Tuesday Talk: Communication

Today I’m going to do something a bit different and not talk directly about Out of the Storm but instead discuss something key to being an indie dev, or working in general.  That subject is communication.

Why does that matter to me?

Bartender_wipe2

Good question.  Communication is vital both in a leadership role or as a follower.  Whatever your career, be it a freelance artist or an entrepreneur trying to start your own business you need to be able to communicate clearly and accurately.  Those you work with need to understand not just what you want but why you want it so that they can make decisions with the necessary amount of information.  Here’s an example of what happens when you don’t communicate properly.

That fish is as big as me!

 Val single frame

You end up with a beautiful looking fish that sadly, is nearly as big as your human characters because you didn’t inform the other artist what size the characters were.  You just tell them that you need a rainbow trout that swims in circles, which they did very well.

Outside of just communicating instruction clearly it’s also important to communicate your work process.  List what you do and why, be transparent with your audience and your team to avoid any confusion between them.  For example I list every individual asset we will need for our game to be complete.

asset list

Not only does this provide my team with a list of projects to accomplish but if we ever need to show our audience why we need their money to finish this project (through something like our Patreon page), I can just post the list for them to view and know every bit of what we need to do to deliver them a high quality product.

Our sprite artist, Elbert, is perhaps the best example of someone who knows how to communicate with his clients effectively.  He has spent hours with me discussing the precise details of what I want done and how I want it done.  These hours are well spent as they ensure that he doesn’t spend many more hours readjusting or completely scrapping animations.  He does his job so well that it’s influenced the way I work and explain my work to others.


That concludes our first Tuesday Talk, something I’m looking forward to being a more common occurrence as this blog grows by the day.  If you liked this post be sure to click the like button below or even better, follow us by clicking the follow button button at the top left.

If you like our game, Out of the Storm, and you want to see it get completed sooner, please consider supporting us on patreon banner.  Every dollar counts.

Thank you and until tomorrow, take care.

-Dakota

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