This week, your morale will be severely tested as reality checks are provided about what the work-a-day life is like within the belly of the beast. Working in the game industry is just about sitting around and playing games all day, you know; there's an ugly side to this business, too.
Between Dress Rehearsal Practice Pitches, we'll also be discussing the future of the game industry. Be sure to bring your thoughts, questions, and comments along to add to the discussion!
Important: This week you will be presenting a non-graded Practice Pitch Presentation in class! This is a full dress rehearsal and will be the Biz Dev's (i.e., instructor's) chance to evaluate the style of your presentation and what sort of first impression your Team will make on The Client. All Pitch materials should exist in a state of completion (or very near completion) and be brought to class. Be sure to follow the Pitch Presentation format for this live, in-class 'dress rehearsal.'
The link below is the homework assignment due at the beginning of the next class session.
Homework: Week 10
Cartoon: Levels of Game Development Hell by Penny Arcade
Dante has nothing on these guys.
Blog: Electronic Arts: The Human Story by ea_spouse
In November of 2004, this message reverberated throughout the entire game industry. It is a damning indictment of employment practices at EA, the industry's largest employer. Reading it will rock your world. Look past the introduction sections, and be sure to go all the way to the bottom where additional media links are provided as follow-up.
Article: Open Letter: Quality of Life Issues are Holding Back the Game Industry by the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Board of Directors
This was also released in November of 2004.
Report: The Quality of Life in the Game Industry from the IGDA (April 20, 2004)
This white paper discusses the problems and consequences developers face when trying to maintain a career in the industry and the solutions for establishing a better work/life balance.
The survey examined developers' attitude toward work, their internal pressures (salary, long hours, job instability), external pressures (family and relationships), inadequate staffing and work organization problems. Some of the alarming findings from the survey include:
- 34.3% of developers expect to leave the industry within 5 years, and 51.2% within 10 years.
- Only 3.4% said that their coworkers averaged 10 or more years of experience.
- Crunch time is omnipresent, during which respondents work 65 to 80 hours a week (35.2%). The average crunch work week exceeds 80 hours (13%). Overtime is often uncompensated (46.8%).
- 44% of developers claim they could use more people or special skills on their projects.
- Spouses are likely to respond that “You work too much...” (61.5%); “You are always stressed out.” (43.5%); “You don't make enough money.” (35.6%).
- Contrary to expectations, more people said that games were only one of many career options for them (34%) than said games were their only choice (32%).
You don't have to read the entire Quality of Life in the Game Industry (but you may want to, so there is the link). However, being familiar with the above-listed findings may help you on the next exam (hint, hint). If you want to know more about the quality of life working in the game industry, check out the Optional Reading section, below.
These supplemental links are worth pursuing only if you are seriously interested in working in the game business and want to know about it in the broadest possible sense. This material will not be directly included in the exams, but if you're serious about delving deeply into the subject of game production, here's some more lessons from others who have also "been there."
Article: What's Wrong with the Game Industry (And How to Make it Right) by Stephen Ford
In this impassioned and controversial article, developer Stephen Ford discusses the issues he sees in today's game industry, and exactly how the business needs to shift as it moves into the next console generation.
Article: A Bug's Life by Edge
Is it still worth hunting bugs for a living - at the risk of being treated like an insect - for your break in the videogame industry?
Web Page: Quality of Life in the Game Industry Summit: 2005 by the IGDA
Plan to spend a little quality time on this web page; it contains numerous links relating to the issues that concern those who labor in this industry. In particular, read Seven Reasons Why You Should Care About This Stuff. If that doesn't raise your pulse, you're either dead or not serious about working in the game business.
Power Point presentation: Making Better Games in 40 Hours Per Week by Hank Howie
This brief Power Point presentation was made at the 2005 Game Developers Conference.
Article: Put up or Shut Up: Quality of Life Issues Reach a Boiling Point by Matt Sakey
This is a pretty good rant with some interesting thoughts and suggestions on the subject.
Article: Unionize Now? by Paul Hyman
Truckers, janitors, nurses, and teachers did it. Then Microsoft contract employees did it. And most of the film industry did it quite some time ago. Game developers, faced in their places of business with major quality of life issues, have realized that forming a union is an option. But would it be the best solution? Hyman investigates, in this article from the March 2005 issue of Game Developer magazine. This is a great article!
Article: Unionizing the Game Industry? by Eric-Jon Waugh
The Quality of Life Summit at the 2005 Game Developers Conference featured Gina Neff, from UC San Diego, addressed the growing question of unionization in the videogame industry.
Article: EA Pays $15.6 Million to Settle Employee Suit by Nicole C. Wong
This article from the San Jose Mercury News concerns a very big deal in the game industry.
Article: In Defense of Crunch by Damion Schubert
Of course, there are two sides to every story. You may want to hear the other side.
Article: Manager in a Strange Land: Crunch by Jamie Fristrom
'Crunch Time' refers to those days when extra work overloads team members who are required to make an important milestone or product ship date; this is something that everyone must live through in the entertainment business. There are two schools of thought about crunch time: "We can't be competitive if we don't crunch" and "Studies have shown that programmers are at their most effective when they only work N hours a day." Jamie Fristrom explains why both camps are right, and details his experiences in using it sparingly.
Article: Follow Your Dreams... to Hell? with Tom Sloper
Tom addresses the concerns of someone considering becoming a game developer who has just become aware of the tale told by ea_spouse. You should read his comments.
Article: A Game Developers Bill of Rights by Eric Zimmerman
In this vitally important article, GameLab CEO and industry veteran Eric Zimmerman defines a putative 'Bill of Rights' for video game developers, "a provocation that draws attention to a set of important issues and challenges facing our industry."
Article: Cross-platform game development and the next generation of consoles by Jeremy Reimer
This article makes the following predictions:
- The growing cost of development for games on next-gen platforms will increase demand from publishers to require new games to be deployed on many platforms.
- Increased cross-platform development will mean less money for optimizing a new game for any particular platform.
- As a result, with the exception of in-house titles developed by the console manufacturers themselves, none of the three major platforms (Xbox 360, PS3 and Nintendo Revolution) will end up with games that look significantly different from each other, nor will any platform show any real "edge" over the others. Many games will be written to a "lowest common denominator" platform, which would be two threads running on a single CPU core and utilizing only the GPU.
Article: Ten Easy Ways to Screw Up Your Game Company by François Dominic Laramée
You could probably use a good but insightful laugh right now as you grind your way to the finish line. You've probably already had a taste of some of these lessons along the way.
