Irishjohn
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Posts posted by Irishjohn
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I like that they have a listing for the exact percentage of finished game. Does game development really work that way?
Also, didn't they start development on this back in 2006? If it's only half-done now, does that mean it won't be released for another eight years?
I have a novel that's about 1.2% finished. That's how this works, right?
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I may not have emphasized the most important part of my post, which is that your odds of being able to helm a project as creative lead at DF are likely significantly higher than many other studios. If you believe that you eventually want to be a creative lead, or even go out and start your own studio, DF (again, from a pure outsiders perspective) looks like a much better career bet than just making more money at another studio where you will not have that opportunity. Based on the variety of funding they get and the documentary, you are also likely to get a much better look at the finances of a game company than at other devs.
I wasn't trying to make a "it's great to work here!" argument, I was trying to say that for future career goals, working at DF may simply be the better path than other, better paying jobs.
I didn't mean to restrict it to that, either, and I was reacting more to the issue of a smaller company paying people less and the various ways that gets misinterpreted. I wasn't looking to directly criticize your specific comment. The point that you have a genuinely better chance to become a project lead is definitely a strong one.
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Personally I'd love for many companies to get the fuck out of the Bay Area and go somewhere else because it seems pretty ridiculous for them all to be concentrated in one tiny spot considering how big the rest of the U.S. and how many other cities there are. Seems like both employees and investors could stand to benefit financially by getting out of there. When you are a media company who makes profit based on a worldly scale and not locally why stay in an expensive area? Surely there are solutions for things like local networking for the sake of investors.
Not to mention the artistic results of just being in a different environment, doing a different thing. It's months old now, but I remember the guys talking about field trips to check out physical locations for possible/planned settings for the game we now know to be Firewatch and chatting about how useful it can be to reach out and touch things and think about them in that way. The same could be said for living in a different city with a different climate and a different ethnic mix, and all kinds of cool things that go into a city being what it is.
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True cities are expensive, especially SF, and true that more policy is needed to make sure that everyone but the very wealthy are not priced out of urban areas, but that doesn't mean we can reasonably expect business to relocate to cheaper locations. Living in a city is a major draw for many young people; if development studios all decamped to less populated areas, I imagine they'd have a harder time bringing in employees. It's a trade off for sure and I can full admit that the draw of urban life is stronger for some than others, but one Early Access game being shuttered doesn't mean that a studio in SF is unsustainable.
Sorry, I should have edited my last reply but here I go: in my particular working experience, I seriously considered giving up on academia and going private sector purely so I COULD live in a big city. The jobs I was looking at would have brought a significant wage increase. For the most part that doesn't quite seem to be there in game development. Perhaps I'm talking more about the fact that the creators aren't seeing as much of the pie as they should. Perhaps I'm talking out of my rear end. I have zero experience in the games industry or in living in San Francisco for more than a few weeks.
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True cities are expensive, especially SF, and true that more policy is needed to make sure that everyone but the very wealthy are not priced out of urban areas, but that doesn't mean we can reasonably expect business to relocate to cheaper locations. Living in a city is a major draw for many young people; if development studios all decamped to less populated areas, I imagine they'd have a harder time bringing in employees. It's a trade off for sure and I can full admit that the draw of urban life is stronger for some than others, but one Early Access game being shuttered doesn't mean that a studio in SF is unsustainable.
Oh I don't think a studio in SF in unsustainable. I also agree that big cities are a major draw for people; frankly if I didn't work in education I'd have found a way to stay in Chicago. I just think that the industry more broadly needs to get past the reliance on younger talented people that will make certain sacrifices. As I said, this isn't restricted to game development, but I think the early access model is symptomatic of larger problems in the industry. Spacebase not working out, by itself, doesn't mean the industry is damned. It's not like it's some isolated incident though.
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I don't think this makes much sense, at least not as general advice -- wouldn't it make sense for other industries too then, as long as the work is not tied to a location. People live where they live and they seem to want to be in cities. I guess in the US it's more common to move long distances for work than it is in Europe, but I assume at some point people still get attached to a place, which seems healthy.
I agree, and I certainly don't think a dev should pick up and move away. It wouldn't be feasible. I think it would be better if devs emerged in other places more naturally. This isn't limited to game development though... American cities (SF in particular) are becoming remarkably expensive and many industries are moving to cities big enough to have interesting stuff going on but not so big as to make living there inordinately expensive. Austin was until recently an excellent example of this. Places like Charlotte, NC are great candidates for the next wave of this.
