Here's how you can efficiently prioritize tasks to meet tight deadlines.

On possible approach to deadlines is to create a kanban board with tasks prioritized from A to D, where A is an immovable and top priority task, and D is something can be delivered later on. As the deadline is really close, there will be some A tasks to work on the board, you need to filter them from easier to harder to solve task. Then create another filter from less crucial to most crucial task. Then organize your A tasks from the Easier-Most crucial to Harder-Less crucial. The B to D task are not necessary to filter this way to save time. Finally, would be good to understand if the tight deadline was an isolated event or it's happening constantly. It's not a good idea to create crunch culture and burnouts in your team.

To be able to effectively create a game in a tight timeframe, you should have a solid idea of the game in your head. Once this is done, proceed by thinking about the most important or time consuming parts of the game, these are what you will be spending most of your time on and usually also requires most of your focus. Other simpler and smaller parts can be made later on. This strategy allows you to focus on what is important first. If you have the time, a prototype of the game idea can also help save quite a bit of time as this will not only allow you to test and itterate over your game idea, but also allow you to understand the complexities of the project before hand.

Adopting agile methodologies can significantly boost your team's productivity and collaboration. Start by fostering open communication; daily stand-up meetings help keep everyone on the same page. Encourage flexibility; be open to changes even late in the project. Prioritize tasks to focus on delivering the most value first. Use sprints to break the project into manageable chunks, making it easier to track progress. Embrace feedback, both from the team and stakeholders, to continuously improve. Celebrate small wins to keep morale high and remind everyone of the progress being made. Agile is about adaptability - not robotic control - so keep the process dynamic and responsive to your team’s needs.

Don't be afraid to use Scrum, study the project general schedule and create short sprints of 2 or 3 weeks max, and divide your team's responsibilities in the sprint time, this will have everyone focusing on short goals with clear objectives. The scrum master or manager should create an agenda with all the upcoming sprints and the tasks organized in them. Introduce daily stand-up meetings of all team members to bolster the understanding of all ongoing tasks and general project direction. Keep it really short and concise (20-30 secs per person) to avoid the meetings turning into a waste of time and a tiresome activity.

Risks tend to be overlooked or simplified, but a good project manager should know what potential risks can affect the project course and prepare the tools to mitigate its damages, losses and turbulency. Organize and understand the project stakeholders and their importance in each stage of the project. Based on the role each stakeholder takes on the project, analyze the possible risk attached to it and what will you do in case that risk turns into a reality. Prepare a contingency plan for each group of stakeholders and their related risks, this way you will mitigate the risks consequences in case any or all of them occur.

One very important note is that it is better to have a late delivery than to have a rushed one. If the timeframe it too tight, the to see if you can get an extension, if not, try to have the core game mechanics in place and add the extras later on.