Tejaswini Joglekar
One of the people working in the team behind Gwen’s Getaway is Associate Producer Tejaswini Joglekar. In her role, she ensures a seamless development experience for the team members around her, bridging gaps, translating priorities, and collaborating closely with the producer and other key stakeholders – a role pivotal in the exciting, yet hectic soft launch phase.
“One of my absolute top priorities is the wellbeing of our team,” Tejaswini underlines.
“It’s a balance between planning the road ahead as accurately as possible yet staying agile and flexible enough to react to unexpected twists and turns. Soft launch can be a busy time, and it’s our job to simplify the path by prioritizing features and tasks for our development teams. This way, they can focus on what they do best!”
For Tejaswini, this often comes down to communication.
“Navigating and managing various streams of communication from player expectations to development team needs and other crucial stakeholder demands – while in a live environment – it’s definitely a challenge. I see it as being able to provide clarity and foster concentration.”
Offering clarity strikes a chord also with our Game Analyst Aleksanteri Saarela.
“In a nutshell, game analytics is about empowering informed decision-making. To do this, you need to be able to have a clear view of where we stand,” he says.
Aleksanteri collaborates closely with key stakeholders, listening and offering data-driven insights to address questions that may leave others puzzled. While soft launch is obviously a massively exciting and interesting moment in production for everyone behind Gwen’s Getaway, it might be especially so for the analysts involved as the full extent of the data becomes available.
“Being live makes our job a lot more tangible. Whatever we see in the data, we can single out, discuss with the team, and make changes accordingly, impacting the player experience in a short amount of time,” Aleksanteri says.
“Sometimes it’s the smallest things that make an impact, like tweaking a UI feature just the tiniest bit and seeing it change how players interact with it immediately. We’ll continue keeping our ears open for player feedback and polishing all things big and small, to provide the best possible experience.”
A Collective Journey in Art
Looking at the game from a slightly different point of view than Aleksanteri and Tejaswini is Jenna Mattila, Associate Art Director for Gwen’s Getaway. As the brushstrokes of Jenna’s expertise are at the forefront of the game, she had been eagerly anticipating how players would react to the visual identity of Gwen’s Getaway at its reveal.
“Like Aleksanteri said, soft launch is without a doubt the most fascinating time of the development, as we are finally getting our hands on all the data. Now we can utilize this feedback to enhance and know what our players like visually,” Jenna explains.
Aleksanteri Saarela and Jenna Mattila
“It’s been so heartwarming to see how our players have embraced the art style, scenery, and world we’ve crafted. In the soft launch we’ve seen many describe the game as beautiful and relaxing, which is exactly what we were aiming for. All the feedback is of course a huge driver for our team to continue refining and enhancing the visuals, ensuring that Gwen’s Getaway remains an immersive and relaxing experience.”
As much as art contributes to the look of the game, it also does to the feel of it. Art goes a lot deeper into the game than what we see on the surface, breathing life into narratives, enhancing player navigation, and impacting the overall engagement of the game. To ensure all artistic elements seamlessly complement and elevate the gameplay experience, Jenna underlines the importance of cross-functional collaboration.
“Fostering an open environment, where every team member is encouraged to contribute their insights and perspectives, is absolutely key to our artistic process. Through various brainstorming sessions and workshops, we aim to harness the true power of our creativity and align our vision in all aspects,” she tells us.
“In the end, it’s about allowing different voices to contribute to the visual narrative. This collective effort is what shaped the game into what it is today.”
Favorite part about working with Gwen’s Getaway
“I think we’ve managed to capture a very wholesome charm into the experience. It’s very relaxing and engaging in a way that isn’t imposing.”
–Tejaswini
“We are bringing beautiful visuals and soothing sounds for that perfect escape from the daily hustle.”
– Jenna
“It’s a new genre and a new audience for us, which makes it just that much more exciting!”
– Aleksanteri
Play the Game!
Gwen’s Getaway is available on iOS and Android devices in Canada, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Australia, Finland, India, Philippines, and the United Arab Emirates.
For more information, visit Ubisoft.com