Guillaume Ferrero’s Post

🚀 Level Up Your Studio with a CEO Bringing 25+ Years of Gaming Prowess! 🎮 Got studio issues? Meet our CEO – not just a gaming pro but your studio's secret weapon! Ready to tackle challenges with a strategy sharper than a Mario Kart blue shell! 🌐🏎️ Why Choose This Gaming Maestro: Strategic Sorcerer: Master of turning obstacles into power-ups, because who needs extra stress points? Culture Conductor: Swaps "Game Over" vibes for "Respawn" dance parties – all about that fun-fueled studio life! Toolbox Tactician: Equips teams with more tools than a hero in an RPG - because a successful studio needs more than just good graphics! World Explorer: This CEO is like Lara Croft but with a business suit, ready to raid challenges globally! Power-Up Positions: CEO Role: Ready to lead your studio like a raid boss. COO Position: Operation efficiency? Get ready for some power-ups! Studio Manager/General Manager: Transform your studio culture into a daily celebration. 🚀🕹️ #GamingMaverick #CEOHero #StudioRevival Contact Sam Stevens for more info on this rare talent.

I see a rush of people jumping to start new game studios. That's great, buuuut, let's set some expectations. I've spent a LOT of my career getting investment money to projects (mostly from the view of making prototypes/early builds). And I just want to warn some of you. 👉 This process is not going to take months, it's going to take YEARS. Be ready for that, especially if you just started. This is not something you can just go all in on, unless you have a sweet magical setup where you don't pay for anything. 👉The crew you started making this project with will most likely not be the crew it gets funded or launches with. Money starved projects will cause a lot of turnover. Which is fine if you are prepared for it. Plan on stretching out deadlines by double or triple because of this. 👉Your first game will fail. Instead of going in on a giant project and failing after months and months of work, do something small first. You'll learn a lot about process, about how long things take, etc. The most dedicated members will stick it out and you'll have a better foundation for the next bigger production. 👉Think outside the box. You cannot just make what the giant studios make. Not at first. Investors will tell you to do this or that, but the reality is most investors don't truly understand the scope of these things. Build something fun at its core that is simple, but can be expanded upon ad nauseam. They will want to see this game fully working before giving up a dime. Unfortunately that's the times we live in right now. It's not impossible by any stretch, but just be careful out there. Anything anyone else have to add? Good luck! #gamedev #indiedev #investments

When I was at Zynga, every game had its own internal studio. And that culture incentivized every studio to fight for itself 🤼 We’re doing things differently, and that comes with benefits and new challenges. FunCraft is now a two-game studio - Wordgrams and Word Yatzy. Our team is emotionally agnostic about which game is more successful 😶 When we ask questions like, “How do we divide our marketing resources?” we want to answer as rationally as possible. Generally, the correct answer is wherever we get the best return for our UA spend 💰 Recently, our second title, Word Yatzy, is returning our money faster. And we want to deploy a lot of our investments in its direction. At the same time, we don’t want to abandon Wordgrams. Having two thriving games benefits the overall health of our studio. So, our new challenge is learning how to balance the desire to maximize our immediate return while also taking a long view of what’s best for the company’s long-term success 🤔 It can be hard to balance those things, and we’re still figuring out how best to do it. But having this challenge at all is a privilege. I don’t want to denigrate Zynga’s approach - there are upsides to the one-game-one-studio model. But for our team, having a shared interest in FunCraft’s success without an emotional attachment to one game over another is the right approach for our culture. A team that plays together wins together 💪💪💪💪

🔴 Breaking News: "162 redundant as Axis Studios appoints administrators - Insider.co.uk" 🔴 Breaking News: "162 redundant as Axis Studios appoints administrators - Insider.co.uk" 🔴 Breaking News: "162 redundant as Axis Studios appoints administrators - Insider.co.uk" Exciting news! Axis Studios has appointed administrators as part of its company restructuring. There has been a significant impact on the workforce, with 162 employees being made redundant. This decision comes as a part of a larger strategic move to ensure the company's future success and stability. For more details, check out the complete article on Insider.co.uk. #AxisStudios #CompanyRestructuring #WorkforceImpact https://ift.tt/4baB8nt

🎮 Recently, I watched "Indie Game: The Movie" 🎞 and was both fascinated and emotionally stirred. The film showcased the profound passion and emotional rollercoasters experienced by indie game developers. It made me reflect deeply on my role: How could I, as a Game Producer, help alleviate some of the emotional struggles these creatives face? Key takeaway: A game producer can be more than a task manager; we can be pillars of emotional support and stability. By offering structured management that respects creative freedom, we can help developers focus on their best work—creating innovative and heartfelt games—while I handle the turbulence that comes with game development. What strategies have you found effective in supporting creative teams? #GameDevelopment #IndieGames #ProjectManagement

