How do you collaborate with your team members?

[Mortis]

With Nanobots, Vince and I have started using Google docs to exchange ideas. We're both looking at the game walkthrough, and he marks off which items he's programmed and which he still needs animations for. It's not as timely as instant messaging, although it saves me the trouble of staying up until 3am here/midafternoon Japan time.

Oh wow, I'd never thought of utilizing Google Docs before; I'm a huge fan of utilizing a wiki for primary design to take advantage of hyperlinking, which I feel is definitely something that one should take advantage of. Google Docs could be a great alternative for someone who can't install a wiki directly!

I too have used instant messengers for primary communication, though. Do any of you guys have IRC channels for your projects? I guess generally speaking adventure game teams are too small to really benefit from IRC but I personally enjoy the fact that IRC is less intrusive than IM - a good long day-spanning IRC discussion also gives you a sense of continuance.

Internet is a bless I say!

That's damn straight! I think everyone should attempt to hook up at least every now and then. I know I've made plenty of good friends over the net and it's always a thrill to meet up. I've noticed something interesting about purely local teams (like university or game school teams), though - they often work well for a short time but essentially have very little durability and often don't last, or even finish. I wonder if one could actually see the distance as a positive thing, sometimes?

[Dualnames]

Nikolas, you've made me smile all the way..
In the meantime, I've never met noone except just a girl from the Internet..
I'd love to see someone from here in person.

[vertigoaddict]

MSN is my media. I try to talk to my teammates as much as possible (if they have MSN) Often when I'm asked about my game I get suggestions and we exchange ideas. If the person doesn't have MSN I like to use the forums PM system.

When PMs is the only form of communication though, I would send off work and/or wait (very patiently) for work to be sent to me. Often I ask how they're doing (I would check they're website/blog) and ask questions related to their recent topics.

I think socializing is good when working with other people, I think it actually helps me, boost my motivation a little. I like MSN best, with that, we can discuss things in real-time.