Winning the Shell Game

The shell game dates back to the Middle Ages where it was played with walnut shells and a pea, and perhaps further back to Ancient Greece where it was played with sea shells. Today you might see it on a stage as the cup-and-ball routine or on the streets as three-card monte. It's posed as a gambling game, where the dealer shuffles shells, cups or cards around and players place bets on which one the pea, ball or money card is revealed. In reality, its a confidence game played by sleight of hand, and it is aimed to take your money.

In the game industry, a shell game is played between an unscrupulous developer and a game publisher. The na?ve publisher, like a mark, is hooked. Their money is on the table, and now the developer, faced with the reality of having to deliver, shuffles resources around like so many shells and produces less than what the publisher paid for if anything at all. Nobody wins in this game.

From a developer perspective, how did they get here? They made big promises they couldn't keep. Their estimates were terrible. Or maybe they double booked with multiple customers, and they're shuffling resources between projects. They may have scrambled and signed a deal with a new client as the deal with their older client was going south. However they got here, they are now scrambling and keeping up appearances, yet they are not able to deliver.

From a publisher perspective, what you're seeing is under-delivery, delays, maybe a courteous heads-up on something being a little late that turns into weeks. Even if delivered on time, you might get broken and clearly untested builds of poor quality. What's a publishing producer to do?

Money, Money, Money

We've covered before in The Power of the Purse how money can be used as a motivator. Withholding milestone payments definitely sends the strongest message, but it's not always an option depending on how the contract terms were written. It can also kill your project if the developer can't make payroll.

The first time a milestone is missed and they don't receive payment, the timer starts. You got maybe two or three payroll cycles before withholding payment really starts to bite, unless their living hand to mouth. You'll find out quickly. This is when the negotiation often starts. Partial payments may keep them going until they catch up, but don't make a habit of it.

Sit On Them

Another important tool is the developer visit. This is like the due diligence step you may have skipped before signing the deal, and now you're regretting it. The goal is the same: Assess their capability of delivering. Find out what they're working on. Is your car up on the rack getting worked on, or is it still parked behind the repair shop with its engine light on?

This is where the developer may put on a show. They may tell their employees to bring up your game on their screens during your visit, only to have them go back to another more demanding client's project when you're gone. (True story! Not naming names here, but this happens!!) So spend more time there. Maybe sit an associate or two on site to monitor the situation and report back. If you're a developer, these people may be posed as "resources" to help you catch up, but in reality they are there to sit on you..

Shorten the Leash

Another important tool for a publisher is to demand updates. When they're running late, they're going to be on a shorter leash. If you think they're shuffling around resources, ask for more frequent builds. They may push back because of testing time, but you can tell them that this is what you're going to help them with. This build is primarily a tool for you to check on their progress and keep them focused, but you could assign some testing resources on your end to evaluate each build and write up bugs. You want at least weekly builds if not twice weekly. If they can't commit or keep up with that, then you know they're not working on your game, but someone else's. If they do give you weekly builds, you can judge for yourself if they're making sufficient progress.

Advice for Developers

Never put yourself in this position. Committing to a client is like the proverbial bird in hand that is worth more than two in the bush. Keep your current clients happy. Stop signing new deals while you're still working on the old ones. As we previously covered, scope check your game and get your resources aligned to a doable game design.

Learn to negotiate. There's often some horse trading you can do to make up for a missing feature. Keep track of any extras you might have delivered and use those as bargaining chips. Offer something you know the publisher really wants but was never in the contract or original design, but it may be easier for you to deliver. This sweetens the deal.

Rescoping

If you believe this was truly a matter of underestimating, and not a confidence game, you may regain some trust by rescoping the project or extending the dates on the contract. This is done with lessons learned and more knowledge than when the project kicked off. Your new dates and deliverables will become more realistic. Undoubtedly, this will impact the terms.

Additional time and paid milestones means more advances and additional risk for a publisher. Expect the royalties for a developer to shrink. Ideally as a developer, you can get more time without pay, absorb the costs, and not lose any royalties. It may also just mean hiring more people. The developer either absorbs the costs or negotiates for a larger advance.

For a publisher, find out what kind of game you can get for the original budget and timeframe. What grand ideas need to go? For a developer, do the value-cost evaluation for each undeveloped feature. This is where broad stroke changes like smaller campaigns or removal of multiplayer or coop mode may occur, leaving the heart of the game still beating and worthy of publishing.

Conclusion

In the end, this a story about regaining trust after a missed milestone, which is pretty common on any game project. If missing milestones becomes a pattern, the developer may be playing the shell game. You can still win if you take this advice.