In these informal settings, we were


able to talk as human beings rather than as developers and discover more about who we are outside of work. I got to know my team on a whole new level, from their habits to their favourite game, to where they take their dog walking at the weekend and what plants they’re growing on their kitchen windowsills. I know not all games are about


making craft beer, and not all research processes involve tasting a lot of beers - and I mean a lot, someone drank over 500 beers during the course of our two-year development… responsibly, of course. But even without trips to breweries, going to events dedicated


I must stress that throughout the project, we


wanted people to take the research to a level they felt comfortable with and being a beer fan (or even a drinking fan) was not an expectation to work on the game. Even if team members could join once or twice during development to enjoy a soft drink with their colleagues, it still brought us together in a way we hadn’t before. It expanded beyond the development team too: we work remotely but a lot of our folks are based in Bristol and the surrounding area, so the invitation was always open for anyone from across the studio to join in on our get-togethers.


to brewing and visits to the local – the research process can bring a team together.


GET CREATIVE WITH YOUR RESEARCH Our research took us to a lot of unlikely places, but it also brought us closer to our neighbours. We’re a Bristol-based studio and under our noses was The Moor Beer Company – a brewery based in our hometown which does great things with live, natural and vegan beers. By strengthening our knowledge of brewing, we were able to form a partnership with them that saw us creating our very own recipe:


34 | MCV/DEVELOP February 2023


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60