Team Peer Reviews

Ben Critchlow

Ben was very proficient in his role as the games programmer and was responsible for all game code, code related tasks and in inclusion of all game assets. Over the duration of the project Ben never encountered a problem that he wasn’t able to quickly overcome. His coding skills seem far more than competent and often added great technical feedback at group meetings. Work going into the game build was always quick to find it’s why into the game. Although one main criticism is the programing pipeline, assets where placed into a drop box and then had to be iterated into the game by Ben. This could have been made more efficient by allowing team members to back direct iterations into the games rout folder. On reflection I am very thankful for the opportunity to work with him. Ben had been the cornerstone in our team, and I don’t think that we would have been able to achieve what we have with the game prototype if we had a less competent programmer.

Malcolm Armstrong

Malcom’s role to our team was producer; he was tasked with management of the game development, management of team resources and ensuring team communication. In executing his role he was very proficient, taking a hands-on approach to communicating with appropriately sized meetings. Which I felt were always focused and to the point. I felt that he was very good at allocating tasks to individuals in the team and was able to manage the tasks given. He also showed good communication skills when interacting with the team and passing relevant information and concerns between team members. His strengths definitely lie in his ability to effectively relay and keep on top of tasks. Malcom also seemed to have a very good understanding of the machinations behind managing a small games development and understood industry language like “milestone” and “iteration”. However, I feel that there was a lack of visual representation on the monument side, no charts or timetables where presented to the team. I personally like these as I find it useful to have a physical representation of time, deliverables and also find it motivational to have a visual representation of the project progress. Overall I am very thankful for the opportunity to work with Malcom, he managed our game very effectively and is an easy person to work alongside.

Abhishek Goyal

Abhishek fulfilled the role of game designer within the game development team and was responsible for conceptualizing the game setting, as well as the game-play and the design of the game level. I feel that going into this project he had a lack of knowledge in game design theory, specifically the psychology of what makes game-play mechanics fun/exciting. However he was able to adapt to his role fairly effectively and quickly. In the task that were required from him (design document and game level design) he delivered to a good slandered, although then often were delivered a little behind schedule. As a team member Abhishek was invaluable, he was often enthusiastic when talking about the game, committed and brought a positive energy to group meetings. The worked delivered he throughout the development of the game was professional and well presented. He also was very visual in his explanations, for example often sketching things out to communicate ideas which I particularly like. However, I feel that his main weakness was a lack of knowledge and slight confusion over his role as game designer coming into this project. Overall I enjoyed my time working with Abhishek and found him to be a great team player, in spite of a few unexpected design revisions I feel that our game development ran reasonable smooth and the final realisation is in keeping with the team’s original objective.