Neil Newbon joins Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy from Doctor Who. 🔴 The Next Big Wave Of Video Game Layoffs Is Here 🌊: Studios big and small are laying off game developers 🎮. To ensure your studio can keep production costs down and profits up, consider kaedim3d.com for AI that turns images into models in minutes ⏰. Use code A836A7X to get 1 month of Kaedim’s Starter Plan free (up to 10 credits) on Kaedim3d.com 🆓. If you’ve already searched for a 3D AI generator, you know that Kaedim3d.com alternatives will only leave you with unusable meshes and wasted time ⌛. The Kaedim3d.com image to 3D AI engine can be used with Unreal Engine, Unity, Omniverse, and Blender or via API for seamless integration into your workflow 🔄. The best part about 2D to 3D AI is that you now have unparalleled access to allow user-generated content like never before 👥. Used by more than 200 studios, the Kaedim3d.com 3d model AI generator adds levels of quality control to provide the best 2d sketch to 3d model option on the market 🏆. Remember to use code A836A7X on the Kaedim3d.com Starter Plan for 10 credits for new customers 🎁. You will not find a comparable AI 2D to 3d converter 🔍. #IndieGame #GameDevelopment #GamingUpdates #GameNews #mobilegames

Neil Newbon joins Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy from Doctor Who. 🔴 The Next Big Wave Of Video Game Layoffs Is Here 🌊: Studios big and small are laying off game developers 🎮. To ensure your studio can keep production costs down and profits up, consider kaedim3d.com for AI that turns images into models in minutes ⏰. Use code A836A7X to get 1 month of Kaedim’s Starter Plan free (up to 10 credits) on Kaedim3d.com 🆓. If you’ve already searched for a 3D AI generator, you know that Kaedim3d.com alternatives will only leave you with unusable meshes and wasted time ⌛. The Kaedim3d.com image to 3D AI engine can be used with Unreal Engine, Unity, Omniverse, and Blender or via API for seamless integration into your workflow 🔄. The best part about 2D to 3D AI is that you now have unparalleled access to allow user-generated content like never before 👥. Used by more than 200 studios, the Kaedim3d.com 3d model AI generator adds levels of quality control to provide the best 2d sketch to 3d model option on the market 🏆. Remember to use code A836A7X on the Kaedim3d.com Starter Plan for 10 credits for new customers 🎁. You will not find a comparable AI 2D to 3d converter 🔍. #VideoGameDevelopment #unrealengine #Gamers #Gaming #GamingUpdates

This kind of expectation setting is going to be key to all of you lovely folks looking to build a studio. His point around starting smaller to get used to the environment also provides a platform for better strategy around achieving funding. In todays investment landscape, almost No VC is going to invest in first time founders or previous founders who have not built the kind of game they are proposing this time round (thinking about PC/Console games with a budget of 10s of millions here.) However, if you can build something smaller, for less money that might not be a monstrous revenue game but due to lower cost you can demonstrate making a profitable game in the genre you wanna make the big game in, its going stand as proof you can make the big game. (If the smaller game makes enough profit, you might not even need a pre/seed round!) As Sterling points out, this takes years, not months. Gone are the days of building a deck, sending it out, getting 10M and cracking on. Stage your journey, build in blocks, prove your concept and aptitude to make profitable games and get investors a return. EA wasn't build in a day (that's the saying right?)

Many new studios fall into the same trap 🪤 They become fixated on their first game. They invest all their resources, time, and energy into it, even when it's clear the game isn’t taking off 😵💫 And they’re too intimidated to move on to the next game 😬 Here’s some hard-earned advice: If your first game isn’t working, take drastic measures. Reduce the team working on it by 50% ✂️ Redirect your focus and resources toward developing new projects. It's painful, especially if your first game was the spark for your studio. But, speaking as a two-time founder, it's crucial not to stake everything on one game. Don’t let emotional attachment blind you 🙈 👉 Your objective is to build a successful business, not just one perfect game.

🐲 Jason Hickey - Art Direction Consultant will be our speaker at Digital Dragons Conference 2024! 👤 Jason is an art direction and game development consultant that helps AAA and indie studios tackle the challenges of running an integrated art department and shipping games. He has been working in the industry for two decades on big blockbuster titles including the latest Spider-Man titles (Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Spider-Man) and the visual award winning Ryse: Son of Rome. His work on Spider-Man: Miles Morales earned him a DICE nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction. 🟢 Topic: The Process is Boss: Developing Features Without Bottlenecks Often in game development we fall into the same old trap of miscommunication and unexpected outcomes on areas of the game that should, in theory, be more predictable. This nearly always involves stretching the Direction team to make sure thing stay on track which can lead to a mess. The aim of the talk is that you will go away with the knowledge to adopt a system to ensure a feature avoids micromanagement, misalignment and above all remove the bottleneck created when wholly relying on Directors.