Devlog Entry #6: Production, Team management and other stuff nobody cares about. Tips for Successful Team WorkI was going to post an entry about how I'm making a basic but randomized AI for the villagers, but I thought it could be good to talk about some inner team stuff, which I think is a very interesting topic.
Yesterday,
@themeatly, a mysterious gentleman who writes about dev issues, published this comic:
I talked to some friends about it and I found out that a lot of people(more than I thought) have issues when it comes to working as part of a team, which is a shame, because it's a very important part of gamedev. Some people can handle design, code, audio and art on their own; but even then, working with a team is often better and tends to get better results.
Disclaimer: I'm not saying you should never create games on your own, I do it from time to time and many great games were made by a single dev.So I'm gonna give you 5 tips that have worked for us while developing "Missing Translation", they're not universal so feel free to ignore them if you wish:
1.- You need a producer/director. This doesn't mean there's a person who rules above the rest, not at all. But there
MUST be someone who pays attention to what everyone is doing, distributes tasks and sets deadlines. It's not fun and it takes some time, but somebody has to do it. I'm the designer in "Missing Translation", so I also coordinate the rest of the team as I have a more general insight of where the game is going.
I speak privately with every other member of the team (to avoid flooding the rest with little details they don't have to worry about) and then send general e-mails with information for everyone.
2.- Each member should have freedom. An artist(or a composer or a coder)
knows what he's doing, as long as it doesn't interfere with the rest
he should be able to do as he pleases. The game will be more personal for them, they'll be happier and give their best. When I assign a task to a team member I just explain the code restrictions and add some ideas, the rest is up to them. I guarantee you'll get better results than being a bossy person and asking them to make exactly what you had in mind.
3.- Assets and game builds MUST be shared. The designer creates an idea, the artists draws a visual representation and the composer adds the final touch; when you're sharing everything
each one uses what the rest is doing as inspiration, making the game a richer experience. Yeah,
it takes some time, but it's worthy, trust me. Before starting a average night of work I listen to the music Albert composed or watch the drawings made by Gustavo.
I try to share a build with the team when I add something new, that way they're able to tell me if I didn't implement their work right; and they also see how the game is progressing.
4.- Trust. I mentioned "freedom" earlier, this one is pretty similar. I wish we could work together in the same space, so everyone could check what the rest is doing whenever they want, but we work during our spare time (which can be limited sometimes) and huge distance separate us. I can
do a checking from time to time and ask each one how he is doing, but that's not possible all the time. You must trust the rest to do their tasks, if you can't do that then that team isn't working as it should.
5.- Talk to them. We're people after all, most issues are due to the lack of communication, when it comes to teamwork, almost every issue can be solved with a meeting or a few e-mails.
(I had a killer idea for #5, but I didn't write it down and I forgot it while writing the entry 
)I hope you learnt something from our experience, go and find a team now! and make great games!
Here's a little reward for standing all this nonsense, it's another preview from the intro Gustavo is drawing:
We'll be releasing the game soon, so be sure to check this devlog or the gamejolt profile.
Community
