As a Game Designer, I am actively looking to work on projects with people whom I feel are interested in collaborating on something, or share the same creative interests as I do. Of course there are tons of creative people out there looking to work with each other, but for whatever reason, some of us human beings feel the desire to work with people of whom we are close to, including our friends or even family. In my experience, working with friends I am incredibly close with is extremely difficult. Not only can this be stressful on the project, but towards the friendship as well.
The Problem
Throughout my time developing with friends, I felt that the process was a bit slow. Of course we all enjoyed ourselves at times, but many times there was too much play and not enough work getting done. Because we were all so close and got along so well, we spent a lot of time joking around, thus making it difficult for us to take each other seriously. Other times when something in development went wrong, things would sometimes get out of hand and cause a stressful environment, which led to an even larger decrease in productivity.
The Mitigation
I felt that the best way to mitigate this problem was to sit down with each member of the team, together, and talk the situation out in a serious manner so that we would be able to pull ourselves together and finish the game we wanted to create. Here are a few of ways my team and I were able to get ourselves out of this rut, and began developing our game with maximum productivity.
Steps Toward Productivity
1. Establish a time frame in which you and your team will be as productive as possible without too many interruptions.
2. Establish another time frame in which you and your team can simply goof off and get all of the jokes and silliness out of your system. This way, when it comes down to putting in the blood, sweat, and tears, you'll be able to put your all into this project with minimal distractions.
3. If there is any bad blood, make sure to confront it and clear the air. Otherwise, this might pull you apart from the project, and more importantly your friendship.
Friendly Reminder
Remember, this is a passion project that you and your friends are working on together! Take a step back and realize how amazing this is! Although you want to focus on getting your work done and coming out on top with something great as quickly and efficiently as possible, remember to never stop having fun with it! Thank you for reading.