a necessary step on their way to becoming functional grown ups. They practice their social skills, testing eachother and everyone else to see where the boundries are. It’s all just a big rehearsal for the Real Life, that which happens outside of home.

Anyway, the number one solution is of course to avoid having anything to argue about. So, your best bet is to have as many computers, consoles and tv’s as family members. Or none at all. Believe me, there are no grey areas here. It’s all or nothing.

Well, that was all from Linda’s family corner. I think I’ll answer some e-mails now and read some new forum posts. It’s my favourite part of the day.

Until next time.

/ Linda

Being in the middle of something sort of takes that healthy distantness (yes it’s a real word! I looked it up…) away from you. No macro perspective in sight, just dwelling on the details blowing everything out of proportion. And sometimes it’s a good thing. It drives you forward. It keeps you on edge, on your toes, focused. But then something REALLY important happens. A bus crashes in to a car, the cat needs surgery or there was another tsunami… and then you just don’t worry too much about those shoes that doesn’t fit, or that level you never finished - or that task someone didn’t work on. It gives you perspective.

This happens both at home and at work. You get caught up in what you do and sometimes it’s hard to raise one’s head and look beyond.

It’s just that sometimes the line you walk is really really thin, between being a control freak and being negligent.

See what I mean?

(more scrum cartoons at http://www.implementingscrum.com/cartoons/)

My last post (hopefully) explained a bit about where our ideas come from. It’s not just the people who have “gamedesign” on their card that come up with suggestions for how the game should move forward. A lot of times the inspiration and new thoughts come from the community, from the developers themselves or the Product Owner (= in our case a really cool guy named Eric).

The Product Owner is the product’s (Power Soccer) very protective guardian who makes sure the game has everything it needs and grows the way it’s supposed to. He looks after the game in every possible way. If someone or something stands in the way of the game - the P.O. makes sure someone moves that obsticle aside, always focusing on the games best interest.

Get the picture?

Ok, so let’s say that Eric The Product Owner decides that the grass needs to be greener. It’s just not colourful enough on the field. He runs this idea by the people who should be involved in the actual development of this feature. The P.O. knows what the game needs from a gamer/marketing pers´pective but at this point doesn’t know anything about the technical process to get there. After speaking to the people involved (a graphical artist, the producer, a developer or two) this feature/task is put in the “backlog” (usually the P.O. himself manages the backlog, in our case it’s the producer).

The backlog (a worksheet with magical macros) is where everything that’s going to be developed, every smallest change, tweak, graphical element is listed. It’s the administrative backbone of the game. It’s the heart and soul of Power Soccer - in writing.

So, Mr Eric Product Owner’s idea of making the field more colourful could end up in a worksheet looking like this:

[Feature group] 3D Game [Title] Fix grass on field [Story] Make the grass greener. Includes new texture and shading.

(That’s probably not how one of the graphical artists would have put it, but never mind. It’s just to give you a picture of how we do stuff.)

We also include some information on status, how the feature will be demonstrated after finished and more. And now the feature is added to the backlog, it has an “importance” value and it’s waiting to be developed.

We want happier users so we make the stadiums prettier. To get the stadiums prettier we need the graphical artists and c++ programmers to create new objects and modify the code accordingly, and the web/interface designers to keep it all together on the surface. The new objects and code have to work together with all the rest, not causing any conflicts and not add too much to the size of the game - we have to keep it small.

So what or who decides WHEN it’s time to start with a new feature? Again, it’s a lot to do with the Product Owner - with some cooperation/negotiation with the producer, who in his/her turn hands the feature over to the team do decide HOW. What do we want to achieve? What do we need to get there? How long will it take? Questions that bring us features that bring us pretty slices on the scrumboard. (pardon my project manager language) Ideas - suggestions - features - slices. Dreams - reality.

That was one example. There are literally hundreds of features, broken down in to bite sized backlog items just waiting to be built. And it’s all a juggling act, deciding what the next step should be, showing investors good results, making games we’re proud of, being the best employers in the world… Keeping everybody happy.

Is that really what good games are all about? Happiness in less than 10 MB?

Time to stop writing for today. Sorry if the fast lesson in scrum and our way of work was too long, yet too shallow. Tell me what I missed and I’ll fill in the gaps.

// Linda

So. Where was I? Oh yeah, that’s right. We were supposed to cover the subject of “where do the new features come from”. Well - let’s!

If you read this blog you probably have some sort of connection to Power Soccer. You might have played the game once or never or for two years, but you most likely found this place through powerchallenge.com. Anyway, a lot has happened with this game for the last year. Or even the last 6 months. Actually it happens quite a lot all the time, but let’s stick to what you, the users, see and notice.

A year ago we were just getting started, we’d just signed up all the developers. The game as it was then had been developed by two programmers and one graphical artist. That was pretty much it. It was one of those many “basement” games, created by a handful people in a windowless corner - if one’s lucky - of some office building. Someone had a good idea and managed to find the talented people to turn that idea into reality.

And here we are. Some odd 25 people and 15 months later. Still coming up with thousands of ideas, pushing the game forward, struggling every day to make the right decisions to keep as many people as possible happy. The investors, the users, the CEO, the Executive producer…and ourselves. It’s not easy but it’s something we truly enjoy doing and we’re happy to go to work every day. Ok, most days. I guess some days you wake up and you just know that the code you write will have to be re-written, the schedule your juggling will crash to the floor and the mock-ups you design just won’t do. The inspiration is not always there, but 9½ days out of 10 I’d say it is.

