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The less glamorous side of video game development
Posted on 10/5/14 at 8:37 am
Posted on 10/5/14 at 8:37 am
LINK
For those with "professional" jobs, what are your work weeks like? I increasingly see long hours for different professions. For me, 40 hours is the same as a vacation, it rarely happens and when it does I don't know what to do with myself.
For those with "professional" jobs, what are your work weeks like? I increasingly see long hours for different professions. For me, 40 hours is the same as a vacation, it rarely happens and when it does I don't know what to do with myself.
7
Posted on 10/5/14 at 9:00 am to Mr Gardoki
The 40 hour work week isn't set in stone anymore, that's for sure. Video game companies are fans of some dubious cost cutting measures, always reading about it.
Posted on 10/5/14 at 11:09 am to Mr Gardoki
Wtf is this gardoki, I take the time to respond and you abandon your own thread?!?
Posted on 10/5/14 at 11:20 am to sbr2
Oh, um... fricking ea...
Eta: I was giving it some time for people to read and comment. I know how slow this board is on weekends.
I often wonder about work weeks because I do see a lot of different careers crushing themselves. I sometimes wonder if that is just part of it and people need to accept it or not. I don't personally believe in it and find myself inefficient working like that. My family has accountants and they certainly have that grind.
Eta: I was giving it some time for people to read and comment. I know how slow this board is on weekends.
I often wonder about work weeks because I do see a lot of different careers crushing themselves. I sometimes wonder if that is just part of it and people need to accept it or not. I don't personally believe in it and find myself inefficient working like that. My family has accountants and they certainly have that grind.
This post was edited on 10/5/14 at 11:23 am
Posted on 10/5/14 at 11:24 am to sbr2
I haven't read the article, but I was listening to the bombcast a few weeks ago, and they were talking about how brutal it is being in the gaming industry. Crazy long hours with no guarantee that you'll have a job after that project is over.
Posted on 10/5/14 at 11:29 am to sicboy
And fans that bash you for not making a game in 1080p
Posted on 10/5/14 at 1:12 pm to Mr Gardoki
I work in entertainment, so it varies week to week. If we are in our tech rehearsal, putting all the tech elements in, the highest I've gone was 117 hours in one week, but its usually around 100. In show weeks usually about 70 hours a week. When no shows are happening is when I go down to about 50 hours a week.
And this:
is every artistic job. They don't even have to give you a reason. They'll just say "We aren't bringing you back in for the next project". Its crushing. I've had it happen countless times. Its almost always because you said something about something, because you know being in an artistic field, everyones got an opinion. What matters is if your opinion is on par with the people paying you, NOT what is best for the project.
And this:
quote:
Crazy long hours with no guarantee that you'll have a job after that project is over.
is every artistic job. They don't even have to give you a reason. They'll just say "We aren't bringing you back in for the next project". Its crushing. I've had it happen countless times. Its almost always because you said something about something, because you know being in an artistic field, everyones got an opinion. What matters is if your opinion is on par with the people paying you, NOT what is best for the project.
This post was edited on 10/5/14 at 1:15 pm
Posted on 10/5/14 at 1:38 pm to sbr2
quote:shite i work way more than that. Sure some weeks i might be at 42-43 but usually the minimum is 45, 5 days a week at 9 hour shifts. But that doesnt include the fact im 30 minutes early every day and usually stay a couple of hours late every day too, so my 9 hour shifts can change to 12 in a hurry. We have started to have a lazy arse workforce, people constantly bitching about hours and pay, hey if you werent late 3 days a week maybe you would make more money, if your kid wasnt sick once a week maybe you would make more money.
The 40 hour work week isn't set in stone anymore,
Posted on 10/5/14 at 1:48 pm to Mr Gardoki
The video game industry is something I never had an interest in getting into. The potential payoff is huge but that career is a grind for sure.
I worked a tremendously shitty schedule in college involving late nights and spaced out weird days off (Monday and Wednesday), so working a 43-45 hour a week career with weekends off now feels like a cake walk to me.
I worked a tremendously shitty schedule in college involving late nights and spaced out weird days off (Monday and Wednesday), so working a 43-45 hour a week career with weekends off now feels like a cake walk to me.
Posted on 10/5/14 at 1:59 pm to Mr Gardoki
quote:
The less glamorous side of video game development
Eh. There are lots of jobs out there with completely craptastic schedules, this is nothing new. You choose to work like that, it's really your own fault. There are also a lot of unemployed people, and jobs with ridiculous turnover rates. And all of the above.
The age of the 40-hour work week in a job that you can have for 25 years if you want is long over. There's not much we can do about it.
And yeah, it may be your dream, but you can either:
1) Change your circumstances of your dream and achieve in a more independent manner
2) Decide that your dream is actually a work-life balance and get another job, maybe keep game dev as a hobby. Hence awesome fan projects and indie projects.
Jaded, naaaa. Realistic. I love my job, but I work at it for 50+ hours a week. I work at a startup and I might not have a job tomorrow, that's just how it is. If I didn't feel that risk was worth it, I wouldn't be doing it. It's not like I didn't know the circumstances coming into it.
Also, there are lots of problem with game development and the assembly line-like qualities of game dev are because of the demands of the customers and their buying patterns, if people cared, they can change how they purchase. I know I did. When you have an industry that is built on escalating costs and a drive for low-risk, highly iterative products, min-maxing outputs and continuously replaceable populations are a large problem. You really are a cog in a machine churning out similar products.
