Development Preference

[DanielRand47]

Hello Frictional community! I am just curious to see what everyone here prefers when it comes to developing custom stories or full conversions. I've participated in several group and solo development projects, and would love to know what your preferences are.

[Daemian]

At some point you get bored working solo, but in a team you get constantly pushed forward. Imo.

[Darkfire]

A big upside of solo design is total power over the creation process. A big downside is lack of outside encouragement to work.

Havn't experienced it myself, but probably working in a team creates such problems as disagreements over creative choices, scheduling issues and having arguments on the quality of one's work.
On the other hand you have someone to help you solve and do things when you have run out of ideas. And in a team anyone who doesn't feel like working can be encouraged by others.

[Spelos]

Just as both Darkfire and Daemian stated:
Working in a group motivates you and pushes you forward.

But I would say that developing in a group might have many negatives (just like working alone). Darkfire mentioned disagreement or scheduling, which are very valid points. I myself would also add the potentially tense relationships between members or simply lack of organization. Though too much organization is also bad.

An interesting "rule of thumb" so to speak might be something like this:
A developer is most likely to succeed in a group development when he feel completely confident in developing custom stories by himself and has some finished projects.

Though I wouldn't quote myself on this one, since it is highly individual and while some people might be naturally good as a team player, some might "lone-wolf" their projects for years.

As for my preference:
I prefer working in a small group of 2-3 members, where I can easily bounce my ideas off of someone and be sure that the person understands.

Hell, I met really amazing people in some groups. My current best friend is from the last group I've worked in.

- - -
I just think that whatever you choose, you should love it. There are too many projects that are TBD or past release date with no download that whatever you choose, bite a very small chunk.

I would much rather see 10 average custom stories worth of 10 hours of average fun, then just 1 super-amazing 30 min. custom story.

Jesus, sorry for this Rant.

[DanielRand47]

I'll thow my thoughts in here as well. The past four years, I've developed small solo projects that never saw the light of day, (minus my very first CS and its remastered version) which prompted me to go in a more team directed form of development. I liked the solo development for quite awhile, but as mentioned earlier, it is very easy to lose motivation. For me I almost have to be in the mood to work on my own CS. Whereas in a team there are others who do some of that work for you.

In a team environment, there are several things that one can find as negative. As both Darkfire and Spelos mentioned, there can be tension and disagreements amongst developers and scheduling issues. However, it can be a very fun and enjoyable experience at the same time. Frankly while I have stepped down from project management for the time being, I have found working and leading the past two teams that I've been apart of to be very beneficial. Yes there was disagreements and what not, but it allows you to meet new people and get to know them a bit more. And it's a great way to see their works and to promote yourself in the community if you're a good team member/manager.

I will say to anyone who is looking to manage a team, that they know what they are getting into. If you have never worked in a team setting before, then don't go for a project manager position just yet. What I have learned, (and likely many others in the community) is that it requires you to have good organization (not too much), good communication, and good planning. You need to be able to listen to your developers and consider all their ideas, as well as be up to date on their conversations amongst eachother. Sometimes their ideas will be better than yours and vice versa. One thing I learned from the last team I managed, was that I distributed the work evenly, but let it slowly fall on just one or two members, which was poor organization on my part. I could go on and on, but that's enough of my rant.

Overall, I prefer developing in a team once I have made enough development progress on a solo CS.