Starting a business, creating team

“I decided to become a creative director, enabling people to be the best creatives they can.”

Dan Bernado is the founder of, and creative director at playtra. Before this, he worked as an anthropologist, level designer and graphic designer but decided to pursue his lifelong dream of starting an indie games studio because he wanted more games to represent himself.

“After many years of a great career in video tech I was ready to bring people together and create a different type of experience”

Dan Bernado founded playtra by gathering a team of like-minded individuals who have the same mission: “to create games that define a generation” – by bringing - “people from all different backgrounds together to play and tell stories we all need to hear".

On breaking into the industry, Dan Bernado took us through three “bosses” we must overcome: skillset, competition, and culture. In regards of skillset, Dan questioned whether we were “I, T or V shaped” and explained how if we want to succeed in the modern design world, we must become “T-shaped”. This essentially means that we should hold one specialism but have a range of complementary skills to support it, including soft skills that help you to work better.

Competition is expressed though what different companies have to offer and making sure you find the right balance between expectation and compensation, as well as making sure there are no hidden biases. Bigger companies will set much higher expectations of you, your time and your workload but will usually offer more compensation. Smaller companies will have less hidden biases as they are made up of more socially aware and empathetic people.

Regarding culture, you can identify companies worth working for by searching for hidden biases, whether they are willing to slow down for you, so you have time to adapt and furthermore what their awareness is of historical factors; do they value equity over equality? indie environments are far more comfortable and friendly, supplying plenty of room for discussion and collaboration. They also give you far more creative freedom and there are far fewer open biases as there is less people in the studio and it’s significantly influenced by the studio leader.

The challenge is to overcome these “bosses” to find the right fit within the industry. This information has provided me with some guidance for when it comes to researching companies to work for. Studio culture is incredibly important to me because the people I surround myself with and our shared ideology is what motivates me best.

My journey on this course has provided me with a broad range of both hard and soft skills that support my specialist skill, which is UX design. I am confident that I am in fact a “T” shaped designer ready for the industry. Dan Bernado’s critical breakdown of skills, competition and culture has helped me to see that I will be a great fit at a small independent game studio, where my team will be rich of like-minded individuals who have the determination to change the world through games, and who truly value collaboration and discussion.

Dan Bernado was able to make his dream come true by finding the right people with this shared determination and ambition. I am interested in one day starting up my own business, with the intention of creating a product that could be instrumental in fostering positive change. My greatest passion is people so I would be most fulfilled working on projects that guide, support, and foster the growth of peoples lives. This lecture provided by Bernado showed me how possible that dream is and has encouraged me greatly.

The current project I am working on will allow me to showcase my collaborative skills and I will make sure that those are presented effectively in my portfolio. I have some previous experience with leadership responsibilities in my previous jobs, including mentoring and training colleagues, which will also support this.

Before I eventually start up my own business, I plan to first get some experience in the games industry so I can sharpen my skills and knowledge, working in bigger teams and learning from industry experts. I am grateful for this talk from Dan Bernado as it has helped me to realise my dream of owning a business and connecting with like-minded people, is in fact achievable if I put the work in and I hold on to the expert advice that has been given to me.

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