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GDC Festival of Gaming
March 9-13, 2026
Moscone CenterSan Francisco, CA
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All Sessions Speakers

Building a Critically Acclaimed Licensed Game in 18 Months

Amanda Farough  (Executive Producer & Writer, Strange Scaffold)
Location: Room 3005, West Hall
Date: Thursday, March 12
Time: 10:30 am - 11:30 am
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass - Get your pass now!
Audience Level: Intermediate
Track: Independent Development
Format: Lecture
Vault Recording: Video
Audience Level: Intermediate
Amanda Farough

You don't need to be a huge studio or have a big budget to make a great licensed game. Strange Scaffold Executive Producer, Amanda Farough, will break down the challenges and celebrations of creating a unique take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This talk will demonstrate how the pillars of psychological safety, developer-first production, creativity within constraints, and holistic process development resulted in a critically acclaimed PC and console title made with part-time developers and a modest budget.

If you've been curious about how you can work with a dream IP while retaining the creative identity of both the project and your studio, let Amanda walk you through Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown's 18-month development cycle.

Takeaway

Attendees will learn how Strange Scaffold, a studio of exclusively part-time developers, secured a major license and developed a game that married established IP with the studio's unique sensibilities. They will get a deep understanding of how to remain creative when working within audience expectations of the characters and universe.

Intended Audience

This talk is for small and mid-sized studio leaders, IP-curious developers, larger studio leaders interested in creating nimble, more sustainable practices, and students who want to learn how to work within a healthy work environment that prioritizes the human element of the creative process.