STARTING YOUR OWN STUDIO, SHOULD YOU DO IT?

This week Ben Ward from Supergonk and Rocketdesk, gave us at University of Bolton a great lecture pertaining to different aspects of the game industry, using his own experience to extrapolate and reinforce his key points. Although Ben mentioned various aspects, one of the most interesting and in depth parts was how Ben moved from a large studio into making two of his own studios (one consisting of three members and the other initially starting as a solo studio). This post aims to look at the benefits of running your own studio (as an independent developer) compared to working in a larger AAA studio.

Picture: Ben Ward at the University Of Bolton.

Looking first at a triple A (AAA) studio to emulate Ben Ward’s own experience through the industry, various advantages were mentioned.

One such advantage would be working with skilled industry colleagues around you. This offers benefits such as learning directly from sources of knowledge such as programmers, artists or team members in fields other than your own. You also learn how games work, from being inside the industry, offering insight into the game development cycle with first-hand experience.

Furthermore, if you are new to the industry you will be constantly learning new techniques, tried and tested ways of production. This could be backed up by the fact Rhodri Broadbent (co-founder of Dakko Dakko, previously at Q-Games and Lionhead) in a panel of game developers (How to get into the games industry - an insiders' guide, 2014) stated that “try an established studio first if you can” continued with “meet people, learn how you work and how games work, learn the dynamics”. This was a direct response to the question of ‘what advice would you give to someone looking to setup their own studio themselves’. This gives credence to choosing an established studio or AAA studio instead of making your own. Leading on from what Rhodri Broadbent mentioned “meet people” is also backed up by Ben Ward in the fact that he too stated that making connections and indeed not ‘burning bridges’ in the industry is very important. This is in contrast to working in a small studio as it substantially limits the people around you in comparison to other studios such as Bizarre Creations (at its peak) of around 200+ team members (Crossley, 2011). Thus this also gives weight to choosing an established studio to begin your industry career.

However, there are many benefits to making your own studio, with factors being brought up by Ben Ward in his lecture. Some such benefits are easily perceived such as being your own boss, affording you to work on your own time, this although is double edged as Ben mentions if you are not disciplined it can adversely affect development. One such example would be if a person cannot muster the energy to push themselves to work every day they have no overhead manager to reinforce the need to work.

Another advantage of running your own studio (large or small) could be choice of production, with Ben taking note of the fact that when he worked in a team he had to discuss ideas to such extents that it harmed production work. Whereas when Ben worked in his own studio of Supergonk he directly oversaw production ideas and had the final word on decisions, cutting back problems and downtime. Looking further however, with examples such as LA Noire, if the person overseeing production cannot effectively manage a team or project the development can be a disaster and indeed even a lawsuit waiting to happen (Tassi, 2011).

Therefore, it could be argued that making a studio affords you many freedoms such as producing what you want to produce, when you want to produce and with who. However, many such as Ben Ward and indeed Rhodri Broadbent (as earlier stated) advise that joining an established studio first gives you the knowledge needed to run your own studio. With benefits even as simple as knowing a full development cycle and requirements of such featuring as key knowledge needed to run your own indie studio.

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Ben Ward: Rocket Desk - http://rocketdesk.co.uk/

Blog - http://benjamesward.tumblr.com/

References:-

Crossley, R. (2011, February 14). Obituary: Bizarre Creations. Retrieved from Develop-Online: http://www.develop-online.net/news/obituary-bizarre-creations/0108720 (Accessed on 03/02/17)

Stuart, K. (2014, March 20). How to get into the games industry - an insiders' guide. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/20/how-to-get-into-the-games-industry-an-insiders-guide (Accessed on 03/02/17)

Tassi, P. (2011, October 5). LA Noire's Team Bondi Shutting Its Doors. Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2011/10/05/la-noires-team-bondi-shutting-its-doors/#70b6e6bd7496 (Accessed on 03/02/17)

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