Skateboard Ninja

what is S.B.N.?

"Skateboard Ninja is radical 2.5D platformer, where you'll need all your ninja skills and skateboard tricks to slash & dash your way through mythical Yokai in feudal Japan"

Skateboard Ninja was a one-semester project in my traditional game dev class.  Developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the team was entirely remote.  Between the pandemic and our short development time, production was uniquely challenging.  I took every opportunity to help the team deliver the project, whether I was maintaining the HackNPlan or filling in for sick teammates.

development stats

software

Unreal 4, ​Adobe Suite, HackNPlan

dev time

4 Months

team size

6-Person Team

position

Producer, Generalist

download the game

To itch.io

anecdotes

democratic DESIGN

In such a creative field, it can be difficult to unite every team member on a project under one vision, especially when the team could not meet in-person and was made up of students from various levels of experience.  Regardless, the Lucky Ninja team in my Spring 2022 Traditional Games class came together to make a game we're all proud of.   I attribute much of this success to SBN's extended preproduction period, during which we disobeyed the professor's instructions and rather than compete with our unique pitches, combined them into something new .  Because everyone had a say in the game's concept and design, it meant that everyone on the team was deeply invested in the success of our project.

horizon of
EXPECTATION

When we started work on SBN, I didn't know what to expect from a production role on a small team.  Most of my other projects to this point had been individual efforts or game jam teams with no need for producers.  In order to ship SBN's alpha build, I had to take over some of the tasks that others on the team were unable to complete, and by taking on these other hats, I facilitated my teammates in focusing on the tasks they were more personally excited for.   It was this job, of helping my team achieve things they hadn't anticipated from themselves, that highlighted to me why I wanted to produce games.

takeaways

version control

When an pushing accident broke all of our levels, I've never been more relieved for Perforce's rollback features.  This project taught me a lot about the value and the technical operation of version control.

team iteration

The teamwork and collaboration​ on Lucky Ninja was second-to-none, and it was a blast seeing ideas transform and respond to the needs of individuals on a small indie team.

always on

I have fond memories of calling in from hotel rooms and coffee shops to collaborate with my teammates on this project.  The work-from-home nature of the pandemic meant that there was always something new!

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