Gigantic devs share tips for surviving game development's ups and downs

- Designer Carter McBee shares the story of Gigantic's development

During the development of Gigantic, Motiga saw its own share of ups and downs. The game was first announced back in 2014 but various development issues pushed the game into 2017.

But now that Gigantic has safely emerged from its turbulent development, two of the devs behind the freshly released MOBA reflected on how the team was able to keep its morale above water when things were looking rocky. 

Designer Carter McBee and Sr. Concept Artist Vinod Rams both explained that an independent studio developing a new IP comes with its own set of business-side challenges that can have a huge effect on the ebb and flow of a game’s development. While Perfect World Entertainment eventually signed on to publish the game, the funds powering Gigantic’s development early on weren’t so certain.

“You get an investment for a certain amount of development and [eventually] you start nearing the end of that road,” said McBee. “So we have to find more. We have to go pitch the game again. We went through that process several times, which led to some ups and downs in development.”

As Gigantic’s dev team took the game to different investors, they only became more convinced that the core game itself was something they wanted to see succeed. That level of reassurance, both from people in and outside Motiga itself, was a big part of how devs were able to steer Gigantic through development hell.

“Knowing that no matter what’s going on financially, or development wise, or business wise with the company, we still have a cool game," said McBee. "And as long as you don’t lose sight of that, that can keep you going through some rough development patches.”

Be sure to check out the video above for the rest of the conversation, and head over to Gamasutra’s Twitch channel for the full interview as well other developer interviews, editor roundtables, and gameplay videos.