Writing/Article
Dare to explore
Why I joined a brand-new studio with no games to show, and why we killed our first prototype.
Dare to explore
The story
After working in Italy, China, Vietnam and Germany, I was approached by Ten Square Games to help start its new Warsaw studio. The team was brand new and had no games to point to. In the interview I asked what would happen if our first game turned out bad. Their answer: you learn from it and make a better one. That was the moment I decided to dare.
Two months into our first prototype, we killed it. Because of what we had learned, the next concept took only a couple of days to prototype. Stopping early saved far more time than it cost.
Highlights
- Exploration needs a safe space. People experiment more when they're not afraid to fail.
- Be data-informed, not data-driven: surveys and persona research guide decisions without replacing judgement.
- Research players before launch, not only after.