Porter's World

Strength In Numbers

I’d like to point this article specifically to any flash developer that does solo work, or even freelance work. An ongoing discussion among members concerning flash game development, is the question of if it’s better to work in a group, or alone. There are a few perks to each side, let’s go over them now and then I’ll elaborate with my professional opinion on the matter.

Working alone has it’s benefits for sure, especially if you’re a decent artist and programmer. The obvious bonus to working alone is that you don’t have to split the cash, all earning drop directly into your hands and you get to dream about what you’re going to buy between work sessions or while you sleep. The next benefit is the ability to work for yourself. You pick when you work, how much you work, and your reasons are your own, nobody can interfere except perhaps the wonderful world of responsibility if you’re doing this as a full time job. One of the more important, and definitely appealing aspects of working alone is that you make the calls. The artwork is as you call it, the design is nothing short of what you make it, you are your own limits.

Now on to the other option, working with a partner or even in a group. One of the most important feature in my eyes to this, is how fast you can work. You’re are able to pump work out at a rate that would look something like the following:

workRate = numberOfMembers*hours+bonus;

As an example, if you work 6 hours, your production is equal to that work time, multiplied by the number of members putting in those hours. Now you’ll notice I added “+bonus” in there, I’ll get to that in my closing opinion. Another positive feature to this work method is that you can have each member of the team excel in a certain ability, thus making your game above average, having great graphics, game-play, and whatever else it may contain that your team can contribute to. One additional, and very important aspect of working with others, is the ability to collaborate your ideas and build upon the original. The progress that can be made during the planning stages via this method is amazing.

If that wasn’t convincing enough, I’ll say it a bit more clearly, working in teams far surpasses that of which one can do alone. First off, yes you split the money, but you work faster as a group. The plus I mentioned in my above formula is the result of combing ideas. When you get together, you come up with ideas faster. You then gain motivation from seeing progress happen at a faster rate. This progress makes you work faster, see more results, thus spiraling you into a much faster development cycle than that of which can be reached alone. In the end you’re getting far more work done per hour if you stay focused and motivated, which is much more likely to happen in a group when others are there to motivate and support you. As mentioned your ideas are more successful and flushed out in a team, and you’re less likely to abandon the project due to a huge workload or lack of motivation, both of which are common among solo developers with a large project.

I’m sure by now you’ve seen my reasoning and would agree that working in a group far surpasses the likes of working solo. Time is saved, ideas are elaborated upon and it’s just all around more fun. If my words alone don’t convince you, look at some of the top games out there today, they’re all developed by teams of 2 or more, and that’s not about to change. The industry is calling for higher quality games, and teams are now forming to compensate for said changes. If you’re solo now and thinking about making the switch to a team, now is the time to do so. Get yourself a steady position with someone else or in an already established team. If you need a great place to find a partner or co-workers, I highly suggest heading over to FlashGameLicense.com and becoming an active member in the community, after all, that’s how I ended up a part of Epic Shadow Entertainment and writing this very article.