What is Workflow?
Work•flow /ˈwərkflō/
“The sequence of industrial, administrative, or other processes through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion.” – lexico.com
What is a quality workflow? How do we develop it? Below are elements of the production cycle that most creative people move through as they create something. First, we must identify the stages of project production. What is each stage and what are the quality checks for each stage. Read on and find out!
Stages of Creation Development
Inspiration
How do we find ideas to develop?
- WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE?
- We can use a big variety of tools we could use but I highly recommend 2 tools which are a search engine and your own experience.
- WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE?
- While playing videogames pay attention to the mechanics that make you play that game and the small details that improve that experience. When you are playing a game and you found a mechanic or feature you hate don’t assume everyone thinks the same, use a search engine to find out if people like or dislike those mechanics or features.
- HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY?
- I measure quality by looking at the time I spend playing a certain game and how I feel while playing it. if a game makes me lose track of time then I say that is a good game.
- WHO MEASURES QUALITY?
- The consumers are the largest community and count with a huge variety of people with different perspectives and ideas and they can be the best judges.
Intention
How do we clarify our specific goal(s) for a project?
- WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE?
- Communication is the most important tool when it comes to making a specific goal.
- WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE?
- Whenever you think you have a specific goal go find a friend and tell him your goal, if he understands what the goal is about then you have a specific goal.
- HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY?
- I use SMART when making a goal to make sure it is achievable and specific.
- WHO MEASURES QUALITY?
- The teacher should be the one to measure quality because he is the one with the most experience when it comes to making SMART goals.
Pre-production
How can we brainwrite, brainstorm, storyboard, and plan our ideas at this phase?
- WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE?
- The tools I love using are a Flowchart and a GDD
- WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE?
- The GDD is a great way to come up with the foundations of your game like mechanics, aesthetics, sound effects, and background. Making a flowchart is a great way to place your ideas altogether to see if your game’s flow reaches a dead end.
- HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY?
- I measure quality based on how well prepared I feel for the production state.
- WHO MEASURES QUALITY?
- The team is the only group that can measure quality. They are the ones that decide if they are prepared for the production of the project.
Production
How do we communicate with each other and execute our plan for this phase? This is where we actually make the project.
- WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE?
- The team should use a program like Trello to manage their project and have a clear sight of the progress.
- WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE?
- Everyone should have their own roles to work on. The team should decide what needs to be done first in order to have an MVP. A MVP works as the foundation of a game and you can just work around it by adding art and more mechanics.
- HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY?
- I measure quality based on a series of questions. How many things did we get done? Do we have a playable game? Does it have any errors that can cause crashes?
- WHO MEASURES QUALITY?
- The teacher and guests are the ones in charge to measure the quality of our project.
Post-production
How do we communicate with each other and execute our final stages of the project for this phase? This is where we publish the project.
- WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE?
- Use programs like Trello or slack to make a new list of things to do.
- WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE?
- Report any kind of bugs that can be fixed to improve playability and finish adding any kind of art or mechanic you couldn’t add to the game on time.
- HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY?
- I measure quality based on another series of questions. Did we break the game? Did we fix the game? Did we add new staff to the game? What did we improve?
- WHO MEASURES QUALITY?
- The teacher and special guests should measure quality to see if the team listened to their previous feedback.
Presentation/Performance
How do we share our project with our learning community, advisory members, and the world?
- WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE?
- Make a slide show with evidence of your work, and add a gameplay video or just play the game in front of everyone.
- WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE?
- Have someone from your team share their screen and play the game while someone else explains what is the game about. The person sharing their screen should also have access to the slideshow with all the team’s evidence and images to explain the process of making the game
- HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY?
- By how well and clear the presentation is present to the advisory board.
- WHO MEASURES QUALITY?
- The teacher and advisory board.
Feedback
How do we conduct a feedback session at the end of the project development cycle?
- WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE?
- Surveys would be a great idea or have a google document for each team and have the advisory board and other teams add to that document.
- WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE?
- By having a shared document of each team, the other teams and advisory board can type their feedback once the presentation is over.
- HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY?
- By the amount of feedback I get.
- WHO MEASURES QUALITY?
- The team because they are the ones getting the feedback.