Building a World Class MMO While Building a Company – Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment and Stargate Worlds

Lecturer: Joseph Ybarra, Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment

The prospect of building a game studio from scratch can be daunting to say the least. The challenges facing a start up can seem like an insurmountable mountain when viewed from the bottom. Industry veteran Joe Ybarra has scaled the heights of game development and is now part of the work in progress at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment (CME)

In this session, Ybarra, vice president of product development, CME, will share the challenges faced by a new company and talk about his experiences at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment.

Among the topics Ybarra will discuss are:

• Starting a studio from scratch – Recruiting and hiring the right employees is one of the most important considerations for any new developer. Joe will discuss best practices to emulate and common missteps to avoid.
• Business development – A successful studio is often built on alliances with other proven third-party companies. Leveraging the expertise and technologies of partners can allow a studio to cut years off development time. Joe will discuss the pros and cons of licensing technology.
• Handling licensed IP – The decision between licensing an existing IP or developing a new IP from scratch is one of the most important choices a new studio can make. CME is working with one of the most popular science fiction franchises in history for its first project, but future games will be built on in-house IP. The advantages and disadvantages of each approach will be in the spotlight.

Ybarra will draw lessons from his time at CME and his background to illustrate each point.

Intended Audience: General
Prerequisites: None
Format: Lecture
Date/Time: Friday, 10:00 AM
Room: Senate

Ybarra - All the Way to Cheyenne Mountain.pdf
Ybarra - Building a World Class MMO While Building a Company.ppt