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Extending the Reference Method for Game Production: A Situational Approach

In this research, we describe the development of a situational game production method. In earlier research, the Reference Method for Game Production was proposed, which gives a complete overview of all possible activities and deliverables in a game production process. However, this method is a generic method that is not suitable for every game development project. The need exists for a method that can be tuned to different situations. In respect to this research, a situation corresponds to a game genre or other factors that influence the development steps. We conducted case studies at nine Dutch game companies, in order to a) validate the activities and deliverables in the existing reference method, and b) analyze the companies’ existing methods in order to identify new situational routes which can be used to extend the reference method. We use method engineering principles and a meta-modeling technique to document, compare and analyze the nine methods. Based on the analysis, we propose four new routes, where each route represents a specific production case. The four routes are: serious games, online games, prototype and localization. Finally, we integrate the new routes with the existing method by developing a route map.