Games Dev - My Desk

In the next couple/few weeks/months i plan to write a little about what i think makes a good games development studio. This is 100% my own opinion so i hope to have some nice/bad comments on how you agree/disagree with me. I'll try my best to keep all these opinions fresh and not contradicting each other. Also, i'll be randomly writing about whatever i can think up at the time of writing... i'm a programmer :P.

Today i'll start the series by talking about the work environment.

The location of the studio is very important. I feel that a nice quiet, clean town (which isn't too far from a major city or has good transport routes to a major city) is the best place to setup base. You'll probably find that the rent is pretty cheap and that the only people who are going to bother you are old people who walk too slowly.

The layout of the office is probably one of the most important things about the work environment. If there are multiple projects going on then the teams should be grouped together and within the teams the groups should be split up into an artist area, programmer area and designer area. The leads, seniors and management shouldn't sit in there own cubicles, they should always be interacting with the minions and keeping up to date with what's going on, otherwise there won't be a good relationship between the masters and minions and so an awesome game will not be made. Also the layout of the actual desks is very important. I hate it when organisations shove as many desks into the office, stop being cheap! Maybe a circular formation would work. Between the different team sections, there should be lots of space for comfortable seating (bean bags) so that people can discuss, share ideas, argue, sleep and play games through out the day. There should be enough room to make your desk personal. Adding figures, random models made out of office equipment and posters really help.

There should be plenty of light. Did you know that by opening the curtains and letting in as much light during the day will save on the electricity bill?! Not only is it good for the pocket but it's environmentally friendly. For some reason, a nicely lit office space helps people stay awake and keep focused.

Don't fuck around with stupid colours. Nice light and warm colours, like white and peach, are good. Plus the posters of beautiful women and great games stand out.

Add plants! It's not homosexual or anything else related to inserting objects in wrong holes. I used to have a pepper plant, it was great! I had to get some pollen from another pepper plant to pollinate my pepper plant; peppers grew! It probably also helps keep the office smell fresh and look clean; comes in handy when girls come to the office.

Have a nice canteen or lunch room. If there's no canteen, then it's probably a better idea to let the guys and gals eat wherever they like. That way they don't miss out on the gaming tournaments during lunch time.

Hmmmm, a good start me thinks, there's a lot more things that can benefit the work environment though. Write your suggestions down in the comments and let the world see!