How to hire a team of indie game all-star developers

If you’ve been in this industry long enough, you probably remember a time when “indie” was a dirty word. It meant missed deadlines and disappointed financiers. It had nothing to do with the visionary amateurs and Cinderella stories we think of today.

Now, founding an independent studio is something more and more developers are choosing. Fears about the supposed “Indiepocalypse” have been proven baseless, and while the life of an indie-dev certainly isn’t easy, we continue to see independent games like Undertale and Stardew Valley achieve huge success, often rivalling that of their triple-A (the game industry term for blockbuster) contemporaries.

Nekki has been an independent game studio for more than 15 years, and I’ve drawn drawn from our experience to write this for the benefit of anyone pursuing a career in independent game development. Whether you’re considering a first-time career shift or you’re an industry veteran looking to strike out on your own, it’s important to know what lies ahead. We’d like to start off with a few hard-won tips on who to consider adding to your team when you’re first starting out.

What to look for in an artist

After you’ve reviewed their prepared portfolio, ask to see their sketchbook. If they’re reluctant or unwilling, think twice about bringing them onboard. Artists are sometimes reluctant to share anything other than release-quality assets, but you’ll both quickly learn that polish takes time, and without rough passes (thumbnails, silhouettes, sketches, and so on), a lot of resources may go to waste on developing beautiful assets that don’t match a game’s vision. Serious creatives will end up throwing out more work than what ends up getting shipped. Having the confidence to share work in progress is crucial for keeping your team agile and effective.

Above all, any artist you hire needs to be a great communicator outside the visual medium. It might sound like a tall order, but it’s a widely held wisdom in the advertising world that the best creatives are those with a wide range of talents. Ad veteran Luke Sullivan says it best in his book Hey Whipple, Squeeze This! when discussing how to run a successful creative team: “Good copywriters can think visually; good art directors can write.” Ask any potential artist to explain how they would go about completing an assignment. If you get vague language or any encouragement that you should “just trust them,” you could be looking at some costly miscommunications down the road. If, on the other hand, they’re able to break down the process in a way that’s understandable even to non-artists, you can look forward to an effective working relationship.

What to look for in a programmer

Programming is a muscle that they can only strengthen through use. For that reason, experience matters more when choosing the right person to handle the development and maintenance of your code. Programmers that have stuck with a particular platform are more likely to have learned a thing or two about its unique challenges and idiosyncrasies. A track record of persistence and consistency translates into efficient sprints, saving resources for your whole team.

Read their sample code and pay special attention to their commenting habits. Avoid any developer that insists on being a black box by not adding comments or sharing their insights. Every game that has ever been made, no matter the budget or team size, has been a combination of simple logic expressed through a unique syntax. It takes time and persistence to master, but the best programmers are the ones that reject the idea that only they could possibly do what they do. They recognize that their value lies in their programming “muscles” and will work to translate complex code into something that can be understood by all team members, for the good of the project.

What to look for in a designer

It’s rare that any studio needs to hire a full-time designer for its first project, but it’s smart to learn how to find one. A good designer offers a wide variety of skills with a willingness to pick up new ones on the fly. Anyone you’re hiring for this role should at least have experience with some kind of prototyping, even if it doesn’t involve coding. A wealth of lightweight solutions are available for this, such as GameSalad, Construct 2, and GameMaker. An experienced designer should have experience with at least one of these.

While the above examples do not explicitly require the ability to code, a designer that can write release-quality code is invaluable. In fact, most designers should be able to offer expertise in at least one other discipline, whether that’s production, art, programming, audio, or even marketing. A wider skill set means they’ll never struggle to fill the hours in the day with productive contributions.

For a lot of studios, design works best when it’s a shared responsibility. Crossy Road developers Hipster Whale said as much in its GDC 2015 talk, “Crossy Road: A Whale of a Time.” Co-creators Andy Sum and Matt Hall talk about how their equal stake in the game meant that they were able to share design choices and avoid conflict during the process. The result was one of the most commercially and critically successful independent games of all time.

All together now

As you might have guessed, our years of experience has taught us to value interpersonal skills just as much as hard trade skills. Your studio’s output is ultimately a product of its ability to think critically, communicate and learn from mistakes. Teammates that can contribute impartially and “serve the work” will make the most out of whatever runway you have. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to recognize these traits and build a team capable of failing early and often. After all, the greatest strength of indie developers is our ability to adapt. It’s what gives us an edge over larger shops, and it certainly goes a long way in keeping things exciting.

Dmitry Terekhin is the founder and CEO of Nekki, a developer and publisher of free-to-play action games with more than 250 million players worldwide.