Last week I learnt about how important it is to have a diverse team in making a game. Each person has his/her own skill set to bring to the table and we need to utilize those skills to the maximum. How we utilize them efficiently is the main topic that we talked about. In general, when we work in a team, there is always a role assigned to each person. For example, we have different roles such as UI/UX Designer, programmers, visual artist, audio engineers, writers and many more. I think getting the most out of everyone in terms of technical skills is really important, however doing the same when it comes to creating meaningful narrative is more challenging. For example, Virginia 2016, in order to create this fictionalized Virginia that takes place in 1992, they need people who has some knowledge about the cultural context and historical context of Virginia around that time. In week 6, we already talked about some of the details such as the ratio between male characters and female ones. So now the main question is how do we get those people. First, I think we need to have people with related backgrounds in the team and second, we need to get to know them. One thing that is really important is getting to know your team members and understanding where they are coming from. If we want to represent a minority in a game, it’s crucial to have someone who represents that minority in your team.

Then we also played Overwatch in class on Thursday. This game really showcases a teamwork-based game. It’s really hard to win in Overwatch if the team is lacking a role. If you take out the healer from the team, the team does not have any sustainability. The game also relies on team communication whether that be by voice chat or by visuals. The game designers use certain indicators or marks to help the team to communicate to each other. One example would be the healing notification when one of your team member is low in hp.

So to conclude, last week we talked about the importance of teamwork both in a game and in a team that produces games.

Overwatch, Blizzard Entertainment, 2015

Virginia. Variable State. Published by 505 Games. 2016.