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I just read this: http://gamecareerguide.com/features/963/porn_elves_and_other_offenses_of_.php I suggest Game Jobs Megathread #3: No porn elves or anime. EVER.
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Jun 23, 2011 02:02
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Sigma-X posted:Ignition Games in Austin is apparently dead. Boo-urns. Wait, what? Are they just moving their staff to cali? http://gamasutra.com/view/news/35438/Ignition_Games_Opens_New_California_Office.php
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Jun 24, 2011 19:12
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Irish Taxi Driver posted:arcadey It's probably just a side effect of the games I have worked on and the companies we pitch designs for, but I've used some variation of this word in probably 95 percent of the design documents I have written/proofread.
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Jul 8, 2011 21:07
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MustardFacial posted:Getting my first ever Design credit in a video game It's not petty at all. Enjoy it, and I hope it is on a project you're proud of!
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Jul 10, 2011 10:47
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Monster w21 Faces posted:Get back on that horse mister. Some people don't want to. I've heard programmers that work with me state that this is fun for now but they just want to do it for five or six more years to get it out of their system and work on other kinds of software. As a designer that's not something I can really relate to, but it hardly seems like an unusual sentiment.
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Jul 12, 2011 09:41
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MustardFacial posted:I fully realize I bring it on myself, to be fair though it's not "OMG I work in games!" as much as it is "No, we are NOT shipping with that. gently caress it, I'll fix it myself." It's sort of frustrating when in response to that attitude, someone above you says "No, don't fix it." It has happened to me. To be fair, it happened for reasons I technically understand but also don't think are good enough reasons to avoid fixing something that is sub-par.
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Jul 13, 2011 08:23
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mastermind2004 posted:Robot Entertainment is hiring! I played Orcs Must Die at E3 and it is pretty sweet. I'm not looking for a job right now, but if I were you guys seem great.
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Jul 13, 2011 18:23
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Re: Game Design Degrees The actual degree is a piece of paper. Saying you're qualified to make games becauuse you have one is what makes it a joke, since it isn't really that hard to get on if you just stick it out long enough. Instead, make the experience behind getting it count. Meet good people and constantly make things. I am a designer who got my job because I was a dedicated and competent partner in school projects, and someone in my class got into a position where he was asked to recommend people. I got really lucky in the sense that the job found me, however. I would recommend you work on some ideas and pick something to start with you can make in a simple engine like Unity or Flash. Don't try to create a 200 or so page MMO design document stating you're going to change MMOs forever, however.... That just gets your resume passed around as a joke.
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Jul 19, 2011 04:20
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Nagna Zul posted:Well, I've been working as a Gameplay Programmer for 6 months now. If you enjoy it, then keep doing it. If you still have an itch to be a designer at this point then try to make something in your free time. A lot of what designers do is taking a feature that a programmer implements (with all of the necessary functionality) and actually tweaking and tuning it to get as much fun out of it as possible. When you make something in your free time and it has all of the features that it should have but just doesn't "feel right" yet, then the designer stuff begins.
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Jul 21, 2011 02:04
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BovineFury posted:P.S. Lunch ladies are pretty involved in day to day activities at the school and still make decisions that affect the students' school day somewhat. If they all went on strike it would have a large effect on the school day. I'd say that a Gamestop employee is to the game industry as a binder manufacturer is to education. EDIT: In more personal industry news, I just finished writing a pitch I really like but I am highly pessimistic about the possibilities of it being made. Hell, there's a 50-50 chance of it not even making it in front of the people with the money as we have two pitches that the company higher ups will choose between before going in for a meeting. This is probably the thing that most if not all of our company would have the most fun being paid to made, so wish me luck. Superrodan fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Jul 31, 2011 |
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Jul 31, 2011 03:34
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Amrosorma posted:It's funny you mention that considering the last couple weeks! I think I might have actually finally gotten something right in the industry predict-athon.... Does anyone know who was running that? It started in the last thread.
