Mark Soderwall

As a game production & design consultant, I work with companies of all sizes to refine their teams, products and game design. Across all of these, one pattern keeps emerging. The hardest skill to find or teach (or even describe in a job posting) is the ability to 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘄 as you make design or product-related decisions. A game product manager with a long-enough context window, for example, will think about potential limitations to the game’s monetization approach, or opportunities offered by the particular audience the marketing team targets, 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆. They will have concerns like: Is this product makeup something the team can overcome, or will they have trouble monetizing this type of game? Does the company strategy align with this type of business solution? A deep and wide context window lets you keep the 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 and/or the 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 in mind as you make 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. It's also the kind of thinking that GenAI and LLM tools still struggle with. They can help with execution, creativity, and iteration, but they don't yet hold this layered context across the whole scope of the operation. I’m sure any seasoned game designer attempting to use ChatGPT to define their product makeup has experienced this: Go a couple of steps too deep, and the tool forgets a number of basic limitations, and it just starts mashing random ideas together in ways that will create issues for the game or the production in the long term. This skill connects the small to the big. It makes each decision more efficient and, in total, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁. Companies often try to get by without this skill by increasing the number of attempts - lowering the scope of the products and/or speeding up production. But, like any other, our industry will feel more and more the pressure to be more efficient (𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 efficient) about the production side of things, and this is the singular most important skill that I’ve come across that makes the whole production, well, as productive as it could be.

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GDC Day 2, Part 2 Publishing Realities was a panel session involving Jen Maclean (ex-Microsoft publishing, now of Dragon Snacks), Stephen McDonald of Magic Potion, and Ben Kvalos of Midwest Games. McDonald is out of Club Penguin and founded a new kids game venture with VC money. Kvalo also has VC money, but founded an indie game publisher (Midwest focus, but maybe we should pitch them). First question: Do you need a publisher. Stephen waffled a bit (helps to say no if you have VC money), but basically came down on the side of “no, but you do need partners”. Totally true, but the jobs that “publishers” do are now becoming services that different companies can provide. Marketing support from one partner, funding from another partner, etc. Jen said you want a publisher to set you up for success. And made a point of telling potential partners what she wanted from them. Sometimes, their goals were not mutual. Ben said there are 300-400 publishers (really? Wish we could find them), and said one important ask is does their audience overlap with yours. He added that the market is changing so fast, and publishers with recent experience may have more of a sense of what’s working now than you. Jen raised the issue of making sure your partners are ethical. Ben mentioned publlshers who want a 300% recoup as an example of unethical publishing. He also said “I never talk to devs who don’t have a layer.” Because they should know what they’re getting into. Jen said: Something big is always going to go wrong. You need a relationship where you can trust your partner and work it out. Talk to other devs who have worked with the publisher… including ones who were not successful. See where the pain points are. Ben: Having a great game is tablestakes. But marketing is what makes the difference. It all starts with community. Conversion to buy at launch is critical. when doing graphics, assume most will share on mobile, so looking good in portrait mode matters. Success looks like doing what you lovei

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