Using Teamwork and Gamification To Make Content Creation Fun and Easy
With all the news on the COVID-19 virus and how it is spread, we are slowly becoming aware of the science behind the virus, and how to protect ourselves and our loved ones with coughing and sneezing hygiene, social distancing, and regular hand-washing.
Let me bring to your attention the science behind something different, yet fascinating: a parasite called Sacculina that infects crabs. As we all know, parasites are organisms that live on host organisms, living off their nutrients at the expense of the hosts. But Sacculina is no ordinary parasite; other than performing the obvious parasitic functions, it goes the extra mile and starts controlling the mind of the infected crab.
First, the crab isolates itself from the rest of the crabs. It slowly stops identifying as a crab and starts seeing itself as a Sacculina. And once the eggs of the parasite develop and are secured under the abdomen of the crab, it carries these eggs around the same way the female crabs normally care for their own brood.
When the eggs are ready for hatching, the crabs perform the process while treating the sacculina eggs as though they were its own. The most mind-blowing part is the fact that this happens to both male and female crabs. Meaning the mind control also causes a change of gender identity for the male crabs.
Every species, every person has a role they play in the universal ecosystem. Roles are important and are necessary for the survival of a species. In the case of the infected crabs, they will not be able to sire let alone bring up their own young ones because of the invasion of sacculina.
It is important to be clear on roles and let’s bring it closer home. As Creatives and Game Developers, deficient teamwork is parasitic. The fact that the Gaming industry is still budding on the African continent calls for us to focus on unity, no pun intended, rather than division.
We all have different skill sets and need to find a way to accommodate each other and work together. Once a great team is formed with each member taking up the roles they feel fit them well, then, there’s no limit to what people can achieve together.
This is especially true now that most people are free and there are so many opportunities to create games with all the game jams coming up. Is the pandemic good for the Game Industry? Well, it depends.
The already structured organizations are definitely reaping the benefits of their past work. However, for the rest of us creatives still growing, it will depend on how people team up and perform their chosen roles to the best of their ability in the game content creation process during these lock-downs.
A team member in my Game Development journey put it so well when she reminded us: “When a light dimmed, someone else kept the spark on; teamwork works team.” We encountered a lot of challenges during our 2 year period of working on the Enter Africa gamifying African cities project. However, we always found a way around thanks to one person this time and another person the next.
Speaking of gamifying our cities, why not also gamify the process with which we create our games. It is interesting to notice that we approach our teamwork the way serious suit and tie industries do, yet we are Game Developers. We need to find ways to make light of what we do and have fun in the process of creation through gamified ways, such as the use of gamified apps like Strayboots to welcome and orient new team members.
I’ll leave you with this quote to chew on: “ Fun is one of the most important — and underrated — ingredients in any successful venture. If you’re not having fun, then it’s probably time to call it quits and try something else.” Richard Branson.
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LudiqueWorks is a video game publishing and video game development company based out of Africa. With a network of 150+ studios in 30 countries across Africa.
LudiqueWorks invests in nascent video game development studios on the continent through training and funding, as well as building a growing video gaming community through the Africa Game Developers network.
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