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Aug 23, 2011 23:13
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This image, passed along by a programmer, made me think of this thread:
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Aug 25, 2011 23:54
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When my small company was contracted to do work on an MMO, we were credited as a company rather than as individuals, so stuff like that happens too.
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Aug 31, 2011 23:01
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The worst thing about that video is his email is wrong at the end. EDIT: After searching his site for the real one I emailed him letting him know, so hopefully he can fix it soon. Superrodan fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Sep 19, 2011 |
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Sep 19, 2011 19:21
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I just read this article, linked in another thread: http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/22786_To_My_Someday_Daughter.html It takes a look at many problems with the way women are treated in gamer culture and somewhere around the halfway point it brings up video games as well, and why the author was ashamed to share his passion with his spouse. I found myself realizing that a lot of the issues they're talking about with gamers apply to the people I sometimes see working in the industry as well. With regards to the sexist character designs or concepts and such, I've not yet been made to work on something I've thought went down that path, but many companies fall trap to pushing forward character designs that do fall into that category so I was wondering if anyone here had any stories about the things that they've worked on and how that came to be. I remember reading in the DotA 2 thread that Valve has been really good about that and how they purposely didn't put "sexy" characters in skimpy clothing into DotA 2 even though they got feedback regarding that. It's kind of cool that they made that decision, and I sort of wish I could know more about their philosophies. Does it seem like a problem that stems more from the knowledge that "sex sells" (which it does) with our target audience, or does it sort of seem like a reflection of the people that make the games? Or would you say it is an unfortunate combination of both? I know there was a topic discussing minorities and sexism in video games and that this is a pretty serious turn of discussion for this thread, but I was more interested from a developer standpoint where WE think it stems from. I'd like to discuss it as unheatedly as possible, though, if we could. I also understand that some people might have to be extremely vague as not to stir up an real life trouble.
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Oct 7, 2011 22:54
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Black Eagle posted:I've seen worse from teams who could afford to license the Unreal Engine. Robot Entertainment's launch website just had a logo and an e-mail address. One of my friends, Jim Buck, launched his first company DepthQ with this website. Respawn Entertainment didn't even have a website. I think you should find a more appropriate criteria. All of these things that you listed are better than the website linked in this thread, by far. Those people knew that if you didn't have anything to make a website about, you keep it super simple or don't even make one. The DepthQ site is from 2001, which wasn't that much further beyond "hampster dance" times on the internet. I believe that much of what people are laughing at are the personal bios and their job openings. Have you looked at the page? This is one of their job opportunities: - Graphics Adjuster I understand that you don't think we should be making fun of people that want to break into the industry, but we're just teasing them about how much their website screams "I'm a kid who wants to make the next Call of Duty". At some point many of us were that kid, and we ALSO know how to make fun of ourselves for the crap we did back then.
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Oct 26, 2011 15:34
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My old boss used to tell me that the thing he heard most after saying he was a game designer was "Oh yeah"? I have an idea for a game". And then, invariably, their idea would always be some variation of what they do for a living. "It's a game where you're a cop and..." or "It's a game where you have puzzles about doing taxes...". I usually get the Grandma's Boy question.
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Nov 14, 2011 19:40
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My father didn't like the fact that I played so many games as a kid, but at some point (I don't really know how) my stepmom got hooked on Doom 2. Then, my dad bought her a Playstation for Christmas after having seen some Doom game for it in the store. They hooked it up and when I showed them the games on the demo disc that came with it, they both got hooked on Tomb Raider 2. Now they play games together all the time. They were almost more happy than I was when I got a job in the industry. It's nice to not have to explain a bunch, but I do deal with "It would be awesome if you made a game like Tomb Raider" sometimes.
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Nov 15, 2011 22:24
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Waterbed posted:Oh man I'm signing right up. Where do I put all my money into this seemingly flawless operation? Into this here toaster.
