The Demski Group

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of a training program that teaches professionals how to work more effectively with low-income people.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Demski Group, and what were your goals?

I needed someone who could translate a physical board game into an online game. The goals were to mimic closely the board game, and to take advantage of being online -- to make the game more stressful and fast paced.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I issued an RFP and had three bidders respond. The deciding factors were their attention to detail from the RFP, and the confidence they demonstrated by committing to all of the game rules in their response.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We provided all of the visuals and the game content. The Demski team took that and put together the online game, building up from the components of the game to the rules and game play. There were some challenges with consistently applying the rules, but they were able to overcome these. Key deliverables were an online game that could be played by 250 people at once, in groups of three or four people. I do not know what technology was used.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

One person worked with us, and I think his position was chief programmer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The challenges of consistently applying the rules took longer to address than we hoped, but in the end, we had everything we needed. We have not had a large group play yet, so I don't have info on that.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had regular team meetings to check in on progress. We also tracked things in Trello, so we could see that all the items were logged and addressed.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They did not try to put us into the "game" category. They understood that it presents as a game, but has other goals. They helped us make the game more effective because they understood what we were trying to do.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Things seemed to stall for a bit for reasons that were unclear. I would have preferred to know that the project was on their back burner, if that was the case.