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PODCAST

Building Better Games

Benjamin Carcich

Leadership in game dev is hard. I can"t make it easy, but I can make it a heck of a lot better. My name is Benjamin Carcich, and this podcast helps leaders in game dev who feel stuck, ignored, and out of options find their path to success. I"ve spent the last several decades studying and leading in environments ranging from the U.S. Army through to game development. I want to share what I"ve learned. Better leadership is a huge opportunity in the games industry. Let"s make it better together

leisure video games

All Episodes

45:13

E29 Ideation, Pre-production, and Production: How to...

Building Better Games ·

2023/01/31

If you’ve listened to episode 21, How not to Lose Your Game Vision on the Altar of “Getting Shit Done,” then you’ve heard us talk about the pressure on teams to rush through the game development process. This is just one problem that arises when game dev leaders try to adopt the system development life cycle method without leaving room for the creativity and flexibility the industry requires. Today, we address the pitfalls of SDLC and the poor assumptions leaders make within it. This episode

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40:23

E28 How to Lead and Collaborate in a Remote World

Building Better Games ·

2023/01/10

Remote work has completely transformed the way we work on teams and communicate with each other. Leadership still has many of the same responsibilities, but the way they can successfully accomplish them has changed. During this final part of Building Better Games’s series on remote work, you’ll learn the necessary skills remote work leaders need to keep company culture at the forefront of an organization’s structure. We discuss how producers/leaders in game development can stay in alignment with

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37:31

E27 Remote Work Exposed: A Deep Dive into the Pros,...

Building Better Games ·

2023/01/03

If you’re like the hosts of Building Better Games, then you thought the proliferation of remote work was temporary. The world has moved into a new era post-pandemic, and it looks like remote work is here to stay. During this episode, a few questions about remote work are discussed, including: Is remote work a right, or a privilege that might need to be earned? What is the function of management in this remote world? How has remote work affected the gaming industry? Remote work is such a

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44:21

E26 How to Build Trust as a Leader with Zach Blitz

Building Better Games ·

2022/12/13

Does likeability have a lot of value in leadership? How much does setting and enforcing boundaries help you and the organization succeed? What skills are important for leaders to exhibit? Answering all these questions and more is Zach Blitz, a senior director of production at Epic Games and friend of the hosts of Building Better Games. He has experienced leading multiple teams in a large organization, while still keeping his leadership style relationship centric. In this episode, Zach gives

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43:02

E25 How to Build a Games Studio That Delivers the...

Building Better Games ·

2022/12/06

“I believe that we will make better games by treating game developers better. Game development should be a dream job, but it's not.” This quote comes from today’s episode with Josiah Kiehl, co-founder and CEO of Sprocket Games. After experiencing his own disappointment with the “myth of the dream job,” he teamed with like-minded creators to found a company that’s building a strong technology foundation and fostering a culture that supports creativity. During his chat with the hosts of

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46:02

E24 How to Get a Job in Game Development

Building Better Games ·

2022/11/22

Dreaming of a career in game development? In the gaming industry, relevant skills and real experience delivering outcomes matter more than a college degree. If you’re highly creative and technical, and can work well on a team, you’ll do well in this industry, but keep in mind that working in game dev is not all fun and games. On today’s episode, Building Better Games is addressing some of the myths and struggles of the industry, such as the pressure and time crunch many people in game dev are

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43:01

E23 How to Handle Layoffs as a Leader with Sophie Vo...

Building Better Games ·

2022/11/08

During Part 1 of our conversation, our leader in game dev shared the tough layoff decision she was unexpectedly forced to make as a leader at her former employer. We learned the basics of what happened and how it impacted her, and now we dive into a deeper discussion of the choice she made in part 2. Building Better Games plays devil’s advocate in this episode, discussing the different ways she could have addressed this situation. They talk about what led her to make her final decision, and the

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41:24

E22 How to Handle Layoffs as a Leader with Sophie Vo...

Building Better Games ·

2022/10/25

If you’ve been on LinkedIn lately, you may have noticed a rise in layoffs. The interesting part about this news is not the fact that more layoffs are happening, but that more people and companies are being open about it. Layoffs have always been common, but where companies go wrong in the process is their lack of transparency, which can result in employees feeling unimportant and ashamed. Layoffs are definitely a negative experience, but being laid off should not be a stain on someone’s resume

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47:51

E21 How not to Lose Your Game Vision on the Altar of...

Building Better Games ·

2022/10/11

Time and time again, we see game teams struggle with the feeling that they're not moving fast enough. Something isn't right with the game, but they don't have time to think about it because there's “so much work to do.” These kinds of issues arise when we're focused on building stuff, rather than creating compelling experiences that resonate with players. That’s why, in today’s episode of Building Better Games, we’re focusing on value, not work! We want to help you hone in on what true progress

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44:31

E20 How to Get People on Board with Your Ideas: with...

