The way of the developer: stories about my fabulous failures, part 2
Hello everyone, Delfuego FM is with you again, and I finally matured to post the second part of the article! Due to the ambiguous reaction to the first part, an attempt was made to lay out the second one on the geek times, and ... it successfully failed. So you have to make a small habra suicid and put it right here! So let's go! ..
Once I woke up and realized that the fears that had tormented me for several years and hindered the realization of my cherished dream were absolutely groundless. I had this knowledge before, the list of my projects and the length of the bank account could be more impressive.
With your story, the first part of which you can read here , I try to save you from my mistakes. I hope my story will help you save a few years. This is a story about game development, but it can be useful to all those who wish to express themselves in other areas (in particular, in the area of ​​website development).
')
After more than half a year after the fateful acquaintance on Nevsky Prospect, I was invited to Moscow for a game designer position.
While we were traveling with a friend from the Leningradsky railway station, Moscow greeted me with the song “Welcome to Paradise city”, which played on the radio. Then it seemed to me that I was really in Paradise: finally, a turning point in life had finally happened, the house was left behind, I was invited to a dream job in a dream city, everything was wonderful as never before, and it would get better every day.
It really could be, but ...
Any competent specialist would see only one phrase in the test task offered to me: “Run, run from here and do not turn around!” - the fact is that in the test task I had to comment on the scattered gimp of game ideas in the style of “robbery of cows in line style, on the wings as in Aion, and with a vision like that of the Terminator. "
It was clear that it would not be easy, but I saw a certain irony of fate and decided to take a chance: the Moscow employer, like the person who led me to game development, was engaged in slot machine clubs. But the Muscovite was engaged in them legally, officially and on a very large scale.
Documentation of the game was developed in the ancient fighting style “swan, pike and cancer” - the key details of the game were changed every week several times. There was no decision maker, and my position did not imply such authority. Then, when the design document of the game was ready, there were problems with recruiting staff - I don’t know exactly what the reason was, but if they were shown the same stream of consciousness at the interview as I was, this is not surprising.
After a couple of months, I went back to St. Petersburg, on a business trip to a conference of mobile developers. Randomly, this conference coincided with the funeral of a classmate who died in a car accident. The land she rest in peace. She was the most beautiful in class.
After the conference, the authorities crystallized the thought "we must simplify everything and quickly release a simpler game." This was a sound idea, but as a simpler game, the bosses, by some evil twist of fate, invented a runner in which the car had to create an accident, crush pedestrians and create other lawlessness on the road. For some reason, it immediately became clear to me that nothing would come of this.
The days stretched, and the lines of code, like game art, did not increase. It was at that moment that Unity came into my hands for the first time, and if my mind had not been clouded with the delusion that programming in Unity is hard, I could pick this engine and find out what to do on it just elementary - 2 years later finally settled into Unity, in 1 evening I did what I couldn’t do in Moscow for 3 months.
After 5 months in Moscow, I was fired for “low efficiency” - with the missing tasks, management, code and game content.
A few months later, the man who fired me was kicked out with the same wording.
I immediately tried to find a place in the game dev, and found only a couple of teams of enthusiasts who offered to make a game for a percentage. And you know what I want to say? Never mess with enthusiasts who have not proven that they can really create good games with enthusiasm. And it is better not to mess with any.
As a result, practically nothing was done on several projects over several months. But then I still have a bunch of concepts, one of which turned out to be so original that I took it as the basis of my first game.
But it was after, and then I decided that I had mastered the development on enthusiasm, that there is nothing supernatural in the organization of the process and I can take it upon myself, and then I will succeed.
Of course, I was wrong. Three and a half projects, ten people besides me, three months and one half-killed prototype in the exhaust. Attempts of team building did not bring results, people fell off one by one, and the most prolific artist eventually left the project due to depression on the basis of some personal problems.
Then at last the thought finally flashed me: we must take everything into our own hands. And the code, and graphics. Do everything yourself so as not to depend on pseudo-enthusiasts, and what does not work is to order for money.
This idea is perhaps the most correct of all who have ever visited me.
However, unknowingly, I decided that before starting the development I had to seriously upgrade in programming and “game architecture”, and this delayed the development for another 7 months (after all, noodle!).
During the time I was preparing for programming in Unity, I managed to make a few more mistakes, including two epic fails when creating one site (combo file!)
The Epic Fail combo began by asking me to help create an online store. I decided to take on the design and enrolled in the appropriate courses. The course organizers were also involved in the creation of Internet projects, and I decided that they were the very people with whom to make a website. The project turned out to be quite large, and it was decided to divide its development into 4 stages, and for each stage to make a separate contract. Never do that. Never.
Stage 1 was the easiest and consisted in minor changes to the wordpress template. But, since the whole project was voluminous, I did not see anything wrong with the fact that 40% of the budget was paid for 5% of the work - I thought that this amount would be a prepayment for all 100%. Yes, and the fact that I went to these guys for courses disposed to mutual loyalty.
