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Building Better Games

Building Better Games

By: Benjamin Carcich
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Leadership in game dev is hard. I can't make it easy, but I can make it a heck of a lot better. My name is Benjamin Carcich, and this podcast helps leaders in game dev who feel stuck, ignored, and out of options find their path to success. I've spent the last several decades studying and leading in environments ranging from the U.S. Army through to game development. I want to share what I've learned. Better leadership is a huge opportunity in the games industry. Let's make it better together. Better leaders build better games.Building Better Games ©2024 Career Success Economics Science Fiction
Episodes
  • E133: Everyone Said Dispatch Would Fail. 4 Million Players Disagree.

    E133: Everyone Said Dispatch Would Fail. 4 Million Players Disagree.
    Jun 9 2026
    Level up your leadership: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 Can you defy the industry experts by refusing to compromise on your creative vision? When the entire gaming industry declares a genre dead and claims nobody is buying narrative-driven games anymore, most studios pack up and pivot. But the team at Adhoc Studio did the exact opposite; they stuck to their guns, bet on their passion, and shattered every single expectation. Their debut game, Dispatch, blew past the skeptics to achieve a 97% overwhelmingly positive rating on Steam and over four million copies sold worldwide. Bridging the gap between two fiercely distinct creative worlds, Nick Herman (Co-founder and COO) and Natalie Herman (Head of Production) joined Ben to break down how they pulled off this "magic trick" of a launch. Bringing a masterful blend of creative grit and operational expertise, Nick and Natalie pull back the curtain on what happens when you dare to build a studio on an original IP. In this conversation, they share the raw reality of navigating intense launch crises, managing the brutal push-and-pull of high-fidelity pre-rendered animation, and evolving from hands-on individual contributors into leaders who empower their team to shine. What You'll Learn in This Episode: How to combine a game development pipeline with a TV animation pipeline—even when the two systems were never designed to work together.Why putting story ahead of gameplay can create stronger emotional connections and make players care more about your characters.The secret to building a thriving remote studio culture without micromanaging your team.What happens behind the scenes when a major release gets hit by massive leaks—and how to keep your team focused through the chaos.How to identify hidden talent, give people real ownership, and build a team that stays with you for years.The biggest lessons learned from creating story-driven games that challenge conventional design rules.Why trust, autonomy, and creative freedom often outperform rigid management processes.The leadership principles that helped scale a studio while maintaining a strong creative culture. If you're a leader in game dev who is tired of copy-pasting the same safe mechanics and is ready to fight for an unconventional vision despite what the publishers say, this episode is for you. Learn more about Dispatch: 🔗 Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2592160/Dispatch/ 🔗 Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34996965/ 🔗 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl0lwcDCTPL2LALusiS_xmw AdHoc Studio: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-adhoc-studio/ 🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theadhocstudio/ Learn more about our guests: Nick Herman: 🔗LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-herman-2b370b28/ 🔗Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2550705/ 🔗Mobygames Profile: https://www.mobygames.com/person/255829/nick-herman/ 🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_nickherman_/ 🔗X: https://x.com/nickherman?lang=en Natalie Herman: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-a-herman/ 🔗 Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6048997/ 🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/funkthefake/ 🔗X: https://x.com/funkthefake Connect with us: 🔗Ben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/ 🔗BBG's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/building-better-games/ 🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbettergames/# 🔗Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg 🔗YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@buildingbettergames If you want me to help producers or studios build better games through effective systems and leadership, you can reach me at: info@valarinconsulting.com #GameDevLeadership #StudioCulture #NarrativeDesign #IndieGameDev #BuildingBetterGames
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    1 hr and 32 mins
  • E132: Why Helping Every Team Is Making Your Game Studio Worse

    E132: Why Helping Every Team Is Making Your Game Studio Worse
    Jun 5 2026

    Level up your leadership: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6

    Is your calendar a graveyard of back-to-back "team rituals" for 4 different orgs while your actual strategic work gathers dust

    When you are a game dev leader straddling multiple layers of a studio, it is incredibly easy to fall into the "comfort trap" of doing what you already know how to do: running local team meetings, fixing immediate processes, and trying to play hero for every unstaffed team underneath you. But when you try to be everything to everyone, you aren't actually helping—you are stretching yourself to a breaking point and starving your organization of the high-level leadership it desperately needs to survive.

    In this episode, Benjamin Carcich breaks down why doing less direct work for your teams is actually the ultimate force-multiplying move. You'll learn how to shift your mindset from a localized team manager to a scaled "team of teams" leader, how to ruthlessly audit your calendar, and why learning to hold a firm "no" will build more trust with your studio than any standup ever could.

    What You'll Learn in This Episode:

    • The "serve everyone all the time" trap that keeps leaders from scaling their impact
    • Why great team leads often fail when promoted to higher leadership roles
    • A simple 4-step audit to align your time with what matters most
    • When to empower devs - no matter their discipline - to run processes without you
    • How to grow your leadership influence through solving broader problems than your team

    If you're a leader in game dev who is drowning in cross-team meetings, covering unstaffed producer slots, and feeling too exhausted to actually steer the ship, this episode is for you.

    Connect with us:

    🔗Ben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/

    🔗BBG's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/building-better-games/

    🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbettergames/#

    🔗Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg

    🔗YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@buildingbettergames

    If you want me to help producers or studios build better games through effective systems and leadership, you can reach me at: info@valarinconsulting.com

    #GameDevLeadership #ProducerLife #GameIndustry #StudioManagement #ForceMultiplier
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    44 mins
  • E131: The Efficiency Trap That's Killing Your Game

    E131: The Efficiency Trap That's Killing Your Game
    May 26 2026

    Level up your leadership: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6

    Are you running your game studio fast, or are you actually moving it forward?

    In this episode, we break down one of the most destructive traps in modern game development: confusing efficiency with effectiveness. It's incredibly easy to measure velocity, count assets, or point to a rising graph on your screen. But if your team is flawlessly hitting its milestones and the game still isn't any fun to play, your chosen metrics are a farce.

    We explore why game dev is uniquely unsuited for pure manufacturing efficiency, how localized optimizations choke your pipelines, and why real organizational value requires the courage to slow down, leave room for messy learning, and build a clear, shared North Star.

    What You'll Learn in This Episode:

    • The difference between efficiency and effectiveness
    • How busy work and overproduction happen when teams execute without clear goals
    • Ways to identify and eliminate bottlenecks through better cross-team collaboration
    • Why prototyping, failing fast, and retrospectives drive long-term success

    If you're a leader in game dev who is tired of watching your team burn out to clear massive backlogs, only to realize the core game loop still isn't landing with players , this episode is for you.

    Connect with us:

    🔗Ben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/

    🔗BBG's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/building-better-games/

    🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbettergames/#

    🔗Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg

    🔗YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@buildingbettergames

    If you want me to help producers or studios build better games through effective systems and leadership, you can reach me at: info@valarinconsulting.com

    #GameDev #StudioLeadership #AgileGameDevelopment #GameProduction #ProductivityVsValue
    Show More Show Less
    37 mins
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