Team-Centric Game Development

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Team-centric game development

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Games are powerful and meaningful experiences

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And they also are chaotic little pieces of shit. Set on ﬁre.

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There are many variables in play in game development. Money. Time. Resources. Location of studio. Scope.

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But all these variables will mostly impact in just one:

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Your team.

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The game resulting of the development process is 100% dependable on your team.

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If your team is stressed, the game will reflect that. If your team is sad, the game will reflect that. If your team is excited, the game will also reflect that.

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Your team relationship and management will be the single most important variable in creating a good game.

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Don’t believe me? This is what crunch does to your team and game’s metacritic.

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Source: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/PaulTozour/20150120/234443/ The_Game_Outcomes_Project_Part_4_Crunch_Makes_Games_Worse.php

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That’s how satisfaction and trust in their peers can inﬂuence their work

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Source: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/PaulTozour/ 20150106/233254/ The_Game_Outcomes_Project_Part_2_Building_Eﬀective_Teams.php Source: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/PaulTozour/20150113/233922/ The_Game_Outcomes_Project_Part_3_Game_Development_Factors.php Internal team satisfaction with the project Team respect Communication and feedback

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Team Happiness = Better work quality (and life quality, if someone here cares about that)

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If these guys are happy, they will make their very best.

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But how to make a team happy?

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In a very similar way you make your player happy: •  Members with diﬀerent skills •  Clear goals •  Clear feedback •  Team trust and respect

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Build a safe work space, welcome diﬀerent people.

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Janet Gabriel Ed

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An environment that welcomes everyone and respect diﬀerences is more dynamic and fosters trust

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There are many ways of organizing your team

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Try what they feel is important, keep what brings results

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Always be ﬂexible to change

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A pipeline that your team helped build and that accommodates their needs will be more eﬃcient

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But how do we know we are succeeding?

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Milestones! One-on-ones! Retrospectives! Auto-critic!

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Dialog is a two way street. Team members must be heard, otherwise what is the point in hearing?

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Happy memories are stronger. Let’s celebrate milestones!

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Now, you have a team.

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I mean, seriously, a team is not a random group of people. A team is a group with mutual trust, respect and dynamics.

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Your team can be small

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big

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Or anything in between.

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No matter how big, you team can make great things

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But only if they trust each other.

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An environment that foster trust is better suited for great work.

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Your team is unique. Respect that.

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And not only your game have bigger chances of being awesome, everyone will have a great time developing it.