Creative Leadership in Game Productions
Creative leadership is the engine that pushes everything forward in game development. Are you new in this role, or do you have a couple of years of experience, but never really had the opportunity to reflect on what you do and why you do it? Then this course might be just the one for you.
Creatively leading cross-disciplinary teams in game productions are complex jobs: Leaders need to work closely with production to meet milestones and schedules, work with stakeholders to ensure the production moves in the right direction, and work with the team to find and deliver fun and high-quality game experiences.
Program and time schedule
March 16th, 14.00 - 19.00 (followed by networking dinner)
March 17th, 9.00 - 13.00
April 27th, 9.00 - 16.00
April 28th, 9.00 - 13.00
May 25th, 9.00 - 16.00
May 26th, 9.00 - 13.00
Also: 2 x 1.5 hours online sessions to be scheduled in May and September
Saturday March 16: Intro
- Intro.
- Welcome.
- Who are the participants? Who are you and why are you here?
- Goal for the day: That all participants define 3 learning goals to work with throughout this course.
- Overview of the course (everything you will learn - condensed to an hour).
- Network dinner.
Sunday March 17: The personal & the project
The personal, understand yourself
- Personality types and leadership types. Group reflection.
- Creative leadership: common pitfalls, bad habits and epic fails. Group exercise.
- Setting goals for yourself and your career.
- Who are the participants? (Round 2). Who are you and why are you here?
The project - Understand the fundamentals
- The phases of game development and the role of creative leadership. Exercise: mini post mortems.
- The organisation of game development: roles and responsibilities. Exercise: mapping your current work structure.
Saturday April 27: The team
The team. Panel with 3-4 veteran creative leaders.
- One on ones and building a personal relationship.
- Career development and building designers.
- Hiring, firing and building a team.
- Foster and nurturing a culture.
The personal - Mentorship
- Participants are paired with mentors in groups of 3-4 and the afternoon will be spend on group mentorship sessions reflecting on personal learning goals.
Sunday April 28: The project – Bring out your inner producer
- Project planning 101.
- International collaboration and distributed teams.
- Quality. Use QA the right way. Use external testing the right way. Ship games the right way.
May: Online group mentorship session
Online group mentorship session.
Saturday May 25: The team – Create a feedback culture
The team – Create a feedback culture
- Navigate the stakeholders of feedback and the contexts of feedback.
- Give feedback the right way. Feedback exercise.
- Get feedback the right way. Group reflection.
The personal - Be an authentic creative leader
- Create trust and inspire.
- Create a culture of design.
- Be a multiplier for the team.
Sunday May 26: Reflection on your development and the course
- Debrief
- Who are the participants? (round 3). What have you learned?
- Post mortem of the course - how can we do better?
- What is next? Taking your goals further.
September: Shared online session
Catch up on goals
What will you learn?
Personal Development
- Be an authentic creative leader
- How to prioritise time and focus
- Communicate with clarity and impact
Team Development
- Give constructive feedback the right way
- Build teams not projects
- Create a culture of design
- Foster inclusivity
Project Development
- Enable your producers to do their job well
- Understand the phases and challenges of game development
- Working distributed and working with international partners
- Ship on time and on quality
Who should attend?
This course is for creative leaders in game productions, those who often define the “what” when we are making games. They might be called lead designers, product owners, game directors or something completely different, the common trait is that they have creative responsibility for a game or a larger experience within the game and they lead a team to reach these creative goals.
Application process
Necessary Experience:
- Shipped at least one professional game in a creative/design function (or equivalent experience from a live game).
- Currently working in a position of creative leadership such as lead designer, game director, or product owner.
The reason we require prior experience is that most of the learning outcome from the course comes from the participants reflecting on their own practice and from feedback and perspectives shared from other participants.
Send a half-page motivated application along with a CV featuring relevant professional experience to efteruddannelsen@filmskolen.dk no later than the 6th of march.
