Team Collaboration

In a game development team, collaboration is essential.

As we’ve seen when discussing the tasks of various development teams, many aspects of game development require close coordination between different departments. Next, we will explore how different departments in a game development team work together.

Larger game development teams typically adopt a hierarchical structure. At the top level, the game producers oversee the entire project, setting the overall direction and planning for the game. Below them are the heads of various departments, such as the design lead, art lead, programming lead, etc.

At the bottom level are the individual developers responsible for specific tasks, such as level design, character art, system programming, and so on. In larger teams, this structure may be further subdivided. Employees at each level report mainly to their direct superiors, and there is communication and collaboration between different departments related to the work. For example, those responsible for the game interface, art, and programming will communicate and cooperate closely.

In contrast to this hierarchical structure, smaller development teams typically adopt a more collaborative structure. Many small indie game teams consist of 3 to 5 people, with each member taking responsibility for one or more areas such as design, art, programming, or music. Without dedicated producers, the development direction of the game is usually decided through discussion among all team members.

There are no strict hierarchies, and instead, there is equal collaboration. Each piece of work is presented to the entire team for review, and modifications are discussed together. This collaborative structure is commonly used in the development projects we experience during our learning of game development.

During team collaboration, we often encounter situations where multiple viable solutions exist, but making a decision is difficult. Since team members may come from different educational backgrounds and professional fields, disagreements may arise when making decisions. Although the majority vote method can help make a decision, it doesn’t effectively help us understand each member’s thinking and ideas.

To address this, we can use the Affinity Diagram to help the team make more reasonable decisions.