LET’S LEVEL UP OUR COMMUNICATION A Study of Communication Challenges in Game Development Teams

Abstract

Video games are growing fast in popularity, and while gaming has been primarily an entertainment medium, educators have also realized its benefits as a learning tool. However, little research is done on the complexity of communication in game development projects, though studies of challenges in game development often men-tion communication problems causing delays, stress, and inefficiency. Using an ex-plorative approach, we aimed to answer the question: What communication chal-lenges do game developers experience? We conducted eight interviews with game developers and their managers and identified several areas in which communication challenges arise. Our findings show that while some communication challenges oc-cur primarily between teams and in the context of communication between teams and managers, others are spread through all communication chains. One of the main challenges stems from development teams consisting of creative experts from differ-ent professional backgrounds collaborating in creating a product, which leads to dis-parity in knowledge sharing and communication breakdowns due to sectorial lan-guage and lack of shared terminology. Other challenges stem primarily from poor management, such as insufficient guidelines from management, lack of clear docu-mentation routines, absence of clear ownership, and limited feedback, which nega-tively influence the work process. We also identified a new finding that was not mentioned in earlier research, being informational overload. Thus, managing multi-disciplinary teams and improving communication between managers and teams are important aspects to handle to improve workplace communication in game develop-ment studios.