PRODUCER
GEEZ A JOAB PAL!
Role: Producer
Duration: September 2020Â - January 2021
A 5-month project working with Showcase Dundee, to create an educational game aiming to give Young Dundonians between 15-25 experience with the Job Interview process and environments. Aspiring to teach them helpful tips about the do's and don'ts in regards to best Interview and CV practices.
GAMEPLAY TRAILER
Overview
In Geez a Joab Pal, the player takes the role of a Job Interviewer,
with the task of evaluating each of a Job Applicant's Parameters.
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The player is guided through the Interview Process, by following a step by step checklist of parameters to evaluate, each offering its own sequence of events, which then prompt the player to circle the tick if the Candidate was appropriate or the cross if the player thinks they were unsuitable.
Gameplay
The core gameplay loop consisted of 3 stages, the candidates introduction, looking over their CV and a short interview where questions relevant to the job applied for would be asked. With the users goal to correctly evaluate each parameter to see whether the candidate is suitable for the position.
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At the end of the interview, the player would then get feedback on each of the parameters and assess how well they did in their evaluations. With detailed feedback explaining whether the candidate was suitable.
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Research into Local Culture, Dundonian Dialect and Job Interview Practices
Geez a Joab Pal was the first time I had worked on an Educational game intended to be used as a learning tool rather than a commercial game. As such thoroughly researching the necessary information was vital, as we had to make sure that the lessons the game intended to teach were a realistic reflection of the Job Interview Process.
In addition, catering the game to the target demographic of young Dundonians was another aspect we had to consider. With research consisting of tailoring the dialogue to the local Dundonian dialect, ensuring the Jobs candidates applying for within the game were an accurate representation of those found in the area, as well as using local points of reference or locations found in the game which would be familiar to the target audience.
Iteration & Responding to Client Feedback
Originally, Geez a Joab Pal was intended to be a Papers Please-style game where the player interviews a series of candidates per level, immediately passing them through to the next round if suitable or ejecting them through the building via a spring loaded chair if unsuitable.
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However, it became clear that the direction we were heading in was not meeting client expectations. With the remaining 3 weeks to complete our prototype, we decided to redesign the entire game. Focusing on redesigning the visual style to suit the local Dundonian aesthetic of Scottish comic books, and flesh out the gameplay by making 5 Candidates applying for 3 unique job types found in the local Dundee in area.
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As such, my production management skills were put to the test, as I had to oversee the production of the new prototype and make sure the team was capable of delivering a full gameplay loop from beginning to end within a 3 week turnaround.
Production Management
As the producer for the team, I organised and attended every team meeting throughout the project, leading the discussion and taking notes of points raised.
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Part of my responsibilities was task management, using Trello to oversee the completion of tasks and ensuring we remained on schedule and assigning new tasks to members as required.
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Weekly meetings with the client were also a part of my responsibilities, as such I had to make sure that the build was in a presentable state each week, as well as preparing the demonstration of the build as necessary to update the client on our progress. While noting Client’s feedback to further discuss with the development team to iterate on the build for the following week.
Use of Scrum
Due to the nature of the project, I applied the Scrum Development Methodology to ensure that the team was able to efficiently work together despite the challenging circumstances placed upon us due to working remotely to act in accordance with Covid safety guidelines.
This included daily scrum meetings where members could see what everyone was working on as well as allow members to raise questions or concerns about the development of the project. This proved highly effective as it allowed the team to be transparent and built trust amongst members that we were progressing and completing our tasks as required.
Lessons Learned
Working on Geez a Joab Pal for a client has allowed me to gain excellent insight into the development of a project from conception to delivery. Throughout the project I was able to work in both production and design areas. Due to the team composition it was expected of me to pick-up development work where possible to ensure that the game was reaching its highest potential. As such, I feel I was able to improve my problem solving in regards to designing for an educational game, something which I had no prior experience with.
In addition, working remotely to abide Covid safety guidelines let me experience a new set of unique challenges which I had not previously encountered. Such as maintaining and developing team relationships with members that I had met in person a handful of times, changes in circumstances in regards to client expectations as well as task prioritisation in order to meet weekly deadlines.
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Furthermore, overseeing the production of both Geez a Joab Pal and Aliens Help Humans simultaneously was an incredibly satisfying achievement. I feel my skills as a Producer grew tremendously over the duration of both projects, which I am keen to further hone on future challenges.