The video games industry is unique in terms of just how many American developers live in SF. Part of it is due to the fact that SF is awesome of course. But there are lots of companies in the US moving away from expensive world cities, for sure.
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Austin is just not sustainable because it's roads are all fucked and undeveloped, there is no feasible public transportation, and there's all these greenbelts and environmentally protected areas in the way of developing any of the above plus housing. I imagine the only way to sustain it is to start bulldozing greenbelts and sections of housing, but the old guard Austin hippies will never allow that. Like it is an actual thing that city council has voted against expanding infrastructure for decades because if you don't build it they won't come, apparently. There's all of this talk constantly about Californians ruining the city but really hardly anyone in this city is from here and it's even sort of rare that they are from another Texas city.
Yeah, I lived in Austin from 2006 to 2011 (we could have had a mini-thumbs meetup!) and loved it. I made the mistake of moving away. Moving back would have involved a career change (again, UT Austin wasn't going to hire me tenure track unless something huge happened) and we really wanted to until the last year or so. It's just become so much more expensive and less convenient than it used to be. Man, the autumns of 2006 through 2008 in particular were a spectacular time to be a grad student at UT.
I still have friends there, of course. One is in graphic design and has recently found himself out of work only to be confronted with the fact that Austin might be the worst place on the planet earth to try and make your living as a graphic designer due to phenomenal supply of talent (or at least people from various hipser and non-hipster backgrounds working as designers).
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Ha. That second point is meant to be a b, not smiley dude wearing sunglasses. I refuse to edit it.
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That seems both believable, and a worthwhile tradeoff for employees who make that decision. DF is producing so many titles, it seems like a great place for someone who wants to make smaller, indie games (and maybe even helm their own game at some point), without having to personally take on the risks and challenges of running an indie studio themselves.
At least, that's how I've seen DF from the outside for the last 6 years or so.
Well, I've never appreciated smaller companies trotting out the "but it's great to work here!" line as a reason for less pay. This isn't limited to game devs; I work in education and it's a feature here too. Of course, part of the problem is that smaller places in all kinds of industries can be very flexible in ways that larger employers cannot (for example employees (developers, educators) can take chances and try things that might be harder at a larger company/institution) but don't have the ability to pay higher wages. In an attempt to make up for this, the company/institution will talk up the things about being small that are awesome. This will eventually get sucked into a narrative of "we pay less because we can do more" which isn't actually the original intent, but pisses off the employees who in turn piss off the administrators that have bought into the idea of paying less for ideological reasons rather than fiscal ones while still being clearer on the fiscal reasons than the employees are.
Having said that, in education a lot of these places will point to cost of living. I currently do not live in a major American city, which means that I can afford a lifestyle I could only dream of in Chicago or even in Austin, Texas. This is where the SF issue comes in... it's just really, really expensive. Obviously, it depends on the dev (Campo Santo is an example of an indie developer created by SF residents; what are they going to do, all move together?) but I'm surprised that SF remains such a hub for the development community more generally when there's really nothing stopping studios being anywhere they like.
I would point out that I have no experience in game development but I would argue strongly based on the experience I do have that a team should be in the same location and work in the same physical space. I'm not convinced a model where half the art team lives in Minnesota and the writers live in Utah would work, but I think it would make more sense for the entire dev team to operate outside large cities; near enough to visit but far enough away for overhead (and more workable wages) to be reasonable.
Please note I don't work in the industry so this is all meant to be speculative and is as much a reaction to my own line of work. As an enthusiast, my main worry is that games development at all levels is functioning at a level of insustainability. At the moment the industry seems to rely on young creative intelligent people being willing to make sacrifices to work on things they love. I'm not convinced that should be necessary, and I don't see why a game developer shouldn't have a chance to have the lifestyle s/he wants. Academia has gone down a similar path, and I really don't see how I could work for a university in San Francisco or New York or Chicago unless a) I end up on The Daily Show talking about my book or
my wife's career takes off and she makes enough money for a move to one of those cities to be feasible. -
Ha! That's funny, because I've had the same reaction when other people have abbreviated it EA.
Otherwise, I completely agree with you. We are far enough into early funding now that buyer expectations should be set pretty appropriately for what may or may not happen with early access games.