Posted on 10/5/14 at 3:22 pm to Freauxzen
It definitely sucks, I wonder what 40 hour week jobs are left because I want one. I would even take 50 if I still got off days consistently.
Posted on 10/5/14 at 3:29 pm to Mr Gardoki
I work 40 hours, but voluntarily up it some weeks.
Posted on 10/5/14 at 3:34 pm to burgeman
That's something I could do. Problem with video game development and many others is the required grind. Some employers don't even try to help with it either.
Posted on 10/5/14 at 3:37 pm to Mr Gardoki
quote:
I wonder what 40 hour week jobs are left because I want one.
Exactly.
This just sounds like a lot of whining because it doesn't meet the expectations that these guys have in their heads.
It's like my older sister, she wanted to be a Marine biologist for so long because you get to play with Dolphins, swim with Sharks, and be in the water, all that fun stuff....
Except you spend a majority of your time studying microbes, compiling reports, giving presentations for grants, etc. Very little "in action," times. She learned this in college and promptly left the field.
Work, even if you like it, generally stinks because it's certainly not fun 60% of the time, much less 100% of the time. It's work, that's why you get paid to do it, because generally, it isn't fun enough to do for free.
No you don't get to play games all day long.
This post was edited on 10/5/14 at 3:38 pm
Posted on 10/5/14 at 3:44 pm to Freauxzen
Is your sister George costanza ? 
I think it proves many good points though. It's all about your value. They know they can replace them so they work them hard and underpay them. The lack of job security is ridiculous though. I do feel for them and I wouldn't do it.
I think it proves many good points though. It's all about your value. They know they can replace them so they work them hard and underpay them. The lack of job security is ridiculous though. I do feel for them and I wouldn't do it.
Posted on 10/5/14 at 4:51 pm to Mr Gardoki
quote:
Is your sister George costanza ?
I think her story predates the Seinfeld Joke about it, I'd have to check dates.
quote:
I think it proves many good points though. It's all about your value. They know they can replace them so they work them hard and underpay them. The lack of job security is ridiculous though. I do feel for them and I wouldn't do it.
But this goes two ways. Companies are mostly looking for left-brained programmers who can kill programming tasks rapid fire en masse. They aren't looking for creativity, as the field as been devoid of it for a few years, at least in the west. It's all about making the same exact game with a few simple changes in mechanics, marketing the heck out of it, and tricking gamers into buying it because it will "BLOW YOUR MIND INTO THE THE NEXT GENERATION OF MINDBLOWING!"
Every game is "genre defying," or "The best game ever," or "A 10/10," "Amazing," Blah Blah Blah. Even the marketing lacks creativity.
Granted there are exceptions to the rule, but there's a reason consoles are plateauing this gen.
But it goes up and down the chain in terms of gamers. The programmers who lack the balls to go out on their own. Gamers who buy into every Watchdog and Saints Row (SR were fine games for about 2 versions), always believing the promise of the "next big thing," so they buy into the hype, buy the game, and support the cycle. Media guys who create console wars, "10/10 reviews," for every single game. Game publishers are just following the money and the money isn't in investing in a flexible and unique company that can churn out creative projects, maybe once a year. It's about replaceable cogs who can alter the same core idea just enough to make room for a new marketing campaign.
This post was edited on 10/5/14 at 4:52 pm
Posted on 10/5/14 at 5:26 pm to Freauxzen
I agree. The market will eventually correct itself imo when people get tired of that crap.
By the way Jason Alexander tweeted the other day that life has come full circle and his son is dating an architect.
By the way Jason Alexander tweeted the other day that life has come full circle and his son is dating an architect.
Posted on 10/5/14 at 5:32 pm to Freauxzen
The abuse of their workers as a video game mill is largely our faults. They have to produce quantity because we refuse to accept that we should really be paying over $100 for games nowadays.
Although, if we all decided to pay more for games, would the working conditions really change? Probably not.
Although, if we all decided to pay more for games, would the working conditions really change? Probably not.
Posted on 10/5/14 at 6:00 pm to ILikeLSUToo
quote:
The abuse of their workers as a video game mill is largely our faults. They have to produce quantity because we refuse to accept that we should really be paying over $100 for games nowadays.
Why does it have to go up? Shouldn't they figure out how to be more efficient and spend less on things like marketing, and lower the cost of games rather than continue to raise it?
Posted on 10/5/14 at 6:16 pm to Freauxzen
I think game development just got more expensive either way but I do think they mismanage a lot.
They would rarely pass the savings on to their employees though. Just like everywhere, they are filled with selfish corporate executives that can't live on 500k anymore. They need to feed their kids, ya know?
Good employers will always be good employers and bad ones will be bad. My buddy's dad had cancer a few years ago for example. The man was on his death bed and died within the week. There were 2 co-owners he worked for. 1 told him to take as much time as he needs and he will always have a place for Him. The other told him that the job still needs to get done and they can't just stop for him. Some people are just selfish.
They would rarely pass the savings on to their employees though. Just like everywhere, they are filled with selfish corporate executives that can't live on 500k anymore. They need to feed their kids, ya know?
Good employers will always be good employers and bad ones will be bad. My buddy's dad had cancer a few years ago for example. The man was on his death bed and died within the week. There were 2 co-owners he worked for. 1 told him to take as much time as he needs and he will always have a place for Him. The other told him that the job still needs to get done and they can't just stop for him. Some people are just selfish.
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