The vast majority of tutorials and guidance covering game development seems to focus on creation.  YouTube is inundated with ‘how to’ guides explaining the intricacies of inventory systems, or getting the movement mechanics to match that of Super Mario World.    However, there doesn’t seem to be any where near as much content that focuses on the management of game projects.

It’s an interesting situation because it’s not as if the guidance and techniques used to help deliver a successful project aren’t out there.  There’s literally thousands of articles and videos on the use of methods like PRINCE2 and the like.  As a community that prides itself on being ‘self taught’, I think the organisational side of things gets pushed aside which is a shame.

You don’t have to do a lot of digging on ‘ye old internet’ to find out that the success rate of indie studios is extremely low.  Granted you could argue that the market has become incredibly saturated, and simply put – some of the ideas being pushed are just weak.  You only have to look at some of the crap being put on Steam’s Greenlight platform as proof.   But I think a large underpinning factor of why most attempts fail resides in the management of their projects.

Personally, I’m quite lucky.  While by night (and also tube journeys and weekends) I’m an aspirational game designer – by day I’m a management consultant.  This means I get to pick up and learn about challenges several different businesses have across a broad range of sectors.

With this in mind, I want to share the way Pixelmoon is organising Project Kariko.  Over the next few months, I will be sharing practical advice on how small independent developers and designers can adopt agile practices to keep projects on track, and moving forward!  I will be going back to basics and show how few a simple principles can rocket your teams productivity levels – without having to have a MBA.  No bollocks, just practical advice and guidance that works.

Let me know you thoughts on whether this would be useful.

Benjamin