The Prototype that was Banned from Halfbrick

Luke Muscat shares the story of Tank Tactics, a prototype game that caused extreme workplace conflict, to analyze how mechanics drive player behavior.

Tank Tactics was a simple strategy game that was played by 17 employees of Halfbrick Studios. 8 days later it was banned from the workplace. People got upset, rivalries formed, and two employees in particular still don't speak to each other to this day. So the question is, whose fault is all of this? Was it the players' fault for taking the game too seriously, or the designers' fault for creating a system that fosters such destructive social behavior? This 2013 GDC talk from Halfbrick Studios' Luke Muscat explores the story of Tank Tactics, and examine how the mechanics of this game, and many others, influence player behaviors. GDC talks cover a range of developmental topics including game design, programming, audio, visual arts, business management, production, online games, and much more. We post a fresh GDC video every weekday. Subscribe to the channel to stay on top of regular updates, and check out GDC Vault for thousands of more in-depth talks from our archives. Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/Official_GDC Checkout our Facebook page for GDC exclusives facebook.com/GameDevelopersConference gdconf.com/