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Do reviews matter to social games at all? Surely the only people reading insidesocialgames are other devs looking to see what's going on?
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Apr 11, 2012 21:19
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waffledoodle posted:It's not that we love cash; most of us actively hate to think about it money, rates, and other "business crap". Billing systems are just defense mechanisms that we begrudgingly adapt after years of being hosed over when freebies, percentage promises, and "it'll look good in your portfolio" jobs spiral desperately out of scope and become revision-hell. Cash money is the best money. But only because I am endlessly confused by stocks/stock options/units and would rather just have liquid assets that my brain can parse.
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Apr 11, 2012 21:26
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FreakyZoid posted:Do reviews matter to social games at all? Surely the only people reading insidesocialgames are other devs looking to see what's going on? Yeah, reviews don't really matter. The growth you get from the platform, virality, ads, cross-promo, and so on dwarf any traffic you'd get from a review. Frown Town posted:Cash money is the best money. Eyes on the prize: Rap yachts for all!
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Apr 11, 2012 21:38
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Can anyone post a wordpress version of a portfolio? Mine is coming along alright (I'm mostly gathering media to post) but I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for layout. I'm good at a lot of things, but web layout isn't one of them. Here's the (mostly blank) page as it is right now. http://pkernaghan.wordpress.com/ Right now I'm trying to get the header image to display the text but without the little box it wants to put around it, but I don't think I can actually do that with this theme/not being "pro".
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Apr 11, 2012 22:00
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Frown Town posted:Cash money is the best money. Max your 401K. This is a no-brainer.
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Apr 11, 2012 22:06
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Just out of curiosity, but does anyone know the average time a steam submission is reviewed? It's one of those things about their service I've never seen mentioned, and it doesn't seem like an NDA-worthy statistic like their profit-sharing and/or fees, etc., just something no one's ever thought to write down.
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Apr 12, 2012 01:01
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Comte de Saint-Germain posted:Max your 401K. This is a no-brainer. Unless you work at a fly by night in which case said 401k may be raided.
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Apr 12, 2012 04:37
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cgeq posted:Unless you work at a fly by night in which case said 401k may be raided. point
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Apr 12, 2012 05:09
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cgeq posted:Unless you work at a fly by night in which case said 401k may be raided.
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Apr 12, 2012 15:48
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Shalinor posted:How does this work? Do you just mean the trick where vesting doesn't go through because they die too soon, or is there a way for an employer to yank your money too? Companies only have to deposit 401k funds they collect from employees once a year. All of a sudden there are financial problems and there is a pot of money that it conveniently needs to be used to make payroll. EDIT: Grammar Mega Shark fucked around with this message at 16:19 on Apr 12, 2012 |
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Apr 12, 2012 16:12
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Mega Shark posted:Companies only have to deposit 401k funds they collect from employees once a year. All of a sudden there are financial problems and there is a pot of money that it conveniently needs to be used to make payroll. That seems pretty shady - I know my 401ks have always been deposited into each paycheck. Is that a common practice?
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Apr 12, 2012 18:00
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djkillingspree posted:That seems pretty shady - I know my 401ks have always been deposited into each paycheck. Is that a common practice? It is a very common practice in smaller companies to only deposit once a year just to keep cash flowing. I couldn't tell you the numbers though, I just know through my last company (not a game studio).
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Apr 12, 2012 21:33
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Mega Shark posted:It is a very common practice in smaller companies to only deposit once a year just to keep cash flowing. I couldn't tell you the numbers though, I just know through my last company (not a game studio). Are you talking about employer match? If so, yes, that's common. Employee contributions need to go in as soon as possible - yearly deposits of employee contributions is unquestionably illegal.
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Apr 12, 2012 21:59
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supercrooky posted:Are you talking about employer match? If so, yes, that's common. Employee contributions need to go in as soon as possible - yearly deposits of employee contributions is unquestionably illegal. Yes, employer match. Sorry, I can see how that was ambiguous.
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Apr 12, 2012 22:01
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Is there a place where I can get sales numbers that compare free games with an in-app purchase of the rest of the game vs. games that have all their content available for a price? If possible, I'd like things that were more content based rather than in-game item microtransaction based.
