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1. With the constant stories of failure in the video game industry, I wanted to post a small talk I did on this topic. I LOVE this topic and can go on and on, but here's a relatively short thread...
2. Before I worked at Epic Games, I worked at several companies that are no longer around. They all failed. In fact, hundreds of video game companies have failed over the last 20 years. We are surrounded by more failures than successes. 
3. If we learn from failure, and our industry is full of failure, shouldn't we know more? Why do we as an industry make the same mistakes over and over? Why does this happen? To find this answer, I went waaaaaaaay back...
4. ...to the early primates. They have mirror neurons which fire whether they are doing an action or observing that same action. "Monkey see Monkey do". This is the force behind their mimicry and this is how complex behaviors were passed from generation to generation.
5. Guess what? We are primates! We have these same mirror neurons and we learn by mimicry too. How did you learn to drive, write, walk, play music, shave, dance, cook, develop games, etc? You watched someone do it first, then you tried it over and over until you succeeded.
6. This is how we all function day to day. Look around and you'll notice it everywhere. We all do things the way we saw others do them. This is OK. Mimicry is what allows us to do hundreds of complicated things without investing too much brain power.
7. If we were to glimpse inside the "mimicking child's" brain (from the video above) and put words to his thought process, it would go something like this: "What is dad doing?"...
8. ..."Oh he's pushing a thing" "How do I do that?" *mirror neurons fire off* He's now doing the thing his dad is doing. What leads to How.
9. The thought process of "What" then "How" is all that is needed for this child to successfully mow the yard. When he's older he may eventually think about the "Why", but it isn't necessary to get the job done. As long as he does it the way he was shown, he succeeds.
10. So while mimicry has led to humanity's success, it is also a very slow process. Success comes if you mimic well and if you fail, it's because you didn't mimic well enough. Next time you'll need to mimic better.
11. ...Yet occasionally, someone comes along and they not only succeed, but their advancements become the new thing the rest of us mimic. They push us all forward. These people seem to succeed over and over. Are they just smarter? More talented? What's their secret?
12. They flip the script. Simon Sinek calls this the golden circle. You start with the WHY, which informs the HOW, which results in the WHAT. This uses other parts of the brain, and yes, figuring out the "why" is hard as it requires some deep thought. There's a reason it's rare.
13. If you look at the creation of the the iPod, Steve Jobs started with the Why. "Users should feel empowered and creative". If the iPod failed, Jobs would have known that he failed at making users feel empowered and creative. Every decision was made to support the "Why".
14. Now let's compare this to the Zune which started with the "What". - to make a better, cheaper, more feature filled iPod! This could have easily succeeded, as mimicking often leads to success but for whatever reasons it failed...
15. ...and failing when mimicking isn't an informed failure. In fact, when Microsoft was asked why the Zune failed, they essentially answered "We mimicked too little, too late, and we didn't define a "why" for the consumers"
16. So I'm an animator and I learned by mimicking. I default to mimicking. I"ll stick rigidly to the animation principles, a defined pipeline or stick 100% to the animation reference. Yet I fail all the time.
17. For example, I'll get into arguments with designers who want me to cut out the anticipation for jumps, or 10 frames from my attack animations. They say it makes the game feel sluggish? pfffft What do they know about animation?
18. How dare they ask me to break these solid rules that the best of the best animators follow daily! They just don't know my craft! And yes, animators have a list of rules we mimic.
19. It turns out that this list of rules was the RESULT of some old Disney animators starting with the Why -To keep an audience engaged in an animated film for 88 minutes. Up until that point, cartoons could only engage audiences for a few minutes at a time. They started @ Why.
20. Oh man, the designers on my team knew the "why" and were asking me to change my animation so they could better engage the audience. They were right. I was wrong. I didn't think about the "Why" and I was rigidly stuck in mimicry mode.
21. We should always start with "why" as it relates to our career. "Why was I invited to the meeting -> How can I help -> What can I do?" "Why are we making this game?" "Why does a designer want my animation to feel responsive?"
22. So what are your "whys"? You spend the majority of your waking time working, so it deserves more than mimicry right? You can definitely mimic your way until your retirement and that will probably work out fine, but...
23. ...once you start the process with "Why", you will start seeing your failures in a new light. You will learn much deeper lessons. You will know exactly why you failed and not be left with "I didn't mimic hard enough". Maybe this can help us progress faster than the cavemen.
Oh and one thing to note is to avoid false answers to “why” when making games. Examples: to make money, to be the best, to gain lots of players etc. Don’t confuse expected results with the answer to “why”
