|
Sigh. As an addendum to the "stop naming things 'New____'" rule I proposed earlier, I would like to add the following: Putting the same game-title-related prefix in front of every game data file does literally nothing to help anyone. Secondly, that "The cross alpha omega galaxy create" guy is literally the superhero you draw when you are 10 and get your first 12-pack of colored pencils. The saddest thing is that this guy believes in it so hard, and put it all over the internet. I thank my lucky stars that my Original Character Do Not Steal had the decency to die in the suggestion box for that He-Man character contest.
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 06:38
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 3, 2024 19:09 |
|
|
The one time I decide to visit Gamasutra in the last six months, and I find they've featured an article written by Literally A Crazy And Wrong Person: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/GabrielSwan/20120806/175430/Managing_QA_The_Right_Way.php
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 07:03
|
|
|
mp5 posted:The one time I decide to visit Gamasutra in the last six months, and I find they've featured an article written by Literally A Crazy And Wrong Person: I used to work with this guy. He's actually this crazy.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 07:25
|
|
|
quote:I am sorry you did not understand all of my article. I advise for you more education, or perhaps some philosophical studies to broaden your mind and accept "outside-the-box" thinking edit: Ha ha, oh my quote:The problem with being the smartest fox there is, is you sound crazy to all the other dumb foxes.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 07:30
|
|
|
Belzac posted:I used to work with this guy. He's actually this crazy. I'm far too lazy to read something that is supposed to be by a crazy person. What basically is he wrong about?
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 07:46
|
|
|
I'm going to give my QA specialist a hug then next time I see him. Ye gods, that article is terrifying. That dude would straight up be poison to work with. I mean, some of the points are reasonable (making sure QA has decent hardware to work with unless it's intentional that they're testing on min-spec or outdated stuff), but stuff like "without too much concern for technical instruction" is completely insane. Testers who lack technical knowledge of the game they're testing waste valuable time both on their side and on the dev side. Certainly that's the interaction where some of my least proud moments as a designer have come from. On a happy note, crunch is done. +17lbs and a sleeping disorder this time around!
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 07:54
|
|
|
Belzac posted:I used to work with this guy. He's actually this crazy. Where at, if you don't mind my asking?
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 07:57
|
|
|
As someone who started out in QA, and moved on to marketing and community stuff, but still worked intensely with QA all throughout my career... that man is crazy. His ideas are ridiculous. Plus if you read his "bio" you'll see he's credited as a general QA tester on such illustrious titles as Fable 3 and Diablo 3. Also it says he's enrolled in an Agile Development program at a university. Plus, this is the corporate website of his "AAA mobile game studio, external mobile hardware manufacturer, and Software Developer Kit (SDK) maker." http://7skeletonstudios.webs.com/ How did this get featured? Has Gamasutra fallen so far?
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 07:58
|
|
|
Ahahaha love his comment response. I just called him out.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 07:59
|
|
|
I think this entire article makes more sense if you read it as if a junior QA guy with almost no experience works for a big mean old QA lead who doesn't let him have any fun, and if this junior guy were running the department, he'd have it fixed lickety-split! Then he details how he'd run his magic QA department. His two former studios are only Microsoft and Blizzard, then accuses anyone who might read into his rambling article that he experience these things first hand (which he writes about experiencing first hand) as having "a paranoid delusion of grandeur." This is garbage.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 08:05
|
|
|
quote:Gabriel Swan is currently the Director and Managing Partner of 7 Skeleton Studios, based in Bellevue, WA. 7 Skeleton Studios (7SS) is a new AAA mobile game studio, external mobile hardware manufacturer, and Software Developer Kit (SDK) maker. They are currently manufacturing a pioneering mobile game engine available for license to other developers in 2013, and are developing several unannounced titles. Interesting to note: Washington State shows no companies registered as "7 Skeleton". USPTO shows no trademark registrations with anything resembling that name. All of his blog posts reference the "Green Beret" model of leadership which he thinks means ignoring chain of command. His hard-on for the military seems to contradict with the fact that he doesn't know poo poo about it. I honestly wonder how much of his bio he is lying about -- especially the "10-year Fire/Medic Captain" part, which seems ludicrous to me (I had a good friend who was a firefighter paramedic for several years, was always top of his class and well liked, and was still never close to even making rescue lieutenant, let alone captain) -- he references earlier being a 911 dispatcher. Of course, his LinkedIn does not show him in any of those jobs, nor does it reference him having any medical or firefighting licenses or degrees. quote:Our founding studio members have experience working for industry leaders including: Microsoft Game Studio, Nintendo, Sony, Coca Cola, Duracell Battery, and more. No ...he apparently volunteered at Nintendo, not worked there. His MobyGames profile shows a sole credit on Fable III which to be fair doesn't actually prove anything because Moby Games is poo poo but you'd expect his Diablo III credit to be on there right? There's fluffing your resume, and then there's outright bullshitting -- made even worse by the fact that he's preaching at people without sufficient credentials to back them up. If you look through his comments you'll see tons of posts referencing how he worked on "the most successful games of all time" and how he has tons of titles to his name (but can't say what positions he was in working on them), "As the leading expert in QA Management, I have no clue what these guys are actually talking about." (referencing Sid Meier).... This kid is clearly mentally unstable. I'm not even being hyperbolic about it. Check for yourself: http://gamasutra.com/blogs/author/GabrielSwan/922930/comments/page=3 Leif. fucked around with this message at 13:30 on Aug 8, 2012 |
