Michael Davies

A great colleague takes not only their own role seriously but respects the expertise of others in their field. A programmer who discusses changes in design with the designer first, an artist that doesn’t change level design without talking to design and so on.

Own your own field but stay open to other people’s creative thought. I for example always take suggestions and ideas from other departments. This process is easier when I know that other departments take my expertise seriously and won’t go behind my back.

A great colleague is not too proud to ask for help or say that they don’t know something and seek input from others. Nothing is worse than a person who felt too proud to admit not knowing something and screwing up other departments in the process.

You’re a fuckin ACE communicator. And I mean: A fucking plus. You document your work properly, you let others know where to find what they need, how to approach you best with questions and you communicate problems and changes immediately.

Oh yeah and while we’re at communicating: this seems minor but is actually a great indicator of a good team player: you give credit and talk about the project not as your work only but as a team effort unless it’s specifically your area.

You talk about the game as the team’s game, not your game. It’s not only your baby but the baby of everybody. You emphasise, support and praise the collaborative effort of games whenever you get the goddamn chance because giving credit is extraordinarily important.

Here’s another one: be patient with your team. Always. Even when they make mistakes, even when you’re angry. Teach and improve instead of whipping people in place. Make talking about mistakes about improvements not about individual people.

A good team player helps others be better, explains stuff to them and never belittles or smears them for not knowing something and instead sits down and helps the colleague understand and be a little more excellent. Games are a huge field, it’s impossible to know it all.