Intensely Practical Tips for Growing an Indie Studio

In this 2018 GDC session, Weather Factory's Alexis Kennedy presents a talk about the lessons learned building Failbetter Games, and the lessons taken into a second studio founding, focusing on war stories and practical advice.
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[@jarrastafari]

This is one of the top talks I've seen on the internet. Wow! Thank you, Alexis and the guys at GDC for making this happen.

[@dominicmaher1389]

Totally, this is hands down one of the best presentations I've seen anywhere

[@Nathankinamorh]

This is one of the best GDC talks ever. I regularly come back to this video to center myself while working on development & pre-production business tasks.

[@samuelschwager]

A lot of what he says applies to many businesses. Good talk!

[@sigrid2242]

This is one of the most valuable talks I've ever seen for indie dev. I am so glad Alexis took the time to share this with the world. I'm looking forward to putting his advice into practice!

[@DetectivePoofPoof]

- Nobody puts a mission statement on their wall saying: "We are the kind of company that fucks up!" _camera cuts to office building with a sign that reads "BETHESDA SOFTWORKS"_

[@DetectivePoofPoof]

_camera cuts to inside of office where a developer is actively adding bugs to Fallout76 while Todd Howard stands behind him, slowly nodding in approval..._

[@dog-xq5jw]

lmaooo

[@stevetennispro]

In all fairness their initials are... B.S. ;)

[@TallGuyProds]

This is gold, digestible and quite entertaining.

[@kayrosis5523]

Absolutely awesome talk! Taking notes on this, it took me 3 hours to squeeze this talk for what i could. Thanks!

[@bxnny0374]

This is a fantastic talk. I don't have anything to add, I'm just commenting to help the video continue to grow and reach more people.

[@walterellis2179]

Rami didn't actually say outright to leave school, but that it depends on how you learn best, whether school is right for you. Came down to the same thing though, in the particular situation. South African here. Insightful talk-thanks.

[@johanlindeberg7304]

Thanks for sharing these valuble advice based on experience. My impression is that when a founder leaves a company, this might lead to a significant loss of value. The value of the company is based on that this person is engaged, regardless of ownership. You are selling something unknown, a company without it´s founder. Not always an easy valuation.

[@BernhardErnst]

This is valuable information.

[@dnbnostalgia]

Fantastic, loved every minute.

[@tetri90]

A great talk, the game dev industry would be in a much better place if more studios (even bigger ones) followed on this phylosophy !

[@michaellaporte4951]

A very poignant, very sobering talk from a great dev.

[@modiddymo]

This is an absolute gem

[@TheHassel90]

Awesome talk!!

[@virtual4026]

Wonderful, apparently underrated talk. Got a lot out of it. And thank you for Cultist Simulator :)

[@stevetennispro]

I've never played Cultist Simulator. Does it have a large... following? ;)

[@silvinogustavo8780]

Should be "Insanely Practical Tips" hahaha Love the talk! Quite useful and often overlooked info here.

[@Enite]

Actually, film production does have the VERY SAME crunch problem as games do - brilliant talk though! Thank you!

[@overnights2572]

Totally agreed with the comments below, one of the best talks ever! Thanks a lot!

[@xeoncat]

Great talk!

[@robocrab5811]

great talk, many useful advices!

[@rosannahgalbraith9414]

This was so helpful, thank u!

[@ElixirElise]

So valuable! What a great talk

[@Castrimaris]

51:59 I'd add "a fucking pandemic hits the world"

[@gdlop]

WOW !!!!!!!!! so there ARE people with integrity and values in the games industry. Hats off to you sir !!!!!!!

[@friesofwisdom4399]

You cant predict the future, so you cant know how much a project will make, so you are still engaging in an act of faith, even if you have a profit estimate.

[@ViniciusJorgeMunhoz]

what do you mean with work 7 hours? I have to work 8 in Brazil (without lunch, so it is at least 9h inside the office). What is the norm in other countries?

[@nb3761]

8 hours is the standard work office hours across the western world. 9-5 It would include a lunch break of 30-45 minutes. Some companies do a 9 hour day depending on the salary bracket, but 40-45 hours is the week standard.

[@ViniciusJorgeMunhoz]

@@nb3761 so. 9-5 with 30min lunch break would be 7:30 working time? I think the main difference to Brazil then is that our lunch time does not count, abd it is usually 1h. That's why we have 40h workweek, but it is 8-5, 1h lunch break not considered. 8h work time

[@nb3761]

@@ViniciusJorgeMunhoz Except Lunch is paid. So companies are technically paying you to eat your food.

[@michaellhoover94]

I worked for the state Gov in the states and our schedule was the same as yours, it varies from place to place. The ideal is 9-5 but getting that is less and less common

[@Chetverikov]

​@@nb3761that really varies. If you're a wage worker and not salaried then in a lot of cases you're not paid for lunch, and you either actually tack 30 minutes onto your shift to get to 8 hours or you really work 37.5 paid hours a week instead of 40. But again this varies based on local and national law. In the context of Failbetter I suspect everyone is salaried and are working 7 hours + 1 hour lunch for a total work day of 8 hours, which sounds pretty sweet if true and if they can avoid the temptation to have salaried TMs put in those few hours extra. Average hours worked per week for Salaried employees here in the US was 48 last I checked. Every employer I've ever worked at mandated 45-50 hours a week minimum from salaried TMs (then wondered why they struggled to fill junior salaried positions and senior wage employees didn't want to apply...)

[@reonevkvk]

A W E S O M E

[@StarlasAiko]

39:25 "We're really good friends, why would we need things in writing?" Queen Victoria considered it completely inconceivable that Britain and Germany could ever be enemies, therefor, a written alliance was not "needed". Then WWI came around and Britain fought against Germany because there was no written alliance.

[@hedgehog_fox]

Take a shot every time he says fuck.

[@hedende]

not first!

[@automatescellulaires8543]

If this is how you run a successful business, what the hell are those money hungry people doing with their (and our) lives exactly then ?

[@Filipinjo]

First!

[@Cazaq]

TL:DR; Have friends in high places, and get a grant from the European Union's Media Fund.

[@dankodanko9099]

Alexis does not look very good. I guess staying in for a year while developing a game mostly solo does that to people. Then again, maybe he just had one too many cocktails last night. Jokes aside, he looks sad and tired at best, depressed at worst. The presentation, although, is indeed very practical and grounded, there's a lot of wisdom and truth from a man who actually ran an indie studio for a long time.

[@Brainstrain]

You choose the username danko danko

[@RoguePlanetStudio]

Idk, talk to John Carmack about a delayed game

[@Thelostrune]

discount Todd Howard tells us to buy his game on the very second slide I'm in

[@Haapavuo]

Hello Mr. Ed Sheeran!

[@F3ND1MUS]

First

[@megatiny63]

Good talk in general but actually fuck anyone who runs a company and says 'salary raises are a bad way to compensate employees'. Stop finding excuses not to pay people who are doing a good job.

[@ruebytuesday]

You sound tired, bud. And I'm not talking about the jet lag.

[@ukmonk]

gaming channel but the video is 720p

[@SuperHeroINTJ]

This talk should have been shorter.

[@sickre]

Seems like a man who lost his passion.

[@methodtomadnessstudios2632]

I think he's just a bit tired, but that does not look like a guy who lost his passion

[@gamedevshirious]

Is it just me or he does look like Donald Trump ?

[@mujina93]

Boring and information is quite diluited