Learning from Failure
Ben Ward, founding member of independent developer ‘Supergonk’, discussed his journey through the games industry with the students of University of Bolton, who were hoping to follow a similar path. Throughout the insightful talk, Ben mentioned how he constantly grew through his time in the industry. Though mostly stories of success, Ben talked about his failures and how they taught him valuable lessons. These lessons include how important the leadership role is when working with small teams. “The three of us went into Hogrocket with equal say. By the end, we were all pulling in different directions.”(Ward, 2017)
When starting out in the games industry, especially when it involves independently working on your own game, it’s always best to set your expectations low rather than expecting to create the next bit hit. Rami Ismail emphasises this point in his famous talk, presented at GDC. Rami says that “for your first indie game, I want you to adjust your goals. I want you to prepare for failure. It is going to fail. But I want you to create for success.”(Ismail, 2015).
Even with experience, some developers unfortunately lack financial support, especially younger teams, forcing them to work part-time or to dip into personal savings. This sometimes means the team needs to make financial cuts such as hardware/software, office space and sometimes even team members, which in turn can lead to slower production. Javier Ansoleaga, developer at Evolve Games, said that “At some point we lost 2 out of 4 members, sadly due to economical or personal troubles. Which in fact set us back and made an already complicated development seem like an impossible task.”(Ansoleaga, 2016). This was rather unfortunate, but because of this, Javier learned that in future they should work on a back-up plan, in case something similar happened in the future, as to reduce the chance of a negative impact on development.
Expecting and preparing to fail can easily destroy excitement or passion you could have for a project, but sometimes it could do the total opposite. In an interview with Glixel, Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox Software, says that “When I go into something that has risks to it, I tend to account for the possibility that it won't work out and make sure that I'm okay to take the risk, so that when it doesn't work out I'm not destroyed by it, Borderlands never could happen without that kind of fearlessness.”(Walden, 2017). Rather than crumbling under the pressure of failure from the beginning, Randy uses his experience as a tool to make bold decisions, and when they potentially fall through, he keeps on going. At the end of the day, it’s better to prepare for failure and succeed rather than preparing for success and failing.
Ward, B. (2017) Building a game studio. Employability & Enterprise. Presented at: University of Bolton, Friday 3 February 2017.
Ismail, R. (2015) It’s important to make sure that you can fail. GameIndustry.biz. [Online] Available from: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-10-16-vlambeer-its-important-to-make-sure-that-you-can-fail. [Accessed 3 February 2017].
Ansoleaga, J. (2016) Learning from Failure: Post Mortem of an Unborn. Gamasutra. [Online]. Available from: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JavierAnsoleaga/20161109/285131/Learning_from_Failure_Post_Mortem_of_an_Unborn.php. [Accessed 3 February 2017].
Walden, M. (2017) Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford Talks Nintendo Switch, 'Overwatch' and Being Fearless. Glixel. [Online]. Available from: http://www.glixel.com/interviews/randy-pitchford-on-switch-overwatch-and-being-fearless-w462836. [Accessed 3 February 2017]