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Apr 13, 2012 03:45
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NINbuntu 64 posted:Is there a place where I can get sales numbers that compare free games with an in-app purchase of the rest of the game vs. games that have all their content available for a price? If possible, I'd like things that were more content based rather than in-game item microtransaction based. The below all really only applies to iOS, because it's all I know. Flurry posts a lot of data on their blog, blog.flurry.com. You can get a feel for how paid games do versus free games by looking at the top grossing app store chart, then comparing it with top paid and top free. Though that doesn't really cover "free games that offer the rest of the game for a one time fee", specifically, unless you analyze each game and article yourself. I remember Flurry did a post once saying that consumable in-game currency made way more money, by far, than one-time-purchase stuff like making you pay for levels. All the money makers off the top of my head just do fake ingame currency purchases. I can't really think of anyone that's had huge success with a free game where you buy extra level packs, though there has to be someone I'm forgetting. If "content" includes cosmetic stuff that you buy directly, one time payment, then Minigore sustained itself for a period of time just off buying new characters. My games make a noticeable chunk of profit off cosmetic hats, with about a 15% rate of people that get at least one thing. They were generally 3 dollar games, though I wonder sometimes if it would be better to make my 99 cent game free. If the conversion numbers stayed similar but I got about 10x more downloads once free (and that's a very low number), then I'd come out ahead.
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Apr 13, 2012 04:06
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supercrooky posted:Are you talking about employer match? If so, yes, that's common. Employee contributions need to go in as soon as possible - yearly deposits of employee contributions is unquestionably illegal. Which doesn't mean it doesn't happen. A former employer of mine skimmed 401Ks and got taken to court for it.
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Apr 14, 2012 02:38
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Kind of a strange question, but does anyone know if felon outreach programs exist in games development? In other industries, a felony charge becomes a permanent black mark... and the way we handle that in the US just makes me livid / long discussion... so it occurred to me that I might be able to at least work against that with my own business. That said, I've no idea if gamedev is like other industries to begin with. Maybe we all think that way, and felons in gamedev have no issues finding work anyways, no idea.
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Apr 14, 2012 19:46
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Yeah, video games feels like it has a general, open-minded vibe. In Montreal at least, everyone I've talked to has never mentioned or heard of any stigma for stuff that other companies would give you poo poo about. They're illegal in Canada anyway, but I'm pretty sure no one here would do drug screening tests (probably half the company smokes weed occasionally) and I haven't heard of someone feeling discriminated against based on their sexual orientation, identity, or what have you. Granted, the latter is pretty illegal, but you get the idea. I could always ask our recruiter if they screen for felonies and whatnot, if you're curious.
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Apr 14, 2012 19:58
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Shalinor posted:Kind of a strange question, but does anyone know if felon outreach programs exist in games development? It's nothing I've ever heard of. Mainly, because of a lack of significant training on advanced math, art, or computer usage in our prison system, combined with the rarity of finding someone with game dev or programming experience on a felony conviction. (If you're sophisticated enough for those things, you're typically sophisticated enough to get a lawyer who can plead you down to a misdo.) -e- That said, it's a fantastic idea.
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Apr 14, 2012 20:04
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You should do that, the continued punishment we level against people who are unfortunate to get caught up in our hosed up justice system is heinous. On that note, does anyone know of any gamedevs who drug test? I've never worked a job (game or otherwise) that made me pee in a cup, but I'm under the impression it's pretty common
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Apr 14, 2012 20:50
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Comte de Saint-Germain posted:You should do that, the continued punishment we level against people who are unfortunate to get caught up in our hosed up justice system is heinous. I know of someone who got sacked for being on drugs. Wasn't so much from testing as his spilling weed all over the toilets we shared with another bunch of offices and just leaving it.
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Apr 14, 2012 21:20
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BizarroAzrael posted:I know of someone who got sacked for being on drugs. Wasn't so much from testing as his spilling weed all over the toilets we shared with another bunch of offices and just leaving it. He left it???? What kind of pothead just spills weed and then leaves it? I mean, I know it's a bathroom and all, but...
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Apr 14, 2012 23:51
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waffledoodle posted:It's not that we love cash; most of us actively hate to think about it money, rates, and other "business crap". Billing systems are just defense mechanisms that we begrudgingly adapt after years of being hosed over when freebies, percentage promises, and "it'll look good in your portfolio" jobs spiral desperately out of scope and become revision-hell. Oh, I didn't mean that as a dig at all, I'm a part time artist myself. Just a comment on how hard it can be to get paid work as a freelancer.
