Games Industry

Industry Processes

I was given multiple insights on general processes in the game’s industry. Matteo Menapace emphasised it’s important to decide on project goals early. Keeping prior versions is vital for version control, so team members can look back on prior versions to return to a previous state of the game if necessary. In the industry, deadlines are vital to push you into making things ‘good enough’, as employees will never have time to make everything perfect.

Joel Beardshaw of Ustwo games explained the phases of game projects being:

1. Concepting (No idea what you’re making)

2. Prototyping (You have an idea what we want to make, but need to figure out the basics of the game)

3. Pre-production (You have a prototype you like, and are now planning what to do and the timeframe for doing it)

4. Production (Time for doing, uncertainties should be few)

5. Post Launch Support (e.g. bug fixes)

He also mentioned the importance of considering monetisation when developing the game. If you are making a subscription service game, you need to think about how you will make players return. Similar can be said for games with servers, as they have constant costs.

Ideally, all this information will help me adjust to the industry and being informed will make me more attractive to potential employers; as I will be relatively prepared for each process now.

Tabletop Games

Dave Neale gave a significant amount of advice for tabletop games, particularly narrative investigation games. In his general advice, he said that playtesting should begin in the development process as quickly as possible, as much as possible, as most of the process is done through playtesting. One should aim for hundreds of playtests and compare the different versions of the game.

Regarding developing ideas, Dave said one should ask themselves the following questions:

• What is the setting?

• What are the mechanics and components?

• When and what do we pitch?

• After a contract has been made: what will the development process be?

• What physical pieces to use? (Books, cards, etc)

• Do characters have special abilities? how do they work?

• Can the game be played with only some of the character or do you need all of them?

• What does success and failure look like?

When it comes to narrative board games specifically, Dave said the process is a bit different. Playtesting should begin when the narrative is strongly built with no obvious ways to improve it. They can often be ready after relatively fewer playtests (20+), you are generally testing if the narrative can be followed rather than observing all possible interactions between hundreds of variables. Groups can also only test a limited number of times… a narrative’s effects are dampened when played know the story.

I do have interest in developing tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs), so all this information could be helpful to improve my own ideation and design process in future projects, especially if I pursue tabletop games.

Indie Environment

Noemi Pischedda gave helpful comments on the differences of indie development. She said that it is easier to exercise your own creativity in indie studios due decisions being made independently from the publisher’s desires. She also said that it is easier to know everyone in the team within smaller studios. Deadlines in her experience, become more of a personal responsibility, and she emphasised the importance of efficient time management. Furthermore, indie studios must try harder to stand out, making social media presence very important to get attention for your games.