Supercell

Bad day? Happens to the best of us. :( Even knights have their off moments. But here's the thing: our goofy goblins (your future teammates?) won't rest till they've turned that frown upside down. Ready to join a squad that's got your back?

Tomorrow is Games First, our event for game developers to meet, share, learn, and play. While Games First originated as a celebration of the Finnish Game Development community, we're glad to have game developers worldwide join us for a day of spectacle and casual authenticity. You can tune in for the action (great speakers and game demos) via the first-ever live stream of Games First here: https://supr.cl/gf24live starting at 10 AM Helsinki time. It's where games come first. #gf24

"You don't know what you don't know." Stay motivated! #mondaymotivation

"Have a wonderful weekend!" #friday

The secret to success is that it's a team effort. At Supercell, we reach new heights by lifting each other up. After all, victories are always sweeter when shared.

In the last post, I mentioned that the last 2.5 years at Supercell was incredible. What does incredible mean here? Certainly, being able to experience Brawl’s turnaround from historical lows to historical highs was incredible. 3 other things stand out: The first is about Team Morale, especially when things aren’t great. During the historical lowest point of Brawl Stars earlier last year, despite this, there was strong team morale and a strong degree of faith that if we focused on the right things, we could turn things around. Frank Keienburg, leading as General Manager was exceptionally calm and collected in all of our team conversations. We didn’t dwell on the lows and focused on what was most important for the game: Engagement and what was needed to improve to the core of the game. The second is about Metrics vs. Design Intuition. It is very easy to be Metrics driven in live service games, but it’s more important to not forget that some important features are very hard to measure, especially in the short term and in isolation. It may take months before you see them in any metrics if at all. Quality of Life Improvements (QoL) are a great example of this. Finding engaging designs sometimes comes down to game feel, intuition and understanding human nature and the world around you. Ultimately it’s about how players feel when they play your game that determines whether they’ll keep playing. Games are meant to entertain. The third is about focus and execution. The Brawl team is filled with amazing craftspeople. Folks that have built and continue to build games with a great degree of love and care. This means each update, we focused on a key bet and to make sure we nail the execution. The details are where people fall in love with your game as Mark Rosewater said in his GDC talk: 20 Year 20 Lessons. And it’s totally true. With the SpongeBob collaboration, there was a great degree of care put into how we could feature the SpongeBob characters while still making the game feel like Brawl. There were many conversations that ultimately led to them being featured in the UI in the way that you see it. A special shout out to Jeffrey Shen for his intense focus on the key bets each update. Lastly, I owe a great deal of gratitude to the Brawl team and to Supercell for the opportunity to be in such good company, to learn from the best, and to allow the team to do what is best for the game, even at its lowest point. Working on Brawl has been life changing, professionally and personally and a key aspect was the talent density on this team. There are far too many people to thank so I'll use the below from Brawl's 2024 GDC talk as a reminder of how exceptional this team is. Thank you for all that you have taught me. I will take these lessons forward in building Antihero Studios and beyond.

POV: You've just slayed your to-do list. Cue the victory pose, the crowd goes wild. Imagine feeling this epic every day. Spoiler: it's possible. Wanna flex those skills on a global stage? Show us your beautiful self.

Sometimes, the best ideas come from unexpected interactions. Embrace the chaos of creativity, we say. Every day's an adventure. You never know when a rolling ball of fluff might turn into your next big breakthrough...

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." Stay motivated! #mondaymotivation

"That concludes it. Happy Friday everyone. Enjoy the weekend!" #friday