TDD WTF?! Or how to write gameplay code without bugs

What the talk is about

Artyom Titov explains how Larian Studios rewrote its combat system and arrived at an approach that combines TDD with designing up front. Adding tests to finished code, or asking a strong senior to do it, failed: the tests came out overly complex and the code wasn't modular. The team then began collecting requirements from all stakeholders, drawing a feature diagram and agreeing on it with designers as a contract, splitting the feature into subsystems with their own diagrams, and only then writing tests and code. The results: instead of 16 weeks and 65 bugs, a few weeks and almost no bugs, easier code reviews and fewer game restarts. He is also candid about the drawbacks: discipline across the whole team, reliable CI, and about six months to adopt. Useful for gameplay programmers, leads and producers.