How do projects like movies and video games set deadlines so far ahead? Surely towards the end they’re either crunching to get it ready in time, or sitting on a product that has been ready for a while?
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Studios have a decent idea of roughly how long a project of this scope takes, so they can set a tentative “release window” very early.
That may move in or out depending on how development goes and what the market looks like.
You don’t typically see a studio set a hard release date very far out – generally they initially start with just “2025” and then in 2024 they’ll announce “Summer 2025,” and then finally announce “August 11th” sometime in the spring.
Sometimes unforeseen late difficulties or too-aggressive release dates will lead to crunch.
They’ve got a rough idea based on experience.
They plan in steps i.e. not one big deadline but lots smaller ones.
There are generally considered to be three “levers” in project management: timeline, resources, and scope. If you’re trying to hold any one of those constant (timeline, in the case of meeting a deadline) you can adjust the other two to do that.
In the case of a video game project, adjusting resources means hiring additional employees, outsourcing certain tasks, pulling people from other projects, and so on. Adjusting scope means adding or removing features from the project. If it’s looking like you might miss your deadline you can drop the number of character skins you’re going to develop, ditch the auto-aim feature, simplify level design, etc.
1. You extrapolate from experience with similar past projects.
2. You adjust course along the way, i.e. you allocate resources where necessary to complete work.
3. Crunches and delays are a common thing.
Any project, which doesn’t have to be in the videogame or movie industry will have deadlines.
They’re set far into the future, because people who know what they’re doing and have experience to complete the project, have done their due diligence to determine a realistic timescale of what each element of the project is expected to take.
Let me put it this way. You clean your room / house right?
You know roughly how long it will take you to tackle various aspects, like how long it takes to wash a single dish.
Each team member in a project will have their specialties and roles to complete a portion of a task.
All those tasks add up in time.
The more you do a particular task and know how long it will take, the better you can realistically determine how long it would take overall.
There’s an expression that a project will fill whatever time it is given. In practice, you set a roadmap, milestones, and timeline so you’re always doing micro deadlines for weekly milestones, etc.
They’ve got a rough idea based on experience.
They plan in steps i.e. not one big deadline but lots smaller ones.
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