José-Manuel Girona MilaFreelance producer · video games

Freelance producer · indie studios

Ship your game without drowning in production

Always feel like you're racing the clock? Never any time for marketing, you go by gut feeling, and nobody really knows what has to be ready for the next festival. In games, 28% of developers report crunch and another 25% long extra hours (IGDA, 2024). Together, we build a schedule and a budget around the dates that matter (Steam page, festivals, Next Fest, launch), with a clear goal for each one, and I warn you before things go off track. Start with the free timeline: 30 seconds, nothing to install.

Calculate my timeline
1 grantfrom a region, secured for a client studio
1 gamereleased on Steam, Divider Dave
5 yearsof project management in consulting
In 26 seconds: the same pile of tasks, sorted by milestone.

Free tool

Your Steam launch timeline

Enter your target launch date and get the dates you need to hit, from the Steam page to launch. Steam's rules are shown separately from my recommendations, and review times are doubled: with so many games coming in, Valve takes longer.

Nothing is sent: everything is calculated in your browser.

Valve publishes the exact Next Fest dates and registration deadlines on Steamworks. Next editions: 22 February to 1 March 2027 (registration until 10 January), then 14 to 21 June 2027 (until 25 April).

These dates cover the Steam launch. The production schedule that has to hit them depends on your game and your team.

Book 30 minutes

Free

Templates and checklist

What a funder will look at, and the files I use in production, taken from Divider Dave and the Herringen application. The Excel and Word templates download without sign-up. The Notion workspace comes in exchange for your email. Each file includes instructions and example rows.

Funding

Looking for funding? What funders look for

Regional grant, national fund, open call, publisher or investor: the questions barely change. These are the nine points I check before an application goes out, as I did with the Herringen team. Tick what you already have: the rest is your to-do list.

0 / 9

The Go-to-market strategy template below follows this outline.

Free, no sign-up

Game production kit Excel, 7 tabs

What it's for: knowing what the game costs, who will be overloaded and what must be ready before each milestone. You enter the team, rates and dates once in Settings, and the WBS, schedule, workload, risks and cash flow follow, with no copy and paste. A 15 minute start, with a complete example project.

Download

RACI Excel

What it's for: no more tasks everyone thinks someone else is doing. Any row without exactly one approver turns red, and each person's real load is counted in days.

Download

Go-to-market strategy Word

What it's for: answering a publisher's or a committee's questions before they ask. Nine sections with what to write and why, the market as TAM, SAM, SOM, the visits to wishlists to sales funnel with sourced rates, and a reading list.

Download

Fair warning, I'm going to be blunt: don't split hairs. These templates are overkill for a flash game or a prototype, and undersized for an MMO or a AAA. On a three month prototype, Settings and the WBS are enough. The rest is for the day you prepare a funding application or meet a publisher.

Get the Notion workspace

Milestones, Kanban, meeting notes, retrospectives and moodboard, with the user guide and the real Divider Dave art brief. Leave your email: the link to duplicate it shows up right away. Then at most one email a month (a new template, updated figures). Unsubscribe with one word.

Services

Services and rates

Everything starts with a free 30-minute first call. The review has a fixed price, the funding application and the part time role a starting price. We build the quote together based on your situation (cash flow, pending grant, publisher), and everything is in writing before we start.

To get started

Review

Your WBS, schedule, funding application, publisher deck or letter of intent, reviewed by someone who has built them and got them funded. For a contract: a practitioner's checklist, not legal advice.

Deliverables
  • Your document, annotated (WBS, schedule, budget, application, deck or letter of intent)
  • A prioritized list of fixes, in writing
  • A one-hour video call to walk you through it
Duration
About a week

€350 excl. VATOne document. Deducted from the quote if a mission follows.

Book 30 minutes

Funding

Funding or publisher application

Regional grants, CNC, open calls or publisher search: together we build the budget, schedule and go-to-market strategy that the committee or publisher will read. That's what we did with the Herringen team.

Deliverables
  • WBS costed by discipline (Excel)
  • Schedule and milestones as a Gantt chart (Notion or Excel)
  • Budget forecast with contingency, financing plan and month-by-month cash flow (Excel)
  • Go-to-market strategy: positioning, pricing, projections, Steam timeline
  • Pitch deck and budget in publisher format
  • Final review of the application before submission
Duration
3 to 6 weeks depending on the deadline
Not included
Submitting on the funder's platform, and writing the game design or the art direction. No guarantee of success: the committee decides.

From €2,500 excl. VATFixed fee set after the first call

Book 30 minutes

Production

Part-time producer

For studios that need a producer but can't hire one full-time. Usually after a review or a funding application.

