Why it’s easier to fix a broken product than a broken team

We’ve learned a lot at TreasureHunt leading to the launch of our first game Boomie Blast — but the biggest lesson we learned about making better games has nothing to do with game development per se. It’s something a lot folks talk about but never do: Make recruitment number one — put people, culture, and processes in place that reinforce that goal — and your end product will shine.

We’ve been working on Boomie Blast for about two years now. Of course, this is way too long for a mobile game development cycle and it wasn’t our plan. It happened because we were focusing on building the right team first and a game second. We made some team missteps early on and quickly decided to re-focus a considerable amount of our time and energy in recruitment efforts that would secure us the best talent, regardless of our market position.