TeddyDief

Playscape: Los Angeles - Alx Preston

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Playscape: Los Angeles 5:

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Alx Preston

Teddy speaks with the person he has spoken most to over the last couple years. Alx Preston, the creator of Hyper Light Drifter, sits down with his old pal to talk about fine art, running a company, and being forever unsatisfied. Teddy opens up about his career-long impatience and unrealistic goals, and how he likes it that way.

Hyper Light Drifter

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Can you post some of the links to the reviews you and Alx were mentioning? You briefly mentioned one where you liked the style of the review, and I was curious to see it.

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This was a really down to earth talk. Teddy, since you asked about it, I didn't think it was too dark. Just felt real, you know?

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Yeah, not too dark. Sounded exactly like tired energy that tends negative. Your other creative guests sound so cheery that I was a bit hesitant to trust them, though Sarah did admit that if she really got into thinking about the negative potentials of her career, it would be too much and potentially self-annihilating.

 

I really appreciate that he didn't sugarcoat his feelings, especially regarding his reaction to reviews and the public response. Most creative successes tend to speak of their fans in a reverent fashion, but having Alx say (roughly) "Listen, the opinion of someone I don't know doesn't really affect me" was nice to hear.

 

"There are plenty of easier ways to make money [than designing a game]." That rubbed me the wrong way. I know it was an off-the-cuff remark, but I wonder if that's a common sentiment of the game design community. You have programming skills, hence finding regular work is easy?

 

(I have a weird obsession with the economics of art, though, and the way in which game-making skills translates to other forms of employment is fascinating. Compared to something like music, where if you go all-in on a music project/band for three years and it fails, re-entering the job market is much dicier)

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Thanks everyone! Yeah, Alx is super candid, and I love that about our conversation.

 

On the note about "there are easier ways to make money than making games" - Yeah, thanks for pointing out that this is sort of problematic. In some ways, there's truth there. Programmers are paid on average way better outside games, for example, but that doesn't mean it's every EASY to find work! 

 

I guess I'd say that I do feel there are easier ways to make money. I know from market comparisons / salary surveys that I make less than MAYBE I could outside games? Regardless of this, I agree that it's important to fight for good pay in games and not accept my statement as truth. Maybe pay is better in industries that are less competitive to get into, but I'm all about advocating for people who make games to find the way to get paid what they're worth!

 

Thanks gang

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