David Nikdel

After over 10 years as a Technical Director in the video game industry, I’ve realized that real progress often comes from questioning old habits and exploring new frontiers. I’ve worked on everything from small indie gems to AAA blockbusters, taught budding devs, and guided teams through complex technical challenges. Now, I’m ready for a fresh adventure, maybe in a new feild, or maybe still in gaming, if it sparks my curiosity. The size of the company doesn’t matter; I’m driven by the thrill of tackling tough questions, working with curious minds, and never stopping my own growth. I’m also up for relocating anywhere, new horizons keep me inspired 🛩. If you’re looking for someone who blends hands-on tech expertise, leadership experience, and a thoughtful approach to innovation, let’s chat. I’d love to see how I can help your team tackle its next challenge 🙌 #NewHorizons #TechDirector #OpenForOpportunities #KeepGrowing #HeadHunter #VPTech #TechnicalProducer #OpenForWork

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Capcom has released a less-than-positive annual report. There's nothing critical in it; all the declines are tied to a pause in releases. Capcom certainly has a vast catalog of successful franchises for upcoming releases. Resident Evil (RE) stands out distinctly. While Capcom didn't start with RE, it played a crucial role in their history and has had a significant impact on the gaming industry as a whole. Today, RE comprises 32 releases across 33 platforms. These are incredible numbers and a testament to success. Moreover, judging by Metacritic scores, Capcom manages to maintain a high standard of quality. I gathered a timeline of all RE releases on one website (link in the comments). I thoroughly enjoyed watching videos, reading books, reminiscing about my own experiences playing the games, and playing with friends and colleagues. Here are a few interesting facts about RE and Capcom: - Resident Evil 4 was released on 14 platforms. - The first RE took 3 years to develop, instead of the usual 3-6 months for Capcom in 1996. Consultants hired from the U.S. advised shutting down the project when it was almost complete, predicting its failure. - Devil May Cry and Dino Crisis were born while searching for fresh gameplay for RE. - Capcom was one of the first companies to start paying revenue shares to developers, which is particularly noteworthy for Japanese companies. - Toy Story I and RE I were released around the same time. - For a while, music for RE was composed by a well-known Japanese composer who was said to be deaf. It later turned out that he wasn't actually deaf and didn't compose the music himself. PS. In 2026, the series will celebrate its 30th anniversary, and there will likely be a special release or edition. Or perhaps they'll simply release a version with full DualSense support.

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TONIGHT AT 6:30 PM join us for an improvised version of PVP Circuit and help us rebuild our local community brick by brick. I still can't believe I get to work in the video game industry. My 6-year-old would laugh, and then cry once she realized what it means to work in the creative technology sector. That's why IMO everyone could use some levity during these unprecedented times. Join us for a fun evening to raise funds for the Trevor Project. Event link >>> https://lnkd.in/g7tBuP6d Frequently Asked Questions: What if I can't attend the event? - If you can't make it, please consider purchasing a ticket to help us raise money for charity or get one on behalf of someone impacted by layoffs. What if I want to join but can't justify the cost? - If you want to join but find the cost prohibitive, DM me and we'll make it happen (see point above). Do I have to pitch at the event? - No, you don't have to pitch if you prefer to observe. It’s a great way to see how it's done. Will there be another event like this? - We plan to host our community again, but I can't specify if this event will be the focus. #gamesindustry #event #comedy <3

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How I play video games with my non-gamer partner 🎮💑 (𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 2017) So, Vessel of Hatred just dropped. Since Diablo is our go-to game, I've got some hard-earned wisdom from years of roaming the Sanctuary together. 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗿𝘂𝘀𝗵. I'm all about the endgame. I would just storm through the initial stage, but I let my gf take the lead. I don't need to optimize for every 0.5% of damage. I'm just enjoying slaying demons 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗸𝗲𝘆. She can ask, "Where do I heal?" and "Where do you click to get on the horse?" as many times as she needs. Not everyone is used to playing games. She might have forgotten how the controls work, so I'm just being helpful. 💡 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝘀𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲. I don't freak out when she's building a character as she likes. Just because I wouldn't play that way doesn't mean she isn't having fun. 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗿. If she says after 30 minutes that it's enough, then it's enough. Games can be overwhelming. I'm very used to playing Diablo and half the time I'm just looking at the health bar and CD on my skills because I have no clue wtf is going on the screen. Honestly, I'm writing this down more as a reminder to myself. While I'm casual, I do like to optimize every damn 0.05% of damage I can get! 😅 But at the end of the day, I'm just grateful to have a partner willing to enter the Burning Hells with me. That's the real mythic unique loot. (Terrible joke, I know, even I cringed.) Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. 🎤 Fellow gamers, how does it look at your households? What would you add to this list? 👀

