M C

The more studios get closed, the more I think about how there's nothing quite seeing your whole Industry falling apart to be honest. None of my friends with "normal" jobs walk around seeing job offers and are like "Hey if this whole Video Game thing doesn't end well, I could do that", but I've done it more times than I can count at this point and it's exhausting. Librarian? If the whole video game thing falls apart, could be nice. Bus driver? If the whole video game thing falls apart, could be nice. Professional wall painter? If the whole video game thing falls apart, could be nice. Desk attendant at the airport? Meh, if the whole video game thing falls apart, could be nice. Gouv Clerk? At this point, if the industry dies before it comes back from ashes, sure, why not! The industry is in shambles and sometimes, it do be hard to feel secure because even those who did feel secure could have the grass cut from under their feet. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel for each individual in the same or in a worst position, because it's not because we have a job now that we aren't looking at the future with uncertainty 🫂

63

1 Comment

Hello LinkedIn Games Studios, People and Others! 📢 You Should Hire Me! 📢 📌 What should you hire me for? 📌 🎮 Accessibility design of your games, across all accessibility categories with development informed solutions and suggestions - with specialism in cognitive accessibility 📃 To help you create and implement internal accessibility strategies for your games studio 👯To help you improve the inclusive practices of your studio, working plans and frameworks into your business culture so you can work towards improving retention of disabled and/or neurodivergent employees. 🧠 Empowering your neurodivergent teams and people to live and work in a neuro-affirming and neuro-inclusive manner, helping improve happiness, motivation and work output by giving them the tools to work their best. 🗨️ Guiding and educating your executives, leaders and managers in communicating and supporting disabled and/or neurodivergent employees. 👩‍🏫 Bespoke training sessions for your games studio, on any subject I cover, complete with learning outcomes and even certificates to stick to the fridge! My rates are negotiable based on workload and desired outcomes, and I do sliding scale for indies and solo developers! Book in a free pre-consult chat with me anytime to discuss what I can do for you https://lnkd.in/efXeC6Jq

23

1 Comment

This week is the one-year anniversary of my layoff. Despite submitting numerous applications and several interviews, I remain unemployed. But instead of dwelling on my misfortune, which I can and have done in private, I think it would be healthier for me to focus on and list what I can be fortunate for during this challenging time in my career. 1. To be with my (parent's) cats: One of them is pictured below; her name is Ayla. 2. To have a stable home to live in: Moving back in with my folks is not ideal, but I am thankful to have shelter and not be homeless. Also, paying rent and finding a job would not be ideal. 3. To have a supportive community: Ever since moving back to Orange County, I have been fortunate enough to find a community of game developers to relate to and talk to through the OC IGDA, Beer Wednesday, and a few online communities. 4. To have supportive friends: They have been critical to maintaining my spirit and helping me to keep going. I honestly think I would have given up months ago if I didn't have them to talk to and look up to. 5. To have a project to work on: Specifically, a project that I can work on production on. Working on Waxheart has been essential in not only maintaining but also expanding and augmenting my production skills. 6. To have access to public resources: I don't utilize resources as often as I should, but the few times that I have, they have gotten a lot out of them. 7. To have resolved major blocks regarding interviews: If you have ever talked to me, you know I am pretty transparent about being bad at interviews. However, I was much worse a year ago, leading me to do terribly in interviews for roles I would have been a great fit for. But now, my interviewing has improved greatly thanks to a few tricks. I believe I still have some work to do, but I'm much better than I was last year. And that's all I can think of for now. As usual, I am available and open to work. If you have any production needs and think I would be an ideal fit, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.

