PFD Week 6: Reflective Pause - Consolidating My Development Journey

"Reflective Pause - Consolidating My Development Journey"

This is the 6th blog in the series where I actively talk about the progress I'm making on my chosen professional skill titled, "Game Development through Team Collaboration".

This week will be about a more in-depth reflection on the entire series so far.


Introduction

No practical work was performed this week because there were idle members of the team, which prevented me from constructing anything because I didn't want to develop features or mechanics that are in limbo when it comes to the design. I didn't like developing things and having it up in the air in terms of the design, so this week I have decided to take a step back and think about the blog series so far.

This reflective blog will be very beneficial because it allows me to realise my initial goals and ambitions, allowing myself to have wider clarity for use in the future in this project. The use of reflective practice was shown to further add greatly to professional development as well as outcomes of the project (MindTools, n.d.).

Critical Reflection on Previous Blogs

Looking back at my previous blogs, I can clearly see how my abilities have evolved, especially in team work, documentation, and communication. "Tides of the Moon," the initial project, revealed significant weaknesses, mainly because of a lack of rich documentation and defined team roles. This led me to understand the importance of detailed design documents.

Having gained experience from that, I made sure to prioritise creating a thorough Game Design Document (GDD) at the start while beginning "Hell's Champion." This greatly improved communication and collaboration since everyone had the same vision. Adding a Technical Design Document (TDD) also helped ensure consistency and transparency in technical work to allow independent work while still being in sync with the team.

However, an issue that the team has had is keeping documentation among all members of the team up to date. Problems in this area have stalled progress, as seen when I was held back on implementing the level-select feature by undefined design.

I have also learned the advantages of creating trust and openness between our team. Initially, I was more independent and "task focused", but ended up more towards being a team player and working alongside my team.

These thoughts have enabled me to have more efficient team work and improved documentation workflows. In the future, I'll prioritise quicker documentation updates and maintain the trust and transparency within the team.


Challenges Encountered

Throughout this project, the main challenge has been ensuring everyone keeps documentation updated quickly. Occasionally, delays in updating the design documents have led to confusion, causing pauses in development, like when I had to prevent myself from working on the level-select feature.

Another issue was early team communication issues. Early on, there were poorly defined roles that caused inefficiencies. Research indicates that effective team communication is essential to overcoming those issues and maintaining project momentum (Forbes Coaches Council, 2020). We've made great progress, yet maintaining open communication is still something we have to actively work on.

Finally, finding a balance between planning and the team's eagerness to jump into development has also been difficult. Initially, eagerness to develop overshadowed the need for careful preparation, leading to delays. Finding and addressing this has helped our project progress significantly, as it allows us to first create a foundation, which allows the team to quickly and efficiently develop in-engine.


Recommendations for Improvement

In order to address the problems encountered, I will recommend the following improvements:

First, we need to have designated timelines for updating documents. This will ensure that the GDD and TDD will be updated accordingly, preventing confusion and delays in the development.

Second, improving our communication routine through consistent check-ins can help in the specification of roles and tasks. These brief meetings would allow the team to instantly clarify any misunderstandings and stay on the same path.

Lastly, to be balanced between enthusiasm for working and careful planning is important. Spending time planning before diving into work can make sure everyone is on the same page and reduce future bottlenecks.


Conclusion

Throughout this blog, I looked back at the entire series of blogs and what happened. This was very helpful to me when I took a reflective point of view on these blogs. I plan to have a physical in-person meeting next week in a more productive environment for several hours that will provide the team with an incredible amount of communication to share similar visions once again. The team has communicated almost entirely online since the game jam, and I believe that this is now beginning to hinder the progress and productivity of the team and project.

References

MindTools (n.d.) Reflective Practice. Available at: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_07.htm (Accessed: 15 March 2025).

Forbes Coaches Council (2020) ‘10 Tips for Effective Team Communication’, Forbes, 1 October. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2020/10/01/10-tips-for-effective-team-communication/ (Accessed: 15 March 2025).

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