I would agree with all of that, but the more common Green Light/Early Access games have become the less comfortable I've become. The reality of the creative process is that things don't always work out as you want (in fact, rarely do and sometimes work out better) and sometimes don't work out at all. I feel a little uneasy with just how common it is now that games are going online early to get more funding. I know it brings us games that wouldn't exist otherwise, but it creates significant problems in terms of expectation and it clearly masks underlying issues in the industry as a whole. Considering how healthy the industry is as a whole, it concerns me that there's not enough money to go around to fund more adventurous projects from smaller publishers.
I know I'm only touching on something complex here, and the distribution of capital within the industry is of course going to follow certain currents, but I'd be a lot happier if most of these games were being made and released without relying on funding from future customers.
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It's extremely disappointing. I understand that "early release" means customers/supporters/backers have to be tolerant of kinks and issues along the way, but I also feel it's reasonable to anticipate a finished product being released.
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I grabbed the same bundle and Hammerwatch is the only game I've played so far. It's a great little game. That isn't meant to be patronising... I'm talking more about the time I spend on a session. I'm up the walls with work but it's cool to fire in a quick round of dungeoneering. Just played the priest so far. It's fun!
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So, I think a friend and I are going to try and get into some board gaming. He's played plenty of them, myself not so much. I'd be down with some wargaming on a board type stuff (Battlelore and Dwarf King's Hold look interesting) but he's less keen. We've basically agreed that we'd both like whatever the current version of Hero Quest is, or as close as we can get. Seems like Descent 2nd Edition is our best bet I suppose.
Anyway. Sharing.
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I love Breaking Madden. The recent post where he tried to break the career sacks record in one game was hilarious.
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Having a weird run of "luck" in my beginner days with DOTA 2; it seems like I'm often on a team facing against four people after someone dropped out. Tonight TWO people dropped out after an opening period where things seemed very even. It's actually a bit of a bummer really, but also educational. I'm getting first-hand experience of what a nightmare it is to play when outnumbered when the team with the full complement makes any kind of effort to play together.
I've only been on an outnumbered team once. I'm assuming this is slightly more common at lower levels, but maybe not. I'm definitely in the "having fun regardless" phase though.
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I'm not a shy person usually, but I've had weird issues with online games for YEARS. I just started playing Dota 2 and I'm enjoying it, but I don't really communicate and sometimes I boot up the client, look at the "play" button and just fail to build up the courage to do it.
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Thanks for all the advice guys. Practiced against bots with Lion a bit before diving in with him, and had my most enjoyable game this morning. I had a rough idea what was going on. Ended up with 19 assists and a couple of kills. Unfortunately I was completely owned by Bounty Hunter, including two STUPID deaths (overextended, and stopped to teleport back to base when I thought I was ok). If I could have avoided a couple of deaths (I ended up with 8) we probably could have won the game. We lost, but it was really, really great.
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I did in fact mean observer ward. Still interesting stuff,
I don't know, my map awareness is bad. I got it up to passable in Starcraft 2 though (Silver!) so there may be hope.
I might try Lich. I'd like to play support though, it's not just because I'm a beginner.
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Thanks for all the great advice everyone.
I like Warlock a lot, as I actually have some sense of how to play him, but I'm definitely going to look into those other heroes.
Map awareness is a major weakness for me. I've just about got to the point where I feel fairly confident holding a lane and helping someone push, but these things switch up A LOT. I'm trying to be a bit better by buying the courier and my next bit of research might be on sentry ward positioning.
Spork, give it a shot. I will say, I've always been weird with online games. I once wrote a blog post double-posted on profiles at Giantbomb and 1UP about essentially being afraid to talk to people online when I play that got LOTS of posts from people utterly mystified. I'm better now. I have a six month old son and I have a very busy job, and random dudes giving out to me online really doesn't bother me much. Plus, I know I'm not great but I feel vaguely competent and have accepted I'm unlikely to ever be "good." The game's atmosphere is really a lot better than I expected. I think I'm bothered less by people being jerks than I am by people taking it way too seriously. I mean, for me, I'm enjoying the game no matter what. The guy tearing a hole in his mouse clicking on a tower or ALL CAPS telling me I should be mid (when I know damn well the last place I should be right now is mid) is still a bit irritating. Advice here helps with that.
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Play with friends if possible. If not possible play solo and friend people who aren't assholes as you meet them.