Building Better Games ·

2022/09/27

Knowing how to communicate and listen effectively is right up there with knowing how to write code, design characters, or compose a musical score. Taking what you have constructed in your mind and being able to materialize it, in whatever form, is like a muscle that can become strengthened over time with enough practice. Today, we're going to show you how to level up your day-to-day communication skills with your peers and your seniors. We illustrate how to better understand the thinking and

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31:23

E19 BBG Extras: Tabletop RPGs vs Video Games with...

Building Better Games ·

2022/09/20

Far from losing steam in the digital age, tabletop games are booming thanks to their collaborative and tactile nature. In fact, today’s guest believes that video games can learn a lot from tabletop RPGs – and vice versa! Today, we’re joined by Tyler Kamstra, a software developer by trade who plays a whole lot of Dungeons and Dragons and other tabletop RPGs in his spare time. Tyler is also the founder and primary author of RPGBOT.net, an online resource for tabletop roleplaying games, including

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46:46

E18 How to be a AAA Art Director in Game Dev with...

Building Better Games ·

2022/09/13

The visuals and feel of a video game are a lot more complex than even most artists think. It is imperative that your team is on the same page when it comes to communicating with the player through the game’s visuals, especially during long and complex game development cycles. This is why you should make the art direction clear from the start, then be ready when people don’t understand or try different things. Having a clear yet evolving vision allows for teams to create better games, learn

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38:58

E17 Should You Create a Video Game Startup? What...

Building Better Games ·

2022/08/30

Every creator of a new video game or founder of a video game startup loves gaming. No one in this industry is unique in that fact. If you’re trying to get VC funding, loving games will not differentiate you from everyone else. Investors are looking for more from founders. To be taken seriously, there has to be something more, something with clear potential to succeed. You need to figure that out before you decide to bring an investor to the table. VCs see multiple pitches a day, and each one is

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47:11

E16 How to Staff Up For A Successful Game

Building Better Games ·

2022/08/16

It seems intuitive that adding additional people will increase your speed in making a great game. However, staffing up is more nuanced than that. If you add people to a system where there are underlying operational and/or cultural issues all you’re doing is adding weight to a cart that’s already in the mud. So how do you staff video game development efficiently? Honestly, it’s complicated. A lot of the aspects of whether a person is needed or a good fit are intangible, and can only be felt and

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47:47

E15 How to Save Your Developers Time: Avoiding Death...

Building Better Games ·

2022/08/02

“I want to be maximizing value. These tools can create a side game that actually is only vaguely and tangentially related to value, perhaps even in a negative way.” Why do people hate JIRA so much? There is a whole website dedicated to rants calling JIRA out for its oppressive bureaucratic nature and the evangelistic cult created around its adoption across many industries, including the video game industry. What we want to find out is, is it REALLY that bad, especially since it is one of the

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45:55

E14 How to Make Amazing Content While Avoiding the...

Building Better Games ·

2022/07/19

Leading any team is a huge responsibility. You have the ability to impact on each individual and the product in significant ways. The job isn’t for everyone, and no matter how great of a leader you are, mistakes will be made along the way. A difference between great and poor leaders is how they learn from their mistakes and come back better. Want to make leadership more difficult? Go from leading a team you are very comfortable with to a brand new team with a different dynamic, for a short

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46:29

E13 How to Reduce Risk & Ship Your Game: Battling...

Building Better Games ·

2022/07/06

Aaron and Ben dive into some common problems they see working with game developers from startups to large scale publishers. You'll learn about some patterns to avoid and how to focus on continually delivering real value.

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01:08:15

E12 Building an Adaptable Engineering Org for Your...

Building Better Games ·

2022/06/21

Jonathan McCaffrey (JMac) is a leader and engineer who has worked to help engineering and production understand each other wherever he worked. He covers working with limited resources at a new startup, the fallacy of being either fast or clean but not both, and what it's like scaling from small to large companies and back again. If you want a better understanding of engineering in game dev, this is worth a listen!

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01:12:41

E11 Why You Should Embrace HR at Your Game Studio...

Building Better Games ·

2022/06/07

Dominic is a master at navigating the complexity of organizations and embodies everything we believe about modern talent development and HR. We dig in on what's changing in this world, perception vs reality when it comes to corporate HR, and the skills and awareness leaders need today to be successful with their talent in the midst of a revolution.

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55:39

E10 BONUS EPISODE: How to Develop Ownership on Your...

Building Better Games ·

2022/05/30

Randy Tau wanted to talk about ownership, and we were happy to oblige. Randy's career runs from startups to the military to being a director at Amazon. We cover ownership from a ton of angles, and also talk about leading at scale and what it means to level yourself up.

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129 results

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