Benjamin Carcich

Benjamin Carcich Speaking Topics

• Habits & Culture of Successful Studios-Teams

  Want to know the most common game dev cultural patterns and habits that lead to success when done well? How about how to avoid failure? In this talk, Ben provides a consultant’s view on modern game development. He's been working with a host of companies from startups to established giants for the past three years, and will share what they’ve observed as effective (or not).

  The things to get right do not include only hiring senior talent, having an unlimited budget, or being remote, in office, or hybrid. They are 'boring' patterns, and ones that most studios get wrong. But if you get these cultural habits right, you’re on the fast track to creating an amazing game that players will love. The best part: this isn’t just for big AAA companies. Every studio can do them. You just have to be willing to invest.

  Attendees will learn four themes that differentiate successful and unsuccessful game studios. The concept of scaling, creating functional leadership teams, what good vision looks like, and how to relate to planning are all patterns that - done well - improve your chances of success.

• Creating Accountability: 4 Simple Steps for Managers

  Accountability. It comes up all the time, leaders demand more of it, many people try to escape it. But honestly, most people don’t know what it means. In this talk, We will walk the attendees through what accountability is, why our misunderstandings of it lead to unhealthy models of accountability that cause many people to avoid it, and finally go through a simple four-step model to create healthy accountability.

  The talk will go over accountability, expectations, and consequences, and the audience will learn how they can create healthy accountability in a surprisingly short amount of time. This is a crucial skill that far too few people have, and it causes a lot of problems in our companies. Let’s get accountability figured out!

  Attendees will learn what real accountability is, what unhealthy accountability looks like and why it is so common, and finally will be given a very simple four-step model they can follow to create healthy accountability within their organization.

• Creating Engaging Games: Moving Past Making Stuff and Chasing Quality

  Our industry has become obsessed with "player focus" in the last decade. It’s everyone, on mission statements and in values docs. But what does it mean to be “player focused”? How should leaders and producers change how they work to pursue that goal?

  In this talk, We will dig into what it means to create value in game development. He’s spent the last three years talking with companies ranging from exciting startups to established behemoths, and the problem of where to focus has consistently tripped them all. We'll explain the traps of "making stuff" and "chasing quality", and then show why a value focus - while hard - will increase your chances of making a successful product.

  Game dev is hard. There’s too much to do and too little time. Let’s stop making it harder by focusing on the wrong things. Focus on value instead.

  The audience will learn what it means to be player and value focused. They will be able to spot the common traps of focusing too much on making stuff or chasing quality, and will grasp why both 'stuff' and 'quality' are in service to creating engaging experiences for players. The idea of value will be broken down into its game dev-specific forms.

• From Confusion to Clarity: Defining the Producer’s Role and Journey

  Production in game dev is broken. Most producers are untrained. Many suffer from imposter syndrome. To make matters worse, most companies treat the production discipline differently - sometimes to an extreme degree.

  Ben has been working with game companies ranging from startups to large companies, and talking to producers across the industry for the last few years. He will be sharing the common approaches and most important skills of the best game producers, and how you can set up a production career progression that makes sense at your studio. Spoiler: Producers aren’t there to make plans and manage JIRA tickets.

  Attendees will walk away with a clear picture of what good production looks like, and an explanation of how and why many producers get the wrong idea about their role. We’ll share an example career path, including how to improve your chances of advancing as a producer.