Throughout the development of our project, I experienced both personal and professional challenges that had a significant impact on my workflow, communication, and overall contribution to the game. While the project was something I was passionate about and genuinely enjoyed working on, there were several difficult periods during development that tested both my resilience and my ability to adapt under pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the biggest challenges I faced during the project was balancing my mental health alongside the workload and expectations of development. There were periods where I struggled heavily with motivation, stress, and maintaining a healthy routine, which affected both my productivity and communication with my project partner. Because game development is such a collaborative process, communication is extremely important, especially when working within an agile sprint workflow where tasks and priorities are constantly changing. Unfortunately, during difficult periods, I found myself becoming less communicative and less present than I should have been, which created additional pressure within the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A major turning point during development was when I had to return home rather than continue working from campus in the normal environment. This significantly changed the way I worked on the project. Being away from campus meant I lost the immediate structure, routine, and in-person collaboration that had previously helped me stay focused and engaged. It also made communication with my partner more difficult, as much of our collaboration had to shift online. At times, this created delays in feedback, slower decision-making, and challenges when organising tasks or discussing changes to the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite these setbacks, I still remained committed to completing the project and contributing as much as I could. In many ways, being forced to work remotely taught me how important adaptability and self-management are within creative industries. I had to become far more independent with my workload and learn how to continue developing assets, solving problems, and meeting deadlines outside of the typical studio environment. While this was difficult, it also pushed me to develop stronger organisational skills and become more comfortable managing work independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One thing I believe worked particularly well throughout the project was our use of agile sprint planning and tools such as Miro. Because our tasks, goals, and development priorities were all clearly documented, it meant that even during difficult periods, I was still able to refer back to the project plans and understand what needed to be completed next. The structure provided by our sprint workflow helped keep the project moving forward, even when communication was not always perfect. Breaking the project into smaller, more manageable goals made the workload feel less overwhelming and allowed progress to continue gradually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From a creative perspective, I am proud of how much the project evolved over time. Many of our ideas changed significantly throughout development as we playtested mechanics, gathered feedback, and adjusted features to improve the overall player experience. This flexibility was important because it allowed the game to develop more naturally rather than forcing ideas that were not working. I contributed heavily towards shaping the atmosphere, gameplay feel, and overall identity of the project, and I believe the final result reflects a strong level of creativity and ambition despite the difficulties we encountered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking back, there are definitely areas I would improve if I were to approach a similar project again. The biggest area would be communication. While I understand the reasons behind my struggles during development, I also recognise how important regular communication is within a team environment. Even small updates or clearer explanations during difficult periods would have helped reduce uncertainty and improve collaboration. In future projects, I would aim to establish more consistent communication habits and be more open about difficulties earlier, rather than allowing problems to build up over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also learned the importance of maintaining realistic workloads and protecting personal wellbeing during large creative projects. At times, I placed a lot of pressure on myself creatively, which contributed to burnout and periods of low motivation. This project helped me better understand the importance of balance, time management, and recognising when support is needed. Although these challenges made development harder, they also taught me valuable lessons that I can carry into future collaborative work and professional environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, despite the obstacles we faced, I believe the project was still successful and became an important learning experience both creatively and personally. It challenged me not only as a developer and artist, but also as a team member and individual. The experience taught me a great deal about communication, adaptability, collaborative workflows, and managing long-term creative projects under pressure. While the development process was not always smooth, overcoming these difficulties and still reaching the end of the project is something I am proud of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Throughout the development of our project, I experienced both personal and professional challenges that had a significant impact on my workflow, communication, and overall contribution to the game. While the project was something I was passionate about and genuinely enjoyed working on, there were several difficult periods during development that tested both my resilience and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-semester-2","category-year-3-25-26"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1199,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1198\/revisions\/1199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jb19g23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}