In the previous case, I described how we optimized the art  pipeline and produced a full set of production artifacts, accelerating art development by approximately 70% (you can read more about it here).  However, the majority of these results would not have been achievable  without addressing another critical factor—one that is often overlooked, yet fully capable of derailing even the best plans. 70% here That factor is the quality of the working day and cross-department interaction. Let’s walk through it step by step how we optimized our daily routine. the quality of the working day and cross-department interaction The Case About  six months after optimization, we began noticing a pattern. Art  production itself moved at a steady pace: assets flowed smoothly from  sketches to art review. However, the process consistently stalled during  implementation—at the first point of interaction with other departments, and especially during testing.“Noticed,” “felt,” and “it seems like” mean nothing in the life of a producer or PM. We needed data. implementation To  isolate the problem, I selected a version far from release and treated  it as if we were already live: marketing in full swing, hard delivery  commitments in place, and a requirement to ship nine content branches at  launch and be prepared to scale post-release. We deliberately balanced the scope: 30% complex skins (G5)
30% medium complexity (G4)
30% recolors (G3)
10% near-final skins, requiring only a merge 30% complex skins (G5) 30% medium complexity (G4) 30% recolors (G3) 10% near-final skins, requiring only a merge After three sprints, the results were alarming. Only the 10% near-final skins made it into the master build. From the remaining 90%, just one branch was close to being ready for the next version. That was it. 10% near-final skins just one branch This  was indefensible in front of stakeholders. Even allowing for a  department still being formed, this required immediate correction. Work We began with a retrospective to identify root causes. Two themes surfaced repeatedly: Documentation gaps
Miss-communication issues Documentation gaps Miss-communication issues The  second was easy to observe firsthand. Over three sprints, tasks and  files were routinely lost at handover points. Chat messages and calls  didn’t help—some people stored files “where it made sense to myself,”  while others searched for them “where they were supposed to be.” Every  time a task crossed departments—FBX files moving to rigging, rigs  moving to gameplay setup, skins moving to narrative for descriptions—we  lost at least one full day to  communication. In worse cases, two or three days if someone was  unavailable. In roughly half the cases, a single missing person in the  chain blocked the entire process. at least one full day The ultimate symptom was clear: five bugs per branch as an average —  an unacceptable number for cosmetic content meant to be produced at  scale. These bugs had no single root cause; they appeared at every stage  of development and slowed us down. Our objective became clear: five bugs per branch as an average Enable delivery of nine branches per version, starting with the most complex geometry
Reduce average bugs per branch to 0.5 Enable delivery of nine branches per version, starting with the most complex geometry nine branches per version Reduce average bugs per branch to 0.5 0.5 Fit the entire test phase into two weeks, with the second week reserved for master queueing. two weeks The Solution The Solution Task Structure & Documentation Task Structure & Documentation I’ve already described how we restructured Epics and art tasks (linkhere). We now needed the same clarity for departments involved only intermittently. Tasks had to be readable at a glance.  I wrote them as if a child might read them—everything had to be obvious  without additional explanation. A Game Design task looked like this: here at a glance Mandatory Task Checklists Mandatory Task Checklists Art  tasks received a new mandatory checklist. In addition to stage-specific  deliverables, artists were required to verify key conditions before  moving forward. PMs were not allowed to close tasks unless all checklist  items were completed. Production Documentation Production Documentation In Confluence, we introduced a table breaking each skin into stages. Each contributor updated their section independently. The PM tracked progress via background colors: White — not started
Yellow — in progress
Red — Stopped, blocked or cancelled
Green — completed, ready for next stage
Grey – Not applicable White — not started Yellow — in progress Red — Stopped, blocked or cancelled Green — completed, ready for next stage Grey – Not applicable Checkpoint Tasks Checkpoint Tasks Each Epic now included checkpoint tasks at known communication failure points. Examples: Export FBX File — artist provides a single link for the rigger
Post-GD Setup Validation — rigger verifies animation after gameplay setup Export FBX File — artist provides a single link for the rigger Export FBX File Post-GD Setup Validation — rigger verifies animation after gameplay setup Post-GD Setup Validation Each  checkpoint required a concrete artifact attached to the final comment.  Developers now had a single, clearly defined place where all files  required for the task were stored. Tasks were linked to one another,  making it impossible to miss or lose the necessary files. Art Review Art Review We introduced a formal Art Review task, which previously did not exist. Each review specified: Art Review task Build number
In-game verification
Art Lead or Principal approval Build number In-game verification Art Lead or Principal approval If  changes were required, the reason and responsible person had to be  explicitly mentioned. To reduce waiting time, I learned to build and  distribute builds myself. Jira Rules Jira Rules This was an early version of the Jira rules we use on a daily basis. I already talked about themhere. here Only PMs Create Tasks Only PMs Create Tasks We  also declared war on “urgent-do-or-we-die” tasks arriving from outside  teams. All tasks had to be created by the PM using a unified format.  Each task required: What needs to be done
How much time it should take
Attached technical documentation What needs to be done How much time it should take Attached technical documentation The PM also became the single intake point for client requests. No task — no work No task — no work If  a request came directly to an artist, bypassing official channels, the  artist was required to notify the PM and could ignore it until the task  was formalized. Meetings & Communication Meetings & Communication I’ve reduced unnecessary communication. I genuinely dislike redundant calls. We kept only three: Daily Morphing Stand-up(30 minutes max)Results only. Problems moved to separate meetings.
Integration Daily(15 minutes max, before morning stand-up)Participants: PM, QA, Art Lead, Principal ArtistDevelopers were removed from testing entirely.
Art Director Feedback Sessions(Monday & Wednesday, 1 hour max)Optional, but guaranteed access to Art Director time. Daily Morphing Stand-up(30 minutes max)Results only. Problems moved to separate meetings. Daily Morphing Stand-up Integration Daily(15 minutes max, before morning stand-up)Participants: PM, QA, Art Lead, Principal ArtistDevelopers were removed from testing entirely. Integration Daily Art Director Feedback Sessions(Monday & Wednesday, 1 hour max)Optional, but guaranteed access to Art Director time. Art Director Feedback Sessions Each meeting had its own chat. Plus one additional Concept Art chat. Nothing else. Results Results In three months we were able to merge around 8,5 branches per version already. Bug count dropped to 0.75 per branch over six months. The average test time was ~1,1 weeks. 8,5 0.75 per branch ~1,1

This story contains new, firsthand information uncovered by the writer.

Yellow

How a PM Can Transform Art Production: A Case Study in AAA Gaming

How Better Daily Routines Can Improve Art Production by 70%

About Author

Comments

TOPICS

THIS ARTICLE WAS FEATURED IN

Related Stories

Adapting to AI: Insights from a Project Manager in Game Development

Patterns That Work and Pitfalls to Avoid in AI Agent Deployment

The Seven Pillars of a Production-Grade Agent Architecture

10 Useful Assets and Third-party Kits for Unity Developers of Any Level

10 facts about Mobile Rewarded Surveys

11 Phases Of Simple Mobile Game App Development

Adapting to AI: Insights from a Project Manager in Game Development

Patterns That Work and Pitfalls to Avoid in AI Agent Deployment

The Seven Pillars of a Production-Grade Agent Architecture

10 Useful Assets and Third-party Kits for Unity Developers of Any Level

10 facts about Mobile Rewarded Surveys

11 Phases Of Simple Mobile Game App Development

Light-Mode

Classic

Newspaper

Minty

Dark-Mode

Neon Noir

Minty

HN StartUps