This document discusses strategies for improving a game studio's release process. It describes the challenges with an existing approach of creating a new branch for each release, which is error-prone and time-consuming. The document then outlines how DICE engineered a better strategy using static infrastructure to enable frequent weekly patches from a single codebase. This reduced the time and effort for each release and aligned the release process with the creative process.

1. @WROSSMCK
Keeping Your Pipelines Flowing
U X D X O c t o b e r 2 0 1 8
1

2. @WROSSMCK
What you will learn
2

3. @WROSSMCK
3
▪What is Time To Player
▪How to ship a Box Product Game
▪Understand the value stream map and deployment
workflow at DICE
▪Increasing effort upfront to reduce cycle time
What you will learn

4. @WROSSMCK
What is Time To Player?
4

5. @WROSSMCK
🧠
5
What is Time To Player?

6. @WROSSMCK
🧠 ‣ #
6
What is Time To Player?

7. @WROSSMCK
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏
7
What is Time To Player?

8. @WROSSMCK
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏 ‣ 🎮
8
What is Time To Player?

9. @WROSSMCK
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏 ‣ 🎮
9
The Time to go from inception
To a Player Console or PC

10. @WROSSMCK
AAA Patch Process
10

11. @WROSSMCK
11
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏 ‣ 🎮
R e l e a s e 1 . 0

12. @WROSSMCK
12
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏 ‣ 🎮
R e l e a s e 2 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 0

13. @WROSSMCK
13
R e l e a s e 1 . 1
R e l e a s e 2 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 0
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏 ‣ 🎮

14. @WROSSMCK
14
R e l e a s e 1 . 0
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏 ‣ 🎮
R e l e a s e 1 . 1
R e l e a s e 2 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 0

15. @WROSSMCK
15
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏 ‣ 🎮
R e l e a s e 1 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 1
R e l e a s e 2 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 0

16. @WROSSMCK
16
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏 ‣ 🎮
R e l e a s e 1 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 1
R e l e a s e 2 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 0

17. @WROSSMCK
17
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏 ‣ 🎮
R e l e a s e 1 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 1
R e l e a s e 2 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 0

18. @WROSSMCK
18
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏 ‣ 🎮
R e l e a s e 1 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 1
R e l e a s e 2 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 0

19. @WROSSMCK
19
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏 ‣ 🎮
R e l e a s e 1 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 1
R e l e a s e 2 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 2

20. @WROSSMCK
20
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏 ‣ 🎮
R e l e a s e 1 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 1
R e l e a s e 2 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 2

21. @WROSSMCK
21
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏 ‣ 🎮
R e l e a s e 1 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 1
R e l e a s e 2 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 2

22. @WROSSMCK
22
Wat?

23. @WROSSMCK
▪Error prone
▪"Figure it out as it happens"
▪Works well for quarterly releases (like DLC)
▪Lots of Manual Effort
▪Each "release" branch takes two weeks to set up
23
Evaluate the process

24. @WROSSMCK
▪Error prone
▪"Figure it out as it happens"
▪Works well for quarterly releases (like DLC)
▪Lots of Manual Effort
▪Each "release" branch takes two weeks to set up
24
Evaluate the process

25. @WROSSMCK
▪Error prone
▪"Figure it out as it happens"
▪Works well for quarterly releases (like DLC)
▪Lots of Manual Effort
▪Each "release" branch takes two weeks to set up
25
Evaluate the process

26. @WROSSMCK
▪Error prone
▪"Figure it out as it happens"
▪Works well for quarterly releases (like DLC)
▪Lots of Manual Effort
▪Each "release" branch takes two weeks to set up
26
Evaluate the process

27. @WROSSMCK
▪Error prone
▪"Figure it out as it happens"
▪Works well for quarterly releases (like DLC)
▪Lots of Manual Effort
▪Each "release" branch takes two weeks to set up
27
Evaluate the process

28. @WROSSMCK
▪Error prone
▪"Figure it out as it happens"
▪Works well for quarterly releases (like DLC)
▪Lots of Manual Effort
▪Each "release" branch takes two weeks to set up
28
Evaluate the process

29. @WROSSMCK
29
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏 ‣ 🎮
R e l e a s e 1 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 1
R e l e a s e 2 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 2

30. @WROSSMCK
30
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏 ‣ 🎮
R e l e a s e 1 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 1
R e l e a s e 2 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 0
R e l e a s e 1 . 2

