PRODUCTION

Related Softwares: 

• Discord for team communication, coordination, and documentation navigation.

• Google Docs for documentation.

• Google Slides for presentations.

• Google Sheets for assignment backlog.

Experiences: 

• Leading a 32-person team using the Waterfall (transferred into Agile since Beta) methodology.

• Maintaining supportive accountability by clarifying expectations, tasks, and deadlines.

• Developed a team management structure by organizing members into separate departments.

• Enhanced team documentation by having team members record meeting summaries.

• Streamlined documentation on Discord for intuitive organization of design files.

• Held weekly stand-ups to synchronize development progress, plan sprints, and conduct retrospectives.

• Defined and refined development objectives for each sprint, analyzing playtest feedback and updating goals accordingly.

• Presented milestone updates to showcase the project’s progress.

• Restructured the team from skill-based departments to multidisciplinary groups responsible for specific areas of the game, improving accountability, productivity, and team cohesion.

Challenges & Solutions:

A major challenge involved lack of motivation and interdepartmental collaboration. Because final implementations often rested in the hands of other departments, team members felt discouraged. For example:

• Level designers were dissatisfied when environmental artists altered their original layouts.

• Environmental artists felt limited by needing to accommodate level design.

• Quest designers struggled to create intuitive dialogue when they had little control over the environment.

• Engineers were unclear on certain design implementations.

• Communication typically flowed through department leads, creating extra work for them and adding confusion due to indirect communication.

To resolve this, we recently eliminated department-based grouping. Rather than clustering individuals by similar skill sets, we formed multidisciplinary teams that included level designers, artists, narrative designers, and engineers. Each team was responsible for an entire quest line—covering everything from level design and environmental art to narrative elements. As a result, the end product became more coherent, and teams felt more empowered. Reduced communication friction and a greater sense of ownership led to improved motivation and a higher-quality final product.

UI DESIGN (TO BE UPDATED...)