Layoffs suck.

[Dyne]

F'in brutal. I hate middle management.

http://kotaku.com/5664021/rumor-pira...hit-propaganda

A good 90% of my friends were laid off. The remaining 10% are fine though, I should probably go visit them soon.

As for me, I finished off with QA for good and I'm a Cinematic artist at EA now. I left Propaganda about a month ago - scary thing is, I left a month before Turok 2 got cancelled too. Same shit - back then, Josh Holmes, the studio head, left in December due to "creative differences with management", and then Turok 2 was cancelled in January after I had returned to school. Josh Holmes is now Creative Director of 343 Industries/all things Halo.

This time, Dan Tudge, a great guy from Bioware, was our creative director. Propaganda was aligning to become the Action-RPG studio for Disney - and it was all going to be driven by Propaganda's own PG Tech engine. Pirates was on track to start Alpha in September and push for a December submission. I submitted my two weeks and things started going to shit - Dan Tudge resigned, and Pirates was INDEFINITELY postponed. See, there's this bullshit rule Disney has that says you can't release a video game about a property within 3 months of a film. Pirates: AOTD had to be released in February so that it wouldn't touch this boundary for Pirates 4 in May. Same went for Tron, and that's why Tron: Evolution is releasing in January.

Anyways, the day after I submitted my two weeks, the producers announce that Pirates: AOTD is postponed to at least 3 months after Pirates 4 comes out in May. I laugh and laugh - good luck, I say. "The next Duke Nukem Forever". Pirates has been in development for over 3 years - why can't they push it out? I leave the week after and it's been quiet for a month. The entire Pirates team got a week off - calm before the storm? And then the knives came out. The entire Pirates team was cut, and the PG Tech engine is cancelled. Looks like they're on track to do Tron 2 with Unreal.

This is a sobering lesson for my future endeavors in the game industry: if the producer positions are like revolving doors, and your game mechanics are being outdone by competitors and you can only sell on name alone, it's time to GTFO. You need to "find fun", build a game around it, and then push it out. Building giant adventures without good mechanics are stupid. AOTD's ship gameplay was truly unmatched but there was barely any progression to go along with it because they just stuck the mechanic in a giant ocean. Finding fun is a principle I'll stick with from now on.

Anyways, enough rant for now.

[Angrist]

Sorry to hear that. I guess that's how it goes these days. Or maybe always.

Hopefully things will be more serene at EA. Do you like your new job?

[Dyne]

Yeah, I love Cinematics. And to be honest, I had every reason to leave for it. I was actually in talks to leave immediately around mid-July but EA's slow bureaucracy processes killed it from August to September 13th. EA's even got us on this crappy net 45 payment system - we don't get paid until 45 days after accounting receives my invoice. I don't care because it's the most fun work in the world and I'm at the lowest stress I've been at in years.

[Seth]

That's great you're in a better job.

Dyne, could you summarize what a day of your work is like. Being in cinematics, are you primarily working on concepts, storyboards, or what exactly?

Way to go, less stress es best

[BreakABone]

Seems like this is the week for that as Krome Studios also closed its doors today.

Best known for... well I guess MS Game Room really.

[DarkMaster]

Sucks, man. Big ass companies can be a bitch to work for. I also work for disney (not in video games) and they are constantly adding stress to my day. The thought of working on a project for years and then having it canceled is an absolute nightmare.

[Typhoid]

Bummer, man.
Also: Hangouts are much needed, damnit!

[Dyne]

Thanks for the thoughts, guys.

Originally Posted by Seth

That's great you're in a better job.

Dyne, could you summarize what a day of your work is like. Being in cinematics, are you primarily working on concepts, storyboards, or what exactly?

Way to go, less stress es best

Storyboarding is too vague for something like car action. You won't know what looks good until you get into the game and look at the physics. Last year on Shift 1 they tried asking for really specific types of crashes and camera angles, and to be honest, we always delivered something really different but still totally on mark. We work on prototyping only now because the style's the most important aspect.

My day consists of getting pissed off at Gran Turismo footage and how unrealistic, clean, and gamey it looks. Example here:

Video Games | Gran Turismo 5 | Action Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

This is an example of my work last year. Script and footage are all mine.

Video Games | Need for Speed SHIFT | Silverstone Walkthrough

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Sean: Holy hell yes we do. So much multiplayer to catch up on. NBA JAM! When are we throwing down?

[BreakABone]

Now it seems like EA Vancoucer has let go of people, let's hope Dyne wasn't one of em

http://www.1up.com/news/report-nba-elite-moved-tiburon

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle....medium=twitter

[Dyne]

Hahah, I'm totally safe this time too. They're saying it's more individual rather than team-based - not to mention I'm one of the only cinematic artists at EA.

[v1zzy]

Yeah I heard about this lay off in school. That sucks! But the important thing is the gaming industry is always blooming and new projects are always being made.