31. @WROSSMCK
31
Evaluate the process
▪Error prone
▪"Figure it out as it happens"
▪Works well for quarterly releases (like DLC)
▪Lots of Manual Effort
▪Each "release" branch takes two weeks to set up

32. @WROSSMCK
32
Evaluate the process
▪Error prone
▪"Figure it out as it happens"
▪Works well for quarterly releases (like DLC)
▪Lots of Manual Effort
▪Each "release" branch takes two weeks to set up

33. @WROSSMCK
33
Evaluate the process
▪Error prone
▪"Figure it out as it happens"
▪Works well for quarterly releases (like DLC)
▪Lots of Manual Effort
▪Each "release" branch takes two weeks to set up
Time To Player == 2 weeks minimum

34. @WROSSMCK
“The fastest way to do
something is not at all”
34
- Miles McGuire

35. @WROSSMCK
35
Engineer a New Release Strategy
▪Error prone
▪"Figure it out as it happens"
▪Works well for quarterly
releases (like DLC)
▪Lots of Manual Effort
▪Each "release" branch takes
two weeks to set up

36. @WROSSMCK
36
Engineer a New Release Strategy
▪Error prone
▪"Figure it out as it happens"
▪Works well for quarterly
releases (like DLC)
▪Lots of Manual Effort
▪Each "release" branch takes
two weeks to set up

37. @WROSSMCK
▪Minimise Manual Effort
▪Avoid a branch per release
▪Enable weekly patches
▪One setup for all releases
37
Engineer a New Release Strategy
▪Error prone
▪"Figure it out as it happens"
▪Works well for quarterly
releases (like DLC)
▪Lots of Manual Effort
▪Each "release" branch takes
two weeks to set up

38. @WROSSMCK
How DICE Ships Games
38

39. @WROSSMCK
39
Static Infrastructure

40. @WROSSMCK
Release 2.0
40
Static Infrastructure

41. @WROSSMCK
Release 2.0Release 2.1
41
Static Infrastructure

42. @WROSSMCK
Release 2.0Release 2.1Release 2.2
42
Static Infrastructure

43. @WROSSMCK
43
Static Infrastructure
Release 2.0Release 2.1Release 2.2Release 3.0

44. @WROSSMCK
Release 3.0 Release 2.2
44
Static Infrastructure
Release 2.1
Release 2.0

45. @WROSSMCK
Feature A
Feature B
45
Static Infrastructure
Release 3.0 Release 2.2 Release 2.1
Release 2.0

46. @WROSSMCK
Release 3.0 Release 2.2
46
Static Infrastructure
Feature A
Feature B
Release 2.1
Release 2.0

47. @WROSSMCK
Release 4.0 Release 3.0
47
Static Infrastructure
Release 4.0 Release 2.2
Release 2.1
Release 2.0

48. @WROSSMCK
Release 4.0 Release 3.0
48
Static Infrastructure
Release 4.0
Feature C
Feature E
Feature D Release 2.2
Release 2.1
Release 2.0

49. @WROSSMCK
🧠 ‣ # ‣ 🙏 ‣ 🎮
Remind You of Anything?
49

50. @WROSSMCK
Release 4.0 Release 3.0
50
Release Process Matches Artistic Process
Release 4.0
Feature C
Feature E
Feature D Release 2.2
Release 2.1
Release 2.0
🧠
🧠
🧠
🧠
### 🙏 🎮
🎮
🎮
🎮
🎮
🎮
🎮
🎮
🎮

51. @WROSSMCK
Engineer a New Release Strategy
▪Minimise manual effort
▪Avoid a branch per release
▪Enable weekly patches
▪One setup for all releases
▪Release process matches
artistic process
51

52. @WROSSMCK
Big Wins
▪Releases happen when the Game
Team decide
▪Release Team no longer
micromanaging releases
▪Freed up weeks of effort for every
release
▪Build Team can focus on Cool New
Projects™
▪Time To Player is reduced by two
weeks for every release
52

53. @WROSSMCK
Lessons Learnt
▪Use Value Stream
Mapping to reduce waste
▪Frontload effort to avoid
Tech Debt
▪Keep infrastructure static
▪Evaluate your processes
53

54. @WROSSMCK
@wrossmck
54