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May 2023-Present || 14 Weeks || Team Size: 4
About
Beyond meet space is a project developed by Spartie and GEL lab that is set to revolutionize our understanding of collaboration in meeting spaces. BMS is a platform where users can engage in meetings, discussions, brainstorming sessions, and socialization through the use of an exciting and interactive VR game. This meeting space has been gamified to enhance the collaboration experience. This project was worked on by two technical designers, one artist, and one producer. The funding for this game came from the National Science Foundation. Our time working on it started in May 2024 to August 2024.
My Role
During this project I was a producer. I communicated with both the development team and the research team to ensure development proceeded smoothly. Each week I created a presentation displaying all the relevant work the development team has created to present to the researchers and funders. I also helped figure out what tasks needed to be worked on, and created a Jira to delegate tasks. We also used a detailed spreadsheet to communicate effectively with the researchers. Everyday the team had daily scrum to keep us all on the same page.
Presentations
For this project I created weekly slides that were presented to the researchers and funders. The slides were split into four seperate sections. Features, Work in progress, Changes, and Questions. The features section showed off all important aspects of our previous weeks work. Work in progress showed off features that still needed work or testing. It also gave us the opportunity to see if the researchers liked the direction we were heading in. Changes was a section that allowed the devs to suggest possible alterations to the design of the game. This section allowed clear communication from devs to researchers. The final section was questions. This section allowed for either side to ask clarifying questions. We also asked about future tasks and updates about the project.
Miscellaneous
During the project I was also tasked to help present this information to IDGA( International Game Developers Association) Ann Arbor. The team went down and presented the information a group of game developers. I created a quick slide presentation for the event, and we gained a lot of interest on the project. I was also tasked on creating slides/docs for future funding opportunities. I have also created documentation for future producers on the project so they hopefully have a smooth transition.
Challenges
Beyond Meet Space ran rather smoothly, although the team did run into a few hiccups. The first issue is BMS was an extension of VR chat. While this did allow the team to set up the basic project really fast, the developers were constricted heavily on what they could and could not implement. Many of the researchers tasks were not possible due to the restrictions VR chat has. Communicating back and fourth about what was possible took up a lot of our time. Another issue was this was an already existing project, and they had all their information stored on an out of date spread sheet. While it was useful at the start, the researchers did not maintain it. We eventually used Jira and kept up daily scrum to keep communication strong.
The previous developers also created a lot of assets that did not fit into any of the current researchers vision. One of the biggest challenges was figuring out what the researchers/funders end goal was. BMS is meant for studies, so we broke up our sprints into separate studies. This solution made development much more concise. We exactly figured out what needed to be in the world by a specific date, The developers were much happier with this solution.
MSU GEL Lab
The Games for Entertainment and Learning Lab is a company run through Michigan State University. it focuses on educational and experimental games to help the daily life of users.