58

2 Comments

From A Freelance Perspective... Being laid off from a major company never felt overly personal to me, but a lot of folks struggle with a feeling of self-worth (especially the longer the job hunt stretches on). Please think about that when you ghost them. Go back into your messages and see if you've lost track of something. I understand the "I'm busy" angle on this issue, but the person trying to secure work, execute work, bill for work, and scratch to make a living is pretty damn busy too. There's nothing that makes someone feel more replaceable than implying the risk of burning a professional relationship with them is worth not putting in the 60 seconds of time it takes to write them back and close that loop. *Over the last six months, 99% of the people that stopped returning my emails were the ones who proactively reached out to begin with and most of them even laid out next steps. It's experiences like this that clarify the type of professional I seek to be and the way I will always treat my community of peers, especially the ones who need consistency in a turbulent moment.

104

12 Comments

Agreed - you can also accomplish a fair amount of noise reduction in the editorial process without batch processing (e.g. tightening the onset of dialogue, fades at the conclusion). Also, capture that room tone every time and send it with the session!

10

1 Comment

I'm testing something here. Feel free to ignore this post if you saw the earlier version. Or don't. You have free will, right? Hopefully, we all can recognize that sometimes we say things we don't mean. There are Freudian slips, for example, where you say one thing but mean your mother. Or sometimes we pick the wrong words and end up implying a whole different context than what we intended. Words and meaning can be slippery; our speech can exceed our grasp. For some reason, the optimism around AI is blinding otherwise very well-intentioned, sensitive, caring people and enabling them to make sweeping statements that are massively disrespectful to huge swaths of people. These are not terrible people; so, why are they saying such terrible things? My hope is that they don't understand what they're doing, and so I want to try and offer a few different lenses on the situation. In my Western, late capitalist, post-industrial slice of society, work that can be automated is considered low-value work. If you can teach a machine to do it, it can't be that hard. In fact, any kind of work that "anyone can do" is considered generally low-value work. Anyone can be a checkout clerk. We don't value that work (even though there is real skill that can differentiate between doing it well and not), so we automate it. We create self-checkout stations. We create entire stores with machine monitoring systems because we don't value that work. Because we don't value the work, we don't value the people who do the work. We don't pay them well, even though it's physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting work. We don't treat it as a job with dignity. We say things like "this class of work is for students". We literally pay the minimum wage. Writing is similar. Everyone can write. That's what it means to live in a literate society. Because everyone can write, we tend to deprecate the value of writers and writing. Anyone in the last fifty years who has tried to make a living as a writer has been told to "get a real job". So, when you say that AI will replace writers - that it does just as good of a job as not only the hobbyists, but the professionals, people who have spent their entire lifetimes honing this ability - it's more than just a little disrespectful. Imagine someone coming to where you work and saying "this work is valueless. All you're doing is repeating patterns. We could train a machine to do this work, and we would lose nothing in quality or effectiveness." That's what you're telling artists when you say that AI can do their job. When you say that digital actors can do the same work as real actors, what you're saying is that the human doing the acting doesn't actually bring anything to the experience. Making entertainment professionally is one of the hardest things you can do. In the world. Saying AI can do it devalues everyone who does it.

64

29 Comments

AI developed specifically to improve our current systems and go towards helping others with their daily work/life ✅ AI used specifically to take from creators without their consent and regurgitate stolen work to replace actual people ❌ If AI is going to be the way forward it needs to be developed and used for the right reasons. AI can be a positive thing that can help a lot of people. What we don't want is for AI to steal our work, mush it up with other stolen work and then throw the result back at us for sale.

105

1 Comment

Hi all. I want to share another magic item I've created for an upcoming D&D 5th edition supplemental item module that I'm working on. This item is called Viridis, which loosely means Green, and is inspired by Emerald Dragons. Since I'm not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast, I'll be removing any Forgotten Realms lore I desribed when it's included in my upcoming module—it's just for my current campaign haha. About the weapon, I wanted to make it a Halberd because 5th Edition D&D doesn't currently have any unique magic halberds ha. I've always been interested in some of the less used weapon types in D&D. D&D Beyond Link to the item: https://lnkd.in/eex9H2mP

