Game studio team communication: channels, direct messages and announcements
For leads and producers who want the conversation about a game to stay close to the tasks, bugs and files it is about. You will learn how to set up channels that do not turn into noise, when to use a direct message or an announcement, and how presence and notifications work in Gameheim.
Why game studio team communication gets scattered
A game team talks all day: art feedback, build breaks, playtest notes, "who has the lock on the harbor map?". In most studios that conversation lives in general-purpose tools that were never built for game production. They work well for talking, but they do not know which project a message is about, who is on that project, or what the team decided.
The usual symptoms are easy to recognize:
- Important news gets buried. A milestone date or a new build rule is posted in a busy channel and scrolls away in an hour.
- Channels pile up. Every small topic gets a channel, and nobody knows which one to read.
- Access does not follow the project. Someone who left the project, or an outsourcing partner, still reads the internal channels.
- Nobody knows who is around. You ping a programmer who has been on holiday for a week.
- Everything notifies everyone. People mute the whole tool and miss the one message that mattered.
The fix is partly about tools and partly about habits: a few clear channels per project, a separate place for announcements that must not get lost, and notification rules that each person controls.
How Gameheim keeps team communication next to the work
Gameheim has three places to talk, each with a different job. Topics are channels that belong to a project. Chat holds one-to-one direct messages. Announcements is a board for news that must reach people and stay visible. All three are in the Navigation section of the sidebar.
Topics: channels per project
Every project has its own set of channels, so switching project switches the conversation too. A channel is Open, where all project members can see and write by default, or Private, where only the members you add can see it. Leads and admins create, rename, reorder and delete channels, and can set individual members to Write or Read only.
Messages update in real time and support Markdown formatting, emoji reactions, replies to a specific message, editing your own messages, and file attachments. You can pin up to 100 important messages per channel, search the messages of a channel, and see who has read a message. A New messages divider and a Jump to first unread button bring you back to where you left off, and a typing indicator shows who is writing.
Type @ to mention someone with autocomplete. @everyone notifies the whole project team and @channel notifies everyone following the channel. A mention only reaches people who can read that channel.
Chat: direct messages
Direct messages are between two people of the same organization, outside any project. Start one by clicking a person in the Active list at the bottom of the sidebar, or with the Message button on the Team page. Conversations open in a small chat window and are all listed on the Chat page, with each person's Online or Offline status.
Announcements: news that does not scroll away
An announcement goes either to one project or to the Whole organization. It has a title and a formatted message with links and images. Announcements can be pinned so they stay at the top, and the author can choose to notify members when publishing. The Dashboard shows the Latest announcements, so people see news without opening the board.
Live presence and notifications
The Active list in the sidebar shows the project members who are online, away, busy or on vacation. You can set your own status, and a vacation in the team calendar shows automatically. The bell in the top bar collects notifications, and each person decides which events reach them in the app, by email or on their phone.
How to set up team communication in Gameheim
- A project with its members added. Channels and project announcements are visible only to project members.
- To create and manage channels: the LEAD or ADMIN role.
- To post announcements: the Announcements publish permission for a project, or publish_org for the whole organization.
- Topics, Chat and Announcements depend on your plan. See Pricing.
Create the first channels
Open Topics and click New channel. Enter a Channel Name (for example
general,art-feedback,qa) and an optional Description. Under Type, choose # Open or 🔒 Private. For a private channel, pick people in Who can see this channel; you are always added. Click Create Channel.Order and control access
Drag channels in the list to put the most used ones at the top. To change who can post, open the channel, click the settings button (Manage permissions), choose a member in Add Member, pick Write or Read only and click Add.
Follow the channels that matter to you
Click the bell in the channel header to subscribe. Subscribing gives you a notification for each new message in that channel and includes you in
@channelmentions. Click it again to unsubscribe.Write, mention and attach
Type in Message #channel-name and press Enter to send (Shift+Enter adds a new line). Type
@and a name to mention someone. Use Attach file to add images, documents or archives, and Insert emoji for emoji. Hover a message to Reply, Add reaction, Pin message, Edit message or Delete message.Send a direct message
Click a colleague in the Active list, or click Message on their card in Team. A chat window opens. All your conversations are listed on the Chat page.
