Note: You can download the attached presentation to read this postmortem to see the faces behind the game and to read the reflection in a more visually appealing way. Enjoy!

Progress

WonderLocked was created over the course of 7 weeks. The game's look and feel progressed drastically over this time. Here are some of the primary game stages:

Prototype

First Playable / Demo

Alpha

Beta & Final

What went well?

Highly organized

• Work management tools allowed for a clear understanding of tasks
• Communication and set procedures prevented confusion and merge conflicts

Clear project vision

• Allowed to make better design decisions and kept the team in agreement
• Prevented rework caused by different expectations
• Clear expectations allowed for early and integrated quality assurance

Team spirit

• We achieved psychological safety - constructive feedback was welcome.
• Everybody respected and valued each other.
• Orienting challenges together on a tight schedule, we developed camaraderie.

What could’ve been better

• Task estimations — In the beginning, the lack of experience and lack of performance history caused us to underestimate the work our tasks would require.
• Overwork — The underestimation of work combined with ambition resulted in us working 30-40 hours weekly (instead of desired 20-28) in the last 3 weeks, almost pushing everyone to burn out
• Personal organization & time management — We could have had a less tiresome time while maintaining high productivity if implemented better time management in our personal routines.

Takeaways - Advice

Game Vision

• Agree and align on the game vision from the very beginning of the project.

Understand and protect your scope

• Don’t underestimate the time tasks will take.
• Keep your goals ambitious but within reach.
• Never schedule crunch - it will arise anyway.

Be a good team player and leader

• Value your teammates. You depend on them.
• As a leader, at least a quarter of your time will be spent managing your team.