Developing in public via platforms like Kickstarter or Steam's Early Access service is a new challenge for many game makers, but French indie developer Amplitude Studios has been actively courting input from its fans for years. 

According to Amplitude's Jeff Spock, the studio now shipped three games (one of which, Endless Space [pictured], won the 2013 Unity Award) while keeping its community fully involved in design, balancing, development priorities and feature suggestions.

At GDC Next 2014, Spock gave a talk (embedded above) about the studio's approach to open development, the practical way they work in such an environment -- publishing their game design documents online, for example -- and what the positive and negative lessons have been.

Real talk about financing options, development planning, community recruitment and marketing make his "Bringing the Community into the Dev Team - A Look into Open Development" talk worth watching (for free!) via the GDC Vault.

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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