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🎮 Want a job in the video game industry? 🎮 Begin with the end in mind.* ➡ When you drive to work do you just turn left or right based on how you feel that day? 😅 (I hope you left extra early that day) ➡ When you gather data for a project, do you grab monthly active users, popular breakfast items and breeds of dog? 🤐 (This report might be fun but your boss will not be happy) ➡ When you schedule a doctor appointment, do you call random numbers in the phone book? 🙃 The same applies to...well...applying for jobs. ❔ Do you look at the minimum requirements for a job or do you click easy apply on cool titles? (Although, I might as well shoot my shot for Game Director) ❔ Do you update your resume with your most relevant experience when you apply? What is your desired outcome? Work backwards and you'll see at least some of the steps in a path to get there. This is not easy to do, because there is no perfect way to be the best fit for a job. Everyone's journey is different. What steps have you taken to get to your goal or how have you been successful in your journey? *One possible end goal pictured #Letsgetyouhired #RecruiterAdvice

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Another stack of resources and layoff support compiled by the incredible Mayank Grover! If you need support or have some to offer, connect and boost that vis so every ship can benefit from the tide. 🙌🌊🙌 #gamedev #games #layoff #support #job #resources #mentors

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What's happening in our industry is the combination of a lot of factors. But I firmly believe that team sizes are too big. Dev cycles are too long. Scopes are too large. As long as our industry only has a taste for massive bets, we will continue to see many massive failures. IMO we need to get back to 3 year dev cycles, core team sizes of 40-70, boosted by contractors or codev teams as they move into the last 12-18 months of development. We need to make games that aren't trying to be everything to everyone. We need to accept that making "the next Fortnite" is a lot harder than just making a good game, because you're not selling someone a new game in that case, you're attempting to replace their community. We need to make games with smaller teams of experienced and fast developers, hunt for hits, then bet big on expanding the hits when they're found.

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Good Game Producers are also great Game Designers. 🤝 If you're in the precarious position of being months away from launching your title, with too much work to do, you'll need to triage. De-prioritizing bugs, especially if you have a fantastic QA team, is simple enough. 🐞 De-prioritizing or cutting features is a different manner, all together. Often times, it's not enough to just cut or postpone a feature. You have to accommodate the #design of the title around that, and create a skateboard-to-car 🛹 solution that can be iterated on later. That can take some significant work and planning. However, that work should always be less than the burden the team would bear if the feature was not cut from the beginning. 🏋 A heavy #feature, that the title may have been dependent on, is now gone. What does the game look like without it? Can you solve the original problem another, more simple way? Can you use that void to your advantage, and stub it out for players to preview? In these particular situations, if you're lacking a solution, you have to do more than just step back from the game's design. Play your #game, and write down all of the issues you have due to that feature not existing? Re-check your comps, how did they solve this? Solicit team feedback. There's ALWAYS a better idea. 💡 Remember, its not only your job to clear the way, lighten the load, and ensure everybody knows everything, it's also your job to be a hammer, and hit nails at the right time. Obligatory skateboard-to-car because I love using it for design, not just product iteration. #gamedev #problems #gaming #videogames #development #executive #producer #projectmanagement

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Just got into Godot Engine's GD Script and now trying to make a game.. What should I name it?? and any recomendsss??? (pweaaseee) #gamedev #godot #gdscript #fyp #awesomegame #games #HYPSM

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Paradox Interactive announced today that Double Eleven, the developer behind Prison Architect 2, will be stepping away from the project after nine years with the Prison Architect franchise. Good news first, construction on Prison Architect 2 isn't being halted! Co-development studio Kokku, who's been working on the game since 2023 and previously collaborated with Double Eleven, will take the lead in bringing the sequel to completion. The news comes with a hint of complication. While Prison Architect 2 passed certification, negotiations between Paradox and Double Eleven for continued development reached an impasse. Technical hurdles, particularly with memory usage and minimum specifications, emerged during final testing. Paradox, likely wary of past performance issues (think Cities: Skylines 2), emphasizes their commitment to delivering a high-quality sequel that honors the Prison Architect legacy. Kokku, a Brazilian studio with a history of co-development and outsourcing on major titles like Horizon Forbidden West and Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War, is now at the helm to ensure Prison Architect 2's smooth launch. The Prison Architect series, which began in 2015 with the original simulation/management game, is still on track for a 2024 release with Prison Architect 2. While the development team has shifted, fans can rest assured that work on this highly anticipated sequel continues. (source: https://lnkd.in/dWtBvDhN)

