Key Takeaways from GI Sprint

Over the past three weeks, GamesIndustry.biz has been exploring ways for game studios to reduce development costs and create games more efficiently. Our inaugural GI Sprint covered topics like AI, cloud technology, remote work, game conception, and team management. You can find the entire series on our dedicated microsite, with all videos available on YouTube and as podcasts on various platforms. To make it easier to access the best advice, we've included the key points below: Our opening session featured the former head of PlayStation Worldwide Studios, who discussed the unsustainable costs of game development, particularly in the AAA space, and how to reduce them. His top tips included designing shorter games with fewer levels, assessing the value of tech advancements, leveraging AI and tools to streamline development, and being disciplined about what can be delivered and when. Ant Workshop's managing director, Tony Gowland, shared the benefits of developing more focused and frequent releases, including keeping the game scope simple to speed up development, reusing ideas from past projects, and considering lower price points to increase appeal. We also discussed how cloud and artificial intelligence can help game development, with Xbox's GM for gaming AI, Haiyan Zhang, and product leader Brady Woods, identifying four ways these technologies can assist: coding, story creation, live service management, and community management. However, they noted that these technologies cannot replace human game developers. A panel of experts, including AI and Games director Tommy Thompson and Goldsmiths University lecturer Dr. Aleena Chia, delved deeper into the role of AI in making games faster, better, and cheaper. They advised against chasing the latest trends, exploring open-source tools, automating monotonous tasks, and retaining a human touch in game development. King's Sahar Asadi discussed the company's use of AI, including a playtesting bot that has reduced manual tweaks by 95% and resulted in 50% faster level tweaks. Hitman developer IO Interactive's new chief technology officer, Ulas Karademir, talked about the advantages of running their own tech and making games cheaper, faster, and better. He emphasized the importance of iterating faster and testing, as well as reducing rework, which can be automated with AI. Free Lives' Dominique Gawlowski, Ant Workshop's Tony Gowland, and indie game developer Rami Ismail shared advice on bringing game ideas to life, including killing projects that aren't working, focusing on fun and feasibility, and making smaller games that cater to a specific niche. Organisational psychologist Graham McAllister discussed the challenges of aligning on a vision and how developers can overcome this issue by being precise about their game idea, locking down the vision early, allowing team questions, and playing the game together. Veteran designer Jesse Schell shared his advice on avoiding layoffs, including changing business practices, prioritizing people, being efficient and agile, and considering alternatives to layoffs. Finally, Bossa Studios' Henrique Olifiers and FuturLab's Toby Adam-Smith discussed the benefits of remote working and how to maintain efficiency and teamwork, highlighting the importance of adapting to remote work, maintaining vision alignment, and communicating clearly online.