Journeyman Week 4

This week, we started with a large amount of miscommunication due to out-of-date files and separate files which had been lost by other team members. To stop this, I updated the GDD so that there were different sections for each part of the game that people could add to. I then gave people permissions and specific locations to work in, so that all work would be up-to-date and nobody would overwrite someone elses work.

The GDD is very important specifically for the people presenting at each bi-weekly presentation, and also for programmers and artists to build from. I informed all team members they would have to migrate all their work over to this new location so working would be much easier for the team. My next day was filled by doing the group SCRUM and inspecting everyone's work so I could identify whether we were on track or not. I then lead a Technical Session to locate any difficulties the programmers may be having.

As the deadline for animations drew nearer, I realised our team lead had not been communicating very well with the animation team, so I jumped in a call with them directly and asked what they needed out of us which could make their jobs easier (not having to ask about each section repeatedly) and what could make it so we got the exact product we needed. As a result of their feedback, I drew up a new animations list with much more detailed information for the animation team. I then added the regular enemies told the other lead to ensure the bosses they were working on were added properly to this, and to send it off once finished.

Unfortunately, on the night of the deadline day it became apparent a version of the animation list from two weeks ago was sent off instead, which meant we wouldn't of had any of the necessary animations we had outlined through the week. Therefore, I had to send off the new version after the deadline and jump in a call with the animation team to ensure all was in order. It then became apparent that more information was missing so I had to add the character animations into the document and re-send it around midnight. Luckily the animation team were really forgiving and allowed us to re-submit past the deadline.

At our supervisor meeting the decision was made for me and the Lead to change to Co-Leads (rather than me being Junior Lead) as I was the one doing the production, meetings and communications. I also made sure to talk to the other Co-Lead after this change to discuss how we felt and how we would be proceeding. During the meeting, we also decided to scope down the scope of the levels so that we could ensure the quality of the game would be consistent throughout.