Approach the game like you're learning a skill. Research the basic mechanics. Practice against bots. Read guides and watch VoDs.
Mute anyone who's shitty to you for at least the first 100 games. If they're getting matched with you, they also suck and their insights and communication aren't worth the abuse. After that, you'll at least be able to tell the real criticism from the pointless whining.
Dota 2 is a very good game, but it isn't a fun game until you're at least competent. That'll take dozens if not hundreds of games and more hours beyond that watching and reading about it.
Does that sound appealing?EDIT: I think this sounds unnecessarily hostile. Sorry.
It didn't come across as hostile! Thanks. It does appeal to me, but my time is limited for a number of reasons. I actually enjoy the game in my own way. I'm not sure how good I'll get considering I'm not sure I'll ever have time to play three games in a row or even play every day (and there's the issue of time to play other games too) but doing some research ahead of time has helped a huge deal. I tried once without the research and it was just mystifying. Like, as if I'd never played a video game or something.
I'm actually surprised how accessible it is compared to what I thought it would be, but then again I'm a nerd and am totally fine with reading suggested builds and guides for various supports when I should probably be working.
Oh, and thanks for confirming that I'm being matched with people at a similar skill level. I presumed so, and am deliberately staying within the limited heroes option to try and ensure that. I've come to recognize a certain type of Dota player: s/he wails about teammates, complains that we're screwed, makes no effort to actually encourage people to coordinate apart from yelling at people and dies in incredibly stupid situations.
Honestly, as a completely new player, I'll say this: learning to hang the hell back and be very cautious has made me much less of a liability to a team I'm on. It's partly why I like playing support. I'd be fine with just chipping in with creeps and giving a lane-mate heals.
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I believe you get a sniper cosmetic for each training mission you complete. As far as chickening out, I'd say make sure you feel comfortable with a hero/lord in co-op bot matches before entering competitive games.
Don't be too afraid though, people love to complain about other players, even if they are the ones messing up worse than you. You could be having a great game and making smart choices, and still get pinged by the guy who just died diving an enemy past their t3 towers. Just mute and move on if it affects you too much.
Cheers! Yeah, I'm not very good at all but I'm not awful. I don't die a HUGE amount so far and I tend to sneak in assists here and there. I'm quite comfortable with Warlock and I like playing support. I've mucked around with Keeper of the Light too but I have yet to play him with humans.
I must say, people have been cool for the most part. I'm not a great communicator (because I don't really know what I'm doing yet) but the community doesn't seem THAT bad. It's just funny that there are too many people out there prone to freak out.
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So last night, although I was kinda tired, I logged in to Dota 2 and promptly chickened out in order to play against bots instead.
Is there any kind of pavlovian virtual gift for "finishing" the training? Also, is this chickening out thing a thing or am I mad?
I may have been more affected by two matches in a row of being called out by strangers than I thought.
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Also: Always carry a teleportation scroll, always. Even on natures prophet.
Cheers. Yeah, I had done a bit of reading before I started playing with humans, so I tend to have a couple on me. I'm pretty bad but not as awful as I assumed I would be.
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Hey, I was where you were not too long ago (not that I'm much further ahead or anything). I think you have the right attitude about the game. As long as you're having fun learning new things it's all good. I feel like I learn something new about the game every day.
The team fight thing is tricky. Your teammates probably expected you to show up for team fights because you're playing support, and supports are going to need the gold from winning team fights, as well as having some items and abilities that will help the team survive and win the fight. That being said, I think instincts for team fights is just something you develop naturally over time, and so if your teammates are trying to engage they really need to communicate that to you. It's not really fair to expect you to be able to read their minds!
Cheers! Yeah, I need to get used to the fact that random people asserting some form of authority is kind of meaningless in DOTA really. I'm having fun for the most part. The stakes are very low for me because I don't have a lot of time to play. It means I'm okay with not being great. I just don't want to be SO not great that I'm ruining the game for others. Focusing on not feeding.
Wasteland 2
in Video Gaming
Posted
Yeah, I'm in exactly the same boat. I'm dying to play it. Although, I got Divinity Original Sin and didn't get all that far into it so I'm a little worried this will be another of my Steam games that ends up waiting for a random early-summer "hey let's finish that game I bought in 2012" vibe. Though Wasteland 2's theme is much more appealing to me...