Let's just say that I've learned my lesson. Pre-production, or "extensive planning" as some may call the process, is imperative. It's hard to get anywhere without a little planning. It's hard to get anywhere good without a lot of planning. That's exactly what we've found over the course of this game's development. With all the confusion over groups combining and needing a finished product (rather than just a prototype) in only four weeks, we failed to plan as effectively as we should have. We did just enough planning to get every team member a task to work on, but we did not have a unified vision of the finished product to all work toward. This really crippled our process, and things would have gone much more smoothly had we taken the extra bit of time in the planning stages to get everyone on exactly the same page. In short, we're still working on cleaning up after our mess--and I will be the first to admit that I was key in letting the mess happen in the first place. Harumph.
That said, we've fought through it all to produce a game that's now nearly finished. Every member of our team has really stepped it up to get their tasks done the best that we could, and the project is in its final stages of development. While I will try to keep this from happening the same way in the future, I am pleased with how it's turned out, regardless of the difficulties and setbacks we've had along the way.
Here's what I accomplished this week:
- Acted as the main communication line with our client; obtained information and assets from them, scheduled and kept appointments for installation testing, etc.
- Wrote instructional, menu, and game state text/copy for in-game implementation
- Iterated and hammered out further game flow details, along with adjusting design elements as necessary
- Handled needs for both the engineers and the artists, including pipeline management, communication systems, asset transfers, and the providing of food :)
- Updated the developer blog
- Began work on the final game presentation
I'll let you know my final feelings on this project next week. Once again, wish us luck!
- Troy
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