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Tag: insight

Setting up the day for success

Published by Paolo on 14/11/2024

I am a morning guy. I never set an alarm because I naturally wake up very early. I made my things to start the day and then I like to do my first tasks, usually related to communications. You know, reading and answering emails, thinking about my daily posts. Stuff like that.

And then I can start to work for my clients and bosses. This is something that only remote work is possible. And the value of this is huge also if often leads to work more time. Having no people around this first hour, maybe two is unpayable. Sets up the day for success.

A fact on career development

Published by Paolo on 13/11/2024

When you work for a company, full-time, you become skilled at working at that company. That’s all.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you will fit well in a similar project with a competitor. For creative jobs, like game design, you become skilled (or “talented” if you prefer) when you have the opportunity to interiorize, write, and develop your own strategic way of doing things.

That is hard to reach if you only work in a single company for years.

It’s the struggle, instead, the willpower and hitting your face against walls over and over (also with shitty and personal projects) that makes the talent.

Maradona came from a very poor situation playing at night with a broken ball hitting it against a dirty wall over and over.

The most talented people I know do not fit in the majority of corporations out there.

Nexflix will close the games department in 3 years maximum

Published by Paolo on 05/11/2024

At long last, I am ready to talk about what I’m doing next: I am working on driving a “once in a generation” inflection point for game development and player experiences using C++. This transformational technology will accelerate the velocity of development and unlock truly novel game experiences that will surprise, delight, and inspire players.  

I am focused on a creator-first vision for C++, one that puts creative talent at the center, with C++ being a catalyst and an accelerant. C++ will enable big game teams to move much faster, and will also put an almost unimaginable collection of new capabilities in the hands of developers in smaller game teams.

Sounds like weird, right? Well, someone wrote the same stuff, but instead of C++, he spoke about genAI. That guy earns more money than me, you, and everyone who will read this post altogether.

The difference is that in my version of the statement I named a technology that actually helped lots of people make fantastic games. This is not the case with genAI, which is a theft created to destroy jobs.

Game making is a creative activity, which means that there are a lot of micro-decisions that we have to make every day. It involves conscience. And conscience is not the result of a set of electric signals, it’s something higher that comes from above. The most powerful processor, or GPU, can create many signals and solve complex operations faster than our brain, but it can never have conscience.

Netflix will shut down its games operations in a maximum of 3 years. If you want to have a more secure/safe job do not work for a company that will fail.

Virality, Virulence, Infectiousness

Published by Paolo on 04/11/2024

A new team of ex-<FamousCompany> wants to “create games worth sharing, with two core pillars – socially engaging games with a word-of-mouth-worthy brand.“

This reminds me of a study I did with two colleagues when I was working at Digital Chocolate. A study on a made-up and also widely abused word: virality.

Virality is a term that doesn’t exist in any dictionary, but two words compose it:

  • Virulence: the strength of the thing’s ability to cause disease
  • Infectiousness: the capability of a thing to spread rapidly to others.

Most of the efforts towards this dream concept, virality, focus only on infectiousness. Invite friends, guild systems, and leaderboards. There are many best practices around that topic and it’s easier to find experts to help you.

You need to focus on virulence to create something innovative. If it were up to me, I would add a weekly internal playtest and a monthly external one. Clear heuristics to measure progress from an engagement perspective.

Again, SDT is the way.

Indie, AA, and AAA fundamental questions

Published by Paolo on 30/10/2024

The 3 main markets on PC and Console are indie, AA, and AAA. The discussion around them focuses on things like budget, scope, and quality.

I would like to propose two questions to address each of these three challenges. The first will be around our ambition (why), while in the second one, we will use the lens of the art (what).

Indie

Indie games for me are a message to the world. The message can be important on a personal level and an exercise of talent. You can want to change the world or show that we are here. So let’s ask ourselves:

1. Ambition: why do I want to say this to the world?

2. Art: what does the world should have the courage to listen to?

AA

These games come from companies who want a commercial product, doing a few things well. Let’s ask ourselves.

1. Ambition: why are we focusing on these 1-2 mechanics?

2. Art: according to current and past trends, what will be trending in 2 years?

AAA

These are spectacular games and full of things to do. We can consider these games like monuments, and the mental effort of the team is enormous. Let’s ask ourselves:

1. Ambition: why do we want to build a monument that big?

2. Art: what will make this work a masterpiece?

Blue and red Oceans

Published by Paolo on 29/10/2024

For me, game genres are not markets. For example, there is no “merge games market”. There are “merge games” in the “mobile market”.

