When I started the project “Lament,” I encountered several challenges, primarily related to my mental health, workload, and learning difficulties. These issues led to conflicts between my expectations, the group’s expectations, and what I believed was achievable compared to the rest of the team, especially in the first two months.

However, I can confidently say that this has been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had regarding group work and game development. Initially, I struggled with self-doubt and motivation, evident in my reflections and formative feedback from my tutors. Fortunately, I had several group meetings and peer sessions with Ayse and Parker from another group, who helped me recognise my value and potential contributions to the project.

As a world designer, I realise there are numerous areas for improvement, such as enhancing my workflow, pipelining, and conducting thorough research before starting tasks. Despite this, I am proud to have met my initial goals and contributed to the project in a way that helped the team achieve a high-quality game.

At the beginning of the project, I lacked a clear understanding of the role of a world designer. However, throughout this experience, my knowledge of this role has deepened, along with insights into industry expectations and how I might fit into this role in the future. The collaborative nature of this project also helped me grasp the various roles in the industry and how teams interact, track work, and meet game development deadlines.

Unfortunately, it took me a few weeks and an eye-opening meeting to fully realise how much more I could contribute to the group. After that meeting, I felt motivated and could produce significantly more work for the project.

Ultimately, I believe the most valuable aspect of this project has not been the final game product or my individual contributions but rather my enhanced understanding of the industry and the importance of teamwork, communication, and collaboration.