The ideas… Where do they come from? Well, there are a few main suppliers of ideas of how to improve the game.

1. You - the users. We get so much invaluable feedback, comments and ideas from you, in forum posts or e-mails. It’s an extremely important source of inspiration to us.

2. Product Owner. This is the person responsible for the product = the game. Has it the right “feel”? Is it difficult enough, too tricky, do newbies get lost or should we add an extra layer of complexity? Why? What does our main target group look like? Should we have 3D hot dogs spinning around in the arena as advertising spots? All sorts, high and low.

3. Game designers. They make sure all the tiny elements and different aspects of the game fit together, that the sum of the parts is a well functioning game. A lot of times they work close to the other developers. Gamedesigners calculate variables in worksheets, decide the accuracy and speed of the through pass, design league systems, write specifications of features to come and spend a lot of time testing.

4. Other developers. Most people working here are gamers and have been for years. It comes pretty natural for them to analyze and think and talk about games. So the actual 3D part of the game is pretty well covered, so to speak. Those of us who aren’t really gamers still love games in one way or another. Or sport. Or programming. We have meetings, we talk over lunch, we get into discussions wherever we are… The air is filled with a passion for games and every step we take is towards making the game even greater.

5. Powdersnow. Say no more.

Did I acually write all this managing to still not address the subject of how we introduce new features? Oh my. I’m such a sucker for writing about stuff that has to do with games, but sometimes I find it hard to get to the point.

Same time and place tomorrow? Let me continue my story then

See you!

/ Linda

…got this link from a good friend today. We worked together at IT-ceum, The Swedish Computer museum for a couple of years, produced exhibitions, talked and wrote about the history of computer games. There were so many computers, so much hardware that really grew on me, becoming almost like little people, that I’ll never forget. The Sinclair, the Luxor VES, and of course the first edition of Drakar & Demoner (a Swedish game like Dungeons & Dragons)…

Seeing this amazing video almost brings tears to my eyes.

Anyway. Check it out:
http://www.vimeo.com/1109226?pg=embed&sec=1109226

There was a post from Jake the other day. He had a great idea: if I’m all out of great ideas and don’t know what the next post should be about, maybe the readers themselves can come up with some suggestions? And he started it all of with asking about new features, how do we come up with what new stuff to put in the game, and how is it done, from a practical technical perspective?

Good topic!

When it comes to new ideas for functionality and features in the game: where do they come from? How do we decide what to put in, what to take out, how to improve what’s already there?

I thought a lot about this yesterday, after I read Jakes post. This is a subject and an inssue that I feel rather strongly about - we all do, and sometimes it’s frustrating when you can’t do as much as you’d like.

Like right now. I’m busy doing twenty odd things I have to finish before finishing this post properly. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the soccer teams/development and right now, instead of talking to you guys about all of it, I have to go and actually DO it. But I promise to try to find the time later today. Ok?

Talk to you soon!

/ Linda

Hey you all,

there seem to have been a bit more activity on the blog lately - that’s great! Really cool that some of you actually take the time to come back and check for updates and news…

…which gives me the more reason to actually try to find something interesting to write about!

But today it seems to be one of those (blessed) quiet days when nothing much happens. We had our morning “daily scrum meetings”, they went well. Now everybodys working on what they’re supposed to (I hope) and soon it’s lunchtime.

This was one of those posts that I might as well not have written at all. I just wanted to say thanks for reading and leaving comments. That rocks!  And if something extraodinary or interesting jumps in my lap during the rest of day I promise to write a more interesting post on that.

Later!

/ Linda

p.s. what I would like to talk to you about is all the cool stuff we’re working on here at the moment… but I’m not sure that’s such a good idea…it would definetely take the edge of the whole surprise/release thing…

After reading my latest posts I just realized how very negative and boring I sound. Most depressing. I don’t feel the slightest bit negative when I write these posts, on the contrary, I truly enjoy it! But because I so often critisize and focus on what is wrong instead of right in the games, it sounds pretty much like I hate everything. Nothing could be more wrong. I love this job. People around me are great. And the sun is shining. Life is good.

So sorry for sounding like the whole world sucks. I really don’t think it does.

See you in the next post!

/ L

Just spent half an hour or so in the gameroom at the office, doing some racing in Flatout: Ultimate Carnage and HotWheels. Hilarious. It was my kind of game just like I thought! Very forgiving (you crash and burn, then magically “reset”) and more action than actual racing. Colourful, fast and innovative. Someone said it’s a bit like Micromachines but I’ve never tried that so I couldn’t really say. I raced under the bed, avoided the books, the hammer and saw, jumped over some paperclips, got extra boost and jumped over the desk. Actually a lot more fun than the desert track in Flatout…

I don’t enjoy grinding, or being forced to race the same track over and over again. After one or two attempts I wanna be able to try something else. Give me something new for heaven’s sake! No patience what so ever. Which is a bit interesting, cause I have tons of patience when it comes to un-doing knots or listening to people complaining about sad relationships or whatever. But not when it comes to <bad> repetetive gameplay. Can this be taught? Can I learn how to not get bored out of my brains with doing the same track/level time and time again, avoiding those tiny little edges or lines that makes me fail, forcing me to start all over again?

I honestly don’t think so. But maybe I can find some more games out there that I actually enjoy. Next time I go straight to the kids section…

/ Linda