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RossCo posted:The whole credits thing is interesting. Some of the political fighting that goes into credit sequences is truly impressive. I know of a few AAA publishers that only list front facing dev and manager names in the credits if its a collab on two or more companies. So the lower peons who QA and CS another company's game don't get any credit at all on that other game. Must be a tax or payment dodge going on.
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May 26, 2019 17:20
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happyhippy posted:I know of a few AAA publishers that only list front facing dev and manager names in the credits if its a collab on two or more companies. No tax issues with a credit. Could be corporate politics from the dev, or the contractor may not ask for it. It’s unusual in the states and Europe, but some Japanese contracting agencies specifically ask not to be credited (either as an org or individually), as well.
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May 26, 2019 22:45
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Seems odd, coming from film where there is a ton of politics since most of the unionized groups have credit terms in writing, also because they may get residual payments for the rest of their life depending on how they are credited. The one group that's non-unionized and has the least power? The computer jockey/VFX guys, who are usually credited last when the font changes so it can list 6 rows of text under digital artists.. aka the VFX War memorials. Feature animation is pretty good about giving everyone and their dog a credit, but games? I can't think of any restrictions on not giving everyone a credit.. even if its under one heading/card.
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May 27, 2019 19:51
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Big K of Justice posted:Seems odd, coming from film where there is a ton of politics since most of the unionized groups have credit terms in writing, also because they may get residual payments for the rest of their life depending on how they are credited. The one group that's non-unionized and has the least power? The computer jockey/VFX guys, who are usually credited last when the font changes so it can list 6 rows of text under digital artists.. aka the VFX War memorials. I'm not sure which publishers are not listing people from the comments above. To my knowledge, it's a little harder than it appears to get credits completely right, for a variety of reason including just not having knowledge of who worked on what. I haven't seen anyone knowingly excluded from credits (though maybe contract workers would be? I haven't noticed). Our place lists everyone in a studio or publishing level who could have touched the game, as far as I know, but the same folks will have different titles or clustering based on title because the organization of credits is non-standard.
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May 27, 2019 23:02
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I've had publishers de-list our entire studio from the credits. Just straight up make it look like the publisher made the game by themselves, with a bunch of product managers and marketing executives.
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May 27, 2019 23:10
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Meanwhile, at Blizzard France https://solidairesinformatique.org/2019/05/27/blizzard-entertainment-annonce-un-plan-social-honteux/ TLDR : Activision Blizzard King suppress sales and marketing jobs in France, and does so by (poorly) trying to avoid French work laws. Prud"homme lawyers should have a field day with this.
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May 28, 2019 08:09
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Gearman posted:You mean Mark Kern? He was a lead, so he's not exactly lying. I’m the weirdo that reads those because I try to glean team make-up. If it’s anything Microsoft adjacent it’s usually Excel Data or Volt that’s their QA department, which is entirely separate from their SDETs
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May 28, 2019 22:11
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You can learn a lot about the culture behind a high budget game by noting which people and roles are in the before-the-game big text credits (is there a technical term for those?) and which are in the twenty minute long scrolling wall of text.
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May 28, 2019 23:05
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Big K of Justice posted:Feature animation is pretty good about giving everyone and their dog a credit, but games? I can't think of any restrictions on not giving everyone a credit.. even if its under one heading/card. Hollywood AFAIK is driven by union rules, both in who must be credited, and also who must not be credited (i.e. see the Robert Rodriguez DGA incident).
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May 29, 2019 06:20
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i like to ask what you game devs feel about EA do you believe what there doing to games is good ??
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Jun 1, 2019 17:22
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That depends... What, in your opinion, is EA doing to games?
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Jun 2, 2019 03:26
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i want to know what EA specifically is doing to games that like, activision and ubisoft aren't also doing
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Jun 2, 2019 05:23
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Hot Take: FIFA is a shining example of everything that isn't 'integrity', but they seem to be otherwise fine.
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Jun 2, 2019 11:07
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It seems in hindsight that their desire to use frostbite over their entire AAA lineup has been really rough on their development cycles, but literally every major publisher tries to do something similar to a smaller scale.
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Jun 2, 2019 15:12
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ashrum3 posted:i like to ask what you game devs feel about EA do you believe what there doing to games is good ?? EA as in Electronic Arts, or as in Early Access?
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Jun 2, 2019 21:18
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MJBuddy posted:It seems in hindsight that their desire to use frostbite over their entire AAA lineup has been really rough on their development cycles, but literally every major publisher tries to do something similar to a smaller scale. Companies are always going through cycles of outsource everything vs centralize everything. Frostbite is just part of a centralize everything initiative.
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Jun 2, 2019 21:56
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Canine Blues Arooo posted:Hot Take: FIFA is a shining example of everything that isn't 'integrity', but they seem to be otherwise fine.
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Jun 7, 2019 05:46
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I like open world games. Are there people whose job it is to design the landscape and manually put trees and rocks in?
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Jun 8, 2019 07:38
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Beachcomber posted:I like open world games. Are there people whose job it is to design the landscape and manually put trees and rocks in? Level designers and/or 3D environment artists do this job, either from a 3D package or in-engine after assets have been created, imported and configured typically. They are also the ones that setup lighting and usually things like collision boxes for world objects and nav meshes/paths for AI and NPC placement.
