Road to the Roadmap: The Gambler (sans holding or folding)

If something (a game, but as with all my teachings, this can be applied to all of life) is to be built, the two most important things to first accomplish are knowing the team and knowing the task.

Take Fifth Sun- please.

Those UserStories: each one is categorized based on it's relevance to the project (MoSCoW): Must, Should, Could, Won't.

MUST: GUI, Balanced XP tables, Weapon animations, Weapon effects, Multiple-weapon script, Enemy animation, Enemy AI, Player movement, Save game, Non-regenerating health, Regenerating mana.

SHOULD: Difficulty curve, Accurate art design, Non-linear progression, Gratuitous blood, Hidden content.

COULD: Pre-boss cutscenes, Boss health bars.

WON'T: (there's nothing we won't do)

The UserStories and their ratings have put everyone on the same page as to what the project is; Planning Poker now establishes how difficult it would be for the team to create them.

Scale of Tasks

100 - SuperEpic. All the epics; this is the widest scope.
40
20 - Epic. Values and features.
13
8 - Value. Various features.
5 - Feature. A collection of tasks.
3
2
1 - Task. This is the most basic activity.
0

The features fleshed out in the UserStories analyzed one by one, each team member placing a bid as to how hard to the tasks are. Then the team looks at all the bids and talks about why.

Should the team not know how to do any part, chores and spikes can be added. Chores are the process of research, and spikes are the implementation into the project.