As I you can probably imagine, working on two new games at once is quite the balancing act. Not only are they different game styles but they As I you can probably imagine, working on two new games at once is quite the balancing act. Not only are they different game styles but they are also being built in different engines, therefor increasing the complexity of developing bit at the same time. The issue however is less of technical one and more a planning one.\nFrom a technical point of view it is good to have to very different projects. It enables me to jump between them when I hit road blocks enabling me to continue to make progress on one whilst I attempt to mentally problem solve the other. The key is ensuring my time is well balanced between the two and knowing that when I am focusing on one project to not worry too much about the other. The key to that is having a strong planning method.\nWhen I was working on just one project the planning wasn’t too hard. As long as I have general activities planned I can just focus on tackling them at every free opportunity I get. Now I am working on two projects it’s not enough to just know the activities I need to perform, I also need to have an idea as to when I am going to perform them so that when I sit down for that spare hour I don’t waste 10mins trying to figure out should I work on Project ZATO or Gym Empire. To help this I’ve decided to go for a more detailed planning technique focusing on agile methods. My plan covers both Project ZATO and Gym Empire and consists of an increment plan, feature list and timeboxes.\nIncrement Plan\nThe increment plan is basically a road map of the various development versions and what features they will include. There is a plan for Project ZATO version and one for Gym Empire versions.\nFeature List\nThe feature list is a brain dump of all the tasks that need to be performed to complete the design. They are usually large task which correlate to features in the game. There is a feature list for Project ZATO and one for Gym Empire.\nTimebox\nSorry, it\’s not the Tardis! The timebox is the monthly planning of activities. It takes the features from both Project ZATO and Gym Empire that are to be worked on over the next month and allocates a certain amount of time to each. At the end of the month the previous timebox is updated with the real time spent on activities to enable reflection on how the planning and actual work compared.\nUsing the timeboxes each month it is possible to allocate a certain amount of time to each activity and to keep track of how much time has been spent where, making it easier to decide how to spend that time. This reduces the risk of going down rabbit holes and overly focusing on one activity at the expense of others.are also being built in different engines, therefor increasing the complexity of developing bit at the same time. The issue however is less of technical one and more a planning one.
From a technical point of view it is good to have to very different projects. It enables me to jump between them when I hit road blocks enabling me to continue to make progress on one whilst I attempt to mentally problem solve the other. The key is ensuring my time is well balanced between the two and knowing that when I am focusing on one project to not worry too much about the other. The key to that is having a strong planning method.
When I was working on just one project the planning wasn’t too hard. As long as I have general activities planned I can just focus on tackling them at every free opportunity I get. Now I am working on two projects it’s not enough to just know the activities I need to perform, I also need to have an idea as to when I am going to perform them so that when I sit down for that spare hour I don’t waste 10mins trying to figure out should I work on Project ZATO or Gym Empire. To help this I’ve decided to go for a more detailed planning technique focusing on agile methods. My plan covers both Project ZATO and Gym Empire and consists of an increment plan, feature list and timeboxes.
Increment Plan
The increment plan is basically a road map of the various development versions and what features they will include. There is a plan for Project ZATO version and one for Gym Empire versions.
Feature List
The feature list is a brain dump of all the tasks that need to be performed to complete the design. They are usually large task which correlate to features in the game. There is a feature list for Project ZATO and one for Gym Empire.
Timebox
Sorry, it’s not the Tardis! The timebox is the monthly planning of activities. It takes the features from both Project ZATO and Gym Empire that are to be worked on over the next month and allocates a certain amount of time to each. At the end of the month the previous timebox is updated with the real time spent on activities to enable reflection on how the planning and actual work compared.
Using the timeboxes each month it is possible to allocate a certain amount of time to each activity and to keep track of how much time has been spent where, making it easier to decide how to spend that time. This reduces the risk of going down rabbit holes and overly focusing on one activity at the expense of others.