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Jun 8, 2019 07:49
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Beachcomber posted:I like open world games. Are there people whose job it is to design the landscape and manually put trees and rocks in? Slayerjerman posted:Level designers and/or 3D environment artists do this job, either from a 3D package or in-engine after assets have been created, imported and configured typically. They are also the ones that setup lighting and usually things like collision boxes for world objects and nav meshes/paths for AI and NPC placement. Specifically placing and filling out props in environments is one of the roles on the chopping block. AI based approaches are getting much better. Eventually the role will transition to working with a tool that automatically does 90+% of that work and then doing some touch ups. See also: this paper from 2002 this paper from 2011 Etc Apologies to artists for sounding doom/gloom. Robots are also coming for texture painting. 🤖
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Jun 8, 2019 13:08
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Hand placing rocks and shrubs on a 100 sq mile empty map can go away, no problem.
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Jun 8, 2019 15:46
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A couple recent examples: Horizon Zero Dawn does its vegetation procedurally and dynamically: https://www.guerrilla-games.com/read/gpu-based-procedural-placement-in-horizon-zero-dawn Spider-Man does a whole lot of things on its map procedurally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aw9uyj9MAE
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Jun 8, 2019 16:52
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Most engines and toolsets have various things that make the job easier, such as automatic generating terrain, trees and grass... etc. There will always be a need for a human to setup and tweak those parameters as well as do hand placement. Never mind that programmers should never be making/placing art assets, procedurally or otherwise, it will always fall to the art, environment or design teams.
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Jun 8, 2019 18:33
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Neat! I don't know what I was playing that made me think it had to be done by hand, but that's been in my head for a few months now. Thanks!
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Jun 10, 2019 05:15
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Speaking as a person who used Houdini since uh... ancient times.... the whole trick with proceduralism is to make it look not procedural. Depends on the budget and scope, it can do some heavy lifting, but going in and polishing things to make it more natural/lived in/used and art directed... that takes a special touch.\ But yeah, environment artists are always in demand it seems. Also hard to find good VFX people, every time we get someone on the radar they get scooped up somewhere else .. 
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Jun 10, 2019 06:56
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For the people who work on pc targeted games, how do you pick your hardware targeted and minimum bound?
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Jun 10, 2019 13:59
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Phobeste posted:For the people who work on pc targeted games, how do you pick your hardware targeted and minimum bound? Depends a lot on the game and studio. If your game is easy on the GPU and CPU, you will generally just pick the first budget mainstream card that supports the features you use (e.g. DirectX, Shadermodel, etc). Ditto on the CPU features. If you have something more intense, and time, you can define what the min spec experience is (30 FPS at these settings and this resolution) and start testing against the average and worst case scenarios in your game until you dip under the bar that was set and draw a line there. If you don't have that kind of time, you make a best guess.
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Jun 11, 2019 02:06
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to anyone who has made a point n click puzzle game - do you make the rooms or the story first? I feel that, once I make a room, I can start populating it with puzzle pieces to move the plot forward. However, this seems counterintuitive and seems to lend itself to a scope which self-propagates and thus will essentially be in development forever. When I try doing it the other way around, though, I always get stuck and struggle with no real progress. I feel like I'm constantly setting up un-plugged wires and junctions for connections I haven't written yet - or even come up with. I'm just hoarding pieces in the basic script, but I'm not even sure what I'll do with them 100% of the time. Any tips? I just finished university and this is the first project I'm really dedicating time to. I know what I want to do with this game, but I'm unsure of whether my process is actually working or if I'm just tricking myself into thinking it's working because there's more script or more assets than an hour ago. and i'm working solo, so i don't have someone else's head to bash my lovely ideas against unpleasantly turgid fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Jun 12, 2019 |
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Jun 12, 2019 02:09
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unpleasantly turgid posted:to anyone who has made a point n click puzzle game - I started out with the room and the objects and designed (using this term loosely here) my puzzles around it. Having said that, I've only ever done one room as a segment for my game and it's probably not a very good example of puzzle design in a point-n-click real answer (or questions to ask yourself rather) - why is the player/player's character in the room at this point in time? what's their motivation for leaving the room/solving this puzzle? is the plot there to push the character along at this point, or the other way around? Short videos on the topic if you haven't already watched it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDt6XXsRXag and this one, but relates to dialogue specifically but you might find useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vRfNtvFVRo KRILLIN IN THE NAME fucked around with this message at 09:53 on Jun 12, 2019 |
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Jun 12, 2019 09:48
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goku i won't do what u tell me
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Just going to leave this here... https://kotaku.com/the-state-of-california-is-investigating-riot-games-for-1835463823
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Jun 13, 2019 04:08
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Hughlander posted:Just going to leave this here... https://kotaku.com/the-state-of-california-is-investigating-riot-games-for-1835463823 The company that never had a properly functioning HR department? Ever? 
