While
everyone in the group wants to make a great game that our fans will enjoy, we
all have different ideas on how to get there. Today I’m going to talk about
team management as the Producer on Batteries Included, and why it’s often more
than most people would imagine.
For me, the
most important part of being the team’s producer was to ensure that everyone
was communicating. If not to me, then to their individual department heads.
This was so I could be as updated as possible as to what people were working
on, and if they were running into problems I could help them or get someone
else who could. Oiling the machine, keeping it happy, plugging leaks.
This led into my second directive:
making sure everyone was on the same page. This included everything from overarching
concept and design principles, to unit behaviors and abilities. In some way,
everyone was working on specific minutia that make up the sum of Batteries
Included. I needed to show everyone what the sum we were working toward looked
like. It wasn’t necessarily all my ideas, far from it, but a compilation of
musings from the design team, programmers, and artists. Anything we directly
decided on was added to this idea of our game, and I relayed it to the rest of
the team as often as possible. This became very convoluted at a very specific
point in our process: during our pivot into what we are today. Everyone was
contributing to this sum at a rapid pace, and I could barely keep up with the
changes, let alone anyone else who had other work prototyping it. It was imperative
that those responsible for making the actual changes knew what they needed to
change, and we did have some issues with the pace we were taking in doing so.
That being said, we made it
through, and are all the better for it. Our vision is as clear as it’s ever
been, and we’re rapidly approaching launch day for the game. I can happily say
that team morale for the project is at an all-time high. Another part of my job
that I take very seriously is the health of the team. If one member has too
much on their plate, or is struggling in other aspects of their life, I made
sure to make time to talk things over with them to see if there was anything I
could do to help. I think in the long run this has brought us all closer as a
team, and established a sense of camaraderie and friendship. It’s important to
get along with the people you see every day, even if you don’t always agree on
everything. In fact, I think that a healthy dose of disagreement is important in
developing a game, as you can’t understand what makes an idea good if you don’t
have a counterpoint for why it could be bad.
I think everyone knows about
deadlines, burndown charts, stand-ups and development cycles nowadays in the
game industry. And while I also handled all of these things and ensured they
were met, I think what I’ve outlined above is ultimately more important for a
good game. You can make all the deadlines and charts that you want, but it
still won’t ensure success. Team health, communication, and togetherness may
not sell your game either, but it’s easier to have a productive work
environment when the team members feel they’re of value to the project and that
their contributions matter.
Signing off,
Griffin Park, Producer/Designer
Comments
Post a Comment