The Emotional Price of Making Video Games

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Gameguru Mania News - Feb,27 2013 -

The Emotional Price of Making Video Games - briefly
(hx) 07:18 AM CET - Feb,27 2013 - Post a comment / read (9)
GameSpot sat down with a handful of video game industry veterans and talked about the emotional price of making video games. Here's a bit: Making anything creative relies on you putting yourself out there and totally revealing yourself; it's scary," says Greg Zeschuk, who co-founded BioWare with partners Ray Muzyka and Augustine Yip in 1995 and retired last year. He is currently taking some time off from anything to do with games and is producing a YouTube show called The Beer Diaries about the other love of his life. "You need to be willing to be vulnerable in a very public sense. This experience changes when teams get larger and larger; if you're running part of a project, it's pretty natural for it to feel like an extension of yourself."

This sentiment is common among those in creative leadership positions. Ryan Payton is the founder of Camouflaj, a new studio working on the iOS game République, which was successfully funded on Kickstarter in 2012. Payton previously worked as assistant producer on Metal Gear Solid 4 at Kojima Productions, and later spent time as creative director on Halo 4 before leaving 343 Industries in 2011. He concurs with Zeschuk, stating, "In order to make an unforgettable game, I believe the onus is on me to find something I believe in and inject as much of that into the game as possible. I feel that the games I work on are an extension of myself, making game development a very personal and emotionally charged endeavor. I worry that I take a dangerous approach by investing too much emotionally in the development, but this stems from my belief that games should be more than mere 'products.'"

last 10 comments:

Csimbi	(03:24 PM CET - Feb,27 2013 )
What have you been smoking?

Baconnaise	(07:58 PM CET - Feb,27 2013 )
I think the article was about how developers all have a vagina and need to hug it out now and then. Hehe I started reading the article but stopped after it looked like it was from a cosmo mag.

Genoism

(12:56 AM CET - Feb,28 2013 )

the end story is the same just as it was back during ea spouse's post. I can tell you from experience, 70 hour works are the norm. Getting paid for 40 of those hours is the norm. Seeing the same paycheck after even the most successful of games launch despite the insane hours you put into the game is depressing. Knowing that the investors are getting filthy rich from your hard work does not help.

Of course, long hours is only part of the problem, dealing with insane managers, co-workers, etc makes you wonder if your head is going to explode.

People love to trash games after they're released and bitch about how buggy it is and feel like they are entitled to pirate it as a result.

Well, in the end, you may blame the developers but the truth is that it is usually the fault of shitty managers who should not be there, investors who are too stupid and cheap to understand that it is IMPOSSIBLE to predict an accurate time frame of when a game will be done, and incredibly stupid ass contractors who don't give devs the time they need to properly finish a game. And if anyone thinks that simply getting paid for overtime(yea some studios actually do pay...but that is rare)...if you think that is enough you are dead wrong.

A person needs to have a normal life, 40 hour weeks, not 90, not 70, not 41 - but 40. Because every hour you spend overtime, your brain does isn't fresh, you make mistakes, you make stupid decisions. In game design one small mistake can come back and bit you in the arse so bad that it could create weeks of additional work. Mistakes that are usually easily avoided by not being worked like a slave.

Anyways...done with my rant....the same applies for just about ANY art field (vfx, web design, print, etc....) I'm just tired of people thinking art is a simple thing and that anyone can do it.

Csimbi	(04:45 AM CET - Feb,28 2013 )
That's what you get when you sell yourself cheap.

Genoism	(06:49 AM CET - Feb,28 2013 )
Csimbi> That's what you get when you sell yourself cheap. no thats what you get when you get abused by the industry. They lure you in telling you the hours are not bad but once your in the job your screwed if you don't work the extra hours. Also, if it wasn't for assholes that pirate games most devs wouldn't need to sell themselves "cheap". Honestly...what a stupid remark.

Baconnaise	(08:52 AM CET - Feb,28 2013 )
My sympathy is for everyone that busts ass working one or two jobs or more 40-80 hours a week. They don't have it as bad as most of the population so I think people understand. Anyone that makes under a 100k is a fucking pleb here regardless.

Csimbi

(03:17 PM CET - Feb,28 2013 )

Genoism> Csimbi> That's what you get when you sell yourself cheap.

no thats what you get when you get abused by the industry. They lure you in telling you the hours are not bad but once your in the job your screwed if you don't work the extra hours.
When you sign a contract, there are things in it describing what each side will do. You can do more by your own choice, but you're not required according to your contract. When they ask you to do more, you need to revise you contract. It's that simple. If you don't care to do that, you sold yourself cheap. I guess part of the problem is that most coders are terrible negotiators.

Genoism> Also, if it wasn't for assholes that pirate games most devs wouldn't need to sell themselves "cheap". Honestly...what a stupid remark.
Oh, please. It has nothing to do with piracy. Those places get rich on your ass with and without piracy.

@Baconnaise
Yes, I highly respect people with multiple jobs to provide for their families. Hats off.

tride

(04:33 PM CET - Feb,28 2013 )

Genoism> Csimbi> That's what you get when you sell yourself cheap.

no thats what you get when you get abused by the industry. They lure you in telling you the hours are not bad but once your in the job your screwed if you don't work the extra hours.

Also, if it wasn't for assholes that pirate games most devs wouldn't need to sell themselves "cheap". Honestly...what a stupid remark.Sorry man but you speak bullshit.
You should clarify what country you live or work. At the companies that i worked there was no overtime, and when there were it was paid! So if you work in India and get your ass raped hard by your employer, well.... thats the deal in this country for example.
But if you are in teh states or in EU... file a complain with the authorities! There are laws and rights... so look for them if you can!
Otherwise you are a slave! Then stop complaining being a slave...

In Amillennialist Veritas

(08:43 AM CET - Mar,01 2013 )

Genoism> Csimbi> That's what you get when you sell yourself cheap.

no thats what you get when you get abused by the industry. They lure you in telling you the hours are not bad but once your in the job your screwed if you don't work the extra hours.

Also, if it wasn't for assholes that pirate games most devs wouldn't need to sell themselves "cheap". Honestly...what a stupid remark.

That comment wasn't "stupid"; it points out rightly that if you don't like your circumstances, you can change them.

You believe that we're all helpless victims of "the Man," but those are chains you impose upon yourself.