Deliverables
  • Setup: WBS, key milestones timeline and who decides what
  • One single management workspace: milestones, Kanban, meeting notes and retrospectives
  • Short team check-ins at an agreed pace, a retrospective after each key milestone
  • Freelancer follow-up and reporting to the funder or publisher
  • Comms plan aligned with key milestones (Buffer, Partnier)
Duration
2 to 4 weeks of setup, then 2 to 4 days per month, set in the quote

From €1,200 excl. VAT per monthThat is 3 days a month. Adjusted after the first call.

Book 30 minutes

Two studios at most at the same time. Everything in writing before we start: scope, deliverables, price.

Projects

My latest projects

Herringen: Steam capsule
Herringen: Steam screenshot 1 Herringen: Steam screenshot 2 Herringen: Steam screenshot 3

Herringen

Production consulting · Distant Remnants studio, 2025-2026

The studio had a Steam demo out and a regional funding application to submit. We built the four core documents of the application together:

  • Costed WBS: every activity estimated in days per unit (per level, per enemy), assigned to a discipline, and converted into a budget per work package.
  • Schedule: 11 months of sequenced work packages (levels, enemies, ships, tech, UI), with ongoing management and communication.
  • Budget forecast consistent with the WBS and the schedule.
  • Go-to-market strategy: positioning, regional pricing, sales projections, Next Fest and launch timeline.
View on Steam

What the team says

“We felt listened to. He took the time to really understand where we were and the grey areas we were facing. He also knew how to challenge our decisions while respecting them. Beyond the real, concrete help he gave us, his involvement also helped us emotionally. Thanks to him!”

Distant Remnants, the studio behind Herringen (translated from French)
GameSteam demo, launch upcoming
FunderÎle-de-France Region
ResultFunding secured
Divider Dave Steam capsule
Divider Dave: overview of a laser level Divider Dave: Dave and his clone in the lab Divider Dave: purple level with moving platforms

Divider Dave

Production, publishing and pixel art
Chancla Interactive, co-founded studio (2025-2026). The game is now published under my name.
Released on Steam on 2 September 2026

Puzzle-platformer for PC (Godot), produced by two co-founders with freelancers in art, music, level design and localization, all hired under written contracts, including revenue share.

I managed scope, milestones and schedule over 8 months, and worked on the pixel art myself. I ran playtests with a level qualification grid (keep, rework, cut), then handled the full Steam cycle: demo, June 2026 Next Fest, Valve review and launch. After launch: a cross-promotion bundle with another indie game and a booth at Guadalindie in Málaga.

Honestly: the game sold poorly. The page converted fine; traffic was the problem. Since then, we talk about the game from the prototype, not the day the Steam page opens.

View on Steam
Page visits → wishlists1.25% → 3 to 5%
Wishlists, Next Fest cycle× 3
Demo completed85%
Levels qualified in playtests57
Languages18
Duration, team8 months, 1.5 FTE

Free first call · 30 minutes by video

30 minutes on your project

If I can't help you, I'll point you to someone who can.

José-Manuel Girona MilaProducer of Divider Dave, five years of project management in consulting, part-time lecturer at CY Tech and IAE Paris Sorbonne. I co-founded a studio and took a game all the way to its Steam launch, mistakes included: the templates on this page come from there.

  1. BeforeYou fill in this form. If you have a schedule or an application, attach it when you reply to my email.
  2. DuringWe look at your scope, your timeline and what's blocking you.
  3. AfterYou leave with three priorities. A written proposal only if a mission can help you.

Book 30 minutes

I reply with two time slots. You can also email sidestep.publishing@gmail.com.

Field notes

The numbers I watch

The questions I get asked most. Each time: what the numbers say, and how I actually use them. They're correlations and medians, not laws: they help you decide, they don't guarantee anything.

Visibility

A wishlist is worth half what it was in 2022

Across 160 games, a wishlist brings roughly half as many first-month sales in 2023-2025 as in 2020-2022. Yet total wishlists are still the best predictor of launch sales (R² 0.72 to 0.77). For a game above $10, the median is 0.10 sales per wishlist in week one.

So you need more wishlists than before for the same launch. Pick a number the day the Steam page goes live and check it every month. On Divider Dave, we started too late.

Source: Zukowski, Oct. 2026 · GameDiscoverCo, Oct. 2025

Next Fest

At Next Fest, demos already out do better

October 2026 had over 7,300 demos (+66% on June). A top-10% game gained 63 followers, against 121 in June. Many of the top games already had a demo gaining momentum before the festival.

