{"author_name":"blubberquark","cat":"LD #31","comments":[],"epoch":1464456300,"likes":1,"metadata":{"p_key":"5394","p_author":"blubberquark","p_authorkey":"7968","p_urlkey":"40850","p_title":"Team Work","p_cat":"LD #31","p_event":"LD35","p_time":"1464456300","p_likes":"1","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"7968","us_name":"blubberquark","us_username":"\/author\/rfgpfeiffer\/","event_start":"1460678400","event_key":"33","event_name":"LD35"},"text":"

I have written about working together in game jams on my tumblr here<\/a>. I explain my approach to to team composition, group-friendly game design and time planning. This is exemplified by our LD34 game “Wyst”.<\/p>\n

After Day in the Life of a Spy<\/a> and Nessie: Quest for Fame<\/a> turned out pretty mediocre, I thought about what kinds of game design are best suited for a 3-day game jam. The games both had out-there premises and uneven graphics. In “Day in the Life of a Spy”, we pretty much worked against our engine, suffered from too big a design for three days and lots of duplicated effort in the form of unconnected minigames. Nessie had a more focused design, but boring mechanics and cartoony character art in a naturalistically rendered environment.<\/p>\n

For LD34 we would need an art style we can deliver together, a game design that can be split up between many developers and a way to use Unity productively. Instead of spitting up mechanics we split up content: puzzles and island sectors. The result was Wyst<\/a>, a game we are very happy with. Wyst in the result of careful planning, communication, not working against the tools and a focus on content and aesthetics, instead of innovation and mechanics.<\/p>\n

If you have feedback or tips on jam-team-friendly game design, comment here (or rebagel on tumblr).<\/p>\n

Read the full post Team Work for Game Jams<\/a>.<\/p>","time":"May 28th, 2016 12:25 pm","title":"Team Work"}