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It is awful. Truly awful. Around 15% of Intel Corporation's staff (meaning over 15,000 people) are facing layoffs this year. I want to provide as much support as I can about this happening. I know that Intel is not a games studio, but the amount of support they are giving games studios is not to be under-estimated. When I worked at other games studios in the past, we had wonderful working relationships with them, getting support through driver optimisations, supporting technical tests, even offering to feature our games on their network and providing exclusive access to gamers to our closed alpha or closed beta tests. This kind of relationship was special. Regardless of which areas of Intel are going to feel layoffs, with 15% of the workforce, that will be felt everywhere in the organisation. Those of you who worked even remotely in gaming, please make use of my resources below: 🥇First, reach out to us at People Can Fly Studio, we have many roles open right now in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Europe, please check them out here: https://lnkd.in/eWpV5PbA 🥈Next, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past months I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines, and I would urge you to check them out, if anything just to see what would be available to you: https://lnkd.in/eWvkdYjk You can find over 6,000 jobs there. 🥉 Third, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ I urge you to check out the areas in particular about CV support and mentoring, as these will help you no matter what industry you are hailing from or are looking into going next. 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #intel #layoffs

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At Uncapped Games I'm helping to develop my favorite game I've ever worked on professionally by far... and surprisingly it's an RTS. This is surprising because I (unlike nearly the whole team who are RTS powerhouses), have basically no RTS experience at all. Fire up Super Smash Bros and I may have a shot to impress, but RTS has been a huge - and fun - mental shift for me! ...and somehow, I've gotten pretty good! (At our game at least 😅). Very excitingly, we're on the schedule to say more about our game at SGF ( https://lnkd.in/e5uDTwZp ) in June, but now, kicking things off so to speak, we've put out a really cool documentary that explains some of our philosophies, hopes, and goals. If you're an RTS nerd - or just curious to learn more, check it out: https://lnkd.in/eQpxP3WZ

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Painfully long is right. 😲 It look 8 years to build Concord and about 2 weeks for Sony to axe it. This is a strong example of what's wrong with the games industry, especially in the AAA space. How can a game remain relevant and feel innovative to audiences when it takes that many years to develop? And exactly how high of a bar do you have to hit in terms of quality and scope to meet player expectations after that length of time?! Indie studios can continue to lead the way in demonstrating 'what good looks like' for an industry that desperately needs a re-write. I firmly believe we can deliver outstanding experiences for our audiences by combining sustainable development with scalable growth strategies. In summary, we need to be embracing shorter, iterative and more cost effective development times, and identify scalable strategies to maintain Live Services. #indiegames #gamedevelopment #gamedev #innovation Sony Simply Sweet Games #gameindustry #videogames

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A good opportunity

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Valve corporation has implemented updates to Steam's store page system to enhance discoverability for developers. These changes were made in response to feedback received from developers, including discussions at Gamescom. Key Changes: 👉 Related Items Customization: Developers can now choose which games appear in the "More From this Developer" section of a game's store page. 👉 DLC Pinning: Developers can highlight a specific DLC item to draw attention from players. 👉 Flexible Customization: Developers have control over the order of related games and can manually adjust their position. These new features provide developers with greater control over how their games are presented on Steam. By carefully selecting related titles and highlighting specific DLC items, developers can increase their games' visibility and attract more potential players. For more details on these changes and how to implement them, developers can refer to the official Steam documentation. https://lnkd.in/ekWfnQKP

