Cross-disciplinary communication in game development : How does modifications to agile methodologies affect communication across disciplines?

Sammanfattning: Many software methodologies are being used for the development of video games. However, there are very few studies that cover how these methodologies are deployed and what they affect in the game development process. This study aims to explore the connection between agile development modifications applied in video game studios and their effect on cross-disciplinary communication. The research was conducted in three parts; talks of professional game developers were analysed, a field study in a studio was conducted, and a survey was designed to gain more insights from game developers around the world. After obtaining the results in three parts, a content analysis was carried out to find patterns in agile development that affect communication across disciplines. The found patterns were the overlapping work of developers, the amount of cross-disciplinary meetings, and doing experiments to find a methodology that best fits the development team. This research contributes to the field of game development with a focus on the impact on communication between different disciplines with the usage of agile development.