JonnyG
04-02-2004, 06:04 PM
Gamespot (http://www.gamespot.com) has an interview (http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/04/02/news_6092739.html) with Butterfly.net CEO David LevineGameSpot: David, the promise of Butterfly.net is big, to say the least. Can you bring the company's big dreams down to size. What's the benefit for developers?
David Levine: Well, for developers, Butterfly.net provides a complete platform for the development, testing, and ongoing operations of MMOs. During development studios, can work in a "sandbox" on our development grid or install the server software within their own studio. The core software, whether hosted on our grid or installed in the studio, consists of game servers, artificial intelligence controllers, gateways, and client libraries for PC, console, and mobile devices. We have an extensive tools set and message boards within the developer's lab so that our engineers can directly support developers. We recognize that every game will be unique, so we spend a great deal of time with developers coming up with the most efficient means of meeting game design challenges. During production and acceptance testing, Butterfly maintains builds and stress-tests the games on a live grid using both automated testing tools and live gamers. When the games are ready to go live, we support the ongoing operations of games to the extent that the developer requires. Kind of like the XNA this looks to be a process to streamline game development. Currently development takes so long that it's hard to product the customers needs when you start development. This causes the games to either have feature creep to adjust to those needs or to come out clunky and out of date. So I think its a good thing. Anything that makes games better in my mind is a good thing.
I think the industry is in a rut, with job safety keeping people from making innovative games. If you can bring a good product to market quicker it might change that. It's hard for the bean counters to put the kind of money into a game necessary when the timeframe is so long, and the market cannot be quantified when you start. We'll see what happens. It's a good read anyway.
David Levine: Well, for developers, Butterfly.net provides a complete platform for the development, testing, and ongoing operations of MMOs. During development studios, can work in a "sandbox" on our development grid or install the server software within their own studio. The core software, whether hosted on our grid or installed in the studio, consists of game servers, artificial intelligence controllers, gateways, and client libraries for PC, console, and mobile devices. We have an extensive tools set and message boards within the developer's lab so that our engineers can directly support developers. We recognize that every game will be unique, so we spend a great deal of time with developers coming up with the most efficient means of meeting game design challenges. During production and acceptance testing, Butterfly maintains builds and stress-tests the games on a live grid using both automated testing tools and live gamers. When the games are ready to go live, we support the ongoing operations of games to the extent that the developer requires. Kind of like the XNA this looks to be a process to streamline game development. Currently development takes so long that it's hard to product the customers needs when you start development. This causes the games to either have feature creep to adjust to those needs or to come out clunky and out of date. So I think its a good thing. Anything that makes games better in my mind is a good thing.
I think the industry is in a rut, with job safety keeping people from making innovative games. If you can bring a good product to market quicker it might change that. It's hard for the bean counters to put the kind of money into a game necessary when the timeframe is so long, and the market cannot be quantified when you start. We'll see what happens. It's a good read anyway.