Falling off the horse?

[terin]

Heya everyone,

Not to call attention to my blunder the other day, but it occurred to me this could make an interesting thread.

We all mess up from time to time, hence "falling off the horse," and it can be a major spirit dampener.

I wonder who out there has the best "woops" story that they don't mind sharing :-) (obviously you probably shouldn't post something that will re-ruin your reputation, lol)

So share a story and what was learned from the mistake, possibly so that other people don't make the blunder.

Today's lesson from me: Never brush off a comment that could have legal barring no matter how "in a rush" you are. Better not to say anything than insert your foot in your mouth :-)

-Joe

[Abscissa]

I'm going by "Twisted Pair Gaming" now, but back when I was working under the name "Abscissa Software" I used the tag line "Taking Games to a New Dimension" (because "Abscissa" is the name of the X Axis).

Problem is, I'm a lousy speller... Around the time I was done with the name "Abscissa Software" and started changing names, my friend's brother was looking at the old website and informed me that "dimension" is spelled with an 's', and not a 't' as in 'dimention'. Eek! .

Moral of the story: always spellcheck, *especially* your slogan.

Hmm, also, if you're trying to save disk space by removing your source files off your hard drive and backing them up to optical media (Not a smart idea in the first place), make absolutely certain that the files actually *DID* make their way to the backup media before deleting them from the hard drive . Making an emergency stop at the store for Norton Utilities and then trying to piece together source files and assets from rescued disk sectors is NOT fun .

I've learned a lot of very important lessons over the years .

[Coyote]

Well, let's see. I was rushing to get a demo to a publisher who was interested in taking a look at the alpha for potential release. I tested and tested the alpha to make sure it was relatively solid. Things seemed fine. So I packaged it all up in an installer, and then tested again with a clean install. Worked fine. I sent it off, and FINALLY went to bed.

A couple of days passed, and I heard nothing from the publisher. I keep working on development on the game. Then someone (actually it was Terin) says, "Hey, that demo you sent --- it only works when you run it directly off the install - the desktop and startup menu items in there don't work."

No wonder I hadn't heard back from said publisher! D'oh!

[Pyabo]

Here's one from my personal experience:
Don't take a year off from work to "work on a game" and then just spend it sleeping in, relaxing, and goofing off.

Actually, it was a nice year... Just didn't get any work done or make any money.

[GBGames]

Here's one from my personal experience:
Don't take a year off from work to "work on a game" and then just spend it sleeping in, relaxing, and goofing off.

Actually, it was a nice year... Just didn't get any work done or make any money.

Heh, I'll keep that one in mind. Yesterday was my last exam. I am not registering for classes for the next quarter, namely to give myself more time to work on my projects. No more excuses for me to not do anything, but I've been concerned that the habit of not working on my own projects would be pretty hard to break.

I'll still be working, as I am not in a position to start getting any income from games, so maybe it won't be so hard to make myself work on my own.

[MrPhil]

Don't take a year off from work to "work on a game" and then just spend it sleeping in, relaxing, and goofing off.

That is exactly what I feared I would do. So I decided to keep working at the day job and making game by night.

I’ve felt like I’ve fall of the horse about every month or so since 2001 and it has frustrated me to no end. Recently things have changed, and I feel like I'm in the zone, like everything is starting to fall into place. I’m also starting to see how all the time of struggle where necessary, for whatever reason, so I could get where I am today.

[Dan MacDonald]

I call things as I see them and I am also a very passionate person, especially when it comes to indie game development. Occasionally I've said things that I probably wouldn't have had I know the individual or organization I was speaking of was reading. I would have said the same thing, just phrased it a little differently. Fortunately with with a few private messages / personal conversations most foe-pa's can be quickly resolved.

With regards to that other incident, I think you redeemed yourself nicely with the follow up. No one is perfect, and no one expects perfection. The test of your character is how fast your respond when you realize you've made an error.

[Applewood]

most foe-pa's can be quickly resolved

Like the spelling of faux pas ?

Sorry!

