A few tips on how to improve communication on your team.
During the beginning process of making our current game “Rockin Rocket”, we didn’t have the required members on our team to do the programming aspects of the game. That caused me to take on the task; however my programming skills are not enough to call myself a programmer since I am a UI/UX designer. The team knew about my weakness and had addressed me if I needed help to let the producer or anyone on the team know. Sadly, as the title applies, I let my ego and perfectionism kick in to convince myself that if I ask for help the group would see me as a weak link. Which in-turn did turn me into a weak link in the group due to back-ups in my sprints and eventually turning into quick burnouts for me. I started to dread coming to meetings and classes to talk about the game because I knew what the topic was going to be. Eventually, I started to ask for help after talking to our professor because of the team’s concern about me and lack of communication to them about the game development. It made me realize that I’m not alone in the team. I slowly but surely started to ask for help until we brought programmers onto the team to actually fulfill the role and I can fulfill my role as UI designer.
Tips to avoid these situations
Your health matters!- Just because you are on a team does not matter, We are human and at times we all go through things that affect our physical and mental health; so taking breaks help
No matter a producer or a writer on the team, burnout is bound to happen but it will happen faster if you feel overwhelmed. If you are overwhelmed, talk to the producer about that situation and take the necessary steps to calm yourself down.
Be open to criticism- Game development team members come from different walks of life like a pot-luck. With that being said even though the team does different things for the game they can still give advice at times to your task and vice versa.
Getting to know the team- Spending quality time with each other will help build a bond and make the team feel more comfortable with each other like a family almost.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help!
Looking back, this situation could have been smaller and easier to handle if I followed/knew these tips at the time. Hopefully you could avoid this situation that I went through with the advice that I learned.
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