And in fact it turned out that after stage 1, the developers lost interest in the project and refused to do the remaining stages, which were not in the first contract.
I tried to settle this ugly situation on my own, but they flatly refused to negotiate with me, and as a result, they ran into semi-bandit clashes on the part of the customer and the money was returned.
After refusing to perform the remaining stages, I quickly found other performers located in Moscow. The previous file didn’t teach me anything at all - because of the rush, I formed the relationship between two legal entities ashamed to admit as (almost nothing). But, the studio looked decent, and the reviews on fl were good, the amount of the first stage was insignificant, and the customer was nervous when the site appeared, and I decided not to delay the start of the development. The contract together with the full m / z was drawn up after the transfer of money, but we did not see the signed version of the contractor.
As a result, after a breakdown of the deadline for 2 weeks, we were provided with something extremely zagagovannoe, almost not corresponding to T / C and performed on an unspoken cms-ke. A month later, trying to get money back, it became clear that we were stupidly thrown. Although the amount was insignificant, we ruined a lot of time for this shortage. These Ostap Benders on freelance have a blue ribbon-arrow going from the bottom right to the top left, so be careful.
But back to game development. When the epic of not working out the site was over, it turned out that in order to create a game on Unity there is almost no need to know javascript - it is enough to take its main course on the codecademy, and then understand how Unity works on practical experience. In my experience, JS knowledge is 5% in game development, the rest is perseverance during the search for ways to solve the problem of the unity answers both in documentation and during experiments with code.
Epilogue
We are always looking for enemies, obstacles and causes of failure somewhere outside, but in fact all this is always inside. In my case, I was afraid to start developing games at least somehow, then I was afraid to organize the development, and then do it on my own, believing that it was too difficult, etc. But in fact the main obstacle was inside me. This search for enemies outside, not inside, has been harmful to humanity since ancient times. This is simply not customary to say, we are taught quite the opposite. So, now I am watching the riot policeman, who, together with his battalion, plowed the whole of Chechnya, and who cannot independently defeat the internal demons of the addiction to alcohol. He was taught to defeat an external enemy, not an internal one. And there are millions of such examples all over the world.
In all conflicts and problems there is always a third, invisible side. In generalized form, it can be represented as our emotions, instincts, fears, delusions. All this - the main enemy and the true main obstacle in any matters. If it is overcome, the imaginary obstacles will disappear, and the other side of the “conflict” will be an ally.
I hope you do not repeat my mistakes and your path to the dream will be smoother. In the following articles, which will again be in the game, I will tell you about the development of the visual style of our current game and some technical aspects. Some information you can find in my profile.
And thank you for your attention!
Once I woke up and realized that the fears that had tormented me for several years and hindered the realization of my cherished dream were absolutely groundless. I had this knowledge before, the list of my projects and the length of the bank account could be more impressive.
With your story, the first part of which you can read here , I try to save you from my mistakes. I hope my story will help you save a few years. This is a story about game development, but it can be useful to all those who wish to express themselves in other areas (in particular, in the area of ​​website development).
')
After more than half a year after the fateful acquaintance on Nevsky Prospect, I was invited to Moscow for a game designer position.
While we were traveling with a friend from the Leningradsky railway station, Moscow greeted me with the song “Welcome to Paradise city”, which played on the radio. Then it seemed to me that I was really in Paradise: finally, a turning point in life had finally happened, the house was left behind, I was invited to a dream job in a dream city, everything was wonderful as never before, and it would get better every day.
It really could be, but ...
Any competent specialist would see only one phrase in the test task offered to me: “Run, run from here and do not turn around!” - the fact is that in the test task I had to comment on the scattered gimp of game ideas in the style of “robbery of cows in line style, on the wings as in Aion, and with a vision like that of the Terminator. "
It was clear that it would not be easy, but I saw a certain irony of fate and decided to take a chance: the Moscow employer, like the person who led me to game development, was engaged in slot machine clubs. But the Muscovite was engaged in them legally, officially and on a very large scale.
Documentation of the game was developed in the ancient fighting style “swan, pike and cancer” - the key details of the game were changed every week several times. There was no decision maker, and my position did not imply such authority. Then, when the design document of the game was ready, there were problems with recruiting staff - I don’t know exactly what the reason was, but if they were shown the same stream of consciousness at the interview as I was, this is not surprising.
After a couple of months, I went back to St. Petersburg, on a business trip to a conference of mobile developers. Randomly, this conference coincided with the funeral of a classmate who died in a car accident. The land she rest in peace. She was the most beautiful in class.
After the conference, the authorities crystallized the thought "we must simplify everything and quickly release a simpler game." This was a sound idea, but as a simpler game, the bosses, by some evil twist of fate, invented a runner in which the car had to create an accident, crush pedestrians and create other lawlessness on the road. For some reason, it immediately became clear to me that nothing would come of this.
