My continued adventure in indie game production.
Website Update:
This week the team was able to get an alpha build ready for the public, which is now available on the Ascendance website. I highly recommend that you check it and see all the potential this game has. A page for bug issues was also added to the website so that the team can capture issues in the alpha release and fix them. Also this week I updated the contacts page with a link to development journal which the co-producer is writing. Check out the link at the bottom of this blog to view and comment on this development journal.
Social Media Update:
This week I played the alpha release and captured some screenshots to share with the world. I am hoping that these captures will help bring in followers and likes for the game. Please check out the new screenshots on Facebook and/or Twitter today. While capturing screenshot I had to try to make sure that I was getting nice textured areas. Get captures were harder than I thought since the enemies would not stop attacking while trying to setup a nice shot.
Game Update:
For all new game updates and fixes please see the development journal link below.
Weekly Readings:
This week’s readings were chapters 12 and 13 of Gamers at Work: Stories Behind the Games People by Morgan Ramsay and chapters 1 and 8 of Team Leadership In the Game Industry by Seth Spaulding. Lorne Lanning and Chris Ulm discus their experience in the game industry in Gamers at Work: Stories Behind the Games People.
Some of the issues facing the gaming industry, how poor management effects companies, and an overview of different types of poor and difficult employees are covered in Team Leadership In the Game Industry. One of the things that stood out to me in the first chapter was how managers are being chosen, specifically that great developers are moved in to management roles regardless of their ability or desire for management positions. This point really resonated with me since this is what was happening to me at my last job. I am a great developer and so I was be put on more and more management type tasks. The more management tasks that I had the less I enjoyed my job, even though I was being compensated for it.
When reading through the chapter on difficult employees it seemed liked a specific but different person popped into my head for each type from previous jobs. The main types covered were blamers, cynics, underperformers, and bad leads. The book provides a description and the effects these people have on the team along with some methods for dealing with these types of people. I am not really sure how well these strategies for dealing with these difficult employees are but it would have been nice to see them at least be tried at past jobs.
Reading References:
Team Leadership In the Game Industry by Seth Spaulding (2009)
Gamers at Work: Stories Behind the Games People Play by Morgan Ramsay (2012)
Website and Social Media Links:
Website: http://www.gamerslifeproductions.com/ascendance/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AscendanceTeam/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AscendanceTeam/
Unreal Engine 4 Forums: https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?77246-Ascendance-UAT-Game-Studio-Project
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