Stardock 20th Anniversary, Interview
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Wouldn't better planning be in everyone's long-term interest? Why do so many studios find themselves in crunch?
Planning is half the battle, as I discussed above. At Stardock we publish our own games, we are a privately held company with one owner who is willing to let schedules slip rather than sacrifice quality or cause crunch, we don't release to retail (in digital we can adjust dates and move the schedule as needed), and we are profitable on our back-catalog sales (we make enough selling the games we have already made to cover our monthly expenses).
Those are rare qualities and Stardock doesn't have a monopoly on that combination. The real secret is to have the ability to prioritize the long-term success of the game over short-term revenue goals. It's a lesson we learned from Galactic Civilizations II. Stardock released that game in 2006 and it continues to provide 10 percent of our revenue.
The money takes care of itself when you make a great game. Take the time to do that.
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Is there any time when it makes sense to have a crunch? Exceptions to the rule, as it were?
Fallen Enchantress was in development for 20 months. Twice during that project, I asked (mandated) that the team come in and work at least one day on a weekend. They could pick Saturday or Sunday and I would be in both days.
I didn't do it because a lot of extra work got completed on that extra day. I did it because the team was failing to meet reasonable milestones. Mandating a weekend day for everyone to come in made sure that everyone was a lot more productive during their normal 40 hours and it reduced the amount of chatter and goofing off to (Stardock normal.)
I expect all professionals to occasionally work over to help keep reasonable schedules on target. And we show appreciation for that by allowing them to take flex time off when it's more convenient. It influences raises, bonuses and promotions, etc.
And even though I said short term crunch has its benefits and it seems harmless to ask everyone to work late every night, including the weekends for the month before the game goes into beta. What about the single parent raising kids? What about the married parent whose spouse is expected to act as a single parent for that time? What about their other responsibilities?
Our industry is founded on making people happy, we should make sure the people that work in it are part of that equation.
