Project Manager

Claiming the role of Project Manager during a game jam is not really that much to boast about. However, when working on a short project with a large team, for a game jam that is, it helps to have someone to co-ordinate the team. We had a wide variety of skill sets including graphic design, art, animation, and game design. My job for these five days was to ensure the "non-gamer" types understood how to modify their work so it could be incorporated into the project. I ensured we had team meetings every morning and made cuts when progress was slowing.

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Level Design

In addition to Project Manager, I also contributed to the level design. I worked with two other level designers from discussing how we wanted to approach this game to iterating on our concepts. When it was decided that we wanted a Castlevania type level design, we had to work very diligently to divide the map. Our individual concepts were started in separate scenes and then near the end of beta, we intergrated them into one large map. My level concepts included both the starting point of the game and the second (or third, depending on player choice) area to explore. I wanted to reduce text as much as possible and elected to use visual cues or images to introduce basic mechanics or new ability. This encouraged the player to use a "trial and error" method. Thus engaging the player without taking them out of the game.