In a recent interview with Edge Magazine, lead designer of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Michel Norea, noted a key advantage of Sandfall Interactive's approach to developing their debut project: most employees were young and inexperienced specialists.
The young team members had no expectations about how a studio should be run and how games should be made. They brought fresh ideas that proved very valuable to the entire project. In the end, it turned out to be a good decision, although initially the choice was forced - at the start, we simply didn't have the money to hire experienced specialists.
Game producer François Néris added that the team's lack of experience also had other advantages: no one brought with them "bad habits" accumulated in other companies. Instead, everyone learned together, creating new approaches and skills from scratch.
We were effectively doing twice as much work, as we were doing everything for the first time and on such a scale. But we had the opportunity to study and implement best practices. I interacted a lot and exchanged experiences with other teams in France, especially in Montpellier, where many indie studios are concentrated. This industry is remarkable in that companies here cooperate more than compete. We benefited greatly from this exchange of experience