At some point in the recent past, folks at Criterion Games became convinced that the way the industry has built AAA games is incredibly damaging to people, quality, and innovation.

At GDC 2016, Criterion's Alex Mole explained how, after a change of leadership in early 2014, the studio started to build a process aimed at maximising efficiency through a highly-motivated team with enough big-picture context to make great decisions all the time.

He broke down how the studio took inspiration from other triple-A studios and indie developers, and also made use of science to motivate people by providing them room to establish "autonomy, mastery, and purpose."

It was an interesting talk that went into some detail about Criterion's game production process, as well as the team's findings of what worked well and what didn't.

If you missed seeing it in 2016, don't sleep on your chance to now watch Mole's for free via the official GDC YouTube channel!

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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