Shard Run
Producer
10/23-11/23
Pitch
Shard Run is a fun multiplayer tag game that was completed in thirty days!
Scientists travel to an island in order to collect shards of a dangerous, radioactive crystal that is turning all living beings into Monkeys. Monkeys don't want to stop the spread, and wish to convert the Scientists instead!
Meet the Team
This project was developed by a group of 8 designers. The following game was created in a thirty day timeline, and achieved our goal of being fun, and good-looking. A total of 30 testers attested to the experience being impressive gameplay and art-wise, and has allowed us to continue development as a team on a new project! Kanban methodologies were used for this project, and task-sheets, trello boards, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives were led by me.
What Did I Do?
My main roles in this project included developing and organizing tasks, leading daily-stand ups, reporting to stakeholders, as well as ensuring that all departments were on track and maintaining clear communication between each other and myself within a fast-paced thirty-day deadline. I was responsible for:
1) Leading a team of 8 developers to create a multiplayer game in thirty days that 30 testers determined to be fun and good-looking.
2) Managing all tasks, leading daily stand-ups, taking detailed notes, and effectively communicating with stakeholders to ensure that the project was successful, and ready to be shown by the thirty day deadline.
3) Developing the trailer, and helping design the itch page, contributing to the project's marketing and online presence.
4) Facilitating communication between team members, acting as the main point of contact between stakeholders and the team, and responding promptly to stakeholder inquiries, resolving cross-functional issues, and solving short-term and long-term blockers.
KanBan Board
Trello Organization
The categories label the tasks based on completion: backlog includes all tasks to be completed in the thirty day deadline. Every week, tasks were chosen and placed into to-do and capped at an item limit per discipline.
The color at the top left of the task determines the discipline it belongs to: Programming, Design, 2D/3D Art, Narrative, or Marketing. Cross Functional tasks had their own cover and color due to their importance, as extra steps needed to be taken (i.e. special meetings between team members belonging to involved disciplines) needed to be planned to properly complete them.
To-Do represents tasks chosen to be completed during the present week. Doing is for tasks that are in-progress. Done is for tasks that are completed and reviewed.
Additionally, tasks were sorted by priority from Top Priority to Low Priority. Depending on which color the task is under, that is the order in which they get done.
IMPROVEMENTS: If I were to redo the trello board knowing what I know now, I would have made the priorities attributers of each card, similar to how the discipline is determined in the top left. Additionally, a "Review" column would be added for tasks that are part of deliverables that have yet to be shown to stakeholders for review. (These are all changes that have been implemented in our new, current project).
What Did I Learn?
This project allowed me to utilize the management skills I've earned over the years in a very strict and fast-paced environment, forcing me to be more creative with the ways that I resolved blockers, ensured teammates weren't feeling overwhlemed, but still had a complete and fun project within the deadline. I also had a chance to practice KanBan, to become even more familiar with Trello and develop a production style to fit the team, as well as learning how to manage a purely online team. The greatest challenge I faced was ensuring that all tasks were completed but no teammates were overwhelmed, as there was a lot of work to be done and very little time. This allowed me to heavily exercise my ability to scope down a project without killing it, and to find ways of ascertaining whether or my team members were honest about their ability to take on their workloads. I learned to listen carefully to my teammates and to ascertain their true abilities so that they were not left feeling overwhelmed, or as if they had nothing to do. All in all, this was a fantastic exercise in practicing scope management, and learning to be a positive force that motivated team members to meet a very difficult deadline. In the end, we proved the disbelievers wrong!
This is the itch website I helped design for Shard Run. I was responsible for the text, as well as the images used. It includes a more detailed pitch, gameplay screenshots, as well as a list of the contributors!
