MAKING GAMES IS HARD- Shoe
Great video and I look forward to more from Shoe on these topics. Wish we all knew what happened so that DB could continue to move forward. So much potential wasted.
While the signal to noise ratio is not quite there yet I found quite a few parts interesting:
- 4:11 - On the importance of producers
- 6:10 - Everything can change all the time and how to communicate this to players
- 7:52 - About the right way to let the development team know how you feel
Lol, that’s what UBI Soft should say when they release totally buggy games as WATCH_DOGS “making games is hard!”.
Yes making games is hard, that’s why it needs competent lead dev and devs.
Some companies have the skill to make games (CDProject, Rockstar, GGG) and some others not (Splash Damage?).
When there is lots of games requiring to escort a wagon but only your one is buggy, when your game is full of problems and even the UI is laggy, I think it need some self-examination and not just saying “bouh, making games is hard!”.
you realize Shoe no longer works or speaks for Splash Damage, the video isn’t an explanation or excuse from SD, it’s the start of a series of videos Shoe is making about game production on his own for his personal audience
personally, I wish him the best of luck, he’s a good presenter
He worked in another game development studio? No? Then he’s talking about his experience at Splash Damage. Me too.
It doesn’t matter what field you’re in; business is business is business. They all run the same, but they aren’t all successful. Everything he says here is universal for all entertainment companies, having worked at more than one myself. And being a contractor in my current field, working company to company to company to company, I can assure you… the mechanics and flow might change, but the business is the same, always.
I always found Shoe to be a particularly good community manager. I can’t think of any other game studio with a manager that feels like a person, instead of a corporate robot. Shoe put real personality into his role, it’s a shame he doesn’t work for SD anymore.