A talk held at GameDev Umeå '12, focused on some of the challenges I've run into as a game developer.

1. Game design
challenge

2. well, it used to be...

3. Game development
challenge

4. Well, what do I know?
12 years

5. Well, what do I know?
Game Designer
UI designer
Narrative
Producer
Picofun 12 years

6. Well, what do I know?
Game Designer Level Designer
UI designer
Narrative
Producer UDS
Picofun 12 years

7. Well, what do I know?
Game Designer Level Designer
UI designer
Narrative
Producer UDS
Picofun 12 years
Game Designer
UI designer
Narrative
Level Designer
Sulake OY

8. Well, what do I know?
Game Designer Level Designer
UI designer
Narrative
Producer UDS
Picofun 12 years
Game Designer
UI designer
Narrative
Level Designer
Sulake OY
Game Designer

9. Well, what do I know?
Game Designer Level Designer
UI designer
Narrative
Producer UDS
Picofun 12 years
Level Designer
Game Designer
Game Designer
UI designer
UI designer
Narrative
Narrative
Producer
Level Designer
Sulake OY
Game Designer

10. Well, what do I know?
Game Designer Level Designer
UI designer
Narrative
Producer UDS
Picofun 12 years
Level Designer
Game Designer
Game Designer
UI designer
UI designer
Narrative
Narrative
Producer
Level Designer
Sulake OY
Game Designer
Producer
UX Designer

11. What will I talk about?
•The challenges of keeping everyone happy

12. Everything matters
Production
Give ideas space
Allow them to develop
Try different things
Accountability Creativity
What are we doing?
When are we doing it?
What will come out of it?
Who needs it?

13. What’s the problem?
•“Them creative types don’t like planning”
•“Producers are always asking for more than we can
deliver”
•“Publishers won’t trust our plans and what’s more, keep
changing them!”

14. The truth?
•Them planning types need to be very clear in their
communication to the team - Vision, goals
•Producers have a hard time planning if the stuff delivered
is difficult to define and/ or estimate
•If the above is true - the project doesn’t know what to
deliver - how will the publishers have confidence?

15. The Solution!
•It depends on company culture - I don’t have the answers,
but I have some tools

16. Creativity
•You can’t be creative on demand!
•Yes you can. (Brainstorming techniques, dogged determination,
accepting imperfect solutions for the Greater Good.)
•You can’t know what makes a game work before testing!
•True, but if you’re experienced you can make an educated guess.
•Planning doesn’t help my work!
•Yes it does. Trust me.

17. Accountability
•You HAVE to talk to your team. HAVE TO. Communication is
the key.
•You have to know what you want to give the team a vision.
•Everybody in a leadership position must be aligned and
give the same vision.
•The team knows how to develop. Let them.

18. Some tools I’ve come by
•SCRUM/ Kanban - Agile production methods
•User Stories
•Feature specifications

19. Agile is awesome
•If implemented right
•Just enough process to work
•Not very heavy on the administration
•Structured framework
•Malleable - change, adapt, update

20. Feature specifications
•A list of functions the game should have
•Doesn’t tie the developer to a specific dev method or how it
should manifest
•Very high level of detail
•If done right - no need for game design docs

21. User Stories
•Gives the producers and publishers a good idea of what to
expect on screen
•Higher level of detail than feature specs
•Spaghetti code doesn’t matter, only what is on screen
•If done right, does away with the need for design
documentation

22. Also...
•It NEVER hurts to plan
•It ALWAYS hurts not to