Let's be honest, most game developers try to do more than is actually possible, either because they have a lot of great feature ideas, or because their stakeholders ask for too much.

At GDC 2016, Oculus' Ruth Tomandl reminded fellow devs that, as John Carmack says, focus is a matter of deciding what you're not going to do. It was the opening line of a smart production-focused talk that covered how you should decide what not to do, and then how to not do those things.

Notably, Tomandl gave practical answers to common questions like: When do you say no? How do you say no? How do you deal with the fallout from saying no? What do you do when saying no isn't an option?

Her talk was fascinating, and now you can watch it completely free via the official GDC Vault YouTube channel!

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its new YouTube channel 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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