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Dec 15, 2011 01:51
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RoboCicero posted:Hey, your project really caught my eye. I don't have any appreciable or tangible skills, but I can look at things and make things better. My friends have often come up to me and said "man, you really have an eye for refinement". I'm thinking I can come in two hours a day and look over your things and tell you what you can improve. Does that sound good? I don't need to work for much, just give me 20% share in the company and pay for food, transportation, rent, utilities, furniture, computer upgrades. Don't be tricked, this project is a ripoff of my work! I came into an interview a while back for a design position with these guys and pitched my idea for a multi-user, free to use but microtransaction based Waffle Iron! I brought my 223 page design document that outlines all of the different waffle stats and what they affect and the different locations that the player can take the waffle iron to (It makes double fluffy waffles in Japan)! Now they've obviously stolen my idea, changed a few things around and called it a toaster. I demand compensation! I was told by SO many veterans of the industry that this could never happen and that ideas are a dime a dozen but here we are! I should have NEVER listened, this could have made me so rich! I COULD HAVE BEEN THE IDEAS GUY.
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Dec 15, 2011 19:07
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My answer is usually a variation of: "Programmers are the ones who write the code to make the game function but I am responsible for putting everything together to make the game fun." Usually the question that prompts it is something like "so you write computer programs?", which is sort of why I have to clarify that.
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Jan 1, 2012 19:04
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It's kind of surreal to see a game I was one of the main designers on (Dude Perfect) reach number 6 in the Android market but to know I basically did no work on the port. It feels like it's not really my game somehow, since it had to be ported, but the iOS version that I did work on didn't do nearly as well. Anyone have any kind of experience with ports? I mean I wonder if someone who worked on GTA3 still feels like the iOS version is the game they made. It's just a weird disconnect, is all.
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Mar 28, 2012 00:49
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Wow, sad to hear about all the layoffs at THQ. I recently applied to Vigil through a recruiter and nobody got back to either of us at all, and I guess now I know why. If anyone worked there or Relic, I'm sorry to hear it.
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Mar 29, 2012 21:35
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wodin posted:January was THQ, February was the Blizzard 600, and now March is Vigil/Relic. Vigil and Relic are both THQ as well. They're just basically having a really crappy last couple of years. They've closed what looks to be 7 studios since 2010 and are down to 5 including Vigil and Relic. Their stock also apparently dropped below a dollar. I think Saints Row 3 and Darksiders 2 are all they have left to rely on, basically.
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Mar 30, 2012 09:26
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Just applied somewhere that isn't going to lay a ton of people off before I hear back from them. Although if a major major studio suddenly cuts most of their staff, I guess the only good news to come out of that might be that I officially know that I'm the problem! Then I can hold this entire industry hostage by threatening to apply to places... Muahahahaha.
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Apr 26, 2012 20:04
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I don't like posting in here about this because I feel like the best course is usually to wait and see, but on Friday I had an interview and I think I sort of bombed it just from a combination of not being fully ready and being in a different mindset towards how the interview was going to play out as opposed to how it did. I've never been in this situation before as I usually do pretty well in interviews and this job sounded amazingly awesome, so it kind of bums me out. How horrible would it be, if I haven't heard anything back by next Monday, to email the recruiter that set up my interview, since she was the one who got me excited in the first place and made the job sound like a perfect fit for me (and said that I seemed like a perfect fit for them, but that just might be her job talking) and sort of candidly admit I don't think I did as well as I would have normally? I know the reasons I messed up the interview were my fault in the first place, but I also feel like it wasn't a 100 percent representation of who I am or who I would be if I was working for them, and instead was sort of a more pressured, less solid-answers version of myself. I guess I made this post both to rant at myself and sort of see if there was any precedent for saying "I think we got off on the wrong foot, can we try again" in the interview process. There is also the chance that I am being overly critical on myself due to having my hopes up pretty high when hearing about the position, which is why no matter what I am going to do, I am going to wait to hear back about the job first.