[Abscissa]

I’ve felt like I’ve fall of the horse about every month or so since 2001 and it has frustrated me to no end. Recently things have changed, and I feel like I'm in the zone, like everything is starting to fall into place.

Wow, that's a perfect description of me too, to the letter.

[luggage]

Not one by myself personally but by our head of programming at my last place of work. We were given 3 months to write a PS1 and PC title from scratch and offered a nice bonus if we got it done on time. It was all done on time and the head of programming had to build the final CD and then it gets bounced back from Sony. The reason? He'd missed a ;1 of the end of a filename. Our bonus was cut in half as we missed the deadline by one day.

[Fry Crayola]

I fall apart on a regular basis, although I'm pretty sure a lot of it was down to pressure I put on myself to perform. Plus, of course, I did the lazy goofing off thing while I was unemployed. Still got a bit of work done, but it could and should have been more.

On the plus side, now I've started a normal day job I feel much more motivated to work on the game in the evenings. If I can get two hours a night, I'm happy and I achieve stuff.

[terin]

Thanks for the kind words Dan, I didn't take it personally to begin with :-)

I See a lot of people with the fear of goofing off... that's wild. I'd just like to say that goofing off isn't so horrible.

Everything should be in moderation, goofing off and work combined. My schedule is far from perfect, but here's a rough approximation:

8:00-9:00: Bring my daughter to daycare. (this one is pretty absolute)
9:00-12:00 (or 11:30 today): Work on Matrix Games stuff
12:00-1:00: Lunch
1:00 - 3:00: Work on Indie Game projects
3:00 - 5:00: Goof off and play video games that I WANT to play.
5:00 - 9:00: Family Time (And dinner)
9:00 - 10:30: Work on Matrix Games
10:30 : Sleep... unless I rented a video game like this week... heheh.

So that brings my total hours worked in a day to 6.5. Total hours goofing off to somewhere in the realm of 3-4. I usually put in about 3-5 hours a day on weekends too, but that varies wildly based on what needs to be done. So in the end I am still working 40 hours a week or so (more if there's a lot going on, less if there isn't). AND getting a good solid 18 hours of doing jack squat :-)

Would I be more productive if I didn't goof off? I doubt it, the human brain can't sit down and be productive for hours on end, it burns out and begins making mistakes. Plus it keeps me happy to continue doing my daily routine. Its not perfect but hey, what is :-)

I doubt this helps anyone, but you certainly have to be careful not to spend too much time goofing off. Whether you are in a basement or an office, you should really give your self a schedule that works for YOU. I always find that I am most productive in the early morning and after lunch I can't sit still as well. Plus if I work up until the point at which the family comes home I am often in a less happy mood, which typically ruins my entire evening of playing with my daughter, wife, and freeloading brother in law who won't move out of our house (but im not bitter, lol).

-Joe

[Jim Buck]

If you are truly working 40 hours a week, then you are still wayyyy ahead of the curve.

[Fry Crayola]

I varied my goofing off periods depending on what was going on at the time. Sometimes I worked from around 9am until 2pm (in theory - I spent far too much time on the net) then played a few games for a few hours before my girlfriend came home. Other times, I would have played from 9am until about 11 or 12 before working.

Neither was really productive though. Now I have a full time job to contend with, so it's harder to goof off without running out of time. When you consider I get home at 6, and spend time with my girlfriend in the evenings I can only squeeze around 2 hours of work in there. Not much time for playing other games (though I got a lovely 9 stars in Mario 64 DS last night).

Anyone else here feel really guilty if they play games on a day when they haven't done any work, but know that it would have been beneficial to do so?

[Diodor Bitan]

Anyone else here feel really guilty if they play games on a day when they haven't done any work, but know that it would have been beneficial to do so?

Only if I lose.

[Sharpfish]

Anyone else here feel really guilty if they play games on a day when they haven't done any work, but know that it would have been beneficial to do so?

