BusinessVs IndiesDiscussion on what we can learn from each other - and why we’re really not that different

CONTENT DISCLAIMERThe views expressed in this talk are entirely my own, and are based on observations made watching the games industry over the last 9 years.

BUT - Funday Factory would like to focus more on the areas where we are the same, rather than the places where we’re different. Together we can make the games industry great again an awesome place to work and build great things!

FUNDAY facts

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Facts and Focus

Founded in: 2011Owned by: Mediaworkers GroupNumber of employees: 30Games released: 16 until now

Game Selection from 2015-2016:

- LEGO Juniors: Create & Cruise- LEGO Juniors: Quest- LEGO Superheroes: DC Mighty Micros

- Spellbinders in collaboration with Kiloo- Axe in Face 2 in collaboration with Hugo Games Aps

+ Multiple on-going projects covered under NDA

ABOUT Me

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A Few Quick Highlights

Worked on several LEGO & IP titles for mobile.

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Emil KjæhrCreative Producer at Funday FactoryBSc in Medialogy + 50% of MSc29 years old Favourite colour: Blue!

Established game incubator in Viborg, Denmark funded by EU at The Animation Workshop

Shipped a small game prototype for the OUYA with two friends; was featured on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show, Polygon and The Verge

Organized and participated in ~20 game jams - organized 10+ game conferences and talks.

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Stuff that indie developers could benefit from knowing!

FIVE TIPS for indies

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Or someone on your team that wants to deal with stuff like teams, budgets and deadlines and who knows how to say “no” in 20 different ways. Knowing when to say no is 70% of what a producer has to do.

You need a

1

TIPS FORindies

producer

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During this talk you’ve already missed your first 7 deadlines. You should treat deadlines as something holy and unbreakable. (we all miss deadlines every now and then, but don’t start out a sprint saying “if we don’t make it all the way this sprint, we’ll just extend the sprint indefinitely” - the team loses sight of when a production ends; next stop is disillusion with no defined and clear end in sight.

Define

2deadlines

TIPS FORindies

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Sleep around a bit. It’s healthy! Preferably short flings! If your first game idea is the *one game that you’ve been thinking about since 1st grade* it’s probably a really bad idea to have that be your first game. Your team lack experience, and finding financing will be a lot tougher. Also, avoid basing your entire company around a single game idea. Have a long-term strategy as well.

No love

3affairs

TIPS FORindies

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Don’t ever work without a contract. Remember to work out a contract when working with people - even if they’re your friends. Remember to add your mistakes to the next contract; this is why you’ll sometimes see contracts that are 15+ pages long; there’s probably a contractual horror story behind every single paragraph.

Protect

4yourself

TIPS FORindies

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It’s okay to gather an appetite when you’re out as long as you eat at home! Don’t be afraid to look at other games out there, and being honest about your sources of inspiration.

Before Minecraft there was Infiniminer Before Angry Birds there was Crush the Castle Before Guitar Hero (2005) there was Guitar Freaks (1999)Before Subway Surfers there was Temple Run

Look at

5pretty games

TIPS FORindies

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FIVE TIPSfor companies

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Send teams to game jams, free up ~10% work-time for personal projects. This encourages creative thinking and potentially introduces cool new tech to your productions.At Funday whenever a programmer or artist is in-between projects, they’re free to propose tasks they think could be cool to work on - this improves existing processes internally. 1

TIPS FORcompanies

You need acreative outlet

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Be willing to challenge your clients; be okay with losing pitches and RFPs.Remember why you entered the industry; don’t forget that this is a magical medium. Don’t forget why you’re here. 1 match-3 rainbow pony game with freemium mechanics is okay. After 200 maybe you need a break and space to do something else. 2

TIPS FORcompanies

Don’t get lostin spreadsheets

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The mushroom theory of management doesn’t work (keep them in the dark, feed them shit and watch them grow). Be open with your employees - they become much more invested in the company as a whole and feel a greater sense of ownership when they know how things are going. 3

TIPS FORcompanies

Abandon themushroom

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This isn’t a work-for-hire game, it’s your game. Own it! Give people ownership of everything they make. Trust the people you hire and allow them to work in smaller teams. Allow programmers to be game designers, and game designers to program.But remember to check in to ensure that people don’t blame themselves if issues arise. 4

TIPS FORcompanies

Ownershipis happiness

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Create a safe space - it’s not enough to say there is one. It can be the Creative Director sitting down with each game designer, or the CCO sitting down with producers. It’s important to have a valve or outlet where you can talk about the stuff that is difficult or gives you pause about a production or a team. 5

TIPS FORcompanies

Safe spaces &being honest

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THREE TIPSfor everyone

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This kills the industry. This comes from experience - crunching for 4 hours before a deadline at a game jam is pretty fun. Crunching for several weeks isn’t.

If you’re planning with a period of crunch in your production you’re planning it wrong.

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TIPS FOReveryone

Avoid crunchat all cost

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Burnout of talent robs us of the next big thing. the most important resource we have is each other. We can’t afford to lose anyone. If you’ve ever seen anyone quit the games industry to join some huge IT or advertising company, their game ideas and thoughts are potentially lost forever. Who knows if the ideas we lost to burnout could have been the next Inside, Fez or Subway Surfers.

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TIPS FOReveryone

Friends don’tlet friends burn

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TIPS FOReveryone

The games industry is still small - there’s room for everyone. The industry is so small, and the amount of creative potential in the games medium so vast that there’s really not any competition in the bigger scheme of things (unless you’re literally Supercell vs King). So talk to each other, attend industry events like this one, be open with companies (but remember NDAs).

There is nocompetition

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Takeawayfor everyone

Indie devs Companies

When listening to talks and discussions from both indies and the WFH sector, this is

the image that sometimes pops up in my head. It’s like we’re sitting on opposite

ends of an argument that has no resolution, with literally zero shared values.

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Takeawayfor everyone

Indie devs Companies

ABANDON THE

BINARY

CONSTRUCT!

I propose that we abandon the binary construct of work-for-hire and indie

development being two *vastly* different things.

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration (2014)

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Takeawayfor everyone

Indie devs Companies

And instead embrace the fact that companies, like so many other things in our

world, exist on a spectrum. Game studios can be indie-curious, or

work-for-hire-curios. And that’s okay. The industry is immensely richer and infinitely

more interesting for having room for all of us.

EMIL@FUNDAYFACTORY.COM

@ELECTRONICMILK+45 2872 5231SØNDERGADE 48000 AARHUS C

DENMARK

FUNDAYFACTORY.COM

Thanks for listening!

Questions? Insults?