So, in this post, I'm not actually going to mention ALL of the opinions I have on and experiences I've had in the industry, but there are two main things that really bother me about it, and so I just want to talk a little bit about those things. Obviously these things will just be my personal opinions coming from my own narrow perspective, but maybe they will give you some unique insight.
So the first thing I want to talk about is how story and creativity are used in game development. I've always had some strong opinions about this, but I read an interview with game writer Susan O'Connor today, and some of the things she said I could really relate to. That interview is here if you're interested. She talks about some of the frustrations she's having with working as a games writer, and though I've never done that myself, I've had some frustrations of my own.
Some of the issues aren't even anyone's fault, though, it really just has to do with limitations of the medium itself. Like, technical limitations. Obviously those limitations are becoming fewer as hardware gets more powerful, but still, I don't believe we will ever have technology that will be able to match the human imagination. When making a game, a designer can go 'can we have like a billion guys in this field here?' and the tech guy will go 'um, no.' But with a book or comic book - if you can imagine it, you can write it or draw it.
And then there are the limitations that come with the interactivity of games. If you're not sure what I mean by that, it might be tough for me to explain, but I'll do my best. See, when you're making a game, you want the player to be doing something fun at pretty much all times, right? You can have downtime in the form of cinematics, but generally you want to limit those as much as possible. Unless you're Metal Gear Solid I guess, but let's not compare molehills to mountains (i.e., Kojima gots da cred to do whatever the hell he wants).
I have actually run into this issue more with my personal work than in professional work I've done. Just as an example, there was one idea that I had that was originally going to be a game. But as I was working through what I was going to want in the story, I realized that there were too many sequences that required taking control away from the player. I mean, in a game, you want the player to feel like they have at least SOME agency, right? The more the better. So basically, to have the narrative go exactly where I wanted it to, to tell the story that I really wanted to tell, I felt like it would just work better as a novel or, ideally, comic book.
I guess that's why many people feel like stories in games tend to suck. Balancing story and gameplay is really hard! If you go too far towards the story, people get bored of cutscenes or just feel like the whole thing is too linear and scripted. Go too far the other way and the story is so thin or nonsensical that it's like, what's even the point of having a story? I guess there are some experimental indie games and interactive novel type things that are able to focus much more on story, but something like that wouldn't really be as satisfying to make for me I don't think. With such limited interactivity, I almost like don't even see the point. Maybe it's something I should try to warm myself to, though.
And speaking of indie games and developers, that kind of brings me to my last point about creativity in the industry. Obviously indie studios are able to harbour much more creativity than triple-A studios. These days, it seems like the industry is being run by businessmen who only care about being assured that they'll make a buck. This is why we keep seeing annual-release franchises, and sequels till we're sick - it's the safe thing to do from a business perspective. I didn't even work in a huge studio, but it was a bigger-sized company I suppose, and the creativity within it was nonexistent. All the management cared about was making money. As a creative person, it was really depressing, so I wasn't terribly disappointed when I left that job.
I mean, sure, there are some creative minds in the triple-A game like Ken Levine who can do pretty much whatever they want, and that's really good. But what's a greenhorn like me to do? The original plan was to grind my way through the years at the bottom until I can work my way up and gain enough clout to work on my own ideas like Levine can. But that environment just turned out to be too soul-sucking for me to survive in. So what else, join a smaller group to make indie games? I guess, but it's tough for groups like that to get the money to even make anything in the first place. And even then, there are the technical limitations of games in general that I mentioned earlier.
So, I guess I'll go on to my second point, which should be shorter than the first, as it's much simpler. It goes like this: why the hell are such ridiculous overtime policies just accepted in the games industry? I know it's not the only industry in which that's a problem, but that doesn't make it okay. Like, sure, I can accept if people are working extra on a project because they like it and are having fun. But when you get into mandatory sixteen hour days six or seven days a week, no one can enjoy that. And not every studio HAS that sort of policy, obviously, but I'm not aware of any that doesn't employ some sort of crunch time or overtime system.
I am just not about stuff like that, it's so wasteful. I feel like it doesn't even make sense, overworking people for so many hours will make them less productive. And I understand that games need some sort of schedule, because they need to come out eventually, but it's like, sometimes I need to buy things too. But y'know what? Stores CLOSE. The candy will still be on the shelf tomorrow. Your customers will still want to buy games tomorrow, businessmen.
SO, sorry that last part was a bit ranty, but it's just ridiculous to me that such BS is just accepted. For the last several years, going through school, I always wanted to be in the games industry. But now that I actually have been, I'm not sure I want to anymore. Not that it's totally a bad industry, but I'm just not sure it's where I can do my best work.
I don't even know what the point of this post was, as it obviously can't change anything. I mean, I still love video games, and I still like the idea of making games. But the main thing I want is to just be happy and enjoy what I do. If I can somehow find that and do it while making games, all the better.
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