Bruce Harlick is a prolific game designer and a beloved member of the bay area design community. He's worked at Monolith, LucasArts, Zynga, TinyCo, Hanger 13, and more on everything from MMOs to Facebook games. In our talk, we dive into live operations, content calendars, and managing KPI from a designers perspective.

Bruce Has Much to Share In This Episode

How much content do you need to launch?
How to make a game that doesn't create an impossible content treadmill for your team
Why live ops allows as much, or more creativity as making new games
The importance of designing effective content tools
How to effectively use production resource on a live product
The negative impact of tech debt and procedural debt
How to balance between retention and revenue
Why live ops forces teams to constantly reinvent the game and bring in new ideas
How to put together a quarterly calendar of content releases in a way that balances the key KPI
How to balance out risky new features with reliable features
How to adjust a release plan based on the feedback and metrics from users
How to design for your game's audience
How to work with your community to create content your users will love
The importance of passion and empathy in game design

Connect with Bruce on Instagram: @amazingfoxbat