Working in the industry

I’ll completely ignore the fact that this is the first post in months and get on with it.

I’ve been, in relation to some HR stuff at the company, been looking at what kinds of benefits game companies are handing out to their employees and how they ensure that people actually are attracted to the company. One thing I’ve noticed is that there’s something of a common thread with companies that don’t seem to have a lot of money to hand out to their employees. They always have a phrase like ‘you get to make games!’ as a benefit of working there as if somehow making games is the coolest, best thing ever and you should basically praise them for even allowing you to be working there.

Let’s get something straight. You’re paid to MAKE game - not PLAY games. Yes, perhaps playing games is part of what you do, but most often you play (i.e. test) your OWN games which in at least 70% of all cases is a pain in the ass. Just because you get to make games, it doesn’t mean you should get a shitty paycheck at the end of the week; it doesn’t mean you’ll get bragging rights over the your fellow programming school graduates who are making four times what you’re making - your job is not likely to be more satisfying than theirs; it’s just different and at times more fun but certainly likely to be frustrating and annoying when the grind sets in (obviously depending on what comapny you’re working for).

So, dear HR people, please don’t try to claim that making games will somehow compensate for making money or getting good dental or whatever. Be honest about what you can offer and try not to appeal to the fanboy crowd - you’ll break their spirit when they realize what the harsh reality is.

That being said, the game industry can be an awesome  place to work and you will certainly get nerd props form your teenage cousin.Everyone else might still say ’so, you program things, right?’ even though you’re really a 3D artist but what the hell do they know anyway, right?

UbiSoft Madness

Browsing the most recent press releases, I noticed that UbiSoft somehow managed to grab two of the biggest licenses for TV shows around - Lost and Heroes. They’re making games based on these licenses as we speak, which could prove to be very interesting indeed. Both shows had ARGs connected with them and while I’m guessing the games will be more ‘naturalistic’ in style and gameplay, one can always hope that something interesting will emerge. They did a pretty sweet job on the King Kong game (or, rather, Michel Ancel did) so who knows? They’ve also just announced a game based on the new Beowulf movie license, of which I’m somewhat less enthusiastic.

Global Conflicts: Palestine

Today, while sitting at the office writing dialogue for one of our new projects, a guy in a red shirt came by. He had a van filled with games for us and just wanted to drop off a couple of thousand copies of the game. Yes, folks, Global Conflicts: Palestine is officially done and ready for distribution. I’m not quite sure when the final step - getting the thing out to people - will be initiated but it could be any day now.

Seeing the box, tearing off the plastic and reading the manual while installing the game (just to see if it works) was a very pleasing experience.  Of course, now we have to see whether the world thinks so as well…

I liked bees

… and now it seems that Halo3 is getting its very own ARG as a strange entity has been posting stuff on the Halo3 forums. The postings eventually lead to various sites and a clue that something’s going to happen intwo day’s time. While not completely ‘i love bees’-like, the ARG seems to hold the potential for something interesting. Live events in London and many other cities have already taken place. Check out thebruce’s wiki for details of the storyline so far.

The day fun won

There’s an interesting article about the Nintendo Wii and how it’s beating the PS3 and the 360 to be found here. Apart from the ‘While game consoles typically attract youngish males with an antisocial streak’ statement (without any references of course), it’s quite an interesting read and points to the fact that thinking outside the box, going for blue-ocean strategies, can really pay off.

I have to go to New York

I’ve been doing some slight calculations on the price of some new camera equipment that I want to buy. I’ve decided on a kit, which will set me back around $4200 here in Denmark. Looking at a place in New York, which has been recommended to me by a friend, the exact same kit will cost me $2470. That means I can go to New York, bring my girlfriend, hang out for a week, buy my kit and get most of the trip for free! Thank you George Bush for being a warmonger and crashing the Dollar. You’re a real pal…

Adrian Hon leaves Mind Candy

Well, I can say with a high level of certainty that I did not see that one coming. Adrian Hon is leaving Mind Candy. In addition to that, it seems that the June launch for Perplex City episode 2 is postponed for now. Adrian explains very little in his blog post, which is understandable, I think, but it does add to the mystery of the thing. I watched his talk at this year’s Nordic Game and there was no indication that anything was going on behind the scenes. Perhaps the complexity of the thing combined with politics behind the scenes screwed up the project.