Every time I see a team created like this:

  • someone believes that a genre has formed a market (on the last sad news you can find a lot of “hero shooters”)
  • hires talents who already work in that “market”, also if they would enjoy better another kind of game, in some case
  • the offer is attractive and the project is new, easy to convince the bored employee

in 3-5-7 years everything gets shut down without results. Surprise, there was no market at all.

When do I see that things work?

  • a group of enthusiasts of a genre get together to explore it
  • the team (including marketers) engages for real with the players
  • concrete and measurable experiments are done to define a vision well
  • after years of effort, they publish the game.

In this case, the probability of success increases. Even if the timing is somewhat unpredictable (never seen a success in less than 7-10 years, in mobile f2p).

Games please our entertainment needs uniquely.

  • People play Royal Match to relax, brain train, tournaments, curiosity… Not because they want to “play a match-3 game”.
  • millions are playing Metaphor: ReFantazio because of the story, map revealing, and challenge with combat… not because it’s a modern JRPG.

The fact that a specific game gets massive doesn’t mean we have a new market around its genre.

This means it has found its audience in the market, which is different!

For a brighter future for games

Published by Paolo on 24/10/2024

The YouTube channel of popular game director Masahiro Sakurai has come to an end.

This will remain an outstanding document that hopefully will teach basics to generations to come. Thank you Masahiro San!

Regarding this last video above, I am impressed with the work ethic and discipline. I couldn’t never have this level of mastery because I have a different background and life. Still, there are something to learn not just on video production, but on content design in general:

  • Everything was planned right from the start: outline, scripts, footages. Everything.
  • Focus on 1 task at the time and cover the entire content length
  • Keep everything extremely organized in folders and find name conventions for easier queries
  • Collab with external partners only when everything is well defined, because you will have management overload
  • Use the email with bullet points for feedback and general comms.

Masahiro San says that he invested around $630k and got $0 as revenue. He did this just for the improvement of our beloved industry. I would like to see more Masahiros around here…

The important moves

Published by Paolo on 22/10/2024

It always makes me smile when a team member says in a meeting “I don’t know what to do right now…”

I think about the luxury that underlies this expression. A farmer or a factory worker could never say something like that!

One thing I communicate is the importance of being professional. Game design is about identifying the systems and timing to make certain moves.

Systems, timing, moves.

The moves can go well or badly, it doesn’t matter. I mean, of course, it does, but even if they go badly, it is important to do them on the one hand and learn on the other. A client last year told me: “Look, I accept bad news. What I don’t like are surprises”.

Examples of moves we can make when we don’t know what to do:

  • plan
  • look for player insights
  • try to understand the why of certain systems and define the problem
  • understand and outline business goals
  • measure what has already been released
  • share insights with the team
  • plan experiments and playtests

It’s up to you to identify the systems and the timing, and now I hope you have something to do!

Every game for itself

Published by Paolo on 09/10/2024

Reading the terrible news about a company that is praised in the industry, I think we are approaching one of the worst moments in the industry. I am talking about Roblox, of course.

The feeling I have is the domino effect, which will spread especially in businesses that are supported by attention.

We have all played that game that makes us think “but how can this game be so successful?“

Well, often it is because the numbers are rigged and the players are not real people, but machines. New technologies only make this situation worse. I am afraid that many CEOs are playing the wrong game here. Faking the numbers, looking for the short term, that is the result.

It’s sad, but it’s good for the future of the industry in my opinion. We need some people out.

Interior chaos, dancing stars

Published by Paolo on 02/10/2024

I read with interest the reflections of some journalists, because of the release of Jason Schreier’s new book on the Blizzard company. The attention is focused, as it should be, on the projects and budgets.

Interesting details about failed attempts and canceled projects appear here and there. Some conclude that internally the situation at Blizzard seems chaotic.

Well, I’ve been working in the industry since 2007. I’ve never worked at Blizzard, but I’ve worked on projects that have had a fair amount of success in their small way: the internal situation is always chaotic. I’ve never seen, in my career, a single project/team where absolute chaos doesn’t reign.

“Only from internal chaos can a dancing star be born“, wrote the teenage girl in her diary when I was a teenager. There, that.