Developing Teisatsu was one of the most exciting experiences I've had when  it comes to working on a team for games. This was my first time leading a full team, so there was a lot of learning and directing that went along with NaNoRenO!

Recruitment + Marketing

Because I have always been a solo developer, I was very shy and hesitant on how to approach people to join. I recruited people individually and made a recruitment post shortly after I needed other roles to be filled. To be honest, I never would have expected for the team to grow as much as it did! What started as a potential 3-person game, turned into 20!

Marketing was very fun for me. Thanks to the talented graphic artist, I was excited to create a new tweet about the game every morning! I also felt conscious about posting for the game constantly, because I was worried about annoying the internet- I have never really marketed for any of my games, simply because my routine is to publish a game and then dip- I used social media constantly for this game, because I wanted to make sure that everyone's hard work would be recognized by as many people as possible. I was in total fear that I would let everyone down if I didn't get a lot of eyes on the game, so I did my very best. 

I am happy with the result, because we are almost at 1k+ downloads within a week!! 

The Good

I created a calendar and did my best to check-in on different roles everyday. There were many voice calls and progress checks that made development go back very speedy! In fact, many assets for the game were already done within the first week! This motivated me to work hard so that I could stay on track and early with everyone, but I never took into account that I was doing more than just the story and art.

Everyone was proactive with their roles. They took the liberty of checking-in consistently rather than me having to check in on them. The VAs were especially enthusiastic to contribute more for their roles, which is something I had never expected but was happy for! 

Everyone appeared to be engaged and hooked into the story of the game. We had many group calls to either work, chill, or have funny read-throughs of the script (it is where all the meme videos came from). I have never had an experience like this when working on a game, and it certainly a positive feeling to note if I ever decide to do another team-based game.

Overall, there was a sense of unity that made Teisatsu one of the best games I've developed!

The 'Could Be Better'

Honestly, there were not many road bumps for us! With good communication and everyone pulling their weight, we were set up for a smooth journey. The only minor setbacks were beta testing the game and getting VA lines cut in time with the deadline. Other minor features were unable to make it into the game, such as button clicks or SFX, but those were not entirely important to include.

I had to run through the game in one day due to internal conflict that lead to the role being revoked from the original beta tester. Therefor, there  was a bug and a few grammar errors that unfortunately got published into the first public build. If I had another day to beta test, I would have certainly felt more confident in the first build!

The VA lines were originally going to be added within the last few days of the jam. However, due to what may have been miscommunication, the engineer only cleaned the lines. Thanks to the script editor stepping in, the lines were polished/re-done, balanced, and cut for the game so that a quick VA patch could be made!

Lastly, it was my first time leading. I feel like I could have been more firm with what I wanted for the game rather than immediately giving in if whenever there was a discussion. However, it's just a jam game, so I've never felt any sort of dismay. Although it was technically my story, I also enjoyed giving others creative liberty so that they can offer a something they are proud of within the project!

Conclusion

 Overall, we managed to get the game out smoothly with a great amount of teamwork, this was a learning experience on how project managers typically work. I also learned more about other roles thanks to more specialized devs and artists! 

Managing the project has been very taxing, yet rewarding. But, I want the team to know how proud I am of them, and a super big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to download the game. This has been an amazing experience, and I look forward to the future of Pacchi Studio!