Jenn's Generally Good Game Production Advice

How to resolve conflict between in game development teams by focusing on success and curiosity

Conflict sucks! But small levels of conflict can also help your team innovate and make amazing games. So how do you fix things when the conflict is getting out of control and your team aren’t working together effectively? Focus on curiosity and success. We’ll examine what’s unlikely to work, what you should focus on, and key steps to deal with conflict constructively. The key steps are connection, clarity, curiosity, and commitment. We’ll talk about how to apply those steps to two examples: one where two art directors can’t agree on the overall art style for the game; and another where the engineering director refuses to believe artists that the tools need improvement. Have a question for an expert game producer? Ask me your question here: https://jennsand.com/askjenn/ Text version: https://jennsand.com/advice/conflict-resolution/ Video version: https://youtu.be/4faRfK8derI Reference Book: “[Powerful Phrases For Dealing With Workplace Conflict: What To Say Next To Destress The Workday, Build Collaboration, And Calm Difficult Customers](https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/140024627X)” by Karin Hurt & David Dye Jenn’s Generally Good Game Production Advice: How to resolve conflict by focusing on success and curiosity 00:00 Introduction 00:36 Question 00:49 Conflict Sucks, Right? 01:22 Good on Paper, but Unlikely to Get Results 03:27 What to Focus On 04:36 Key Stages of Constructive Conflict 05:28 Before Group Meetings 05:57 Example: Two Art Directors Can’t Agree 08:33 Example: Engineering Director won’t take feedback 10:38 Final Thoughts 11:37 Conclusion Jenn’s Generally Good Game Production Advice is an advice column for our modern ages and for game developers everywhere. Topics covered will help you ship your game on time, on budget, with a happy team no matter whether you are a producer or someone else on the game team. Find out more about how to hire me: [jennsand.com](https://jennsand.com/)

How to decide when to decide in game development

To decide or not to decide. That is the question! You’ll never have 100% information. Even with hindsight all you can see is the results of the choice that was made. So how do you know when to just choose something and move on versus deliberate and/or wait for someone else to make the decision? Today we’ll be asking lots of questions that will get you thinking and help you figure out a plan of attack. We start by talking about the weird role that game production plays in game studios. Then we’ll get into a bunch of questions to help you figure out whether you should make a decision right now. We’ll look at the framing & categorisation, decision making history, timing, and what you actually know. From there we’ll talk about why it’s ok to block your team from doing work sometimes. We’ll discuss the key steps of actually making a decision, how to deal with team decision paralysis, and how to avoid making decisions. Have a question for an expert game producer? Ask me your question here: https://jennsand.com/askjenn/ Text version: https://jennsand.com/advice/make-decisions/ Video version: https://youtu.be/5Yvt96sMV50 Jenn’s Generally Good Game Production Advice: How to decide when to decide in game development 00:00 Introduction 00:45 Question 00:56 Game Production Is Weird 02:18 Framing & Decision Categorisation 04:05 Decision Making History 04:52 Decision Timing 05:27 What Do You Know? 07:16 It’s OK to Block your Team!! 07:52 Making a decision 09:09 Dealing with team decision paralysis 09:38 Avoid Making Decisions 12:31 Conclusions Jenn’s Generally Good Game Production Advice is an advice column for our modern ages and for game developers everywhere. Topics covered will help you ship your game on time, on budget, with a happy team no matter whether you are a producer or someone else on the game team.

Am I a good games producer? How to know & what to do if you're not!

Am I a good games producer? What does one actually look like? And if I’m not good, what can I do about it? This is a special post with a question I ask myself. Hopefully by the end, a bunch of your self-doubt will be banished along with my own self-doubt. Become a better games producer today! We’ll look at what a games producer actually does; then talk abut different types of measurements you can use to get an indication of whether you’re any good at it. We’ll talk about objective measurements like predicting sprint completion rates; reducing unexpected tasks; accurate roadmap; leaving space for other people to talk; and following up with team members. We’ll also discuss things you can ask your team about like whether you’re on top of everything going on; you know priorities; and everyone on the team knows what’s due at the next milestone. We’ll also go into how you can check in with other producers about whether your solution is good or your task is hard. Bonus measurements are also detailed here: https://jennsand.com/advice/good-producer/ After you know how good or bad you are, then you can start to learn from when you’re bad. This starts with knowing how frequently you are bad. And then you need to look at what’s causing the bad so that you can get to the root of the problem and get better. How you’ll get better will depend on whether you have a lack of training; expect hard tasks to be easy; dislike the specific task; are overworked; have something going on outside work; have an issue with an individual or the company culture. By the end of this you’ll know more about how to objectively measure how good of a producer you are and how to improve. Have a question for an expert game producer? Ask me your question here: https://jennsand.com/askjenn/ Text version: [https://jennsand.com/advice/good-producer/](https://jennsand.com/advice/good-producer/) Video version: [https://youtu.be/Lh5gr_m99OA](https://youtu.be/Lh5gr_m99OA) Jenn’s Generally Good Game Production Advice: TITLE 00:00 Introduction 00:40 Should You Listen to Me? 01:33 What does a Games Producer Do? 03:15 Types of Tests To See if You’re a Good Games Producer 04:23 Objective Measurements 06:38 Ask Your Team About 07:47 Ask Other Producers About 08:20 I’m Good, Except When I’m Bad 08:48 Learning From the Bad 09:11 What’s Causing the Bad? 10:52 Be Kind & Produce Yourself 11:27 Conclusions Jenn’s Generally Good Game Production Advice is an advice column for our modern ages and for game developers everywhere. Topics covered will help you ship your game on time, on budget, with a happy team no matter whether you are a producer or someone else on the game team. Find out more about how to hire me: [jennsand.com](https://jennsand.com/)

A game producer’s guide to setting up a risk register to track your fears.

