It is a rare treat indeed to get to start on a new game. I started a game development company along with some buddies several years ago. We created advergames, facebook games and eventually mobile games. We produced over seventy games spanning various genres. Some of them did ok, a few did amazing but most of them never got much attention beyond a marketing campaign. Never really having funds to give every game the time and love it needed was frustrating. Eventually we sold the company and moved on with our lives.
And here we are again. Starting a new studio and working on something we passionately love - Strategy games! With funding from the amazing team at Coffee Stain Studios and a team of great developers. This time we are doing things the way we always wanted. Let me share some of our core beliefs.
We believe in SCRUM
It works well for us. SCRUM helps us with keeping our development in line with what our stakeholders expect and making sure that we do not loose sight of our target. It is also great to have a methodology to fall back onto when things are shaky. Being agile within constraints is a great thing.
We believe in work/life balance
This means that we do not work overtime. We take care to plan our days carefully and we make sure to allow both flexibility and structure, where needed. We work together, but we also play games together and enjoy our very Swedish fika every day. We encourage ourselves to work out, stay curious and having fun at work.
We believe in building something long term
As we are driven by passion, we want to maintain it and help it grow. We discuss very openly about personal goals as well as company goals. How can we align targets and how can we create a workplace where we enjoy our work each day? Building great games take time and if we enjoy that time, then better games we are going to create.
In the end, it all comes down to what we want to do with our lives. We choose to work with games because well, we love games. Creating games is a labour of love and for us, the process is equally as important as the result.