desol
A philosophical open-world exploration game set in a world shaped by sand, water, and human will.
The Production Challenge
desol was developed by a large interdisciplinary team, with work frequently moving between design, art, audio, and marketing.
My main challenge was helping the 13 members I supported understand:
TASK
What they needed to complete
TIME
When their work was needed
PRIORITY
Which other tasks depended on them
BLOCKERS
Who they should communicate with when a blocker appeared
Production Pipeline
April 2026
BETA
February 2026
ALPHA
September 2025
PRE-PRODUCTION
Supported the team in moving from concepts to a playable build by tracking dependencies, clarifying priorities, and surfacing blockers
Helped shift the team’s focus toward polish and stability by reviewing task status, prioritizing remaining work, while coordinating feedback.
Established clear workflows for members within my scope by organizing responsibilities and setting up task tracking
May 2026
THESIS
SHOWCASE
Turning Milestones into Actionable Work
From our production macro, I helped break larger project goals into smaller, trackable assignments. Instead of leaving team members with broad instructions such as “prepare assets for the next build,” I tried to clarify the expected deliverable, owner, priority, deadline, and dependencies to the greatest extent.
I regularly checked in with team members, documented concerns, and brought relevant people into the conversation. When I could not solve an issue directly, I reached out the appropriate lead or director to make a decision.
Supporting Cross-Team Communication
I facilitated regular communication between the members I supported and other departments through zoom meetings and discord threads. My goal was to make meetings useful rather than simply adding more meetings. I prepared discussion points, identified decisions that needed to be made, recorded action items, and followed up afterward.
< Key Takeaways >
Production is not only about schedules
A useful producer understands why work is blocked and helps the right people communicate.
Different contributors needed different forms of support. To me, production became more effective when I adapted my communication instead of expecting everyone to work in the same way.
Role
Game Producer
Team
13 members with in a 30+ developers team
Disciplines
Art, Audio, Marketing
Link
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4666960/desol/
Tools
As a producer on desol, I supported 13 members of a larger 30-person thesis team. I translated project milestones into actionable tasks, maintained production documentation, followed up on dependencies, and helped surface blockers before they affected other departments. Primarily, my role focuses on creating clarity and consistency for the team members within my production scope.
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