The days stretched, and the lines of code, like game art, did not increase. It was at that moment that Unity came into my hands for the first time, and if my mind had not been clouded with the delusion that programming in Unity is hard, I could pick this engine and find out what to do on it just elementary - 2 years later finally settled into Unity, in 1 evening I did what I couldn’t do in Moscow for 3 months.
After 5 months in Moscow, I was fired for “low efficiency” - with the missing tasks, management, code and game content.
A few months later, the man who fired me was kicked out with the same wording.
I immediately tried to find a place in the game dev, and found only a couple of teams of enthusiasts who offered to make a game for a percentage. And you know what I want to say? Never mess with enthusiasts who have not proven that they can really create good games with enthusiasm. And it is better not to mess with any.
As a result, practically nothing was done on several projects over several months. But then I still have a bunch of concepts, one of which turned out to be so original that I took it as the basis of my first game.
But it was after, and then I decided that I had mastered the development on enthusiasm, that there is nothing supernatural in the organization of the process and I can take it upon myself, and then I will succeed.
Of course, I was wrong. Three and a half projects, ten people besides me, three months and one half-killed prototype in the exhaust. Attempts of team building did not bring results, people fell off one by one, and the most prolific artist eventually left the project due to depression on the basis of some personal problems.
Then at last the thought finally flashed me: we must take everything into our own hands. And the code, and graphics. Do everything yourself so as not to depend on pseudo-enthusiasts, and what does not work is to order for money.
This idea is perhaps the most correct of all who have ever visited me.
However, unknowingly, I decided that before starting the development I had to seriously upgrade in programming and “game architecture”, and this delayed the development for another 7 months (after all, noodle!).
During the time I was preparing for programming in Unity, I managed to make a few more mistakes, including two epic fails when creating one site (combo file!)
The Epic Fail combo began by asking me to help create an online store. I decided to take on the design and enrolled in the appropriate courses. The course organizers were also involved in the creation of Internet projects, and I decided that they were the very people with whom to make a website. The project turned out to be quite large, and it was decided to divide its development into 4 stages, and for each stage to make a separate contract. Never do that. Never.
Stage 1 was the easiest and consisted in minor changes to the wordpress template. But, since the whole project was voluminous, I did not see anything wrong with the fact that 40% of the budget was paid for 5% of the work - I thought that this amount would be a prepayment for all 100%. Yes, and the fact that I went to these guys for courses disposed to mutual loyalty.
And in fact it turned out that after stage 1, the developers lost interest in the project and refused to do the remaining stages, which were not in the first contract.
I tried to settle this ugly situation on my own, but they flatly refused to negotiate with me, and as a result, they ran into semi-bandit clashes on the part of the customer and the money was returned.
After refusing to perform the remaining stages, I quickly found other performers located in Moscow. The previous file didn’t teach me anything at all - because of the rush, I formed the relationship between two legal entities ashamed to admit as (almost nothing). But, the studio looked decent, and the reviews on fl were good, the amount of the first stage was insignificant, and the customer was nervous when the site appeared, and I decided not to delay the start of the development. The contract together with the full m / z was drawn up after the transfer of money, but we did not see the signed version of the contractor.
As a result, after a breakdown of the deadline for 2 weeks, we were provided with something extremely zagagovannoe, almost not corresponding to T / C and performed on an unspoken cms-ke. A month later, trying to get money back, it became clear that we were stupidly thrown. Although the amount was insignificant, we ruined a lot of time for this shortage. These Ostap Benders on freelance have a blue ribbon-arrow going from the bottom right to the top left, so be careful.
But back to game development. When the epic of not working out the site was over, it turned out that in order to create a game on Unity there is almost no need to know javascript - it is enough to take its main course on the codecademy, and then understand how Unity works on practical experience. In my experience, JS knowledge is 5% in game development, the rest is perseverance during the search for ways to solve the problem of the unity answers both in documentation and during experiments with code.
Epilogue
We are always looking for enemies, obstacles and causes of failure somewhere outside, but in fact all this is always inside. In my case, I was afraid to start developing games at least somehow, then I was afraid to organize the development, and then do it on my own, believing that it was too difficult, etc. But in fact the main obstacle was inside me. This search for enemies outside, not inside, has been harmful to humanity since ancient times. This is simply not customary to say, we are taught quite the opposite. So, now I am watching the riot policeman, who, together with his battalion, plowed the whole of Chechnya, and who cannot independently defeat the internal demons of the addiction to alcohol. He was taught to defeat an external enemy, not an internal one. And there are millions of such examples all over the world.
In all conflicts and problems there is always a third, invisible side. In generalized form, it can be represented as our emotions, instincts, fears, delusions. All this - the main enemy and the true main obstacle in any matters. If it is overcome, the imaginary obstacles will disappear, and the other side of the “conflict” will be an ally.
I hope you do not repeat my mistakes and your path to the dream will be smoother. In the following articles, which will again be in the game, I will tell you about the development of the visual style of our current game and some technical aspects. Some information you can find in my profile.
And thank you for your attention!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/245121/
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