DREAD IT - What I learned

WORKING WITH SPLIT DEPARTMENTS

Prior to working on this team, my game project teams were only ever made up of only programmers or only designers. This was the first time I had worked with multiple types of developers on the same team, and there were many problems with communication and responsibilities. I learned how to advocate for myself and my department, how to effectively work with programmers to implement new designs, and I especially learned a lot about team dynamics and working healthily with many others.

CUSTOM ENGINE WORKFLOW

The engine for DREAD IT was being developed at the same time as the game, and the latter half of the project was done entirely working with tools created in-engine by the programmers. There were many challenges with working in a custom engine, but I've learned not to be so self-conscious about asking programmers for help. Often times, these tools can be rough to use and lots of time can be wasted trying to figure things out when asking for help would have been faster for everyone involved.

COMPLEX SYSTEMS DESIGN

DREAD IT was intentionally designed with each system mostly working separate from each other. This was so that the player could plan out each part of their strategy before beginning each level. This, however, made it so that each system had to be complex and deep on its own, isolated from other systems. This was challenging to design, since every trap and tool had to be useful both on its own and as part of a chain. It was similar to designing a card game, making sure that every item can be used effectively in multiple scenarios and in combos.

EXTENSIVE PLAYTESTING

I had run playtests prior to this project, but the games I would run playtests for were often very short experiences, being over in just a couple minutes. DREAD IT playtests were also similarly short in the beginning, but once the game expanded in size through its levels and especially through its story, playtests began to grow longer and longer, with multiple sessions being over an hour. I got very good at observational testing and note-taking, making reports and bringing feedback and proposed changes to the rest of the team.