🧠 Work smarter: Lessons from game development

gilgi

One of the sessions from Ateraverse ‘24 that I rewatched and found profoundly insightful is the talk John Romero gave. It was also one of the most attended talks, you can rewatch here. 

The founder of game development studio “Id Software” shared the story and evolution of his works, from "Dangerous Dave" to "Doom", “Commander Keen” and "Quake".
Through simplicity, effective tools, and continuous improvement, he foresaw iterative approaches that are popular in today’s tech industry.

Through simplicity, effective tools, and continuous improvement, Romero championed iterative approaches now prevalent in today’s tech industry.

Takeaways

• No prototypes, just do the work. Polish as you go and maintain shippable work. 
• Ensure your work can always be run by your team.
• Great tools lead to great work. 
• Be your own best testing team. Test thoroughly before checking in your work.
• Work transparently. Communicate your plans to your lead and peers for feedback and advice. 

Romero also speculated on AI's potential to boost game development productivity and innovation, echoing features we’ve introduced with Copilot. AI serves as an expert sidekick, helping generate ideas and analyze information, thereby enhancing our abilities.

We were thrilled to have John at this year's Ateraverse. His journey from gamer to technologist resonates with many of us at Atera, and his insights are both inspiring and educational!

My personal favorite quote from the video is right at the start - ‘Some of what I’m about to say may sound insane […], but we didn’t know there were any limits’.

Which benefits do you imagine AI can bring into your work?