The Building Better Games Newsletter

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A lesson from the worst failure of my game dev career

You see the problems on your team. You know what needs to change. You push for it, you call it out, you do what you think leaders are supposed to do... ...and it blows up in your face. My most recent episode is about the biggest failure of my game dev career, and six lessons I pulled out of it. I...

May 13, 2026

Your Best Developer Might Be Your Worst Lead

On why the skills that earn a promotion aren't the skills that make it go well. I've had this conversation more times than I can count. Someone was the standout performer on a team for years. Brilliant engineer, incredible artist, best QA in the building. And now they're being handed a leadershi...

May 12, 2026

Four Signs Your Team Is Just Pretending to Make Progress

On busyness, fake momentum, and the grounding truth to never lose. I've been in rooms where everyone was working hard and the game was quietly falling apart. So much activity. Not a spare half hour on any leader’s calendar. Jira analyzed and reported and with tickets constantly created and compl...

May 05, 2026

You're Already Playing Politics. The Question Is Whether You've Thought About It.

On organizational politics, ethical lines, and why good leaders become the thing they hate. Someone asked me recently whether their unwillingness to engage with organizational politics was going to hold them back. My answer was: probably, yes. But I want to be careful about what I mean by that. ...

Apr 28, 2026

Family Size +1, GDC Stuff, and Game Dev Leadership Accelerator Price Going Up

Hey All! Apologies for the long silence. We have a new baby! She arrived in February and is doing well. Don't take it personally, I think that means she likes you. With that plus GDC I've been pretty tied up and haven't written as much as I'd like. Hoping to get more of these out shortly! Speak...

Apr 01, 2026

What Do Game Producers Do?

Image Credit Nick Papadakis via LinkedIn As we kick of 2026, I wanted to give the game producers out there a reminder and a bit of advice:Nobody knows quite what you're supposed to do.Neither do you, when things are going well.Production is (or should be) a leadership role.You see the big pict...

Jan 13, 2026

Why being right is hurting you at work

Hey All! Have you ever watched someone always spot the problem… …and somehow become the person nobody wants in the meeting? From the outside, it can look confusing. They’re not wrong. Sometimes, they've quite accurately spotted an issue. But it doesn't seem to improve anything. It's not helpful....

by Benjamin Carcich — Dec 19, 2025

2 Reframes on AI in Game Dev

So I've been thinking and talking to people about AI and LLMs a ton, and so far I've learned: AI is the savior and satan. It will bring utopia, dystopia, and everything in between. It's a bubble, it's going to be even bigger than we think, and in 4 years we won't even notice it. Very helpful info...

by Benjamin Carcich — Dec 03, 2025 ai gamedev gamedevelopment gameproduction games leadership management process productmanagement projectmanagement videogames

Your Studio in 3 Numbers (Be Brutally Honest)

Hey All! Imagine this:You’re leading a team of devs. Maybe there’s 5 of you. Maybe there’s 200. Everyone’s busy. Jira is full. Slack is on fire. But if you’re honest… the game isn’t really moving. I’ve seen this pattern over and over in game studios. From the outside everything looks funded, st...

by Benjamin Carcich — Nov 19, 2025 agile gamedev gamedevelopment gameindustry gameleadership gameproduction games leadership process software videogames

Why you're misusing QA and how to fix it

Hey All! This week on Building Better Games we look into a blind spot I see across game dev: Using QA to hit numbers, not impact players. Too many studios define “good QA” through the lens of bugs found, features/systems covered, and time spent testing. That’s the objective side of QA. It is ne...

by Benjamin Carcich — Nov 12, 2025 agile gamedev gameindustry gameleadership gameproduction gameqa leadership qa

Are you letting Jira manage you?

Hey there! Jira is not a beloved word in game and software development. It promises clarity, collaboration, visibility, and data. What it often provides is confusion, wasted time, nitpicking, and cynicism. While I do think Jira is partially to blame for this, I also think how we RELATE to Jira (...

Nov 05, 2025 agile gamedev gamedevelopment gameindustry gameproduction games jira leadership production tools worksystems

How Long Should Your Sprints Be?

Everyone runs two week sprints. It's the norm, the standard, the thing we're taught. I also think it's incorrect A LOT in game dev. Sometimes, you shouldn't be running sprints at all. Sometimes, you should be running shorter - occasionally much shorter - sprints. How do you know what the right s...

by Benjamin Carcich — Oct 10, 2025

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