Entering Gamemano: Recognizing Structural and Process Barriers

Joining Gamemano as a Game Developer in early 2023, I quickly noticed key process gaps. The company had stretched three-month sprints with little progress or backlog clarity, and there was no dedicated game designer—issues that stifled development momentum and team coherence. I worked closely with each team to identify bottlenecks and suggest process improvements intended to accelerate delivery. Early on, I was tasked with conducting initial hiring rounds to establish a capable development team.

Laying Foundations: Collaborative Architecture and Team Culture

Together with the project manager, we onboarded new developers and initiated the architecture for the casino fish game. This process was highly collaborative; we held brainstorming sessions with the entire team to gather diverse perspectives and ideas. I facilitated discussions that led to the design of the game architecture using MVC patterns alongside Scriptable Objects for modularity and maintainability. Additionally, I collaborated with sound designer to develope a sophisticated Sound Manager using multiple audio mixers and attenuation, significantly enhancing in-game audio.

Understanding the critical need for strong team dynamics, I implemented a paired game pitching process: one pair of developers would generate hyper-casual game ideas, while another pair took on the development. This approach fostered ownership, enabled early requirement clarity, and helped the team mature through the classic stages of forming, storming, norming, and performing.

Stepping Up : Transitioning to Leadership and Project Management

Two months into development, the project manager unexpectedly left. I stepped up to lead sprint planning, backlog refinement, and feature finalization. Without a dedicated game designer, I collaborated with the math team to clarify and finalize design requirements. To improve workflow and deliverables, I introduced Agile best practices—defining sprint deliverables clearly, enforcing MVC coding standards, and establishing strict code reviews and pull request workflows.

Ensuring Product Stability Through Iterative Testing and Cross-Team Synchronization

Within three months, core functionalities stabilized significantly. Playtesting was regularly integrated into sprint cycles, and backlog retrospectives helped mitigate risks and prevent regressions, strengthening delivery confidence. I took ownership of managing product backlogs, ensuring sprint plans were efficient and outcomes aligned with strategic goals. Working closely with the CTO, I refined feature requirements and delegated tasks clearly, proactively identifying and removing blockers to keep teams focused and productive.

Maintaining parallel synchronization between developers, sound engineers, animators, artists, QA, and game design teams was critical. I implemented regular workflows and feedback loops to ensure transparency and adaptiveness, resulting in timely quality Completion.

Delivering High-Quality, Timely Games

My leadership resulted in steady, quality outputs—innovative casino slot and fish games delivered on schedule, meeting compliance standards, and prepared for market success. The teams evolved into autonomous units capable of self-managing and sustaining performance, demonstrating the effectiveness of the collaborative culture and processes we established together.