Quest Lecture #43 Adam Al-Sawad "When Art Becomes the Self..."

"...Emotions and Communication in a Professional Setting" Creating games is personal, but professional game development requires us to give feedback, iterate, and sometimes let go of ideas we've spent weeks or months building. Balancing creativity with collaboration is a skill every developer needs. In this lecture, Adam Al-Sawad (CFO, Composer & Audio Engineer at Kalla Gameworks) shares practical techniques for handling feedback, reducing unhealthy emotional attachment to your work, and avoiding the sunk cost fallacy. With experience spanning games, theater, dance, film, and advertising, Adam offers valuable insights into the emotional labor of creative work and how stronger communication leads to better games and healthier teams. Quest Lectures are a series of free industry talks designed to help game developers navigate their game development journey. Each lecture is a new quest, covering the skills, challenges, and opportunities you'll encounter while building games, studios, and careers. What is GameCity Kajaani? Kajaani is the birthplace of Finnish game development education and has been creating game industry success stories for nearly 20 years. Through community building, talent development, and entrepreneurship support, GameCity Kajaani helps aspiring developers transform their passion into professional careers. As an authentic game city, Kajaani offers the perfect environment to gain experience, build connections, and level up your skills alongside a growing game development community. Kajaani Game Catalyst,a free 3-year growth program for early-stage developers, is a part of the Kainuu GEMS project, co-funded by EU.