Florida Man Games
Florida Man Games was a 9-man team I was producer for through the Fall of 2018. Together we made a single-player FPS in 15 weeks for PC titled Cruel Fuel. The game is centered around you progressing through 3 levels inside an abandoned military base, killing enemies, and collecting parts to power a mech that you then pilot and use to fight a large boss.
Throughout the production I assigned and tracked team tasks, set project scope, facilitated team discussions and meetings, presented deliverables, and was our team's Scrum Master. Cruel Fuel had a lot of interesting challenges and learning opportunities that came with its development as it was the largest single project I worked on up until that point.
I grew a lot; especially, through hardships that we had on the team. We had to fire a programmer early on for plagiarism which forced us to react and appropriately reduce scope for the project. Along with this, another member was having trouble feeling connected and motivated; however, through an in-person meeting where we analyzed their problems, I was able to fix the issue and bring the member's productivity up to where it was needed.
This team had a great set of members and something that helped our team's production and success was making sure that I used and trusted their expertise. Consistent and effective communication let me accurately assess our team's progress, and ensured my decisions were well informed.
Lastly an important problem we overcame was that our members - specifically those not directly working in engine - were having trouble seeing how their work fit into the game. They felt a bit disjointed from the game. We were able to quickly alleviate this by giving our team access to multiple builds throughout our sprints. This let them see how the game was continuously evolving and allowed them to be more active in discussions about the game. It had a noticeable boost to team morale, participation, and communication. Maintaining team morale is a core skill of a leader, and it can be achieved through smaller, but meaningful changes like this in the development process.
I grew a lot; especially, through hardships that we had on the team. We had to fire a programmer early on for plagiarism which forced us to react and appropriately reduce scope for the project. Along with this, another member was having trouble feeling connected and motivated; however, through an in-person meeting where we analyzed their problems, I was able to fix the issue and bring the member's productivity up to where it was needed.
This team had a great set of members and something that helped our team's production and success was making sure that I used and trusted their expertise. Consistent and effective communication let me accurately assess our team's progress, and ensured my decisions were well informed.
Lastly an important problem we overcame was that our members - specifically those not directly working in engine - were having trouble seeing how their work fit into the game. They felt a bit disjointed from the game. We were able to quickly alleviate this by giving our team access to multiple builds throughout our sprints. This let them see how the game was continuously evolving and allowed them to be more active in discussions about the game. It had a noticeable boost to team morale, participation, and communication. Maintaining team morale is a core skill of a leader, and it can be achieved through smaller, but meaningful changes like this in the development process.
Here are screenshots from 2 of the levels within Cruel Fuel