GRACE HARDINGHAM

Game Designer & Project Manager

Skills: Project Management / Art Direction / Level Design / Narrative Design / Miro / Unreal Engine

Ampato is a narrative-driven RPG Side Scroller game that delves into the story of a young girl embarking on her journey to the afterlife. The concept was inspired by a silver llama idol from circa 1400, discovered in Peru. This project was developed in response to an open-ended brief provided by the Sainsbury Centre at the University of East Anglia, where we were tasked with creating a game based on one of several artifacts from their current collection.

As the project manager, I took on the responsibility of organizing the team, delegating tasks, and ensuring smooth collaboration. In addition to managing the project, I contributed significantly to the creative vision of the game by designing the game’s narrative, developing the Games Design Document (GDD), and designing the initial level design concepts, which were later developed by a teammate.

Click here for the GDD

Insight to the Miro board

Whenever I take on the role of project manager during a game jam, I make it a priority to connect with my team. This involves taking the time to understand my teammates by learning about their strengths, areas for growth, and what fuels their passion for each of their specialist subject areas. My experiences in the second and third years of university have been beneficial in teaching me and helping me to understand what it truly means to be a good project manager and leader.

Having now led several game jams — including Cozy Campsite and a few others during my second year — I’ve developed a range of skills and approaches to leadership and can see substantial growth not only in my skills as a game design student, but also in my confidence in how I now take on a team. One of the key insights I’ve gained is that motivation often comes from unexpected places, such as appealing to a team’s sweet tooth — a small but meaningful way to support my team and foster productivity (for any other aspiring project managers, here is the cookie recipe which got my team ready for work)!

Through my time at university, I’ve deepened my passion for working with and supporting others. To me, being a project manager isn’t just about leading a team; it’s also about truly knowing your teammates, being a dependable person, giving a optimistic outlook on things to spur the team on when problems arise, and also being able to face said problems with confidence, determination, and the ability to problem solve.

Of all my game jam experiences, Ampato stands out as one of my most successful and enjoyable projects as a leader. This success stems not only from the skills and experience I’ve gained at university over the past three years, but also from the incredible efforts of the talented people I worked with that week. Their hard work reflects not only their dedication and skills, but also the impact of my leadership. That said, I don’t claim to be a perfect project manager — I am far from it — but I see myself as someone committed to the people I work with along as someone who also wants to do their best and continuously learn for my own growth and for the benefit of the teams I lead.

Mapping out the level and working alongside the level designer

As project manager, much of my time was dedicated to organizing and overseeing the project to ensure everything stayed on track. I did this through the use of Miro, Discord (for when we couldn't meet in person), and Pinterest. However, I also wanted to continue to develop my skills as a level and narrative designer. Early on, I guided the team in brainstorming and refining ideas, ultimately helping us settle on a finalised concept for the game. From there, I contributed to shaping the artistic vision by producing and sharing the GDD and collaborating closely with the team’s concept artists to align on the game’s look and feel. I also stepped in when ideas began to stray to make sure that, with gentle guidance, the overall creative vision wasn’t lost or changed.  Sometimes this meant turning ideas down, and offering different approaches towards ideas which deemed more appropriate and inline with the overall creative vision. This is perhaps one of the things I enjoy most, helping guide the vision of the game to achieve a clean, polished look.

Click here to play the game