Vana was a challenging project to work on because of the big team size (20 people!), which I managed as a producer.
My contribution to the project consists of the telekinesis system,
game & system design, and production/management of the team.
The end result turned out awesome, and even won 2 awards during our Industry Showcase day at BUas! We worked really hard on it over the 6 months and are very happy with it.
On this page you will find a peek into my process and how Vana came to be, spanned across 6 months of intense game development! :D
🎓 What did I learn from this project?
🤝 Managing a big team and making it work
Our team was quite large, but it was very fun. Everyone synergized well together and we knew how to work with each other. Many of us were friends, and I think this was one of the factors which made it work.
We started with a designer-only team of 8 and picked up the project as a concept from a different team, then worked on it through its pre-production phase, and then brought it into production and release.
I learned how to use Jira properly, set up backends and serve simple dashboards to my team members to improve productivity, as well as the pipelines of artists and programmers, which allowed me to better understand their needs and preferences within the team.
🧵 Preparing a project for the production stage
Initially, the project was called Biome, and it was quickly bashed together in 2 weeks by a team of 9 people as a concept.
It passed into the pre-production phase when we picked it up and continued working on it. This was the most fun I've had with a team during this study thanks to how awesome my team members were. We had 2 months of straight fun, be it with its ups and downs that kept the adrenaline going. forever love you team based 💖
We did a really good job, so then the project passed into the production phase, and then eventually get ready for release.
So let's talk about the process down below...
🧙🏼♂️ From Biome to Vana
Picking up the project from a different team
Our task was to pick up the game from the previous team as a concept and rebuild it, as part of the pre-production development cycle.
We analyzed it, broke it down and split the workload amongst our team members. I ended up picking up the telekinesis system and rebuilding it.
I analyzed the telekinesis system, reverse-engineered it and concluded all my findings in a document which I shared with my team.
Then I got to building it! I started making some quick prototypes to quickly test the functionality and get the system going.
Prototyping!
I made the cube actor and started setting up the movement. It had to float, and my plan was to use impulses/forces to move it around.
I liked the movement and it was pretty straight-forward so far, so the next step was attaching it to the player.
For now, the cube functionality was in a good state, be it with a few bugs and visual glitches. I wanted to have more to offer, so I started implementing a push & pull mechanic, so you could have finer control 🔽
Goodbye Biome, hello Vana!🌳
New team, new name
Our pre-production prototype passed into the next development phase, and along with it our team got upgraded from 8 people to 20!
Some aspects of the game had to be ironed out, in terms of game design, level design, name, mechanics and features. We got together and started tying up the loose ends. One of the first changes was the name: Vana
Vana means fores and nir means escape. As it is the escape from the forest of the aggregates, it is called nirvana.
We decided on the name by researching & suggesting a number of names, but when it came to getting in a meeting and picking one, the moment people joined and saw Vana on the board, everyone instantly voted for it :D
Great progress is being made
This block, I chose to be the producer of the team and help everyone organize their work, to get a lot of good work done in time for a game conference which we attended, called Gamedev Room, at a local bar.
Many people played the then-latest build of Vana, which had just enough content to be able to be played through and get some feedback.
We had the initial blockout of the level in place, as well as my telekinesis system, so we gathered a bunch of feedback on those.
The feedback we got was really positive and we were very happy with the improvement points that we were going to bring back to the team to discuss and implement. This was a very fun and successful evening!
Doing production for this team was awesome
The first sprint went great, we managed to finish all of our sprint goals and everything else we had planned. I took the initiative to set up a dashboard for myself with all the data from all of my team members, sorted in different categories. I messed around in Jira and discovered filters, which I used to build my dashboard. I saw a lot of potential in filters, so I started experimenting.
I made specific dashboard for our team leads, as well as teach my team members how to use Jira and set up a basic dashboard with only the information they need, so they don't have to sort through the cluttered interface of Jira. In a way, I set up a "backend" powered by filters, and was only serving a curated "front-end" to my team members who only cared about getting their work done.
This boosted productivity within the team and lowered the barrier of using Jira, as it didn't seem that daunting to my team anymore, after sorting the content. We were able to finish everything we planned for our first sprint!
and the team started working independently...🧙🏼♂️
Starting to come together
At this point the project is starting to come together. The character has received a bit of love from the artists and is now equipped with animations and some VFX.
The metrics have also been locked in place and our level has gone through a few more iterations. The character feels really good to play with and we're happy showing it around and getting people to play Vana.
Final Build - Play Vana!
Having an awesome team leads to awesome results. Love you, team based 💖
This team has kept me motivated over the 6 months of working together and we've put out amazing results. We went out for beers, had fun, laughed, worked together and made an awesome game! This is the most fun team I've worked with, truly filled with great people. Thanks everyone!
The End!
Go check out one of my other projects!
Some words from a few of the people I've worked with on Vana, from our usual peer reviews
You work a lot and you support the entire team throughout development. I think I would've been lost without you this block
Matteo Ugrote
Game Designer
You care a lot about the team. When explaining something, you do it very in a very clear and concise way, I like that.
Cas Trines
Gameplay Programmer & QA
You always know what's going on and help within meetings, you're very social and it's great working with you.
Mika Goddrie
Animation Artist
You taught me how to use Jira in less than a week and have been very patient in taking the time to explain it. THANK YOU
Anne Teunissen
Environment Artist
It's been a pleasure working with you. please don't undersell your work. I really like that you created separate Jira boards for our leads.
Really helpful, you helped me out quite a few times with Perforce & Jira issues. You keep the whole team on track.
Environment & Prop Artist