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Jun 13, 2019 13:59
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Big K of Justice posted:Speaking as a person who used Houdini since uh... ancient times.... Are there any good formal houdini courses I have only used it for a few years or just keep using it to get better?
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Jun 14, 2019 00:10
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leper khan posted:Specifically placing and filling out props in environments is one of the roles on the chopping block. AI based approaches are getting much better. Eventually the role will transition to working with a tool that automatically does 90+% of that work and then doing some touch ups.
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Jun 14, 2019 06:48
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To any solo/small team devs who released something small/indie for monetary gain: What blind spots did you have concerning your release that you wish you would have otherwise seen? The "if only I/we just..." thoughts you had in the back of your head, whether successful or not. And no, I'm not asking for "if only I never quit my job" life lesson stuff, I mean specifically in the context of the game's development and release. 
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Jun 15, 2019 11:24
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DaveKap posted:To any solo/small team devs who released something small/indie for monetary gain: What blind spots did you have concerning your release that you wish you would have otherwise seen? The "if only I/we just..." thoughts you had in the back of your head, whether successful or not. And no, I'm not asking for "if only I never quit my job" life lesson stuff, I mean specifically in the context of the game's development and release. Rev share and ad revenue is a scam unless you are the one collecting the sales directly and redistributing the funds. I’ve released many casual and web games in the past but have basically no way of checking or enforcement of rev share / ad rev beyond asking the other party for a report and being honest about it. Sometimes I get contacted asking to “sell” my already finished games, but it’s always a rev share scam rather than a buyout. I published a casual game on Big Fish back in 2006 with a 12-month publishing agreement to end in 2007... I randomly checked their games portal in 2018 and they were still selling and hosting my game illegally. I contacted them and at first they denied they had any revenue to pay me despite my game being for sale for over 11yrs... I sent them a legal looking letter and threatened legal action, 2 weeks later and a lot of them backpedaling I got a check for $600 they claimed was 11yrs of sales rev minus their illegal 70% cut from that expired contract. I wasn’t in the mood to fight back and figured $600 was just “shut up and go away” payout, but I could have turbo hosed them legally.
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Jun 15, 2019 19:32
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Slayerjerman posted:Rev share and ad revenue is a scam unless you are the one collecting the sales directly and redistributing the funds. I’ve released many casual and web games in the past but have basically no way of checking or enforcement of rev share / ad rev beyond asking the other party for a report and being honest about it.
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Jun 16, 2019 06:04
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Slayerjerman posted:I sent them a legal looking letter and threatened legal action, 2 weeks later and a lot of them backpedaling I got a check for $600 they claimed was 11yrs of sales rev minus their illegal 70% cut from that expired contract. I wasn’t in the mood to fight back and figured $600 was just “shut up and go away” payout, but I could have turbo hosed them legally. You may be able to find someone to take that sort of case on contingency.
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Jun 22, 2019 02:46
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I don't know if there's anyone on the HR/accounting/management side that's been reading or participating but I have a half observation, half question: In my years of shovelin' coal down at the ol' video game factory, I've been contacted a whole bunch by people recruiting for contract positions. The majority of these people were recruiting for very well established, financially stable companies. Yet without exception the offers have always been:
For whatever reason, recruiters never seem to understand this very basic concept when trying to hire for contract positions. The friends I have in other fields will often make x3-x4 what a salaried position would pay when they do short term freelance or contract work, but if I ask for even x1.5 or x2 what I'd make as a full time employee, it's an immediate "no thanks, have a great day!"  This has happened so consistently that if I see the word "contract" in the subject line or job description I usually don't bother replying anymore. And I know a lot of people in games who have had similar experiences. So what's the point of doing this instead of just hiring a full time employee with a proper salary and benefits if you're not going to pay contractors more money? There is literally no advantage to being a contractor otherwise!! Obviously I understand that smaller companies might have cool projects or other intangible benefits that you could argue might be worth a lower rate, but I'm specifically talking about 500-1,000+ employee companies that are recruiting for super hyped projects like "Bullets of Conflict 4"   or "Summons of Obligation 5"   with huge budgets that seem like they could comfortably pay an experienced short term contractor's hourly rate even if it's double the rate of a full time, salaried employee.
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Jun 25, 2019 04:33
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Whistling rear end in a top hat posted:For whatever reason, recruiters never seem to understand this very basic concept when trying to hire for contract positions. The friends I have in other fields will often make x3-x4 what a salaried position would pay when they do short term freelance or contract work, but if I ask for even x1.5 or x2 what I'd make as a full time employee, it's an immediate "no thanks, have a great day!" It works for Activision because there'll never be a shortage of workers to exploit just for the chance to say they worked on Call of Duty.
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Jun 25, 2019 05:15
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Not sure if this is likely in other departments/companies but we ended up in a situation with a little budget and no perpetual headcount and we came up with some technical debt related projects that we could hire a contractor to come in, clean up, and move on. We're entirely limited by our budget in that circumstance, so the offer is likely going out at that rate and We'll see the best candidates that respond to that rate and if they look capable of doing the work. I'm not personally involved in either that team or that process, so I don't know if there's other factors but that could be one (of many possible) reasons.
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Jun 25, 2019 16:04
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