GrandMA Studios
GrandMA Studios is a creative powerhouse in the gaming industry, known for developing immersive and visually rich Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure games. Managing a distributed team of over 50 artists, animators, sound designers, game designers, programmers, and QA specialists requires a project management solution that is both robust and incredibly flexible.
GrandMA Studios
Industry
Game development
Founded
Ukraine, 2011
Switched
2024
Switched from
Trello
The challenge: orchestrating a complex creative pipeline
Game development is a multi-stage, highly collaborative process. For GrandMA Studios, the key challenge was maintaining a clear, real-time overview of multiple projects, each with its own intricate workflow. The team needed to move beyond traditional task lists to a system that could visually represent the entire, uninterrupted journey of a game asset—from initial sketch to final implementation.
Superthread has streamlined their entire production pipeline, enhanced collaboration across a distributed team, and given them unparalleled project clarity.
The solution – a unified hub for game creation
After evaluating the competition, GrandMA Studios chose Superthread as the central nervous system for its operations. The platform's powerful combination of customisable boards, detailed task management, and collaborative features made it a perfect fit.
The migration from Trello was seamless. Superthread’s intuitive interface allowed the team to not only replicate their existing workflows but significantly improve upon them. The ability to create dedicated, highly-customized spaces for each project and department was a game-changer.
How GrandMA Studios builds games with Superthread
GrandMA Studios’ workflow is a masterclass in organization, all orchestrated within Superthread:
A board for each project – every game in development has its own dedicated board. This provides a focused workspace for the project team and a clear overview for management.
Continuous production flow – a single task, representing a game asset, "lives" and travels through a continuous, interconnected pipeline. Once a stage is complete, the task seamlessly moves to the next, ensuring a smooth hand-off between departments. The workflow looks like this:
Sketching → Sketch Done
→ Art → Art Done
→ Animations → Animations Done
→ Programming → Programming Done
Dynamic task ownership – a key advantage is the ability to assign different specialists at each stage. For any given task, a concept artist can be responsible for the "Sketching" phase, an illustrator for "Art", and an animator for "Animations", with relevant leads assigned to supervise each step. This ensures clear accountability throughout the asset's entire lifecycle.
Dedicated planning boards – beyond individual game boards, the studio utilizes separate boards for high-level planning, including "Audio Planning", "Art Planning", "Animation Planning" and "Outsource Tasks". This allows department leads to manage resources and long-term schedules effectively without cluttering the main production boards.
The results: enhanced speed, clarity, and collaboration
By adopting Superthread, GrandMA Studios achieved significant improvements across its operations:
Total transparency – every team member, from artist to programmer, has a clear view of the entire pipeline, fostering a greater sense of shared ownership.
Streamlined collaboration – with all tasks, discussions, and files in one place, communication is faster and more context-rich. The need to switch between different apps is minimised.
Increased efficiency – the visual, continuous workflow allows the team to identify and resolve potential bottlenecks before they cause delays, ensuring a smoother and more predictable development cycle.
Greater agility – the ability to quickly set up and customise boards for new projects or planning initiatives makes the entire studio more agile and responsive.
For GrandMA Studios, Superthread is more than just a task manager, it's the collaborative canvas where their creative visions come to life.
