Games Academy graduands prepare award-winning game for public release

As part of that, we looked through one of the programmer's old prototypes, and one about catching bugs seemed to stick. The next time we met up we developed the idea, came up with a name and just got our heads down and started working.

How have you worked together as a team? 

We're a pretty small team consisting of two programmers, two environment artists, two character artists and one concept artist. It meant that keeping up with everyone was quite easy. It never felt like a hassle to find a time where everyone was free to talk.

Having multiple in-person sessions every week definitely helped to keep us on track too, as it gave us a consistent routine to follow. With us having a new build to test almost every week, everyone could be on the same page as the game evolved. We also stuck to an agile workflow overall, with planned sprints and weekly stand-ups, and this allowed us to iterate on our ideas as the project changed.

However, being a small team also meant we all had to wear multiple hats to fill the gaps in our skills, such as design and audio. Admittedly, it was challenging and at times messy, but our enthusiasm for the project and strong communication allowed us to adapt to it over the course of the year.

What's the most important thing you learned from your course?

Although the individual skills we learnedin the lead up to our final year were obviously necessary, the most important lesson we learned was teamwork. As mentioned above, our group is made up of programmers and a bunch of different types of artists, all with different visions and ideas. Getting our game to where it is now required constant communication, problem solving together and the ability to give and receive feedback. Those teamwork skills are definitely something we'll continue to draw on as we work towards the game's upcoming release on the Steam platform.

How have you been supported by the Games Academy staff throughout your time at uni?

As part of the module, we had bi-weekly meetings with our supervisor, who would playtest the game with us, give us a bunch of feedback and new ideas and always push us to do more. That encouragement and support meant a lot to us.

We were in a pretty unique situation, because our game got some social media attention which led to publisher interest, and we quickly started having to think about our futures beyond university. However, we never felt alone, as we had our supervisor to fall back on for general support, and members of the Games Academy staff who helped us with the business side of things. Of course, the insight they provided us with was extremely helpful, given our lack of experience. Overall, the staff made the challenge of starting an indie studio a lot less daunting!

What's next for the project and your careers? 

The next step is to finish the game and release it on Steam! We still have some progress to make for it to feel and look how we want it to, and we're really excited to share what we have planned with everyone. 

Instagram: bug_nappers
TikTok: bug_nappers
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4677650/Buggin_Out/

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