7

2 Comments

I'm tapping out of the job hunt for now. ✌️ It's exhausting, draining, and just plain overwhelming. There aren't many gigs in audio to begin with, and even when I find a perfect match, all my other skills seem to get overlooked. You know, the ones that make me unique? 🤷‍♂️ Like the fact that I can manage a project from start to finish, always hitting deadlines, keeping everything organized, and tackling any challenge head-on? All skills I honed while running a beer import company, which, sadly, led to me selling off my audio equipment(old synthesizers, UAD Apollo, bunch of expensive microphones) to cover debts after it closed in 2021. So, I'm shifting gears for a bit. More time for LinkedIn, IG, and maybe even Twitter. 📸 Slowly rebuilding my studio (gotta get out of this teaching gig ASAP – not the best fit for someone with my ADHD and ASD). I know something good will come along eventually. In the meantime, gotta stay positive and keep creating! ✨ 👇now a picture with my dog 😂 #newdirection #audiolife #alwayshustling

27

14 Comments

"Just because you're a game designer doesn't mean you know more about games than I do! I play games my whole life!" Is the equivalent of: "Just because you're a heart surgeon doesn't mean you know more about heart surgery than I do! I've seen every episode of Dr. House, twice!" If there's anything that I truly get tired of in my work (and I feel blessed to be able to do what I love, especially with the current state of the industry), it's the constant underestimation of how much work, knowledge and foresight it takes for truly effective game design to be implemented. And this usually comes from journeymen who just don't have neither appreciation for, or an in-depth understanding of the art itself. The argument is always -> "But I can have great ideas too!" Sure, that's true. I don't deny your ability to generate interesting concepts. You, too, can have great ideas - but what you're not seeing is the chasm of practicality, and resource management, and the herculean amounts of theoretical iteration and presentation skills that, more often than not - make your wonderful idea either impractical or fully obsolete. That means it can't be implemented, because it hasn't gone through the filter of practicality, scope, etc. If more people in our industry understood this, employers included, we'd get a lot more awesome games - believe you me. Because the objective metrics for quality (when it comes to creative skillsets) are more abstract and cannot be defined by a simple 2+2=4 system, people will always make the mistake of overestimating their own ability to design truly viable products by at least 500-600%, I have found.

2

2 Comments

I have some thoughts about companies that want you to relocate. I’m a big fan of remote work. It’s proven effective. I’ve ranted about it many times, so I won’t repeat myself. But if you are facing an offer from a company that wants you relocate, and it’s that or not paying your bills, you are left with a hard choice. If it’s not what you want to do, my problem with this is the company is asking you to start on a bad note. Doesn’t feel good. It’s a lot of stress and anxiety to move. Especially if you own a home or have a family. It’s a huge ask. And we should not forget what happened at Blizzard. They forced a lot of people to relocate, then laid them off months later. That just sucks. So, my advice is to ask, no demand, a guaranteed severance package. Ask for a year. Or at least 6 months Make it part of your offer. It’s an insurance package. A promise and sign of good faith they won’t make you uproot your life just to lay you off in a couple months. Severance packages don’t pay out if you are fired for cause, or you quit. So it cost them nothing if they keep their word. You can even have it expire after X years. You can talk to an employment lawyer to have them write one up for you. It will cost you about $500 to do this. If companies want to force people to relocate, they need to offer assurances.

