Fuse Games CEO breaks down codev framework for Star Wars: Galactic Racer
By Image via Fuse Games/Secret Mode
Star Wars: Galactic Racer has launched into the marketplace with remarkable velocity, racing around the circuit quicker than Biddy Blas on a modified speeder bike. Although we are still anticipating precise figures, the game consistently achieves 18,000 simultaneous users on Steam backed by a “mostly positive” evaluation, and CEO Matt Webster informed VGC that sales are “strong.” This suggests developers are probably already investigating how to replicate such impressive achievement, and while we encourage all industry experts to infuse their eccentricity into characters like the game’s rising star, those seeking more concrete production insights should refer to an interview Webster conducted with the team at Gamesindustry.biz.
In particular, Webster presented a surprisingly candid overview of how Fuse Games established a “distributed development” framework that allocated tasks for Galactic Racer among the core studio, co-development collaborators, external development teams, and outsourcing associates. While GI.biz describes this as Galactic Racer being effectively “created by a core team of 75,” (the game’s credits list roughly 1,100 professional roles), Webster’s elaboration on the distributed development framework more effectively clarifies the labor division.
To comprehend the three-tiered framework, it’s advisable to commence with the team “farthest” from Fuse Games: the outsourcing partners. These are collaborators who supply specific assets as requested in a series of limited interactions with explicit deliverables. “You provide a brief, you receive an output, and you integrate it,” Webster conveyed to the publication. “This may seem transactional, but it shouldn’t be treated as such. It’s crucial to cultivate relationships with those individuals; you achieve a better outcome when you do so.”
Following this is external development—a term frequently associated with co-development, but here distinguished as the method of designating specific parts of the game to teams outside the organization.
