stop being smaller, an anti-specialist manifesto

written for manifesto jam 2026, also on my itch.

for a few years now, i’ve been banging the drum to whoever will listen to me yap about making the most of the tools and resources freely available to the wide internet to be bigger than you are. automated testing and ci/cd build pipelines free with unreal engine, the value of the technical designer or technical artist, a work environment (both software and your peers) that encourages curiosity and tinkering instead of reinforcing “your lane”, using the steamworks API to get as much out of steam as possible since they are stealing 30% from you anyway – just a few topics that fall under the banner. an ethos to combat the infinitely funded megateams, something to make small teams feel more empowered.

my goal stays the same but i’ve decided to change the framing.

note 1: this is largely about the effects of commercial/AAA gamedev on people outside of those environments, whether they are people who’ve worked there before, indies completely on their own, students in uni, or people who just are extremely online and absorbing the wrong shit. it’s intended for those looking to release commercial games. grats if you don’t have these brainworms.

note 2: this may seem extremely fucking obvious to some folks, and i used to think it was extremely fucking obvious until i worked with enough people outside of AAA who extremely did not fucking know this.

stop being smaller than you are.

1. you don’t need to be bigger, you’re already naturally able. you need to stop being smaller because of what modern practices and sensibilities are shaped like.
2. it’s human nature to be curious and inquisitive and it’s something that should be nurtured instead of suppressed. nearly 20 years ago i interned at EA and an intern buddy was doing level design on a big licensed IP game. he was loving it, having a blast. blocked out a bar level and was detailing the bar itself out a bit and the LD managing him said “hey, what is that? delete that, that’s art’s job”. instantly deflated the dude’s enjoyment of the project.
3. you don’t need to overextend yourself, you just need to stop limiting yourself. modern/AAA gamedev processes and pipelines force people into hyperfocused specialties that (optimistically) allow them to reach a mastercraft ability tier in a specific skill and (pessimistically) quantify their skill in order to reduce risk by knowing exactly what their output is like and how long it can take. these people are extremely good at their jobs, but the whims of the job market can have them feeling trapped or struggling to find their next gig.
4. be an explorer in your own software environment. push your tools to their boundaries. dip your toes into someone else’s work. on a past game, i was working with a junior animator in unreal engine. a couple times she DM’ed me an FBX over slack when asking for a tweak, and we’d go back and forth with minor updates and new exports. eventually i jumped on a screenshare with her and showed her how to import the FBX in herself and confirm in the animation asset, that’s it. she instantly got it and there was an immediate gain in turnaround time on tasks, great! but this isn’t the best part. the best part is within a month or two, she was adding notifies, events, VFX, SFX, everything you can imagine into the animation asset directly. tweaking playrates, constructing montages from other animations. just absolutely found herself deep in that entire toolset, to incredible effect, simply because she learned how to import an FBX first. this is the power of software (and a workplace) that invites you to be curious.
5. the focus here is on games made by teams of people, not solo-devs. embracing your curiosity and natural ability to exist outside of the job title in your contract will in fact make you a better contributor to your team. fluidity over rigidity.
6. it will also potentially make you happier and more motivated by bringing variety back into your environment.
7. this is NOT grindset work worship shit. this is about unblocking your ability and expressive potential, not overloading and burning you out. often you hear about (or have been) the indie solo-dev or micro-team that “wears many hats” and basically fully does multiple jobs because they can’t afford otherwise. i am not saying to do that. i understand how those things happen and that’s a different topic entirely but this is about letting yourself grow more naturally as an artist and developer.
8. this mindset is required to release games in the current landscape. the middle funding tier has disappeared and the gap it left behind is growing in both directions, with more and more people finding themselves on the cheaper side every day. a single developer outside of AAA simply will be working with more breadth than a AAA developer’s depth, and the key is to embrace and nurture it. it’s your secret weapon. you are fluid and adaptable. and because you are growing and expanding your skills in a more natural direction, your own output will be more genuine. AAA takes a set of rigid constraints and shoves infinitely-varied shaped people into distinct pigeonholes. you don’t have to. the ideal team looks at the combined shape the team makes together and builds their game around that.

this is messy as fuck but that’s the point i guess. pretend i’m six drinks deep and screaming this at you at the pub.