Communication and knowledge management strategies in video game design and development: A case study highlighting key organizational narratives

Abstract

This paper summarizes and contextualizes a case study that presents data from interviews conducted over a period of three months within an independent game design and development studio. The study discusses how the studio is organized and how employees perform typical tasks and interface with management. The research focuses specifically on communication and knowledge management practices employed by the organization and articulates key stories that represent the challenges of working within a workplace that spans both creative and technical disciplines. These stories add to our knowledge of technical and professional communication in game development and provide us with important information about engineering communication practices in multidisciplinary environments. The paper also discusses the tools, technologies, and documentation strategies used by game development professionals to communicate and work through difficult problems.