Remote Work Tools.

The Sheffield Project, as we tend to call it, was the first ever collaborative project when my colleagues and I had to make from scratch a complete VR experience for the clients. I wrote about various aspects of that collaboration in several previous entries. This time I wanted to highlight the tools that were especially useful for our group work.  

Even though we were lucky enough to go on a trip to Sheffield to explore the Wardsend Cemetery in its current shape, most of our work on this project was remote. Due to our course work, scheduled classes, as well as various commitments outside university, it was almost impossible to get everyone in one physical space to discuss the project or consult the progress. Therefore, most of the time we contacted each other online and used available tools for brainstorming, information gathering, but also planning and progressing with the project.  

Trello. 

At the beginning of this group work, Trello was especially handy. This online workspace allows users to create a collaborative board with categories for keeping resources, notes, links, and other useful materials. It can be presented in the form of a timeline, with clear dates and tasks to be completed, to keep track of the progress of work. As mentioned, Trello was especially helpful at the beginning, when each of us had some thoughts and ideas of how they would like to develop the project and what role they would like to play. On the other hand, I feel like we did not use the whole potential of Trello, especially for setting milestones, and verifying whether they were achieved, delayed, or modified, etc.  

GitHub. 

GitHub, which was already described on the blog, was a crucial tool for the Sheffield Project. Thanks to it, we were all working on the same project. A team member would work on their local GitHub repository, and then push changes to the website-based version so others can pull down the code (download the cloud version to their local environment). This industry standard tool, which from my observation is extremely popular in real- production settings, helps to avoid confusion about what was added or modified when and without the need for sending elements or versions of the product over emails etc.  

It, however, requires a certain level of knowledge, and most importantly, communication about the changes being pushed to the main product within the working team, as it can cause as much chaos as help.  

Google Drive. 

The third important online platform proving to be helpful was a cloud-based Google drive. We used it as a storage solution for large files (such as the painting cut into layers in a raw format), images and other elements that were parts of the jobs shared between people for easy access to those elements. Thanks to that cloud space, each of us could upload their work to the drive when needed and the other person could access it and download the element needed for their task, before having a ready element that could be put in the Unity scene and in the GitHub. 

Remote work is a style of work that is commonly implemented on the market, and due to the Covid-19, my VR friends and I have quite an experience of online studying. It, however, requires extra self-discipline and a great level of communication between people. All the mentioned above tools can be extremely useful, but they mean nothing if there is no team willing to work together.