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Apr 15, 2012 17:01
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EA is apparently swinging the axe: http://startupgrind.com/2012/04/exclusive-electronic-arts-set-to-lay-off-500-employees/ Oh dear.
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Apr 16, 2012 09:23
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Comte de Saint-Germain posted:You should do that, the continued punishment we level against people who are unfortunate to get caught up in our hosed up justice system is heinous. Volition's job app specifically says to leave out any drug related offenses on the criminal background portion, which I thought was hilarious. I'm not sure of anyone who does drug testing in the industry, it seems like it would needlessly kneecap your recruiting pool to no benefit - the kind of folks doing drugs and maintaining a portfolio are high-functioning addicts at the worst and thus still useful. Pun unintentional.
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Apr 16, 2012 15:02
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Foiltha posted:EA is apparently swinging the axe: Good luck, Game Jobs Goons.
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Apr 16, 2012 15:09
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Sigma-X posted:Volition's job app specifically says to leave out any drug related offenses on the criminal background portion, which I thought was hilarious. I'm not sure of anyone who does drug testing in the industry, it seems like it would needlessly kneecap your recruiting pool to no benefit - the kind of folks doing drugs and maintaining a portfolio are high-functioning addicts at the worst and thus still useful. Some people do this intentionally, since in many countries asking about arrests is not legal (convictions are OK). Even here in Ethiopia, there are insane rules about what you can and can't ask on a job app in criminal background portions.
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Apr 16, 2012 15:38
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Foiltha posted:EA is apparently swinging the axe: and I just applied to a huge swath of EA jobs last week too, though I don't exactly know if that would negatively or positively effect my chances since I am applying at the entry/mid-level (or the QA position I applied for; yeah it is QA, but dammit I have all the skills that position was asking for) I guess I will hit up the Activison website today while I am at it 
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Apr 16, 2012 17:58
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NextTime000 posted:and I just applied to a huge swath of EA jobs last week too, though I don't exactly know if that would negatively or positively effect my chances since I am applying at the entry/mid-level (or the QA position I applied for; yeah it is QA, but dammit I have all the skills that position was asking for) EA does layoffs pretty regularly, I wouldn't worry about it as an applicant.
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Apr 16, 2012 18:15
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Foiltha posted:EA is apparently swinging the axe:
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Apr 16, 2012 18:33
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If my SWTOR guild and other friends are any indication, their retention rate is going pretty badly.
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Apr 16, 2012 20:23
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I am looking for some help. I am a college senior who will be graduating in December 2012 with a dual degree in International Business and Marketing, as well as a double minor in Japanese and Asian studies. I am looking for an internship for this summer to get my foot in the door of the industry on the business side of Video Game development. I have been applying to many different publishers and developers trying to get the internship, but have so far not heard anything. Any suggestions, recommendations, or opportunities would be greatly appreciated.
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Apr 17, 2012 00:48
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 Where are you located?
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Apr 17, 2012 00:57
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My family has a home in West Lake Village, California. However i would be willing to relocate for the internship.
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Apr 17, 2012 01:03
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Relocate for an internship? Unless you're super well-off already, that's an insane idea. Westlake Village isn't too bad, it seems like you could get to a lot of LA studios on the 210. Especially for an entry-level position, you should just save up and move when you can move from entry- to junior-level something.
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Apr 17, 2012 01:41
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GetWellGamers posted:Relocate for an internship? Unless you're super well-off already, that's an insane idea. I relocated for my internship, was about a 17 hour drive. It was kind of like college, just brought a bunch of crappy furniture and got a cheap apartment. I'm just curious why its an insane idea, unless you mean making permanent plans like buying a house or something.
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Apr 17, 2012 01:59
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It depends where you live. If you're in the countryside in the middle of nowhere, it makes perfect sense to move into the city to find a job.
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Apr 17, 2012 02:02
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Category Fun! posted:It depends where you live. If you're in the countryside in the middle of nowhere, it makes perfect sense to move into the city to find a job. Yeah I guess. I absolutely had to relocate. Upstate NY doesn't have many studios.
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Apr 17, 2012 02:04
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Well it's official. I nailed the Turbine interview! I start as an associate software engineer in the game platform development team as a tools engineer on May 14th! Woo!
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Apr 17, 2012 02:53
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