The games that win at the festival are the ones whose demo was already drawing players before. I ship the demo before, and if it's not ready, we aim for the next edition: a game takes part only once.

Source: GameDiscoverCo, Oct. 2026

Scope

Crunch doesn't rescue a project

Across 273 completed projects, an endless crunch cycle correlates with worse outcomes (r = -0.47), and so do hours caused by poor planning (-0.36). Crunch doesn't help struggling projects recover. A clear, well-communicated plan goes with less crunch (-0.49).

When things slip, the temptation is nights and weekends. I'd rather cut. Sort everything into must, should and bonus at the start, so when it's time to choose, the list already exists.

Source: Game Outcomes Project, 2015 (2014 survey, no newer edition)

See the other five field notes

Team

A clear vision weighs more than Scrum versus waterfall

In the same study, a clear, well-communicated vision correlates with success (r ≈ 0.56). Team size and production method (Scrum, waterfall) show no significant effect.

Scrum, Kanban, waterfall: honestly, it doesn't matter much. I first check that everyone knows which game you're making and who decides what. The method gets set to your pace.

Source: Game Outcomes Project, part 2, 2015 · part 1

Delivery

Projects owned by two succeed more often

According to Gartner, 48% of digital initiatives meet their goals. When IT and business leaders co-own delivery, it rises to 71%. The study covers digital projects outside games.

I don't run the project in a corner while you make the game. Scope calls get signed by two people: me, and whoever holds the game's vision.

Source: Gartner via Computer Weekly

AI

Games that disclose AI sell less in their first month

In 2026, one in three new Steam games discloses AI (8,255 titles by October 20), mostly for visuals. These games account for 10 to 27% of estimated sales. According to GYLD data, they sell less and get worse reviews, and the gap holds a year later. Correlation, not causation.

I use it to rough out posts and summarize playtests, and someone always reviews. Art, music, design: it's your game, so it's your call. Make it knowing these numbers.

Source: SuperJoost Playlist (GYLD data), Oct. 2026 · Sulka Haro, Jul. 2026

After launch

79% of Steam revenue comes from games already out

In the first half of 2026, games released in earlier years made 79% of Steam's revenue, up from 71% in the first half of 2024. That year's new releases made only 21%. Valve also asks you to set your date at least 60 days ahead to appear on the personal calendar page.

My schedule keeps going after launch: sales, bundles, updates, over two years. And set your price with room for discounts.

Sources: Alinea Analytics, Jul. 2026 · Steamworks, personal calendar

Context

28% of professionals laid off in two years

Of more than 2,300 professionals surveyed, 28% were laid off in two years and half saw their employer lay people off within the year. At indie studios, a third of respondents report layoffs in the past year.

A funding application and a publisher deck share most of their pieces (WBS, schedule, budget, go-to-market strategy). We build them together once, then adapt them.

Source: GDC State of the Game Industry 2026

Sources checked November 2026.

Resources

Resources and tools

The sources behind my benchmarks and schedules, and the tools I open every week. If you follow only two: How To Market A Game and GameDiscoverCo.

See the sources and tools

Funding

Video game support fundCNCWriting, pre-production and production grants for French studios. Île-de-France regional grantsÎle-de-France RegionThe video game creation fund I supported for Herringen. Creative Europe, MEDIA strandEuropean CommissionThe yearly "Video games and immersive content development" call, open to European studios.

Launching on Steam

How To Market A GameChris ZukowskiThe reference blog on Steam pages and wishlists. Festival listChris ZukowskiSteam festivals and shows, with application deadlines and cost. Check it before you schedule the demo. GameDiscoverCoSimon CarlessData on what players find and buy: conversions, Next Fest, rising genres. Partnier (ex-Keymailer)PartnierSend keys to creators and press, and track who covered the game. BufferBufferSchedule the week's posts across every network in one session.

Steam page and art

Steam CapsulePythia GamesA gallery of Steam capsules to build a moodboard, plus specialist artists. My advice: hire a good artist. Our capsule, every format included, cost us $500. Before that, we had already spent money on mediocre work. Steam store graphical assetsValve, SteamworksSizes and rules for every capsule. Hand it to the artist with the brief, before they start. Press KittyIMPRESSAn online press kit, ready to send. Divider Dave uses it.

Costing and comparables

SteamDBSteamDBPrice, sale and player count history for games close to yours. GamalyticGamalyticSales estimates per game. Take 3 to 5 comparables, as an order of magnitude, not as truth. GDC VaultGDCProduction postmortems: what cost more than planned, and why. Much of it is free. SuperJoost PlaylistJoost van DreunenIndustry economics: platforms, back catalog, the effect of AI on supply.