The Ideal size for a games company?
Everyone in the industry probably has an opinion on this topic. My own very strong opinion is that 90% of game teams are way too big. Although its true that a game like Star Wars Galaxies (or the Movies for that matter) can't be dome to the same quality with a dozen people, its also true that a huge amount of creativity goes right out the window as companies get bigger.
suddenly you cant put in (or take out) a game feature without there being a meeting, someone taking minutes of a meeting, a big email discussion to sum it up, a lawyer to check that the feature doesn't infringe copyright, a business guy to assess the cost, a producer to schedule when it happens, an assistant producer to do the exact same thing etc etc.
Its a wonder big games EVER get finished, and no surpise that many of them appear poorly made and poorly designed.
With a team of 4 people, everyone has a huge influence on the game. They have a real stake in it, both financially and creatively.
Employee #471 doesn't have the same feeling about the huge uber-project he works on, so he doesn't do his best to make it good, he doesn't get motivated past his regular hours..
I reckon the best games that get made are those made by small intimate teams of creative people. With this in mind, this should truly be the glory days of the indie shareware developer.
so where are you guys?
Everyone in the industry probably has an opinion on this topic. My own very strong opinion is that 90% of game teams are way too big. Although its true that a game like Star Wars Galaxies (or the Movies for that matter) can't be dome to the same quality with a dozen people, its also true that a huge amount of creativity goes right out the window as companies get bigger.
suddenly you cant put in (or take out) a game feature without there being a meeting, someone taking minutes of a meeting, a big email discussion to sum it up, a lawyer to check that the feature doesn't infringe copyright, a business guy to assess the cost, a producer to schedule when it happens, an assistant producer to do the exact same thing etc etc.
Its a wonder big games EVER get finished, and no surpise that many of them appear poorly made and poorly designed.
With a team of 4 people, everyone has a huge influence on the game. They have a real stake in it, both financially and creatively.
Employee #471 doesn't have the same feeling about the huge uber-project he works on, so he doesn't do his best to make it good, he doesn't get motivated past his regular hours..
I reckon the best games that get made are those made by small intimate teams of creative people. With this in mind, this should truly be the glory days of the indie shareware developer.
so where are you guys?
posted by cliff at
1:54 PM
