What is Workflow?

Work•flow /ˈwərkflō/

“The sequence of industrial, administrative, or other processes through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion.” – lexico.com

Workflow is the way and sequence of how we work that is nice and organized so nothing ever gets loose and things start getting out of place or you get stuck behind. Developing a good workflow requires some experimenting to see what goes right and what goes wrong.

Stages of Creation Development

Inspiration

How do we find ideas to develop?

• WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE? Your brain, peers, Trello
• WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE? Brainstorm ideas with your peers, if you or anyone else has an idea, immediately put it on Trello so you don’t lose the idea.
• HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY? If there is a bad idea, then archive it, do not delete it because it may come back to you and may fit in with the project. If it is an idea that isn’t too important then throw it into the backlog. If there is a good idea then keep it in what should be worked on.
• WHO MEASURES QUALITY? You and your peers.

Intention

How do we clarify our specific goal(s) for a project?

• WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE? Your ideas, Trello, peers
• WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE? Make a goal such as “I want so and so to be in our game, it must make it into the final product” or something like that. Try to set your goal, make a Trello list dedicated to your goals. Put the features you want to  be in the final product in there, or put any other goals in, such as “I want the game to have a minimal amount of bugs”. That is your goal.
• HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY? Check the Trello board with your peers to see if any of your goals don’t seem right. If there is anything left out, add it! If there is something that isn’t super important then you can move it to the backlog.
• WHO MEASURES QUALITY? You and your peers.

Pre-production

How can we brainwrite, brainstorm, storyboard, and plan our ideas at this phase?

• WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE? Storyboard, Trello, role/task sheet
• WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE? Once you have your ideas in the Trello, you should copy and paste them onto the storyboard to get a base view on what the game will look like visually, and how it will play. Divide up all the work into different roles, such as sound design, level design, character design, programmer, etc. Now, come up with your pitch. Make sure it is an appealing pitch that isn’t too long, or too short.
• HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY? Once you feel that your storyboard is looking nice, check up on the role division sheet to make sure everyone in their appropriate role knows what they’re doing. Make sure you have a good pitch ready and be prepared to present your pitch.
• WHO MEASURES QUALITY? You, your peers, advisory members.

Production

How do we communicate with each other and execute our plan for this phase? This is where we actually make the project.

• WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE? Trello, role division sheet, Unity, GarageBand, Audacity, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator
• WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE? Look at the Trello, start working on the important stuff that is your absolute goal to finish, make sure everyone in their appropriate roles knows what they’re doing and is working on their part.
• HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY? Check up on those important features, fix any potential bugs, fix them, then start working on some backlog features with the time you have left.
• WHO MEASURES QUALITY? You and your peers.

Post-production

How do we communicate with each other and execute our final stages of the project for this phase? This is where we publish the project.

• WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE? Unity
• WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE? Once your game is in a playable state close to presentation, then do a build. Make sure to ALWAYS test your build. There is a good chance that there will be bugs in your build that aren’t present in the editor. Fix those bugs and make more builds until there is a minimal amount of bugs in the game.
• HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY? Make sure that in your final build, there are little to no bugs, especially major bugs. Think about what you got done during the production phase.
• WHO MEASURES QUALITY? You and your peers

Presentation/Performance

How do we share our project with our learning community, advisory members, and the world?

• WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE? Google Slides, notecards, Trello
• WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE? Make your presentation, make sure you include screenshots of not only your game, but the process of making it. Such as screenshots of art being worked on, EQ in sound design, pictures of your code, make sure the code has comments in them!
• HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY? Check to see if there are any missing slides, if anything is missing then add them. Go ahead and practice present with your partners once that is done, once you have practiced enough and have your notecards, you are ready to present in front of the advisory members.
• WHO MEASURES QUALITY? You, your peers, advisory members

Feedback

How do we conduct a feedback session at the end of the project development cycle?

• WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE? Edublogs
• WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE? Review others presentations and maybe write about theirs. Write out a blog post about your game reflecting on what went right and what went wrong. Write about pre-production, production, post-production, etc. Include screenshots of the game and what you worked on.
• HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY? Once you met all requirements for the blog post such as screenshots, videos, etc. then publish it.
• WHO MEASURES QUALITY? You, the teacher