Or How to effectively entertain yourself and others

The evening on January 25, 2019, found a small group of young people gathered and initiating somewhat embarrassing activities in order to “break the ice”, ease the tension and form friendships. It was the kick-off event for Global Game Jam 2019, and the CARIMAC Annex 2 Building played host to the would-be jammers. Powered by the support of CARIMAC’s David Soutar, ListenMi’s very own, Kenia Mattis, and the assistance of veteran members of the Jamaican Game Developer Society (JGDS). Jammers prepared to build their games in the next 48 hours.

Ideation

The theme for the event was announced: “What does home mean to you”, and with names shared, including nick-names, the group brainstormed possible ideas. Over the next few hours Projects Hive, Timmy and Spheres & Squares were formed. Core skills were identified and teams were encouraged to share ideas and competencies. The main aim of the event was to foster community. …

Introduction

In 2016 I released my first game on Steam, Shiny Gauntlet, under the pseudonym Spritewrench. The game received lack luster reviews and had a lot of technical & design related issues. Looking back, I can better understand its shortcomings and realize that, though I learnt a lot during the process, I still have a lot more to learn.

Therefore, for 2018, I decided to fine tune my process further and release six (6) small games with tightly constrained specifications and realistic financial expectations (while maintaining full-time employment).

The first of which, “Questlike”, was released on March 29th, 2018. …

Shiny Gauntlet is a Dungeon Hack n Slash, Bullet Hell, Rogue-Lite Adventure. In which you select your champion and explore the Gauntlet, collecting weapons, enchanted rings, bottling and/or consuming the mysterious remains of defeated foes. Its the fourth game that I’ve completed, and the first that has received any notable monetary compensation. This compensation, while small, marks this project as a success in my eyes.

At the time of writing it has been approximately 6 months since the game was released on Steam and a whopping 1 year 2 months since its official release on the Humble Store & itch.io, …

A Project Manager’s Guide to Shifting Project Requirements

Scope Creep can be defined as the continuous and/or uncontrolled growth in a given project’s scope, at any point after the project has begun. It is characterised by the expansion of the goals of a project as it progresses.

It is a subtle process that may start with small adjustments and may end with projects far exceeding their desired timeline or budget. Often times due to unrestrained requirement changes/additions projects can outright fail. …