a1studmuffin

I've been in games over two decades - everything from AAA to VR startups to running my own indie studio. I feel like I can probably answer your question.

There's definitely a class divide within the industry based on your discipline. If you're a software engineer, you have much greater leverage than artists/designers etc. when it comes to compensation, and you'll likely be treated better in general.

Especially at larger studios, if you're good you will generally be looked after. Sure, you might earn more working for one of the big five in tech, but you'll probably be less interested in the work.

You should expect to move around pretty often - it's rare (but not unheard of) for people to stay at one company for most of their career.

There have been some pretty rough seas over the years too - post-covid layoffs, and a fairly large series of layoffs in the early 2010s.

I'm guessing 30% of my time has been spent on games that never released. The first time was soul-crushing. But after that, I realised I needed to focus on enjoying the journey Instead. The game releasing was just a nice bonus.

I wouldn't change my career for the world. I love working with other creatives (I'm actually friends with many of my colleagues), and I'm genuinely passionate about what I do. I think you just need to be the right personality type for it. If you're someone who can't set boundaries for yourself easily (switching off after hours), it can burn you out, usually by your own hand.

Most burnout I've seen has not come from studio heads demanding people work insane hours (though those rare situations always make the headlines), but instead comes from people's inner drive to be a reliable colleague and do amazing work. I think that's a side effect of being passionate about the work.

Is it a good career? I've certainly loved it and feel like I've been well-compensated, but your mileage may vary. But don't believe the hype of the vocal minority who say it's an industry full of abuse and bad wages. There's some shitty things that happen for sure, and some jerks running studios here and there, but I think that's more to do with late-stage capitalism than games itself.

Ah yes, the former Minister for Women.

Reminds me of: https://youtu.be/4R4uTrA1vQ8

Liquid Trees! Slam it down fast!

It wouldn't surprise me if this decision was more about external conditions than internal ones. They've got the money to burn, and are likely forecasting an insane number of sales, so timing it to ensure a more favourable global economy seems believable to me.

Honestly, by now for nearly every app that does something useful on Google Play, there's a completely free equivalent on Fdroid without all of the data collection. advertising and IAPs.

Especially since so many phones won't make it 72 hours without a charge, even if sitting unused.

I backed the Kickstarter, and oh wow did I get my money's worth! I genuinely wasn't expecting them to finish, and that's fine - I was there for the support and the ride, however it turned out.

It's been so long since I originally backed the project that I'm not really that interested in playing it any more, but I'm happy for them that they got it over the line... well, most of it.

Like many Kickstarters they promised a lot without realising just how difficult or expensive it would be. There's still a lot of deliverables ahead for them, but they've been pretty open about running out of money and operating on pure good will at this point, and I can't say I blame them with over a decade of their lives poured into it.

I hope it does well for them!

But is the overall market growing? What I'd love to know is if less people are playing non-MTX games now than before, or if we're just getting more people staying to play games and they happen to be drawn to MTX games, ie. a broader target market, in the same way we saw mobile gaming explode with people who never played games before.

It's really not limited to the game industry. A project of any kind with 10 people vs 100/1000 people is going to be a very different experience. It's just human nature - there's more planning and communication required, and more personality types involved.

It's especially dumb considering the new wireless standard uses magnets to make sure the phone is aligned to the charger. At that point, why not just make it a physical magnetic connector on the back of the phone and avoid wireless altogether.

Now do crypto.