Hi! I am currently co-manager & programmer for a small game development team, but we seem to have some management issues to resolve. As we are not really a company, but rather a group of people who like to develop games during our spare-time, there are several priority issues that cause severe problems. Motivation for instance. How do you keep people motivated? We have great ideas and whenever we have a meeting all of us are really enthusiastic about developing THAT killer-game! However, when we go home to our apartments, nothing happens. I try to push forward by producing documents, code, mailing ideas and possible improvements etc, but people are still excusing themselves with: "Well, my private life is a mess right now bla bla bla" In my humble opinion... That is bullshit! Once, that excuse works, sure. Two months later it doesn''t, really. So, my question is: How do we keep people motivated? Another problem is "Well, I really don''t have time but I think we have great ideas". I do not consider that a good excuse. If you are interested in and burning for developing games, that should not appear at the bottom of your list of things to do since whatever ends up at the bottom is always subject to changes in plans and will never really be executed. It is easy to say: kick them, get motivated people. But I would like to try another way if possible. Am I pushing around too much? I don''t think so but who knows? Since we do not have money we cannot offer money, otherwise that is always a good way of motivating basically anyone if paid enough. one goal is of course to make money on game development but that is far away right now, to be honest... Regards, /Yfcon

ERRR... I probably should have read a bit more detail. I had originally posted this::
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If Morale is the problem, it probably sounds like the programmers are a tad overworked. Granted, this is the game industry and that will always happen. However, if you look at the higher up companies, they skirt around it by getting involved with the workers. For instance, iD Software has a 5 O'Clock deathmatch, where everybody in the company stops to play Q3 against each other. At KCEJ WEST (Konami), during the Metal gear Solid 2 development, Hideo Kojima had everybody turn in an idea book, and he would then talk to each person about their ideas and try to expand on them more, so that everybody felt like they were active participants in the process. Do some investigation at a few other companies and figure out how to break the WORKERBEE-QUEEN relationship. It may be just as simple as inviting the devteam out to a bar one night and kicking back a few cold ones.
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But it seems you don't even have any programming going on yet. You may have to first take on some initiative and getting a garage/basement/small office space lined up. If everyone has ideas and just that, you grab some of those ideas and draw up a basic design doc, which should be between 8 to 24 pages describing litely how the game would work. Make it clear that this is a project that you want to do. If nobody has the time for it, find others.

-> Will Bubel
-> Machine wash cold, tumble dry.


[edited by - inmate2993 on August 24, 2002 8:36:30 PM]

quote: Original post by Yfcon
So, my question is: How do we keep people motivated?

Money, but that''s out of the question...

http://www.bungie.net/perlbin/blam.pl?file=/site/0/news/stories/be_a_game_designer_101.html

quote: Original post by Yfcon
I am currently co-manager & programmer for a small game development team, but we seem to have some management issues to resolve.

...

Motivation for instance. How do you keep people motivated? We have great ideas and whenever we have a meeting all of us are really enthusiastic about developing THAT killer-game!
However, when we go home to our apartments, nothing happens.

...

So, my question is: How do we keep people motivated?

Break things down into clear, discrete tasks that produce tangible deliverables, and allocate them to people. Negotiate an unambigious time-frame with them. Make sure everybody on your team knows who is doing what, so that there is peer pressure. If someone doesn''t give you what they say they''ll give you after that time-frame (reasonable excuses aside), give the task to someone else. Always look out for new team members if possible, as that helps to apply some pressure on your existing ones.

quote: Another problem is "Well, I really don''t have time but I think we have great ideas". I do not consider that a good excuse. If you are interested in and burning for developing games, that should not appear at the bottom of your list of things to do since whatever ends up at the bottom is always subject to changes in plans and will never really be executed.

You can''t do much without time. Get people with more time.

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