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Sumo Digital announced a 15% cut in its workforce, roughly impacting 250 individuals. Among these 250 individuals was the team of Timbre Games, which also confirmed that the studio was being shut down. Timbre Games was founded in 2021 and made a part of Pipework Studios. Although Timbre had yet to launch any games, its website indicates that it was in the middle of two game projects. Unfortunately, game developers face more loss than the parent company when something like this happens. Who knows how Timbre's team might be coping after putting in millions of efforts to build the games and losing everything in a single blink? In their support, this is list 2 of some of the Timbreeos who were impacted by the closure. Every bit from the community counts, so requesting you all to help this reach recruiters and game studios currently hiring. Sophie Mallinson — In 2017, she was Arkane Studios' (Lyon) Narrative Designer who worked on Dishonored: Death of the Outsider and Wolfenstein: Youngblood. By 2019, she had become a Principal Narrative Designer for Arkane's Deathloop. It is quite interesting to note that after Arkane, she went on to work for EA on Star Wars and later for EA's own studio - Maxis Studios on The Sims Series. Nadia Lohan — With over a decade's worth of experience in Production, before Timbre, Nadia was a Producer at Blackbird Interactive and worked on Minecraft Legends. Notably, she has experience in the VFX industry and coordinated for blockbusters like Mulan, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Maleficent. Vivek Ramkumar — Here's a talented Game Designer who has worked on titles like Sleeping Dogs and Tryst, built his own first-person indie game, and has experience in LiveOps Design. Prior to Timbre, he was a senior Technical Designer for Relic Entertainment. Gerritt Turner — Before Timbre, Gerritt worked at Wizards of the Coast on a lot of Magic: The Gathering's writing, designing and overall creative. They even have an experience in Brand Writing for Hasbro. Yuliia Bocharova — Prior to Timbre, she was a Lead 3D Artist for Blackbird Interactive and worked there for 3+ years. You should check out her ArtStation portfolio: https://lnkd.in/gKEwykG5 Vincent-Gabriel Canadian — A talented VFX Artist who has worked for Studios like Frima, Behaviour Interactive, and Nesting Games. Vincent specializes in real-time VFX for video games! #layoffsupport

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Another big publisher set to fire 600 employees. This post is intended to support those who were recently laid off. Please share it within your community and tag studios and recruiters who are actively hiring. "We'll hear troubling news from the offices of Zynga, Gearbox, 2K, and even Rockstar—a far cry from earlier statements about layoffs from Take-Two's CEO." To combat, I am adding 5 resources below for all impacted professionals : 1) Our flagship Full-stack game programming bootcamp worth $11,000. We're giving course content out on 100% scholarship for anyone who's willing to transition into game programming or upskill in programming. (Mail: community@outscal.com) 2) Join our Discord Community and help professionals who are asking questions related to portfolio building, job seeking, interviews, and broadly their next career step. We have added help roles for programming, Unity, Unreal, DSA, Careers. Pick these roles and only get notified when someone asks questions related to your expertise. 3) Your team is hiring? Here's a list of 900+ professionals who were laid off recently: https://bit.ly/49Ah2vT Do them a favor by sharing this list with your 1st degree connections who're hiring. 4) We now have 14368 gamedev jobs from all over the world. https://lnkd.in/gerWUkc5 5) Become a volunteer: If you're a senior professional, you can mentor these professionals, conduct mock interviews, assess their portfolios and give feedback on what would work for them and what wouldn't. Join by adding your name here: https://lnkd.in/gwPhHen4 Get more out of Game Dev community on LinkedIn 🍄 Amir Satvat is back on LinkedIn with the OG list of resources. 💼 Caitlin Cooke is the fastest source of fresh jobs in the industry (yes, remote jobs too) 🎤 Follow Jordan Mazer for greatest tips and pointers around game jobs & interviews. 🔥 Hailey's feed will keep you updated with everything that's happening in the gaming world. 🔝 Connect with Arin Goldsmith and be part of her amazing #SocialSunday initiative. #games #gamedev #jobs #layoffs

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You know what's better than one #NickyHilton game? TWO #NickyHilton games!! 🎮 In today's SECOND "Our Love Language is Bite-Sized, Branded Video Games" post 💖 👗 We created a fan game for Nicky and Kathy Hiltons' Printfresh holiday PJ's collection!! 👚 Join the festive fun with these adorable Christmas pajamas from the exclusive Printfresh x The Hiltons collection. ⚡ The game was created on Breshna.io's template "Bounce Pounce" with no-code and in 45 minutes! Breshna.io (by GRID) Playable game link in comments ⬇ 🎮 CPG brands are using Breshna to create snackable video games for enhanced user engagement, attributable conversion and lead generation. 🎮 Breshna games can be fully customized with brand IP and embedded into social media posts, websites, apps & QR codes on physical products as simple URLs. Hope you're game: Leo Voloshin Amy Voloshin - we're hiring Kristin Weber Eliza Reinhardt Molly McNamara Alayna Giovannitti Perry Zavetz Mo Karimi

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