The Four Swords

Four friends meet a mysterious stranger with a robotic voice ... an encounter that will change their lives forever.

Jake and Leo have spent the last two years working on a sequel to a successful shooter / role-playing game at Scrub-Liminal Studios in Austin, Texas, working under industry legend Mickey Whitmore. Meanwhile, their friends Tim and Allison worked on a hugely anticipated new sci-fi space exploration game at Green Gryphon Games on the outskirts of town, under the eccentric leadership of Bentley Bartle.

As the stranger asks them to recount their tale, they tell the story of their epic quest to achieve game development greatness -- a story of teamwork, ambition, struggle, tragedy, office politics, clashing expectations and personalities, extraordinary personal suffering, and a helper who guides them to a profound new understanding of how values drive culture, and how culture drives outcomes.

This book gives a unique and entertaining perspective on game development, an "in the trenches" view of how teams succeed or fail from the point of view of the hard-working developers doing everything they can to help their teams succeed. It shows the critical role of leadership and values, the seemingly trivial mistakes that can snowball into serious problems, and insights into what it takes to change things for the better.

About the Author

Paul Tozour is the owner and General Manager of Mothership Entertainment, creators of Aven Colony for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. He has worked in a wide range of design, production, programming, and technical design roles across the industry since 1994, including Retro Studios / Nintendo, where he worked on two of the games in the Metroid Prime series, as well as Microsoft, Intel, Gas Powered Games, Intelligence Engine Design Systems, and Brøderbund Software.

Paul holds a Master's of Science in Engineering from the Executive Master's in Technology Management (EMTM) program at the University of Pennsylvania, a degree program co-sponsored by the Wharton School of Business.

Paul is passionate about applying modern management science to video game development culture, and upgrading the state of the art in game industry leadership.

Paul also initiated and led the Game Outcomes Project study in 2014-15, a highly-acclaimed industry / academic partnership that evaluated the link between game development studio culture and project outcomes.

Book Review 1:

"Tozour's parable of game development dissects the industry with candor and wit." -- Michel Sabbagh

Book Review 2:

"Congratulations on making something I didn't think was possible. I'll be recommending this to lots of people." -- John Harries

Book Review 3:

"Genuinely enjoying the tone and pacing of your novel I think it's going to sell really well. You always, always, end your chapters perfectly." -- Jared Rasic

Book Review 4:

"I think you've created a great 'mirror' for studios and individuals to hold up to themselves. I see people reading it, or being asked to read it, and simply reflecting on themselves, their team, their company and how that impacts what happens in their workplace. The afterword is super helpful, and I love that it is so personal. It demonstrates your values and critically the behaviours that underpin a strong culture (a great starting point for a studio). Awesome job Paul, I really enjoyed it." -- Chris Johnson

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