A Game A Day (For A Year)—Part XLIX
Despite the number of games that get released every year—despite the fact that there are game companies in virtually every major country—the game industry is still rather small. (And that includes all kinds of games—not just videogames and tabletop games.) The odds are good that if you are employed by a game company, you share your workspace with people who have been in the industry for years, and have worked for many other game companies.
I find it strange, though, that game devs don't talk too much about their experiences with other companies. Part of it, I'm sure, is that because the industry is so small, and employment at any given place so fleeting, that you never want to be caught saying anything negative about a former employer. Word gets around, and game industry folk can be extremely vindictive; an unkind word is decidedly a blight on your reputation—even if you are inarguably and justifiably right to mention it.
I suppose that's why people in the industry will often cite “creative differences” for why they no longer work at some company or another. That, or “let go as part of a larger downsizing process” (which is a bit like saying “murdered as part of a larger massacre process”). It’s not always true, of course…but more frequently than you might think.
So it's always a treat to me when I run into someone who has been in the industry for a while, And has good things to say about a previous employer…particularly if they worked on a game that I've enjoyed playing. When I was at Runic, I worked with a guy who had done level design on Borderlands. When I was at NCSOFT, I worked with a guy who had been a producer for Saints Row. And at En Masse, I discovered this past week that one of our Marketing people was an art director for none other than Halo: ODST.
And I found this out because he and another guy in Marketing decided to hold an informal Halo: ODST game day at the office.
Now, I get to game with other devs fairly frequently, just because it's part of the job. I've played more ZMR, for example, with co-workers than with friends outside the industry (or even just the office). The same goes for TERA, and the Star Wars RPG. It's just a fact of life in this industry. You work on a game together, you play it together. But you rarely have time to sit down together and play games that your company doesn't actually make—rarer still that it's a game that one of you has worked on.
I've waxed rhapsodic recently enough about Halo: ODST that I don't need to cover that ground again. What I hadn't done before, because I played the whole thing solo each time I've played it, was try any of the multiplayer modes. For the short while I got to play, we played Firefight, which is a wave-based survival mode in which you buy your team more time by having at least one player survive each wave. And, of course, it's more challenging than it sounds. I think we lasted about 18 minutes, against waves of grunts, jackals, elites, and brutes. I died a lot.
But it was still fun—though not necessarily because I was playing with at least one guy who worked on Halo: ODST, and at least two guys who really love Halo: ODST. I probably would've had just as much fun playing with any random group of co-workers past or present.
Still, what I've discovered about playing with devs is that while their skill level is usually pretty close to mine (well, okay, usually a bit better, if I'm being honest), they know at least as much about the games’ secrets and tricks as the top-tier pro players—but with a more relaxed approach toward their overall performance. And that suits me fine; I play games, even FPSes, for entertainment, not for bragging rights, or whatever it is that appeals to competitive videogames. (See? I’m so not motivated by that stuff that I don't know what it is that motivates them.)
Would I do that again—that multiplayer cooperative gaming with devs? Or even PvP? Hell, yes, I would. If I hadn't been so busy at the office that day, I would've played even longer. And I enjoyed the office’s ZMR game day so much that I'm still advocating for a repeat (despite coming on dead last in the standings).
But, again, it wasn't about the devs so much as it was about playing with a bunch of people who have a similar interest in videogames. A similar skill level. A similar attitude toward winning and losing.
I guess what I'm saying is that I like playing with people I have something in common with.
Y’know…friends.
12/14/14: * Red Dead Redemption (Rock Star)
* Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients (Flying Frog Productions)
12/15/14: * untitled playtest
* Drop7 (Zynga)
* Reiner Knizia's City of Secrets: Pipes (Aidem Media)
* Sudoku (Mighty Mighty Good Games)
12/16/14: * Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients (Flying Frog Productions)
* untitled playtest
12/17/14: * untitled playtest
12/18/14: * untitled playtest
* Drop7 (Zynga)
12/19/14: * Halo ODST (Bungie) 4-player co-op in office
* untitled playtest
12/20/14: * Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients (Flying Frog Productions)
* untitled playtest