Stop staying awake at night worrying!! Create a risk register to help track all your game development fears. Game development is very stressful and there are a lot of different things that can go wrong. Those things might mean your game will suck, development takes longer than expected, team members quit, and more. In the worst case if you don’t predict risks and take steps to address them, your game might not ship at all! Want more reasons why should you create a risk register? Having one will help you stop unconstructive worrying, make sure you remember and predict upcoming events, come up with plans that you can use when you’ll be super stressed, improve game quality, reduce development chaos, figure out what you can do to reduce the impact and probability of the risk, and so much more. What makes a good risk and description? One that isn’t too generic and that will help you understand why this is a problem. That way you are focusing your worries rather than being generally stressed without direction. Risks that you can’t control (like someone else shipping a game like yours) might not seem like good risks, but I’ll talk about why you should still track them and what you can do. I’ll go deep into exactly what I track in my risk registers. Many game companies and publishers have their own ways of showing and tracking risks. I’ll use an example from a hypothetical game to help understand what is being tracked. For each risk I track: a good description; numbers for impact, probability, and total risk; categories; trigger conditions (what to look for so you know the risk is happening); mitigation plans (what to do before a fire breaks out); contingency plans (what to do if the fire has broken out); alert status (how panicked should we be); and status history. Then I’ll discuss how frequently to monitor your risk register and use it. As well as when to engage mitigation and contingency plans. I’ll finish with some summary tips. One of those is that you shouldn’t create a risk register if you’re not going to use it. Instead you should just discuss your fears and worries with your team. Resources: [Example Risk Register in Notion](https://www.notion.so/174a82440e1680a9abc8fbc92d4415ad?pvs=21) Have a question for an expert game producer? Ask me your question here: https://jennsand.com/askjenn/ Text version: https://jennsand.com/advice/risk-register/ Video version: https://youtu.be/5k4aawBntsg Jenn’s Generally Good Game Production Advice: A game producer’s guide to setting up a risk register to track your fears. 00:00 Introduction 00:55 Question & Why create a risk register? 02:21 What makes a good and bad risk? 04:41 The details of all the properties that make up the risk register 08:44 How to monitor your risks 11:00 When should you engage mitigation and contingency plans? 11:40 Summary tips about risk registers 12:46 Conclusion Jenn’s Generally Good Game Production Advice is an advice column for our modern ages and for game developers everywhere. Topics covered will help you ship your game on time, on budget, with a happy team no matter whether you are a producer or someone else on the game team. Find out more about how to hire me: [jennsand.com](https://jennsand.com/)

How to Get Everything Done in a Game Jam

Game Jams get people making a game in a very short period of time. Usually people run out of time and their final game is a far cry from their vision. Production can help you figure out what you can fit and and gives you key beats to reach for. To make a game in 48 hours or less, you need to be focused on your goals and shipping the game. Production is like project management for games and it can help you rock the game jam. These easy to follow steps help you navigate what to do before the game jam starts, and all the phases during the game jam. We’ll go into naming the phases, what deliverables are due at the end of phases, the timeline of the phases, what production software to use, and who should be doing the production work. The phases we investigate are brainstorming, prototype, prep for production, production, alpha, beta, and release phases. We’ll discuss how to decide which way to build your game, when to focus on features vs content, playtesting, and a lot more. We’ll also go into depth about which software tools are right for you and give you a template you can use yourself. After watching this video you’ll be ready to succeed at a game jam regardless of whether it’s your first or 100th game jam. Resources: Production software: [Notion](https://www.notion.so/), [Trello](https://trello.com/), [Miro](https://miro.com/index/), or (if you must) [Google Sheets](https://workspace.google.com/products/sheets/). [Task board template in Notion available for duplication](https://www.notion.so/282a82440e16808585f8ce4d6f9498ae?pvs=21) Previous advice blog: [Production in a New Discipline](https://jennsand.com/advice/new-discipline/) talks about vertical vs horizontal development. [Power Up Game Jam](https://powerupjam.com/) — A free global game jam for women. Have a question for an expert game producer? Ask me your question here: https://jennsand.com/askjenn/ Text version: https://jennsand.com/advice/road-jam-map/ Video version: https://youtu.be/gt8m-j90WEo Jenn’s Generally Good Game Production Advice: How to Get Everything Done in a Game Jam 00:00 Introduction 00:31 Question & First Thoughts 01:29 What to do BEFORE the game jam begins 02:03 What to do DURING the game jam 07:28 What is the timeline? 08:13 What tools do you use? 09:31 Who should do the work? 10:13 Conclusions & More Tips Jenn’s Generally Good Game Production Advice is an advice column for our modern ages and for game developers everywhere. Topics covered will help you ship your game on time, on budget, with a happy team no matter whether you are a producer or someone else on the game team. Find out more and about how to hire me: [jennsand.com](https://jennsand.com/)