Publication:

The Role of Sprint Planning and Feedback in Game Development Projects: Implications for Game Quality

Abstract

Game development projects adopt Scrum to leverage their flexibility, as game concepts and the customer preferences are highly abstract and unpredictable. The most desirable features in an original game will not be easily identified during the first phase of development but will emerge later in a clear pattern as developers and testers continuously playtest the game. Thus, game development projects use feedback from game testers to understand what they think of various features and concepts, to obtain a better understanding of problem spaces. This study proposes that game tester feedback moderates the effect of Sprint planning on game quality. A field study was conducted using a pair-matched questionnaire in which 102 game development projects participated. Results showed that Sprint planning has a positive effect on game quality. The results also revealed that iterative feedback has a moderating effect on the relationship between Sprint planning and game quality. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.