Week One is officially done.
It’s going to take a while produce the first game but whilst all the work is going on behind the scenes, I wanted to share an insight into the business I want to build.
For starters, corporate is not the Frosty Dog Way. I want the emphasis to be on having fun. I truly believe if we don’t have fun making games, how can we expect our players to have fun playing them? This entire philosophy runs through the very heart of how I want the business to feel and the work I’ve been doing on the business in this first week.
I’ve already alluded to my vision in my previous post and here it is in full:
Bringing fun to everyone
Frosty Dog Games’ vision
This supports what I’m referring to as The Frosty Dog Way, and captures my core beliefs for my studio:
- Fun first, always. If we don’t have fun making it, players won’t have fun playing it.
- No crunch, no corporate nonsense. The Frosty Dog Way is playful, respectful, and sustainable.
- Games that respect players. Quick to learn, deep to master, and always completable without spending a penny.
- Monetisation is secondary. Optional purchases enhance fun, but never gate it.
- When our players speak, we listen. Player voices shape our games and guide our choices.
Even planning will be driven by a fun-first mindset. The Frosty Dog Way is not to do goal setting. I had a bellyful of that during many years of corporate life. The annual (and sometimes half-yearly) round of making up goals as a box-ticking exercise for HR and trying to align with abstract corporate targets that had little relationship to my own work is not happening.
Instead I will focus on 5-, 3-, and 1-year Adventures that define my strategy. These are realised by completing short-term, achievable Quests based on a variation of SMART goals I like to call SMARTER goals quests. The ‘E’ for ‘Emotional Attachment’ and the final ‘R’ for ‘Reward for Completing’.
The video I’ve shared above captures the foundation of what I’m build very nicely. It’s a bit radical, even idealistic in places, but is built on my experiences of working for both large and small companies in a range of different industries.
Let me know your thoughts, even if you believe it’s a crackpot approach.