Agile Methodolgy
The Agile method for software development emphasises the making of a working product over paperwork. However I think it's worth documenting the humourous way in which our producer JP helped break the ice. Not all of us have been a part of a 'scrum' before so we engaged in a practice one in which we are all engineers and/or researchers at a turning-stone-into-gold facility. I can recommend it as a fun, enjoyable method for introducing the practice of scrum meetings to a newly formed team of developers.
Thursday afternoon was spent with artist LY explaining the inspiration behind the game's environment and character design. She and I made heavy use of a Miro board to communicate our ideas. I have a good rapport with LY having worked with her previously and I was thrilled that she came up with some great ideas for the game's opening cutscene.
[Screenshot of our Miro board showing visual research, forming a kind of 'Art Bible' for the game graphics design]
I also asked the whole team to spend some time playing Untitled Goose Game as inspiration for what I'd like the game to look like. Whilst trained police dogs are obviously very well behaved I still want the player-protagonist to have some cheekiness and character! Hopefully they come back next week with lots of interesting inspiration for sound design and gameplay. The way I like to run a game design team is to allow people as much creative licence as possible, to trust them as much as possible. My belief is that this brings out the best in people and allows the most interesting ideas to emerge.
Learnings:
Use of visual aids such as Miro and a whiteboard are absolutely essential to collaborative game development. Team rapport can be built with humorous team building exercizes and this is essential in the development of a good collaborative environment of trust and communication.
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