Project 1

Proficiency: This trimester, specifically in Prototype 3, I took up the leader role for my group. This was my first time doing so both in a group of more than at least two and in a group that is serious on getting a project done. 

I wasn't the most confident when we first started working on Prototype 3 as I hadn't had the most experience with a leader role, but I found that over the time my group worked together, I started to pick up on some things like how to explain something to someone who doesn't understand it entirely (I'm still not the best at it but I'm making a slow improvement through this leadership role), how to balance workload between team members as well as designating tasks to certain days as to not overwork or provide too little tasks to team members, etc.

Process: As per my role as a project leader for Prototype 3, I tried to improve workflow and the production of the project by creating a project schedule, where tasks were delegated to specific days throughout the project duration instead of as soon as possible, so the team wasn't overworked and would become burnt out. It also allowed time for members of the team to communicate about specific parts of the project that we were working on at that specific point in time. 

On the topic of communication, during my project I also learnt about the most important skill you can have as a game developer, which is listening. Jesse Schell (2014, pp. 5-7) talks in their book The Art of Game Design about listening deeply into what is being told to you and fully understanding it, as well as the five types of listening for a game developer, the two most relevant for me being 'team' and 'game.' This helped me to be able to better understand what my team was saying to me, like for example when George came back to me with his designs that were vastly different than what was requested, that told me that he was probably more of a visual learner and that it would be better for me to actually show the corrections instead of just telling him them.

Person: This project required a lot of communication between each other, especially for tasks such as the poster design that had other tasks depend on it, which we managed to keep satisfactory communication with, but I feel that there was not enough communication in some areas. 

For example, I found that me and Siyuan would discuss things about George's work and workflow, but we didn't get George involved in the conversation, and although I realise that it's not just my fault as I realise Siyuan also had the issue of only coming to me about George's problems, I also take responsibility for not calling George into these conversations. Once I became aware of this, though, I made sure George became involved in these conversations so no information is kept from him.

Appraisal: Firstly, in regards to how successful this project was as a whole, I'm not very happy with it. The trimester started off rocky as I failed to complete Prototype 1 and 2, which I really wish I had done. I'm happy with the fact that I did manage to catch back on by Prototype 3 and really get into it, but I really wish I had of done that from Prototype 1 instead of failing two prototypes.

In regards to the specific prototypes, I'm very happy with the way Prototype 3 turned out. I think Siyuan and George did some good work, although it felt like Siyuan tried to take over leadership in some aspects such as with directing George, which felt a bit disruptive because he was prone to get some details wrong, as I found. I was especially happy with the result of the final iteration of Prototype 3 for Student Showcase as that had every component of the game in working order, and it aligned very well with my expectations, such as with the poster—while the buttons weren't the best, for a prototype version of the game, the poster turned out great.

Challenges: The first challenge I found was trying to juggle the first prototype with my video editing project with a deadline. Because I was already spending a lot of my time around the start of the trimester on this video editing project that I was being paid by a third party to produce, I wasn't able to spend time working on Prototype 1 and therefore missed it. Prototype 2 wasn't much better, I had finished the video editing project a bit after the project time commenced, but as I was focused on Project 2 work, I also failed to get that Prototype out. The lessons I learnt from those missed prototypes are to make sure personal projects aren't ongoing during the trimester and delegate tasks to days so time can be managed better.