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Building Better Games

Benjamin Carcich

Leadership in game dev is hard. I can't make it easy, but I can make it a heck of a lot better.

My name is Benjamin Carcich, and this podcast helps leaders in game dev who feel stuck, ignored, and out of options find their path to success.

I've spent the last several decades studying and leading in environments ranging from the U.S. Army through to game development. I want to share what I've learned.

Better leadership is a huge opportunity in the games industry. Let's make it better together. Better leaders build better games.

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  • 24 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 48 min
  • English

Episodes 24

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  • April 21 · 57 min

    E126: Why Game Designers Fail (and How to Help Them)

    If you're a leader in game dev who feels stuck, able to spot problems but struggling to make a real difference, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 Is Game Design a Science or Just "Making an Omelet"? Everyone has a "great idea" for a game, but having an idea is a far cry from the professional discipline of game design. In this episode, Ben sits down with veteran designer Alexander Brazie (World of Warcraft, League of Legends) to explore why being a designer is less about having all the answers and more about the rigorous process of turning ambiguity into action. We dive into how leaders can diagnose a struggling design process and some helpful analogies that help teams find the deepest fun without drowning in limited resources. What You'll Learn In This Episode: The difference between a real designer and a person with gameplay opinions Why great designers ask better questions instead of forcing solutions How to apply a Player-Centric Framework to every system How to tell if a designer is stuck or just in the creative process How to support a designer's mental health beyond work Learn more & connect with our guest: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-brazie/ 🔗 Mastering Game Mechanics Bootcamp: https://gamedesignskills.com/courses/mechanics-bootcamp-scale-depth-alexander-brazie/ 🔗 Wowpedia: https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Alexander_Brazie 🔗 Game Design Skills: https://gamedesignskills.com/author/alexander-brazie/ 🔗 Moby Games: https://www.mobygames.com/person/257453/alexander-brazie/ Connect with us: 🔗Ben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/ 🔗BBG's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/building-better-games/ 🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbettergames/# 🔗Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg 🔗YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZpMT-dUwQR-R4Mb4uub6Sw If you want me to help producers or studios build better games through effective systems and leadership, you can reach me at: info@valarinconsulting.com #GameDevLeadership #GameDesignSkills #AIinGames #StudioManagement #BuildingBetterGames

  • April 16 · 49 min

    E125: 4 AI Threats That Matter More Than Skynet

    If you're a leader in game dev who feels stuck, able to spot problems but struggling to make a real difference, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 Is your "AI First" strategy actually a house of cards waiting to collapse? While CEOs are busy pumping the hype train, the practical reality of LLMs is looking a lot less rosy. In this episode, Ben explores why the current AI trajectory might be a "subprime crisis" in the making. We move past the Skynet fantasies to look at the four existential and human threats that LLMs pose to the games industry, from the "logarithmic curve of effectiveness" to the dangerous atrophy of our own ability to think deeply. What You'll Learn In This Episode: What the "subprime AI crisis" is and why the current investment stack might be unsustainable. Why relying on "generative slop" leads to a generational decline in the value of information. How to identify when AI is capitalizing on your own cognitive biases and "sycophantic" needs for ego validation. How to balance using AI as a force-multiplier without atrophying the "slow thinking" required for high-level game production. Reference Links: 🔗 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aec8352 🔗 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11324722-the-righteous-mind 🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p22QeLNHvlc 🔗 https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-subprime-ai-crisis-is-here/ 🔗 https://metr.org/blog/2025-07-10-early-2025-ai-experienced-os-dev-study/ 🔗 https://medium.com/@webteam.ybsvp/when-ai-gets-it-wrong-the-deloitte-scandal-and-the-question-of-reliability-86940bc9017a 🔗 https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/articles/mit-created-duplicate-ai-workers-185644013.html 🔗 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2604.01363 🔗 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/06/google-microsoft-meta-amazon-ai-cash.html 🔗 https://www.fastcompany.com/91417492/deloitte-ai-report-australian-government 🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/24/model-collapse-scientists-warn-against-letting-ai-eat-its-own-tail/ 🔗 https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555 🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDL3Ch7Nz8c Connect with us: 🔗Ben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/ 🔗BBG's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/building-better-games/ 🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbettergames/# 🔗Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg 🔗YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZpMT-dUwQR-R4Mb4uub6Sw If you want me to help producers or studios build better games through effective systems and leadership, you can reach me at: info@valarinconsulting.com #GameDev #ArtificialIntelligence #StudioLeadership #TechBubble #BuildingBetterGames

