Having heard from previous students that, of all the modules covered in the course, they found the vertical slice game project easily the most challenging, if I’m honest, I felt a little apprehensive meeting the other eight team members I’d be working with for the next 12 weeks. And yes, while the project came with its fair share of challenges including communication issues, tension here and there, and plenty of tough decisions, as the weeks passed by, we learned to navigate these together, by confidently sharing ideas, collaborating, respectfully negotiating differences, and problem-solving as a team. And what was the result? Not only a game we could all be immensely proud of, but an understanding of our role within a real-time game development pipeline and improved practical and soft skills which will be of major benefit in the workplace.
As someone who is neurodivergent, I initially saw this project as the perfect opportunity to hone my teamwork and communication skills while working in ambiguous, uncertain, and unfamiliar contexts. And while that was true, I came to realise that my biggest challenge, and the most important lesson I’d learn would come from something else entirely. Admittedly, being a bit of a perfectionist (a trait linked to my ASD) and having never fully handed over creative control of my work to someone else, I found it challenging to pass on my player character model, animations and assets for the Games Design students to integrate into the final game, and struggled when my work didn’t exactly match my expectations. But through this experience, and preparing me for a role in the Animation industry, I learned a valuable lesson in that, playing a role in a much larger process, I must complete my work to the best of my ability, hand off my contributions, and moving on, trust in the rest of the team to bring it together.
Looking back, I genuinely feel I made a valuable contribution to our game prototype, and I’m proud of what we achieved together as a team. The experience also enabled me to create friendships within the Games Design team which may lead to some exciting collaborations down the line – who knows what the future might bring!