Soren launches own Game Studio

[Sareln]

Teaser quote, because read the whole thing :P

I have been waiting to write this post since before I shipped my first game, since before I joined the industry, since before I even learned how to program. Today, I’d like to introduce Mohawk Games, an independent studio dedicated to making innovative, core strategy games.

http://mohawkgames.com/2013/11/04/introd...awk-games/

It all sounds kind of awesome.

[Molach]

I am beyond excited to finally create a game of my own,

He even gives a nod to the Realms Beyond site too.

Will be interesting to see.

[Krill]

Really? Where is that nod?

[TheHumanHydra]

The word "beyond," maybe? Not quite sure that was intentional.

[SevenSpirits]

The word "beyond," maybe? Not quite sure that was intentional.

I think he intentionally used the word "beyond", for, you know, its meaning.

[Dhalphir]

I'm not sure about that whole designer/programmer thing

I'm not in the games industry, but typically when all businesses do something a certain way, it's because it's the best way to do it. Diluting talent by demanding that your designers do their own code work, or that your programmers do their own design work, sounds like a great idea to miss out on talented programmers or designers.

[SevenSpirits]

I'm not sure about that whole designer/programmer thing

I'm not in the games industry, but typically when all businesses do something a certain way, it's because it's the best way to do it. Diluting talent by demanding that your designers do their own code work, or that your programmers do their own design work, sounds like a great idea to miss out on talented programmers or designers.

Another, not-incompatible view:

There are a lot of good designers. There are a lot of good programmers. There are a small number of people who are both. It makes sense for most companies to employ separate designers and programmers, because there are a lot of them. But it also makes sense for someone to employ the designer-programmers.

My view:

It is possible for one person to make a game. This person must have all the necessary skills. It is also possible for 1000 people to make a game. In this case, a significant amount of effort must be devoted to dividing the game up into tasks that individual people can perform and coordinating those tasks. Because the majority of the tasks end up involving a much more restricted set of skills, it makes sense to have a lot of specialists. You can only really benefit from multidisciplinary people at points where the tasks connect.

In this case, we are talking about an indie studio with a small number of people. It will already be much closer to the "single jack-of-all-trades" end of the scale just because of this. In addition, they already have a very strong designer-programmer (Soren), who is familiar with a method of design/coding that works very well for his skills. I think it makes perfect sense to continue with that philosophy/method.

[antisocialmunky]

I dunno, if I ran my studio, I would prefer multi-disciplinary people. You get more flexibility on your teams which can decrease implementation time of features and help you find solutions from a different angle. You have people who can communicate better with each other because everyone has some common backgrounds.

In general, the funner and more productive teams I worked with are the ones where people aren't completely specialized but the ones with where you have lost of people with some specialization and lot of cross domain knowledge. Those are my 2 cents from the programming industry.

[Rowain]

That are interesting and good news

[darrelljs]

In general, the funner and more productive teams I worked with are the ones where people aren't completely specialized but the ones with where you have lost of people with some specialization and lot of cross domain knowledge. Those are my 2 cents from the programming industry.

+1. I've been on teams have 10 that have accomplished more than teams of 100.

Darrell