WORKING WITH GAME DESIGN:

I have participated in multiple game and modding projects, ranging from a small two-man development team with my friend to a large, structured mod project consisting of artists, coders, voice actors, and game design leads. I have been a member of both mismanaged and cohesive teams. Managing a team is hard and only gets harder as more people with different views and ideas join, but what’s the difference between an effective and an ineffective team? One very effective mod team I participated in was motivated by the initial question: what do fantasy Vikings and sentient humanoid marshy lizard men have in common? Well on the surface, not much, but our team at Beyond Skyrim: Argonia is trying to find a unique artistic solution to that question. We are creating the fictional fantasy province of Argonia, a marshy jungle densely populated with fantastical flora and fauna. Our project will modify the game Skyrim with an additional province dense with new quests, armor sets, weapons, and a main story. Our goal is a free experience that expands Skyrim’s pre-existing world with fun new content. Our team bridges politics, cultures, genders, and ideologies. With Beyond Skyrim: Argonia’s team being so diverse and large you’d think the team would struggle or develop friction but this rarely occurs. Why? Well, the Beyond Skyrim team was built by people who prioritize bridge-building, cooperation, and ease of communication throughout the development process. Nonetheless, one conflict arose when I was using pencil but the design team needed the work done in color or digitally. What could have built resentment instead was resolved quickly with our protocol for direct communication, minimizing team friction. With major problems plaguing modern AAA game companies stemming from a lack of communication between developers and executives, postponed game launches and unfinished projects are not uncommon. A good communication structure is crucial in game development, as I’ve learned at Beyond Skyrim. In college, I will deploy my experience and knowledge to foster cooperative environments in my classroom teams, extra-curricular projects, and beyond. Beyond Skyrim showed me what a structured environment felt like, but I wouldn’t have realized that without the contrast with my first, unsatisfying mod experience for Battlefront 2 (2005) when I was thirteen. Initially, I was very enthusiastic about having an opportunity to do character design in the style of Star Wars, my childhood favorite. Over a few months, I designed concepts for assets of all types. Eventually, however, communication became more and more infrequent among our team. As communication among us drifted off entirely, I felt that my efforts would go to waste as our mod project lost steam. This realization made me sad. Poor communication had derailed the project.

From my modding experiences, I’ve learned what makes effective teams click, and how important good communication is for team cohesiveness. From the disappointments of the Battlefront 2 mod, I learned how a lack of communication can leave a team feeling disconnected and drain the momentum of the development process. By contrast, the success thus far of Beyond Skyrim: Argonia has taught me how a good environment among team members built on effective communication and clear objectives makes the long process of game development result in the best game possible. I hope to foster a cohesive and close-knit team to pursue the game development dreams I have for my personal passion project Klettern, an open-world combat and strand-like game set in a medieval European and Bronze Age world struck by the effects of a natural radioactive disaster. I believe that if I can use the experience I’ve gained and manage a team effectively, I could complete Klettern in significantly less time and with a higher level of quality than if I were to work alone. Game design is a dream of mine, which through cohesive team collaboration, I hope to achieve in the future.