Splash Damage: From Amateur to Triple-A in Five Years (Notes)
Posted March 5 3:13 AM by Drew Sikora
Here are the slide notes that I got from this session. My audio recording is too echoey to pick out Paul's words - the fact that he has an English accent doesn't help me either. I probably shouldn't have sat in the middle of the room but nearer to a speaker, and I also should have turned down the sensitivity of my microphone. I also arrived late, because for some reason I had Room 2018/2020 listed in my schedule as being in North Hall, which I should have known couldn't be possible because North Hall has always only had lecture rooms in the triple digits. I didn't feel so bad though when I ran into my buddy Coray Seifert from Kaos Studios, who was also looking for a 2000 room at North Hall. But enough about me and my stupid mistakes, here's what I didn't miss:
Love Your Publisher
Blind loyalty, faithfulness and commitment to your publisher are key to the relationship
...but get a big brother!
...then work on a famous IP for Big Brother :)
Remember you're planning to be number one in the world at something! Don't focus on anything else
Don't Chase Royalties, or Tech/IP Ownership
Our two primary goals have always been:
Ensure staff can pay their rent
Achieve critical acclaim
You're not doing this to make millions, or to pursue an exit strategy. You need a good burn-rate, contingency funds, and want critical acclaim
Don't get side-tracked from your plan!
Don't Be Any Good at Art, Design, or Coding
Recruiting and retaining talented people will be the single biggest contributor to your success
Don't hire anyone that isn't better than you
Who, then what!
Ideas Are Cheap
You cannot plan too much
Execution is key
Prototype everything in the cheapest way possible
Iterative revision is better than innovation
Create, don't compete
Don't Be A Strategist, Accountant or Lawyer
Management consultants are better
Outsource everything that isn't in your circle of competence, and make it cheap
Make everyone come to you (you're paying them)
Do business critical things by the book (like taxation and employment law)
Your Team
Serve your team, don't manage them
Don't have a higher status, better desk, or hardware than your team
Don't have a desk phone (makes it too easy for people to ask you or bug you about trivial matters)
The exception - Delegate everything!
Don't Try to Budget
Budgets are inaccurate within weeks of their creation (yet you're stuck with them)
Balance sheets and profit/loss statements are an art, not a science
Cash-flow is king. Cash-flow forecasting is the most important aspect of business accounting, and the key to financial stability
Make more than you spend!
On PR Handlers & Press
Remember, you work for them
A great Publicist/PR Handler is an amazing asset
Learn three key messages (and stick to them - important game bites)
A bored PR Handler means you're doing a good job
Have fun and love your game!
The Best Skills Are Counter-Intuitive
You don't need to know about SKUs, decay-curves, attach-rates, player-churn, end-caps, franchises, titles, or products
Instead, improve yourself by studying areas such as mnemonics, body language, ethics, and written English
Honesty and confidence serve you better in business, than any amount of academic knowledge
Success Can Suck
Get the barminess out of your system as quickly as possible
You're going to think you are invulnerable
Your wealth and status will distract you from your original goals
Get back to a normal life as quickly as possible
Go To Every Conference
Pay attention to what everyone else is doing
Attend every development conference you can, accepting tha most presentations have an ulterior motive...
At which point Paul's last slide was about Splash Damage hiring, and the GDC Associates (volunteers) came around handing out cards with information on the available positions.
Southwest Gaming Expo
