With our game, Project Nautilus, coming to an end, we have come to develop a strong team dynamic with better communication amongst all majors. There are a ton of assets we have all loved to continue to add to the game as well as new tools and game dynamics we would love to implement, but at this point, it is important for our team to polish the current assets we have in order to create a solid, finished game.

Throughout this semester, our team had a lot of discussions amongst ourselves, different professors, as well as individuals at Velan Studios, who work within the gaming industry. The best advice we received was to cut specific parts of our game so that we could focus on the key aspects of our game, such as narrative. At some point, even though adding more things can be fun, it is important to stay within the scope of the game. If our team had wanted to add more tools or assets to the game, we most likely wouldn’t be as far in the game process as we are now.

These types of conversations can be difficult, especially if people are really passionate about their ideas. Once we had these conversations and figured out what was best for our game, we were able to resolve a lot of issues, and expand the important sections of our game that were important for the narrative. Instead of questioning others or being confused on what each member was supposed to do, we continued to communicate and figure out what all team members were able to do within a sprint.

Isthmus Studio members have come to learn that with communication it is also important to make decisions as a team, instead of making individual decisions without consulting others (especially if it was cross disciplinary). This has helped so all team members understand what is going on with all aspects of the game including the good, the bad, and the ugly. This has helped so then the games issues could be fixed quicker and more thoroughly.

Making decisions and having difficult conversations amongst any team can be challenging. This was something that our team definitely struggled with throughout the semester. Even though our team went through this rough patch, Isthmus Studios was able to overcome these issues and come out on top with a nearly finished game.