Salem City was the game I worked on during my 2nd year of University, the game originally started as a paper-back prototype that we eventually developed into a Unity Project.

 

Our team consisted of 2 Artists, 2 Programmers, 2 designers and 1 Animator. I acted as the Scrum Master & Animator.

 

RESPONSIBILITIES

- Conduct daily stand up meetings

- Dispute team conflict

- Adhere to deadlines

- Maintain game vision and meetings

- Animate Characters & Buildings

 

Timeline & Evaluation

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Our goal with Salem city was to create an easy to pick up, hard to master strategy game. We had noticed that most mainstream strategic games such as civilization would require thorough analysis and practice to even grasp the core concepts and we wanted to change that. The combination of 1940s attire with magic was our own preferred twist and made for an interesting clash of concepts.

 

What went well:

 

• The actual design of the game was solid, the paperback prototype engaged quite a lot of people and fostered confidence in this idea

• Hours were tracked thoroughly, so we could gauge who was slipping behind

 

What went wrong:

 

• The Art direction was all over the place and this was due to the difference in ability between our two artists

• We originally set off to do the project in unreal but our programmers underestimated the difficulty of learning C++

 

What I've learnt:

 

• Scope. The scope of a project is incredibly important in production, I learnt many ways on how to prevent over scoping. First and foremost, motivation, it's one of the core aspects of team morale. Making sure that my team has a clear goal ahead of them is essential towards an effective work ethic.

• Deciding on a project the team is excited about will do wonders in getting them to engage with the project. Whenever I work with people now, I strive to help them feel accommodated and excited about the project, I never again will settle for "I'll do it if I have to" or "it's ok"!

• Agile methods should not be undervalued, using kanban significantly boosted our productivity and it's simply because there was now attainable goals