It’s a damn shame, really. I liked the first game, I liked the ideas of the people behind it, and in particular the idea of selling puzzle cards and was quite anxious to see how the replayable content was to be played out. I hope that Adrian finds something similar to do and from the comments on his post it seems like it’s something of a showdown at Mind Candy at the moment. Perhaps he will be able to pick up some of the people that apparently are also leaving (which makes me think that it’s a political or ideological issue at Mind Cancy that might be the source of this) and set up a new business.

I wish luck to you all.

That’s my girl

Last night, while I was trying to survive in Ashenvale with my level 23 Mage, my girlfriend sat down next to me and watched me play. As I told her a little about the game, she didn’t say anything and I kind of thought that the game probably didn’t appeal to her although she’s a Big ‘Heroes of Might and Magic’ fan and kind of likes the fantasy genre.

Of course, that was until she said: “I think it’s sexy when you play World of Warcraft.” That woman is having my children. Soon.

On Ragdoll Physics

I’ll have to admit that I was taken with all the hype and excitement when ragdoll physics were introduced some years ago. Certainly this would make for some excellent gameplay mechanics and fun moments dragging bodies around, throwing them down stairs, and so on. And while playing the first and second ‘Hitman’ games, I did enjoy playing around with the physics exaggerating slowmotion feature a lot - purely because it looked fun when the bodies got slammed into walls with 100 miles per hour.

As time passed, though, I started getting really annoyed with the ragdolls. Developers seemed to love them to death because they added ‘realism’ to their games at low cost but to my mind this is completely wrong. Ragdolls are anything but realistic - in fact, I think they’re probably the most arcadey thing in games today (well, okay, maybe not the MOST arcadey thing). When you shoot a person in the head, he or she tends to die. That involves the ending of life and as such, muscles and so on stop working. It does not, however, involve the apparent breaking  of EVERY bone in the dead person’s body. It does not involve a sudden loss of 80% of that persons body weight making them 40 lbs dolls of disconnected blubbery flesh that oozes down stairs in strange spasms.

Bodies are heavy. They don’t slide down stairs when dormant. You don’t just pick them up and throw them around unless you’re some kind of super villian. This is NOT realistic. It’s dumb. Ragdolls are evil.

Selling More Content?

So Valve has put to rest the rumors about them possibly charging for downloadable content. I think this is a smart move. I’ve honestly never really liked the idea of charging players extra for content that goes ‘beyond’ the game and I think that Doug Lombardi has a very valid - and most of all PROVEN point - when he says that: “Our philosophy there is, if you buy the product, we put more content out to keep the game interesting, we sell more products.” They’ve obviously seen it work with ‘Counter-Strike’ and I have very little doubt that this will work for other companies too.

I can see the reasoning, business-wise, why a company would not want to give away anything for free. Technically speaking, the team needs to get a salary, bills need to be paid, and giving away stuff is not really the hallmark of the games industry. Bethesda is charging for extra content for ‘Oblivion’ and I guess that the idea of making very small expansions is not that bad from a business perspective because it ensures that you DO get more money from the establish fan base. It might not, however, attrack new players who feel they have to pay extra to ‘keep up’ with what the other players have already bought. Also, these expansions are often very limited in scope and it can be hard to justify the price. I think it’s important to be very clear to players about what they get and don’t get and I think it’s a good idea to give them a little bone once in a while. This might cost you money in the short run but you retain the player base, you create loyalty to either the game brand (ech) or the company, which is likely to help you sell more games when the inevitable sequel looms in the horizon. If you actually make something interesting, it can generate more sales of your original game, which is likely to make you more money than $5 expansions unless your game is already in the ’sales’ bin, of course.

Valve is now toying with in-game advertizing in ‘Counter-Strike’ which is also something I’m slightly worried about. More about that some other time.