Uncovering Human Challenges in Game Development: The Importance of Clear Vision

At the GamesIndustry.biz HR Summit, Graham McAllister presented a talk on 'Game vision alignment: Its role in team effectiveness.' McAllister, who previously founded Player Research and currently heads TeamSync, discussed how studios can improve their games by maintaining a clear vision of what they're creating. He pointed out that a creatively aligned team is the most significant indicator of success. McAllister's talk highlighted the importance of game vision alignment, drawing insights from the Games Outcomes Project, a large-scale survey of game developers conducted in 2014. The survey's top findings included having a clear, shared vision of the game design and development plan, being cautious about making changes that deviate from the vision, and having team members who buy into the decisions made. McAllister noted that when a studio starts to grow, the vision can become lost, and variations of the vision occur within the team. He emphasized that having a clear and well-communicated vision is crucial for a studio's success, as it leads to less conflict, fewer delays, good communication, a focused player experience, and a healthy and happy team. McAllister cited the example of BioWare's Anthem, which suffered from a lack of vision alignment, resulting in internal issues and a largely unfinished game at launch. He stressed that addressing the underlying problem of vision alignment is essential to fixing other issues, such as crunch culture and failed launches. McAllister suggested that investigating human error and looking into the cause of misalignment can help studios determine what went wrong. He also highlighted the importance of language and communication in achieving vision alignment, as words can be ambiguous and open to different interpretations. McAllister recommended using a shared mental model to structure thoughts and organize what's going on inside team members' heads, allowing them to check if they're agreeing and to identify potential misalignments. Ultimately, McAllister's talk emphasized the need for studios to acknowledge and address misalignment, communicate effectively, and prioritize vision alignment to ensure the success of their games.