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May 2, 2012 15:56
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Diplomaticus posted:Everyone bombs an interview from time to time. It was an in-house HR person that got me set up. I was recommended by someone that works there, so I sent in my resume and they almost instantly contacted me.
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May 2, 2012 17:20
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Well, doing poorly in my interview led to me not getting a job I was excited about. That's sort of what I expected, and I'm sure I'll do better next time, but it's still a bummer. In the meantime at least I have steady work as a design contractor, and although it has been a while since a game I worked on was actually released in some fashion, it seems like I finally have a chance to work on something that will eventually see the light of day. That feels nice.
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May 9, 2012 21:48
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I just overheard news of layoffs/closure at THQ in California most likely having to do with the fact that EA just picked up UFC. If anyone here is out of a job, sorry to hear that.
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Jun 4, 2012 22:40
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph60iKWmtos For the record, it was on page 67 and it was made by Podunkian (but posted by Shalinor).
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Jun 22, 2012 00:21
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I have usually been very vague about what I do and where I work, but in the one case that I have talked about a game I worked on I tried to sort of take the criticism, acknowledge it, and explain my thoughts on why the sort of nonsensical features they asked about existed without taking it personally. I'm working on a few things now but I get extremely hesitant to talk about anything specific simply because the things I work on tend to have a pretty significant chance of never seeing the light of day. Especially my personal pet project, which although it is playable and taking shape and therefore I feel the need to show it off to pretty much anyone that could ever care, I have resisted as it is both unpolished and being made at an admittedly very slow pace for how simple it is. Once I mention something and try to get any interest in it I feel pressured/obligated to go full steam on it which I really don't have the resources to do. I have seen a TON of "Hey check out this thing I am working on in my spare time" projects and while some have been cool, none of them ever got finished. I'm hoping that instead I can be the guy who says "Hey check out this game we will be releasing on X date" or "Hey, I made a game, check it out".
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Jul 12, 2012 00:29
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Chernabog posted:Speaking of X-com, I saw this on my FB feed today: This is pretty fun. I always wonder whose idea these types of videos are when they come from a big company like this. Marketing? Or the people involved take it to marketing who approve?
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Oct 9, 2012 01:13
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Wow. I can only hope this creates a cold war of MOBA championships. The International 3 better beat it, then Riot better come back and make the next LoL championship better and so on.
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Oct 15, 2012 17:49
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Two MMOs I worked on parts of are closing down today. It was kind of sad to go in and play the games that I helped design for what I know to be the last time. Luckily, I have video proof that they existed for my portfolio, but still. Luckily I got ahold of another guy that worked on it with me so I had someone to play against (they were both multiplayer games).
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Mar 31, 2014 22:43
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concerned mom posted:Which are those? It's always a bit sad when MMOs close down. SOE's Free Realms and Clone Wars. The company I worked at created the racing game portions of each, as well as a few of the other minigames. Here's a video someone else took: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A87hr2PPdL4
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Apr 2, 2014 04:57
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Shalinor posted:We studied your racing games - both of those specifically - for a solid month at LEGO Universe, trying to guess at what you'd done to make it so latency-tolerant. So freaking huge congrats on that. I was a designer, so I don't remember a lot about the latency related math in the code. I do recall us trying a few things to fix that same issue you were talking about. I think our ultimate solution was a combination of a lot of experimenting with mass/gravity/friction tweaks to make the cars easier to push around in general, and more importantly, designer-tuneable additional force on both sides of the sides of the vehicles that helped the physics out a bit. It might have even added more pushing force on the harder collisions because momentum alone wasn't enough. It's been a long time, and I can't quite remember, honestly. We also made the demolition derby game, and that involved a lot of colliding so it was something we had to address for two projects. I seem to recall different phases in both games along the way, including "Us A.I. can push everyone into walls and there's nothing you can do about it, you dirty human" and "If two players touch on either side they get stuck and are forced to adventure together in a forward path until they reach the inevitable conclusion". I think there was also the short lived "designers are having too much fun phase" where cars would just send one another into orbit with even the slightest collision. Anyways, I'm glad someone enjoyed it on a technical level, because we did a lot if work to make it on a short timeline and I'm pretty proud of how it turned out in general. We had missiles that home in on you like the red shells in Mario Kart, but if you timed your jump right then would go under you and start aiming for the next person. We tried to make it so that if the first place guy jumped it, it would go a ways, then do a 180 then come back (so you could jump it again and it would start traveling backwards through the ranks) but we had a lot of trouble with the turning part so we scrapped it.
