So here’s the good news: The latest Ghost Stories blog from Fantastic Pixel Castle isn’t once again repeating what Project Ghost’s blue zones are. The bad news: It’s mostly Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street writing about founding the studio and the values that drive it. Which isn’t to say this is bad so much as maybe not particularly interesting to those who were hoping for a peek at what’s in progress with the game itself.
What is offered here is some pretty honest insight into the concerns Street harbored when starting his own studio while sticking firm to a very clear plan and vision. “I’ve never founded a studio before. In fact, the three places I worked previously were all gigantic, well-established publishers: Microsoft, Blizzard, and Riot Games,” he writes. “So I didn’t have an operating template for how to start from scratch, but I did have some stakes in the ground.”
Those stakes specifically involve making sure that player reaction and interests back every design decision, fostering a work environment that encourages devs to speak up about design choices, and making sure that workers were happy since that produces better work.
Street closes by pointing out that these values aren’t fully immutable and that some things might change and shift as development progress and the industry changes, but so far it appears to be working out. “Morale at FPC is very high. We regularly perform anonymous surveys and are very open to feedback and we find that everyone who works here is happy to be here and believes in our values and the vision for our game,” he crows. “I don’t think that’s an accident. We deliberately hired for culture and for team members aligned with our values.”