Thursday, June 05, 2008
Captain Crunch ... And Not The Good Kind
I'm back to the 12-hour day crunch at Ye Olde Day Job.
If it seems like its hard to see when one crunch ends and the other begins, you may join the club. It is beginning to feel like it's just one long crunch with some breaks in between. I guess I'm breaking my rule about not complaining here. I apologize. And things could be worse, I suppose. I mean, the guys in the military serving in Iraq definitely have a tougher job. For less pay. So I'm whining a little here. Sorry 'bout that.
It's not like its unfamiliar territory. My first year at SingleTrac, I pretty much missed an entire summer. I slept on the bus on the way to work, missing all but a little bit of the dawn, and worked until after dark every day. And many weekends. While I have some great memories of that time, it's no way to live life. I don't know how much the video games business has changed elsewhere as far as "Quality of Life" issues, but it seems to me that the business, as a whole, is still implementing a management strategy of "heroic effort."
And it is heroic effort. The demands of customers are for greater production quality, ever increasing detail and realism, and ever increasing game scope. The industry is dealing with this by shrinking game play-time and raising game budgets - but I don't think the industry can keep up the pace.
So what gives next?
Labels: Biz
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 5:56 AM (Permalink)
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Ouch, I feel for you Jay, just coming out of some heavy crunch time myself. Still got that apathetic-fragged out feeling.
Good timing, Jay. I am just about to post a two year old blog post about working for big developers. I just never got around to it, but the re-rise of the EA spouse article got me off my butt to finish it up.
On another note, I disagree at little about consumers demanding more realism and better graphics. The Wii simply does not have that stuff, and it is doing extremely well. Not trying to debate here in the comments. I'll try to blog about it soon.
-Jeff Tunnell
On another note, I disagree at little about consumers demanding more realism and better graphics. The Wii simply does not have that stuff, and it is doing extremely well. Not trying to debate here in the comments. I'll try to blog about it soon.
-Jeff Tunnell
Gareth - Ouch! How's your crunch impacting Scars of War? Stupid day-jobs! If it weren't for the mortgage... and the need to eat... and stuff like that... :)
Jeff - Good observation on the Wii, but is it that consumers as a whole don't demand it, or that we are seeing the consumer base fractionalize now?
Jeff - Good observation on the Wii, but is it that consumers as a whole don't demand it, or that we are seeing the consumer base fractionalize now?
I think it might also have something to do with the genre of game being produced and the expectations of the audience. If someone came out with an FPS game on the Wii using typical Wii-style graphics, it probably wouldn't do so well.
Sorry to hear about the crunch, Jay. I got me the same thing here.
Sorry to hear about the crunch, Jay. I got me the same thing here.
Maybe. I was watching the video for that new RPG last week, and I was astonished by the comments about the graphics. "2003 called and said it wanted its graphics back!" and "If this is a Wii or PS2 game, I guess it looks okay, but otherwise it sucks!" and just a lot of other comments made entirely about how the graphics weren't next-gen enough.
I personally thought the graphics were good, and stylized.
Were these kinds of comments just representative of a vocal (and diminishing) minority? I'd like to think so. And maybe that's the part that's gonna give.
I personally thought the graphics were good, and stylized.
Were these kinds of comments just representative of a vocal (and diminishing) minority? I'd like to think so. And maybe that's the part that's gonna give.
I think there's just a demand for slicker, more highly polished games. They can be simple games, or they can be high budget AAA stuff, it doesn't really matter. Wii titles may be simplistic, but they're polished to an amazing shine. Just look at WoW for an example. And I looked at that RPG that you're talking about, and I agreed that it looked dated, although not bad as such.
Unless you have a stake in the company, quit or just refuse to work OT. That "accidental" crunch you are doing is often planned crunch - they know they will get the extra work out of their employees and they budget for the "free" labor.
Jay : Sadly, it has had a major impact on SoW development this last month. I've had very little energy left to devote to my own work.
But things are calming down, just need to catch up on sleep and recharge the old batteries. Hope things calm down for you soon. :)
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But things are calming down, just need to catch up on sleep and recharge the old batteries. Hope things calm down for you soon. :)
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