  • April 7 · 23 min

    E124: AI Can't Replace Game Producers. So Why Are They Getting Cut?

    If you're a leader in game dev who feels stuck, able to spot problems but struggling to make a real difference, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 Is your job being replaced by an LLM, or are you just doing the wrong job? The claim has been made that AI can handle 85% of management tasks. For game producers, this sounds like a death knell, but only if you believe your value lies in shuffling Jira tickets and taking meeting notes. In this episode, we break down the fundamental misunderstanding of "productivity" in game dev. We explore why LLMs are masters of the "passing high school grade" and why the most vital, indirect value a producer provides remains entirely out of reach for even the most sophisticated AI. What You'll Learn in This Episode: Why "being busy" can actually hurt your career How to find the invisible value you uniquely bring The risk of using AI without real expertise Why producers must evolve beyond task tracking Connect with us: 🔗Ben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/ 🔗BBG's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/building-better-games/ 🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbettergames/# 🔗Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg 🔗YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZpMT-dUwQR-R4Mb4uub6Sw If you want me to help producers or studios build better games through effective systems and leadership, you can reach me at: info@valarinconsulting.com #GameProduction #GameDevAI #ProjectManagement #StudioLeadership #BuildingBetterGames

  • March 31 · 1 hr 2 min

    E123: How Corporate Strategy Breaks Game Development

    If you're a leader in game dev who feels stuck, able to spot problems but struggling to make a real difference, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 Is your corporate strategy killing your "Golden Goose"? It's the nightmare scenario for every creative leader: You catch the wave, your game is a runaway success, and then—the "adults" enter the room. In this episode, we react to Jeff Kaplan's candid interview with Lex Fridman, where he reveals the internal fractures that derailed Overwatch, from "miscommunication by PowerPoint" to the soul-crushing moment a CFO leveraged a thousand jobs against a revenue target. What you will learn in this episode: Why putting arbitrary dates in an executive deck hurts you How a money-focused lens creates efficient organizations that forget the player The danger of "bolting on" a league for monetization Why one bad decision by a senior executive can lose you twenty years of top-tier talent. Why leaning into live events and player happiness is often a better ROI than rushing a sequel You may listen to the full audio podcast: Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/493-jeff-kaplan-world-of-warcraft-overwatch-blizzard/id1434243584?i=1000754728791 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/44oTEHDZdB7ITCB5dx88mB?si=6d45a2506a794ee8 Lex Fridman's YouTube Channels: 🔗 @lexfridman 🔗 @LexClips Original Video: https://youtu.be/5imgkwupzAQ?si=cR8_WMo3eNmmks7d Full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9rF1CSSh-w If you are a creative leader tired of "walking towards the abyss," a developer who feels their autonomy is being eroded by spreadsheets, or anyone who wants to understand why the most successful games in the world can still fall apart from the inside, this episode is for you. Connect with us: 🔗Ben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/ 🔗BBG's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/building-better-games/ 🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbettergames/# 🔗Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg 🔗YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZpMT-dUwQR-R4Mb4uub6Sw If you want me to help producers or studios build better games through effective systems and leadership, you can reach me at: info@valarinconsulting.com #GameDevLeadership #Overwatch2 #JeffKaplan #GamingIndustry #CreativeAutonomy #BuildingBetterGames

Showing 21–24 of 24 episodes