![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.patricioland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/bluehelmet3.png\")
<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Big news: I am the new Team Leader. Our supervisor let me know this just a moment ago by email. Slightly shocked by the news, I felt compelled to let everybody know about it as soon as possible. Since a rarefied atmosphere has been around within the team over the last two weeks, I have to seriously think of trying to apply a strategy to avoid wasting time and making everybody feel that they all heard along with their suggestions, ideas, and support.\u00a0Although I have some experience on these issues, we have to make a big effort to put our problems behind and get back to focus on the project.<\/p>\n However, the new condition of our team required a re-evaluation of tasks, as Macklin<\/b> and Sharp<\/b> states on chapter 8 of Games, Design and Play:<\/b>\u00a0on small teams, the roles and responsibilities tend to mix (a designer who also programs, an artist who handles project manager, etc) and this is a potential reality on our case; so I called \u00a0a new meeting in order to make each task and responsibility as clear as possible under the current situation.<\/p>\n First thing though, to split the team into two departments: art and development, our supervisor judged that this would not be necessary given the small size of the group. My greatest fear was not being able to appease a very strong feeling of anxiety pushing everyone to get to work on something even if they did not know precisely what. While it was important to make up for lost time It was also imperative to review and reassign responsibilities as follows:<\/p>\n Game design<\/strong><\/span> (determination of the game’s goals, play experience):\u00a0It would continue to be in the hands of the four at least for a couple more weeks. All my experience leading workgroups have been with few members, never more than 4 or 5 persons during very focused projects. Even having done some training in this area, managing groups is not something that I am passionate about.In fact, if my independent animation and game development studio project takes on a larger scale in the future, my first concern would be to hire an experienced manager. Knowing different techniques, tools, and approaches is very handy, but putting them into practice is something that I would rather avoid or eventually delegate, but this is not the case here and I\u2019m resolved to do my best, and to put all my \u2018know how\u2019 to bring this ship to a safe harbour!.<\/p>\n Put talented, passionate people together, and you are bound to encounter differences of opinion, personality, methodology, and so on. This is inevitable. The trick is to find ways as a team to work through your differences and turn them into strengths, not weaknesses. (Macklin 2016 :279-282)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Macklin<\/strong> and Sharp<\/strong> also makes reference to 3 main types of conflicts in teams: procedural, affective and sustantive (based upon Woventext<\/strong> by Rebecca Burnett<\/strong> and her collaborators).<\/p>\n Procedural conflicts:<\/span><\/strong> does someone feel unheard based on how meetings are conducted? Is the schedule too loose or tight? Do team members feel constrained by or uncertain of their responsibilities? In our case we experienced a lot of affective and procedural conflicts<\/strong> from the very\u00a0beginning, being the first category the most noticeable: I discussed about anxiety, some ego problems.<\/p>\n Procedural conflicts<\/strong> are second in importance, but not for that reason neglect: I feel myself part of the problem here, not having not an extensive background using Agile’s<\/strong> methodologies or even a professional use of a version control software like GitHub.<\/strong> Concerning the affective conflicts<\/strong> mentioned above, I’m following my instincts (call it experience if you will), being open to other points of view, developing active listening, and giving enough room to each member to express their feelings and proposals as much as possible. All major decisions are going to be communicate by me via email on a regular basis, each week after our supervisor meetings or personal meetings.<\/p>\n I did not talk a lot about sustantive conflicts<\/strong> because everybody in the team feels that we have a fantastic idea to work with, great individual talents, and commitment to success. I do believe we’re all in the same page here!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n While studying more about the concept of game pillars, I found an article that appeared in issue 52 of Wireframe magazine of great interest. This article covers two game development tools that are designed to help decide what\u2019s important in the game you\u2019re making. The iron triangle revolves around the practical realities of making a game, while game pillars cover the creative side.<\/p>\n A game\u2019s pillars are a list of around three\u00a0\u2018core statements\u2019 created early in that game\u2019s development. You could come up with your pillars before you\u2019ve started development to help narrow down the possible game you might make, or you might do this after prototyping has given you an idea you want to pursue. You can even retroactively create pillars to help rescue a game that\u2019s been in development for a while and has lost its way. (Maine 2021)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Pillars should focus on the feelings and emotions you want your game to evoke, rather than how you\u2019re going to do\u00a0it. That\u2019s because pillars aren\u2019t a feature list to check off, more a tool to help remember the things that are important when you\u2019re submerged in the day-to-day realities of game development.\u00a0(Maine 2021)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Pillars are a tool for staying on track, not for coming up with ideas. As the author suggests, this is probably the most important concept here, so I’d like to put those concepts into practice enumerating some of our pillars under the central idea of focusing on the sustainability of the environment and the responsible use of resources.<\/p>\n It seems strange to express it this way as this is a paleolithic game, but those pillars should not always be set in stone, but it is advisable to avoid changing pillars each time someone had a new ‘great’ or ‘revolutionary’ idea. As the mentioned article warns: changing pillars can just lead to a different \u2013 but not necessarily better \u2013 game, and going round in circles.<\/p>\n\nStay on target!<\/span><\/h1>\n
\nProgramming<\/strong><\/span> (coding implementation allowing the game to be played and tested): Phil and Patricio
\nArt direction\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/span>(what the player sees while playing the game on art terms): Debbie and Will.
\nNarrative design<\/span><\/strong> (game’s backstory, world, characters): full team.
\nTesting<\/span><\/strong> (planning, organising, running and documenting play tets of prototypes): Patricio and Phil, with my sons (11 and 17 years old) as first line of play testers.
\nProject management<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(schedule, tasks distribution): Phil and Patricio.
\nMusic and sound fx<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(musical score, environmental or ambient sounds): Debbie and Patricio.
\nVisual fx <\/span><\/strong>(particles, shaders): Phil and Patricio.
\nMarketing\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>(media presence, social networks, website): Phil, Will and Patricio.<\/p>\nDetecting and resolving conflicts in groups<\/span><\/h1>\n
\nAffective conflicts:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0this relates to each member goals, needs, and wishes for the project.
\nSustantive conflicts: <\/span><\/strong>deals with the commitment to the project and wanting it to be the best it can be.<\/p>\n
\nSpeaking of the latter, Phil<\/strong> has had the patience to train me in this software, but surprisingly its use is complicated and erratic in the extreme to me.\u00a0Even at this point, we have not managed to synchronize our work efficiently, and it’s all because of me. This is something that I must resolve urgently to avoid possible friction and loss of time.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Fig](\"https:\/\/www.patricioland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Team_Graph_2.jpg\")
<\/a>Game pillars\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n
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\nThey should serve to guide the creator to make decisions. If a new mechanism, no matter how great it may seem, does not fit these pillars, it should be best to put it aside.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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