As the conversation around crunch and burnout in game development continues, and studios struggle to find enough devs and artists, DevOps can be a valuable tool for improving workflows.
What does DevOps look like in Game Dev?
DevOps in game development typically takes advantage of cloud storage and computing to improve communication and collaboration among team members. It can also involve Test-Driven Development (TDD) to speed up iteration and improve development cycles. DevOps practices can be leveraged to create repeatable processes for game launches, updates, and patches.
The Benefits of DevOps for Game Devs
Increased efficiency through automation: Game DevOps automation can be implemented across a wide range of areas, from process workflows to automated builds and deployment. Source code management solutions provide automated security and increased performance, and allow for easy roll-back to previous versions.
Improved project management: In a DevOps environment, developers and producers work together to break work down into smaller and more manageable chunks, improve regression testing, create emergency contingency plans, and a host of other methods to improve productivity and eliminate waste. Using a suite of reporting and task management tools gives project managers valuable insights into their teams, and real-time progression tracking through UIs that visualize task schedules can help managers improve workflows.
Better scaling and less overhead: In a DevOps environment, developers can quickly respond to changes in scale and adjust accordingly. Particularly for teams leveraging hosted DevOps tools, this gives smaller studios a head start with tools that can easily scale as the team grows. While an on-prem or dedicated cloud instance requires a significant resource investment, leveraging tools like cloud-based Perforce VCS allows teams to stay lean and agile.
Transitioning to DevOps
An effective transition to DevOps requires a clear understanding of your team's current needs and long-term goals. Another consideration is flexibility and support for extensions and integrations. Every studio and project is unique, so being able to choose the tools and practices that best apply to your current goals, with the ability to adapt as your needs evolve, is very powerful.
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