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 09:22
|
|
|
More fun. Also he doesn't know how to spell Ackbar. Read that then read this: quote:He is currently enrolled in the UW's Agile Development Program.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 09:29
|
|
|
Looks like the blog, along with all of his other ones, have been deleted. Not the comments though. For instance accusing other posters of plagiarism, then claiming he is "the world's #1 leading cultural anthropology expert who dropped out because he was doing Ph.D level work left and right as an undergrad, and got bored with anthropology." Or this one, trashing on "inexperienced junior developers" quote:That is why I only ever try to be courteous and respectful at all times, or attempt to point out flaws in others' thoughts only when they seem to be inexperienced junior developers who need a bit of guidance to make sure they don't get their careers off to the wrong start. Leif. fucked around with this message at 13:06 on Aug 8, 2012 |
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 12:49
|
|
|
Diplomaticus posted:Looks like the blog, along with all of his other ones, have been deleted. Man, I just got home and was going to save that post. Kind of a shame, because I was hoping more people from the QA side would get a chance to weigh in on it (assuming they had anything else to say besides "wow this dude is crazy"). There were a couple of things he said that were actually semi-interesting when he wasn't grinding an axe. Glad you quoted the bio, at least. The article made the rounds at the office today, and since everybody knows everybody in this industry the author has basically prevented himself from ever working at a major developer again. E: FWIW the guy actually did work on D3, I see his name in the in-game credits. E2: And now the blog comments, including poorly-typed, misspelled allegations of plagiarism, are gone too. Save 'em if you got 'em. quote:Time to tone is down a notch. 99% of people who play games are mentally sane and fully have the right to enjoy special ops or vampire games. Unfortunately, 1% of people are unbalanced can indeed be negatively influenced by this. mp5 fucked around with this message at 14:02 on Aug 8, 2012 |
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 13:38
|
|
|
mp5 posted:Man, I just got home and was going to save that post. Google has it cached http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...JYYVw3oshuThuJQ
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 14:00
|
|
|
Thanks much. By the way, your avatar is excellent. Here's the Google-cached plagiarism accusation. http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...n&ct=clnk&gl=us
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 14:11
|
|
|
Wow! I love waking up to this kind of crazy. Gamasutra found out his crap fast, I wonder how many people e-mailed them.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 14:42
|
|
|
Wow. It is amusing and all that, but you also have to kind of feel sorry for the guy. As others have mentioned, it sounds like he does have actual, legit mental issues and it's really unfortunate that he did this to himself.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 15:44
|
|
|
Huh. That was certainly a thing. I wonder if Gamasutra purged his blog, or if that was at his request after the internet turned on him.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 16:42
|
|
|
I called Leigh Alexander out on it on twitter, but as usual, no response.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 16:51
|
|
|
Apparently Gamebryo.com has lapsed as of two days ago.  I'd say so much for applying to them, but apparently they closed their office here 2 years ago and are owned by some Korean company now. OneEightHundred fucked around with this message at 17:06 on Aug 8, 2012 |
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 16:56
|
|
|
Reviews for Darksiders 2 are started to filter out, so far a 93 from GamePro (German) and an 86 from Play (UK). It was a blast to work on and I'm glad to see good solid positive reviews so far, the team did an exceptional job with some pretty harsh extenuating circumstances towards the end. Also a lot of this discussion is super interesting, I simply wish I had something to contribute
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 17:08
|
|
|
mp5 posted:Where at, if you don't mind my asking? I worked with him at the company where he "consciously decided to fall on a grenade to protect everyone in my squad, for the Greater Good of the company’s reputation." Thanks buddy, I'll always remember your sacrifice over that minor typo bug that wasn't a typo at all.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 17:14
|
|
|
treeboy posted:Reviews for Darksiders 2 are started to filter out, so far a 93 from GamePro (German) and an 86 from Play (UK). It was a blast to work on and I'm glad to see good solid positive reviews so far, the team did an exceptional job with some pretty harsh extenuating circumstances towards the end. What work did you do on it?
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 17:49
|
|
|
Apropos of nothing, but since GamePro was my first non-Wendy's-type job ever, it brings a slight tear of joy to my eye to know they're still going strong in Germany  (It's surprising by the way how many ex-GP'ers now have jobs in games. Not just in PR as is the stereotypical "game journalist" career path, either, but actually in dev. I think more so than EGM, etc. even. GP was crap not because of lack of talent, but because the management crushed everybody's hearts to pieces.)
