Add me on that.
I studied computer science because i wanted to make vg, (not hat was a viable option in my country anyway, lol) but ended oriented on more science and financial stuff.
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I heard someone describe it as the type of game youād find in a Kohlās in 2009, and Iāve never seen such an apt description.
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Yeah all the stories that have been emerging from the companies kind of soured me on wanting to get into the industry. Iām pretty convinced at this point that the only way to get into the industry and stay sane is either start an indie company or join an indie company. Pretty much the only way you escape being under the thumb of some giant dick head whoās probably been in his position for too long. Long distance 3rd option would be to get in on a company thatās owned by M$ or Ninty since so far those 2 havenāt had reports coming out of them regarding crunch or employees just being not happy. Kinda doubtful of M$ since Iām pretty sure theyāve probably crunched some Halo gamesā¦they seem like the type but I havenāt heard anything.
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Crackdown 3 should prove M$ doesnāt engage with captain crunch. 
On the real though, Iāve heard nothing but good things when it comes to M$/Xbox division. I had a friend who worked at 343 During Reach, 4, 5 and Wars 2 before transferring to Outlook.
He said it was one of the most chill environments he ever worked at. They never forced overtime on anybody as far as he knew and they had a great open door policy for the employees. He told me the only reason he transferred was it was more money for less work And he got to work remotely 2 days a week.
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I think things like Steam and all the console marketplaces has really opened the door for people trying to get in. One of my coworkers made a game in his spare time that is on Steam. The thing is it took him so much of his spare time to do it. Iām talking years. He has 2 kids and works full time. But he loves it.
I could see these marketplaces opening up doors for people fresh in the industry though. Make an indie game that gets some traction and then you can move up to bigger things in another company, get funding for a new project, etc. But for every successful game out there I would bet there are 10s if not 100s that do not succeed. There is just so much luck gaining traction without being able to market the shit out of your product.
I know from experience. I worked on a dating app with a few other guys for years and we never got more than a handful of users. It wasnāt that the app wasnt a good idea it was that we just didnāt know how to get users onto it. Now quite a few of the big dating apps have what we were trying to introduce - video dates. But they have established users and millions to market with.
I spent a lot of my spare time over 4 years working on that app. I donāt regret it though as I learned a ton from it and did stuff I never thought I would do with it.
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ha, I was another oneāI also picked Computer Science as a major at first, simply because āmaking video gamesā was a dream at the timeā¦ then promptly got scared away by the math, really. Calculus each year of the program? Nah. Besides, I always wanted to be more on the creative/design side of things actuallyā¦ Iād be the guy that comes up with the characters, world, and story ideas.
Vampyr on Switchā I played a bit of this recently; forgot that I was still at the very beginning of the game, actuallyā¦ I will likely be a mix of good and evil again this time, like my first play-through on the XB1 versionā¦there would be no point in being the ultra good guy since Switch has no achievement system, heh. Iāll save that for the XB1 version since you get that 1 achievement out of it at least (the āNot Even Onceā for never feeding on people)ā¦
ā¦but that reminds meāremember the good olā days when youād actually unlock something for such feats? If this were even as recent as the GC/XB/PS2 era, Iād probably expect to unlock another outfit or new secret weapon or power, or even another character to play for doing that.
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Meruem announced as dlc for Jump Force
Switch sales reach 64.11 mill worldwide, Animal Crossing New Horizon tops 22.4
Killer announced for Pirate Warriors 4 DLC
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Those Switch numbers were as of June and only 500k off of the NESā numbers. The NES has been cooked by now. Off of Japanese sales for June to now alone. Which console is next? The 360?
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Its Publishers that refuse to play Devs, programmers, artist, ect decent wages and have then at awful work schedules
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I wanted to make games when I was a kid. Thought it would be cool to get paid to sit around playing games all day. Then I realized thats not how it is. Its really sitting at a desk crunchinā numbers and shit. As I got older, college age, I found out how much those guys make and the hours they work and shit and I was happy I didnt get into that.
Well thatās capitalism. If it was so bad people simply wouldnāt work. If they donāt like it they can find another job.
Most things you love doing lose their luster when you have to do them for a living. I think most of Americaās population would be happier if more off us realized that. Work to pay your bills and enjoy the things you like in your downtime, donāt expect to find that joy in work.
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I never buy that that āJustā Capitalism, cause eventually if every employer has no incentive for treating their customers right or paying them a fair wage. Especially if high employee turn around donāt necessarily hurt their bottom line.
If only it were that simple.
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Yeah Iāve worked on the music/sound design side for a few games and some of the people Iāve worked with have told me that when they got into the industry, the more time they spent making the games, the less time they spent playing them. The game industry seems like the music industry but worse. At least in music an artist is independent and doesnāt have much if any protections because of that, but if you work at a game company, they just treat you like shit because they can, even though youāre still an employee.
Big marketing budgets rule the day too, nobody will know about your game if you donāt have one. Itās a shame because there are some really great indie games out there with no budget so nobody will ever play them. But thatās like how making an album/single is; if you donāt have 11 million streams at least, thereās no way youāll get a deal.
Btw congrats on the MiniPurBeast! I do most of my gaming at night now because Iāll stay up with the boy child and feed him after the missus goes to bed. It works out pretty well actually.
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Iām looking forward to my next Vampyr run because Iām gonna kill EVERYBODY 
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Damn that black PS5 is sexy, I bet it has an OnlyFans 
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If you are a good developer, it is VERY easy to find another job. I know because i am one.
Depends on the person but I do agree that a lot of people are in that situation. I know some mechanics who love it because they are tinkering with cars all day. Also as a SCUBA diver, Iāve never once met a dive master who still does not love diving.
I think a lot of people who do create games do it because they have a love for it and a passion behind it, and that is why they put up with the BS in the industry too. But there are also those peons who do it for the check and Iām sure hate it as well, just like with any job.