68

6 Comments

Hey yo talent dudes… can we be real for a fuckin second? I keep seeing these posts about “looking for ___” Let’s say 3D animator…. Chur out that garbage “we’re looking for a passionate individual to join our team, you’ll be using state of the art systems to insure the vision of our company; as well as working close with our talented individuals, including riggers, modelers, level designers. A bachelor’s degree is preferred——- and it gets worse from there. Here’s the thing… we 3D animators KNOW WHAT THE FUCK A 3D ANIMATOR DOES! You don’t need to tell us our fuckin job. Here let me rewrite this to make some fuckin sense. “Looking for a 3D animator. Pay range from ____ to ___ (if you can’t pay them say why and what you plan to do about it) Benefits of any Our company is looking for a 3D animator that is prefeciant in ______ (the type of animation you’re actually looking for) combat animation? Background animation? Cartoons? Movies? Cutscenes? Horror? FPS? ^these animation types are key to finding your perfect candidate because not every animator focuses on the same genre. “STOP ASKING FOR EDUCATION” it’s fkn 2024… no one gives af if you’ve gone through the 4 core classes and 6months of animation… what you should be interested in is WHAT THEY CAN DO! Ask them for a showreel. Let’s do this again Pay/benefits What the job actually is Ask for showreel… Stop fucking around

83

8 Comments

My latest Medium article is up. This #NarrativeDesignTip is about World Mapping and it breaks down the process and gives you some example maps to practice with. https://lnkd.in/dwzfEQum

61

2 Comments

Do you want to level up your game dev team? Do you want to learn some of the magic that makes some of the greatest games? Alex's course is a great place to start. And if you have designers on staff you think would benefit, I highly recommend this bootcamp. #bootcap #gamedesign

17

Invest in yourself daily. But success is about consistent, small steps. How to level up with microlearning: 3 simple steps. Every day, I commit to these habits: • 10 pages of reading • 15 minutes of a video • 2 hours of a course weekly    Why microlearning? It fits into any schedule. It allows continuous growth without overwhelming you. Here’s the impact over a year: • 6-9 books read • Dozens of videos watched • Several courses completed    In today’s fast paced world, staying ahead is essential. Success is built on daily, small actions. PS: What’s your favorite microlearning method?

124

45 Comments

Wise words from a wise man. If you're looking to start up a studio, check this out

37

1 Comment

The occasional freelance contract aside, I've been out of work since Covid -- of the roles I've actually been actively recruited for: - 3 studios shut down (or had layoffs and closed position) mid-recruitment - 1 ghosted me - 1 offered less than my very first gig - 1 recruited me for 4 months, only to ultimately hire internally - 1 just stopped talking to be out of the blue, because my recruiter had left the studio and nobody had taken over their candidates - 1 wanted to pay me in some sort of blockchain scheme - 2 wanted me to work to help train AI - 4 wanted me to relocate, and wouldn't go any further unless I was willing/able - 1 wanted me to do roughly 40 hours of "test" work, unpaid, before telling the salary, role, obligations, or even the project the position was for - just "lead writer" - 1 conducted 2 video interviews, then flew me across the continent, conducted 14 hrs of onsite, team-wide interviews across 2 days, sent me home telling me the job was "basically mine", only to let me know on Monday morning that they'd changed their minds I've applied for, on average, 9-12 roles a month -- sometimes more, sometimes less - there's only so much you can try and squeeze into getting hired before your mental health takes a massive hit, so it's a struggle/balance to keep sanguine in this regard. I'm still looking for a job with a great team, on a great project -- ideally in Montreal, or remote, but I'm willing to consider relocation for the right role.

62

6 Comments

The level I created during a level design art test for my Portfolio pipeline module.

6

WheezyWaiter makes great videos that are often funny and insightful. Here are his 7th truths that you probably need to hear: https://lnkd.in/guitbsQ2 I've found in my own life just getting up and starting something, even just for a few minutes a day, it all compounds. In fact... that's a better way of looking at so much of life. Want to lose weight? Try having 10% less net calories over a long period. Want to save money? Work on saving 5% more a month over a long period. Trying to break into the industry? Aim to build relationships up with 5 people a month. Do this for a long period. (Actual connections BTW - GET TO KNOW SOMEONE ELSE - make friends.) The biggest take away (IMO) from this is a key phrase: "... over a long period." Have grit, keep learning, keep pushing, keep making new friends, and have the very long, quite slow game in mind. It can and will have an impact later on.

10

2 Comments