Lone gunman or loose collaboration or...

[Pelorus]

Some people are better at designing alone, others with a small core of people.

I have a project I'm working on (well, 3 games) and I think I need help. Due to my region being a bit of a drought for writers I turn, of course, to the 'net and delurk from the Forge.

anyone have experiences of bringing in collaborators to share a "vision"?

[Mike Holmes]

I've worked in collaboration.

What are you looking for precisely? Collaborators, or notes on how to collaborate? Any chance you can give us a hint as to what your project is about?

Mike

[Emily_Dresner]

I've worked with collaborators, I've worked in projects that have me + one other person, I've worked on projects with many people, and I've worked on several projects alone.  I work in a group professionally.

Are you having project coordination problems?  Communications problems?  Vision problems?

[Daniel Solis]

I just finished a collaborative project with two other people for a major client. (Part of the reason for the infrequent updates to G&S and PUNK.)

The three-person dynamic is a little tricky in that it can lead to people double-teaming the third person, but it can also garner some really great results if everyone is on par with each other. Our third person left the country on business so it was just my partner and me for the last two-thirds of the project. The transition itself was rather smooth, but dealing with a partner's eccentricities, opinions, and ideas is a lot different.

On the one hand, you may feel some resentment when the partner makes a mistake, but you always know that they are the only other person on whom you can depend so you keep your criticisms strictly constructive. You may think, "This would've been so much better if I had been allowed to..." but it never gets spoken of after the point of no return.

When throwing in a client into the dynamic, the person for whom you and your partner are working in the first place, you have someone who likely isn't entirely educated in your areas of expertise. (Which is why they hired you, after all.) The worst clients are those who don't know what they don't want until after you've worked up a prototype based on their sketchy requests. The best clients will be proactive, working with you every step of the way without being overbearing. Most clients fall somewhere in between these two extremes.

It's cliché, but the truth is that group work is about compromise. You can't be too sentimentally attached to your ideas because the other group member may honestly have the better concept. By the same token, you can't be too attached to your ideas to not let them be used by your other group members for the project. In the end, the client and the audience will only see what you have collectively created, rarely concerning themselves with what each individual contributed.

I should note that this is only my experience as a graphic designer, I've not had the experience of working on an RPG with another person as yet.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

My take on the issue is simple: someone must wear the pants. If different someones wear pants about different issues, then everyone must be extremely clear about which someone goes with which issue.

By "wear the pants," I mean, "has final and overriding authority in the case of a difference of opinion."

Best,
Ron

[gameskald]

Pelorus,

I work in a group atmosphere (professionally) day to day, where both collaboration and solo projects come into play. I would to say that whether to collaborate or not to collaborate depends on the project. Do you feel you need more hands to handle the amount of work you are undertaking? Apparently so, or I wouldn't be writing this (haha).

So I would have to agree with what gobi had said. Collaboration is about the willingness to compromise. To discuss and try to see the other persons point whether you agree or not and then discuss other options and decide on a course of action. Provided you can locate someone that is dedicated to the project (Which is not all that easy here on the net.).

I have actually just brought collaborators into Game Skald Games to help me with all my concept projects. Luckily they were close by and I did not have to turn to the net for assistance. However from my experience I will tell you this. No matter how many assistants you find at first, you will find that many of them will talk to you about the game until they are blue in the face, but when it comes time to anti-up what they have actually completed of the assignment you will find it lacking. My advise to you is to consider them more of an idea trampoline, go ahead and bounce idea's off of them, but do not count on them to follow through on assigned tasks. On the other hand you will find people that are not only interested in helping but actually do what needs to be done and then ask for more. Really it is trial and error as far as good collaborators go. So my advise to you is keep an open mind, agree to disagree if the discussion is going no where (you are just wasting time), and know who your true help is.