by Bill Garner
Rock Rampage
About the GAME: Rock Rampage is a 3D side-scrolling driving game featuring vehicle building. It was inspired by games like ‘Besieged’ and ‘Hill Climb Racing‘. It is available for PC, and can be downloaded on Itch.io Rock Rampage Download. As the teams producer I was responsible for conducting the production process of the project. I used Jira as our project management software, and followed the Agile Scrum method of development.
The Production Process
PRODUCTION CONDITIONS: Our team was made up of 4 members. We had 1 Programmer, 1 Designer (who also produced assets), 1 2D Artist, and myself as Producer (I also did the level design, as well as asset production). Our production cycle was made up of 7 Sprints. All critical features made it into the game, but some features did end up getting cut. This project required a great deal of coordination, because each team member was challenged to perform tasks from a range of disciplines.
Building a Backlog
Rock Rampages production started very abruptly which meant that our preproduction time was rushed. Having limited design documentation made the early sprints challenging to conduct. Producing this title gave me great experience in the art of organization. Jira was very helpful in controlling the production flow.
Can O’ Magic
About the GAME: Can O’ Magic is a Puzzle game where the player attempts to merge magical Orbs together by dropping them into a Can. It was inspired by games like Suika Game. It is available for Android, and can be downloaded for free from the Google play store Can ‘O Magic Download.
The Production Process
PRODUCTION CONDITIONS: Can O’ Magic was developed by a team of 3 developers. The team consisted of 2 programmers and myself as producer. I also was the teams 3D artist and I produced all assets in the game. My team mates were excellent at programming, and they were highly communicative, which made my job as Producer far easier. We produced this mobile title over the course of 7 two-week sprints. Upon completing the game we entered into a local game dev competition and it won 1st place for “Small Team Game”.
Development Cycle
While Producing Can ‘O Magic I learned many valuable lessons about game development as a production process. I learned: how important it is to communicate clearly, how to plan for the long term development, and how to prioritize features. I found that if I invested my time in the planning process it would pay off in dividends later by avoiding mistakes.
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