Publish an announcement
Open Announcements and click New announcement. Choose the Audience: the current project (Project · project name) or Whole organization, enter a Title and write the Message. Tick Pin this announcement for news that should stay on top, and keep Notify members ticked to send a notification. Click Publish.
Set your status and notification preferences
Click your name in the top bar and choose Online (auto), Away, Busy or Appear offline. Then open Settings and, under Notification Preferences, choose which events notify you: for example Mentions, Topic messages and Announcements. With the Gameheim mobile app you can also get push notifications for direct messages, mentions, topic messages and announcements.
A channel structure that works for game teams
Fewer channels with a clear purpose beat many channels nobody reads. A starting set for most projects:
| Channel | Purpose |
|---|---|
general | Day-to-day talk for the whole project team |
art-feedback | Work-in-progress images and art review |
design | Questions about systems and levels; link the wiki page being discussed |
build-and-tech | Build breaks, engine issues, version control problems |
qa | Test passes and bug triage discussion |
leads (Private) | Planning and staffing topics for leads only |
- Use announcements, not channels, for anything people must not miss: milestone dates, crunch policy, a new submit rule.
- Pin the few messages people keep asking about, such as the build instructions or the naming convention.
- When a discussion ends in a decision, record it where the team can find it later. See Game design decision log.
- Keep files that must be versioned in Perforce or Git. Attachments in a channel are for sharing, not for storing assets.
Presence statuses
| Status | When it shows |
|---|---|
| Online | You have Gameheim open. |
| Away | You chose it, or the Gameheim agent on your computer reports no keyboard or mouse activity for longer than the time your organization has set. |
| Busy | You chose it. |
| Appear offline | You chose it. Others see you as Offline. |
| On vacation | A vacation for you is in the team calendar today. It overrides the other statuses. |
| Offline | Gameheim has not heard from your browser for about two minutes. |
Message limits and attachment types
| Item | Limit |
|---|---|
| Message length | 8,000 characters |
| Images in channels | PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, up to 25 MB each |
| Documents in channels | PDF, Word, Excel, plain text, up to 50 MB each |
| Archives in channels | ZIP, RAR, up to 50 MB each |
| Pinned messages | 100 per channel |
| Images in announcements | PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, up to 5 MB each |
Direct messages are text only.
Who can do what
- Channels: leads and admins create, edit, reorder and delete channels and manage per-member permissions. Other members read and write according to the channel type and their permission.
- Messages: you can edit and delete your own messages. Leads and admins can delete any message. Anyone who can write in a channel can pin messages.
- Announcements: only the author can edit an announcement. The author, leads and admins can pin or delete it.
- Direct messages: only the two participants can read a conversation.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best way for a game studio to communicate internally?
Keep three kinds of communication apart. Use a small set of project channels for day-to-day talk, direct messages for one-to-one questions, and an announcements board for news everyone must see. Tie channels to projects, so access follows project membership. Record decisions in a shared log, and let each person choose their own notifications so nobody mutes everything.
Can I make a private channel for leads only?
Yes. When creating a channel in Topics, choose 🔒 Private and select the people who should see it. Only those members, plus leads and admins, can see the channel; it does not appear in the list for anyone else. You can add or remove people later from the channel's Manage permissions dialog.
What is the difference between @everyone and @channel?
@everyone notifies the whole project team that can read the channel. @channel notifies only the people who follow that channel with the bell button. Both reach only people who can read the channel, so a mention in a private channel never notifies someone outside it. Use them sparingly: frequent broadcast mentions teach people to ignore notifications.
How do I see who is online in my team?
The Active list at the bottom of the Gameheim sidebar shows the project members who are online, away, busy or on vacation, with a colored status dot. The Chat page shows Online or Offline for each conversation. People can set their own status, and a vacation in the team calendar appears automatically.
When should I use an announcement instead of a channel message?
Use an announcement when the information must reach people and stay easy to find: milestone dates, a new submit rule, office closures, a release plan. Announcements can be pinned, can notify every member of the project or organization, and appear on the Dashboard. Use a channel message for discussion, questions and quick updates.