Going Bonkers!
Going Bonkers! is a local co-op game following two clowns, with a knack for bonking, as they fight their way through hordes of salarymen to brighten a dreary city in this twin stick bonk-em-up!
From Designer to Producer
This project, was initially concepted by 6 developers. I was one of those 6 and initially I worked as a designer.
I initially developed the world, theming and a worked on a big portion of the level design.
When 15 additional developers were slated to join the project to further realize the concept, I shifted into the role of producer to help keep the team on track and in alignment.
Project information
Team Size: 21 students
Length of Project: Approx. 10 weeks
Engine:
Genre: Co-Op
Platform: Itch.io
Responsibility Highlights
Scope Breakdown
Project Planning
Team Management
Fill in the gaps
Producer
2. Working with the Leads, together, looking at the project goals, we established a Scope Breakdown.
Macro Planning
1. As a team we set goals for the project
The Programmers, Designers, and Visual Artists had their own Scope Breakdown with specific definitions of Prototype, Functional, Playable, and Presentable.
The above graph is an example of the Programmer's Breakdown.
Micro Planning
1. At the start of each Sprint the leads would look over the scope breakdown and draft a macro plan for the sprint using the Macro Planning developed at the start of the project.
2. I review all Macro Goals set for the sprint by leads. I do this to confirm alignment with initial project goals.
3. Leads will gather the relevant strike teams / developers and discuss their macro goals for the sprint.
4. Developers will provide specific tasks that will fit the macro goal as they discuss with leads.
5. I review tasks that the developers wrote; to confirm alignment.
Trello - Task Tickets and User Stories
After confirming the tasks written for the sprint goals, developers begin writing tickets in trello, breaking down tasks.
In addition to tickets, they wrote user stories.
In addition to teaching my team how to use trello, I provided templates to help everyone get started as seamlessly and effieciently as possible.
Trello - Quality Assurance
I assited in creating a guide for quality assurance and a template for bug tracking within Trello.
Review
I ran four Sprint Reviews.
1. Read Sprint Goals
2. Play the Build (Try to get developers who are out of the loop playing.)
3. Review Sprint Goals (Completed / Incompleted)
4.Review Scope Breakdown
5. Update Scope Breakdown with any potential changes
Retrospective
I ran four Retrospectives, breaking the feedbacking into two catagories. The Good and the Bad.
1. Each developer would spend 10 minutes adding comments under what went "Good" in the process.
2. Each developer would spend 10 minutes adding comments under what went "Bad" in the process.
3. I would comb through the sticky notes and pull out repeating themes and comments.
4. I create a new catagories called "Take-aways" and place the repeating themes there.
5. I invite the group to discuss the common take-aways to get more details on what went well or didn't.
6. If there was a problem with the team we'd collectively write an action point that address the issue.
7. In the following retrospective we review the actionpoint.
Marketing - Itch.io
For our Itch.io page, I wrote all the copy about our game.
I designed the page layout and iterated on the design with one of our Art Leads.
Marketing - Trailer
With our art lead, we worked together on the story board of the trailer. She then led a small team to develop the cinematic moments, when I captured the gameplay.
After she sent me her work, I edited a draft of our trailer. The trailer was then iterated upon again, by another teammate.
Marketing - Instagram
I developed an instagram page to build some buzz about our game. I had previously worked as a content creator in Los Angeles, so this was an oportunity for me to jump back into those skills and develop some light content to get some external engagement and excitement.
Project Risks
Working with the team leads, we developed a presentation on the potential risks, which we shared with teachers who served as our stakeholders for the project. Breaking downs these risks with potential solutions was a great way to prepare for any issues that may come up in the project.
Marketing - Industry Day
I got 3D prints made of our main characters and other exciting visuals from our game. I thought this was very important because not only was it a little way of giving a gift to our team, but it became a cute memento for the fans of the game.
- Initial prototype
- Enemy breakdowns
-Level Breakdown
Designer
Level Design
I did some level design on the project. Section is WIP
Sound Design
Since we lacked a Sound Designer, I stepped in for some of it and designed the music of the game. Section is a WIP