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 17:55
|
|
|
treeboy posted:Reviews for Darksiders 2 are started to filter out, so far a 93 from GamePro (German) and an 86 from Play (UK). It was a blast to work on and I'm glad to see good solid positive reviews so far, the team did an exceptional job with some pretty harsh extenuating circumstances towards the end. Congrats on the positive reviews, I've heard a lot of internal THQ stories about some of those circumstances and I'm glad you guys managed to pull through. All of us here are desperately waiting for the game to unlock on our THQ dev accounts.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 18:21
|
|
|
So I'm leaving community management. because I'm moving into design. 
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 22:03
|
|
|
Monster w21 Faces posted:So I'm leaving community management. Congrats! How much did you drink before as a community manager?
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 22:08
|
|
|
Belzac posted:I'll always remember your sacrifice over that minor typo bug that wasn't a typo at all. Ah, me too. It was quite a discussion last night. In other news, I'm actually pretty excited for Darksiders 2 now that the reviews have started to come in. Pretty much everyone involved needs this game to be good and well-received at this point.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 22:40
|
|
|
Irish Taxi Driver posted:Congrats! How much did you drink before as a community manager? Now I'm imagining some chart labeled "alcohol consumption levels by position in the game industry" and some correlation to be drawn.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 22:44
|
|
|
Revitalized posted:Now I'm imagining some chart labeled "alcohol consumption levels by position in the game industry" and some correlation to be drawn. You'd probably draw a more interesting correlation with amount of alcohol drunk vs average size of group that one drinks with, with color coded dots that indicate both position type and spectrum of position seniority.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 22:48
|
|
|
Shalinor posted:Programmers would be at the top of that chart. No contest. I dunno, I bet QA drinks the most overall just by merit of being (generally) younger and single. Your point stands, I know in the last 4 months of our project every lead and producer had at least 1 bottle of something on their desk. poo poo, I had a fan send me a bottle of Maker's Mark as a thank you for the long hours type of thing.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 22:57
|
|
|
HR here is ridiculously disconnected from the alcohol situation in video game companies. I once brought back a Guinness along with a fish and chips take out, because hey, it goes with the lunch... Ate lunch in the cafeteria none the wiser, only to be summoned for a warning a few days later. At first I couldn't even remember "drinking on the workplace" because... seriously? A single beer with lunch? How does that even register?  If HR were to see our Friday programmer lunches (offsite), where the average beer intake ranges between 1 and 2 litres, they'd be climbing up the walls. Either way, since then, I keep my emergency Scotch in a flask instead of a bottle in plain view. Meh.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 23:07
|
|
|
Shalinor posted:Programmers would be at the top of that chart. No contest. Art department here due to the will of a single man. Nights out go to dark places with him present. EDIT: Thats not to say its terrible drinking with him, it just goes to wierd places. Jan posted:HR here is ridiculously disconnected from the alcohol situation in video game companies. I once brought back a Guinness along with a fish and chips take out, because hey, it goes with the lunch... Ate lunch in the cafeteria none the wiser, only to be summoned for a warning a few days later. At first I couldn't even remember "drinking on the workplace" because... seriously? A single beer with lunch? How does that even register? No way, that'd never happen here. Our HR people are always out drinking with us.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 23:16
|
|
|
Is it quantity of ABV? Is it sheer liquid? Is it total cost? I think different departments win with different criteria. I take pride in the following facts: * My current boss, when we come to a hard problem, tells me that it's time for me to go drinking. I'll leave the office in the middle of the day, sit at a bar with a notebook, and drink and write until I need to stumble home. In the morning, we'll go through my notebook and see if anything solved the problem (or was even coherent). This will continue until the problem is solved. It's been shockingly effective at coming up with elegant solutions quickly. * At the last job, the senior management had an honest-to-god meeting to discuss if I should be allowed to drink at the office because it made me so much more cooperative and congenial. Sadly, they decided they couldn't legally endorse / allow it, they would bankroll me as long as I kept it under control.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 23:24
|
|
|
I humbly submit Business Development managers; we get paid to drink at conferences!
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 23:31
|
|
|
Irish Taxi Driver posted:Congrats! How much did you drink before as a community manager? Not enough. Very little schmoozing in social and mobile developers based in Scotland. Irish Taxi Driver posted:
Word. We get free beer on Friday.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 23:32
|
|
|
I was with a group of programmers and artists who drank an Austin 6th street bar out of beer between the hours of 7 and 1030pm. We killed all of their kegs and they had to go get more from next door but we all just left since it was taking too long.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 23:35
|
|
|
Before I was converted to employee from contractor, there was a great big silly list of Things Contractors Aren't Allowed To Do, which included consuming alcohol during work hours. This rule was fragrantly and habitually violated because the temp worker providers were an entire continent away, and everyone in the studio thought the list was arbitrary and damaging to actually creating a team environment anyway.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2012 23:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 3, 2024 19:09 |
|
|
I'm sitting, staring at my tea, wondering "... ok, it's not coffee, but... I mean it's dark, has milk... maybe it could still stand some scotch." English game devs, I know you know the answer to this question.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2012 00:03
|
|