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Apr 3, 2014 04:03
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So the game I am a Space Butt Designer on was released for iOS and Android today. http://spelltorn.com/ We're in that "Well now that it's out we just gotta get hundreds of thousands of players to play it" phase, so... this oughta be fun. Regardless, it was a long development process and it's not over yet as hopefully this gets enough of a following for us to continue releasing content for it. I'm just taking the day or so off in celebration, sharing it everywhere that I personally can, and will probably start seriously thinking about getting it in front of as many faces as possible come Monday. Does anyone have any advice?
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Aug 15, 2014 00:22
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devilmouse posted:Super frank answer: "Is your LTV > CPI? If so, spend money! If not, fix it so it is and THEN spend money." That's every F2P learning boiled down into one pithy and VERY difficult piece of advice. This is a massive topic, but if you've already released in the US without a marketing/UA plan for a F2P game, you're going to have a very large hill to climb (it's not an impossible one, just a very hard one). After a soft launch in a few countries that did not go very well we sort of stepped back and realized some things weren't working and that there were flaws in retention. After a big revision to our onboarding process and a second soft launch in a few other countries we felt those issues were fixed hence the decision to go worldwide. We have a LOT of metrics and trackers and APIs and all that jazz (One thing we did right from the start so we had a good idea of our problem areas), and I'm confident that my bosses have the business plan down when it comes to spending money to make money. Honestly, I am looking to see if there are any things that I can do to help boost the number of hands it gets into. I personally spent a long time getting to this moment and am really close to the project. We're not a huge company by any means so I tend to wear a lot of hats and I guess I'm just looking for a hat to wear at the moment that helps me get people to play what I made. I thought about approaching reddit or trying to seek out review sites, or do anything else. Hell, posting it in the iOS thread would be a few more views than I had otherwise. I think it's just a case of "The game is out now how can I help make the numbers go up" because I don't want to feel like I didn't do everything I should have done. I watched Indie Game: The Movie for the first time last night and the thing that resonated with me the most was when one of the devs behind Super Meat Boy said something along the lines of "I don't want to check the numbers because if I check the numbers then I'll keep refreshing the numbers every few minutes". I guess I'm at that point. As for the advice from Zeryn about the trailer... We do also have a gameplay trailer that I put together... I made it rather than the professional guy we hired to do the game intro (which is the work we have on the site) so it's not as flashy. If it works better I can probably get the one on the website switched out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpngby33LQ8
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Aug 15, 2014 03:51
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Shalinor posted:You're in mobile F2P. Sorry to say, but none of that matters now. When you're in Premium space on desktop, all that stuff you see in Indie Game: The Movie applies, because of all the ways you have to access your customers, and the relationship gamers have with devs there. It works. I appreciate the honesty and advice. Like I said, my bosses have plans for how to spend the advertising money and such. I guess all I can do is sit back and wait.
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Aug 15, 2014 06:21
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theflyingorc posted:In what context are you asking? Valve's hardly a powerhouse "great game" studio right now with all their time being devoted to Steam, and Riot makes one game. WoW still pulls in tons of money(though less than it used to) and Starcraft 2 has done fine, I'm not sure what metrics you'd compare them to each other on. DotA 2 is doing gangbusters, CS:GO seems to be extremely popular, and it's well known that Left 4 Dead 3 and a new Source Engine are coming sometime in the next few years. I would say Valve is as much a game studio as Blizzard.
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Sep 27, 2014 05:28
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