Project organization questions

jordank95

just curious how larger studios organize and work on their bigger games? Let’s say a game has a lot of different levels etc., - are there Maya project files just for assets pertaining to that level? 

Ive seen some people/studios do it where there’s a Maya project file for every single asset made. Wouldn’t it be easier to just have all assets pertaining to that level in one project file rather than a ton of different files?

Curious as to what are some good workflow tips for this and how people handle it. 

poopipe

Lots of small files means lots of people can work on the same bits of game at the same time.
Often there are tools to layer maya files together for scene composition etc.

oglu

If you are working on real big projects you need a managing tool like Shotgun + file versioning tool like Perforce.
Otherwise you get lost fast. The Artists get there Tasks and Files only thru Shotgun.

There is a Talk about form Epic.

Here at 20min
https://vimeo.com/330158018

An othet one from Psyop
Here at 5min
https://vimeo.com/125186560

oglu

Here is a tool this does work for smaller Teams.
http://pipeline.nnl.tv/

Mark Dygert

I would strongly advise you against putting all of your eggs in one basket. Someone always trips and it's better if only a few eggs are broken instead of every egg. Plus it isn't hard to chug a scene file with just a handful of assets. It might be ok to batch a few together like a desk, chair and some desk accessories but putting "all props" in a single file sounds like a disaster.

What if someone wanted to ref in a garbage can but they had to pull in an entire office building just to get that one can? Or they have to open the file and save out that specific can? Either way it's a pain in the ass if it's all in one giant scene file.

With everything in one scene file it can make it hard to roll back one asset. You might undo a bunch of work someone else did to other assets or you might have to go through a long process of restoring files, saving them out to some other location and then merging it all into the latest file. I've been there, it's easier to just grab the revision on the one asset and be done with the dance. 

If you need to include files together for reference, you should probably reference them into your scene, while you need them and then unload them, that way they can be worked on by others and you'll always have the latest version, if someone makes a revision.

Artist friendly Interfaces:

Perforce or "Helix" is pretty much standard. https://www.perforce.com/products/helix-core
Every place I've worked has used it and it never let us down. I really like that it integrates into Unreal, Maya and Max so those plug-ins are managing the files not me. It has a graphical interface that makes it easy for anyone and everyone to use. Plus it isn't hard to string some simple commands together to get your pipeline running as smooth as possible. A friend of mine created a batch export script that also deals with perforce. There have been a handful of other tools that don't have perforce plug-ins but that doesn't stop you from making a few simple tools. It's really easy to use and almost everyone has used it which means you don't have to train people, but it is not the cheapest option.

Shotgun is GREAT https://www.shotgunsoftware.com/
BUT it's pricey, so is perforce, plus you have to maintain server space somewhere. But if you're project is serious about making that process smooth and bulletproof Shotgun is the way forward. It handles more than just version control, it can warehouse conversations and maintain the feedback and reference. It also can handle scheduling and project tasks so it does quite a bit, which it better for it's price tag, ha.  It really is the best option that I've ever seen but sadly most projects tend to lean more on programmer recomendations and never consult artists for version control. Shotgun isn't really a coder tool so they really don't care about it so usually we just get stuck with perforce and they call it good... bastards...

Alienbrain https://www.alienbrain.com/
I've never used Alienbrain but I've heard good things about it. It bills itself as for artists by artists so you won't be bogged down running command lines and opening esoteric data ports on clandestine servers in Singapore like you will with...

Code Monkey Friendly Options:

These tend to be cheap and not artist friendly. Think of command line Bullshit and plenty of forehead on keyboard moments where you'll probably say "suck on my USB stick, you stupid project files".

Git is "affordable" and code warriors love it  https://git-scm.com
Code monkeys will like it but it's not exactly a good option for artists. I've made do with git on small indie projects, it works it's just not that great for artists. There are several GUI options available that make dealing with it a bit easier.

Subversion is... an option...  https://subversion.apache.org/
It's cheap, but not exactly easy to work with. There are some GUI's floating around but it's pretty much just like GIT. Code warriors will like it, most artists will get used to it and deal with it but it won't really suit their needs as well as some of the other options.

Mercurial is another option https://www.mercurial-scm.org/
Its free and for people that don't like how corporate GIT has gotten they seem to like it. Artists tend to dislike it. Lots of commands, very few GUI options but beggers can't be choosers...

poopipe

My tuppence on tools.... 

I don't rate shotgun at all as a production tool - I found setting up feedback and revision steps very inflexible and the browser based UI to be basically dogshit. 
Hansoft is a far superior alternative and it works for all disciplines so you can synch schedules up without dealing with multiple systems(it's probably very expensive) 

Perforce is great. 

SVN is mostly usable but a nightmare to deal with when it shits itself (which is often) and its very difficult to roll back to earlier revisions of a whole project. 

Git isn't too bad if you plug the bits you need for large binary files in and get a nice gui for it.  I'd take it over SVN in a heartbeat.. 

Goat Justice

Lots of small files can be fairly easy to work with if you have a good naming convention and system of organizing directories (ideally one that more or less matches the naming).  For example Level01_Architecture_Hallway_32m would live in Level01>Architecture with its models, textures, and source files sorted into appropriate sub folders.