I felt guilty using an hour and a half worths of flexi time up in my full time job by leaving at 4pm (yesterday) planning to get home and iron out some pressing matters in my game framework.. after having a quick look at a small technical problem on my laptop.. 6 hours later I finally put the laptop back together again, having acheived nothing on my coding, not seeing my g/f who was in the other room and then went to bed.

It is a real killer trying to do stuff that takes massive amounts of time when you have a full time job (and longish commute distances) to deal with, but as I am sure I have mentioned before - I am leaving my employment in just 3 weeks (had 3 months away from here before and my project productivity sky-rocketed - that was where the 16 hours a day working on my projects came from), though I am moving house (150 miles from where I now live) so that will keep me busy also.

As for distractions.. I simply must work ALONE and with no TV on.

[dima]

Ever since I started developing games, I lost interest in playing them. I'll look at the games and check them out all the time, but mostly for the purpose of inspiration and new ideas.

[sand858]

dima,

I was lurking but your post compelled me to sign up and join the discussion. I too have noticed that since starting to work on games I've become far less interested in playing them. My hypothesis is that I'd rather spend my time working on a game that I want to play than sifting through a dozen iffy games (excellent games obviously distract me quite well if I fail my saving throw).

My 2 bits.

[dima]

Agreed...

Personally, I find game development more fun than actually playing the games. Games used to have this magic about them, but now that the secrets are unveiled, the only way for me to see tha magic again is to make it happen. Ofcourse there are some fantastic games that are hard to put down, rare gems. I still play WarCraft3 sometimes, tried WoW, but gave up after wowing at the graphics and such, Diablo2 had me going for a while, but lately, I havent touched a game in a long time. Well, touched but not for the purpose of playing and advancing, just to check out what's new and how did they get it to work.

[C_Coder]

Always keep a copy of your sources (password protected archive) on a flash stick and keep it in your pocket wherever you go!

[gmcbay]

I've lost a lot of interest in playing games as well, but in my case I think it is mostly due to getting older and having more things compete for my time than it has to do with me making my own games.

Having said that, I still do find myself playing nice quickie games like WarioWare, DonkeyKong Jungle Beat and GBA games like Advance Wars and Mr Driller that I can pick up and play for 15 minutes and then do something else. But I've lost a lot of my interest in playing longer plot driven games, unless they are really exceptional (Metroid Prime, Knights of the Old Republic, etc).

[terin]

Its because I am young that I am compelled to play the absolute worst games out there then. I love playing bad games as much as I do good games... it gives me something to really talk about.

For instance: I just finished playing Vexx. Heh... anyone who has played that game already knows my pain... well I beat the sucker! And now I can mock it wholeheartedly as a game who's concept never actually made it into the game.

I dunno, I am weird... young... still passionate about games... I can't predict if I will change but at the age of 12 I said I would work in videogames. I haven't swayed away from that path yet and enjoy them now more than ever.

-Joe

[Mark Fassett]

I still love playing games. However, I don't have the time, between working on my own games, watching the kids, etc... I rarely get more than a half hour or so to play at any one time, so I'm really picky about the games that I play. If a game doesn't make it easy to play (doesn't mean easy), it goes in the no-play bin.

[queasy]

I find I feel reaaallly guilty when playing games cause I know I should be doing some work. One little trick I use on myself is to say "oh, but it's not really playing, it's more like researching. Yea... researching..."

-j

[Fry Crayola]

I used that trick to allow myself to buy Football Manager 2005 (you lot might know it as Worldwide Soccer Manager) and Championship Manager 5 over the last three months. Not only because I didn't really have time to play them without losing time to work on my own game, but also because CM5 is apparently not very good at all - but I just had to see what it was like, what it does well and what's broken.

I find I can't really play any football management games without taking them apart and thinking of what it's doing wrong and what it's doing right. Every other genre's fine though. I played Wipeout 3 for quite a while last night - although I did find myself disecting the front end interface which I think is ace.

[Alex]

Worst goof up- being born into working class family. The video game industry is only open to "Lucky people", as opposed to "talented" people, and I should be happy working as a tradesperson, and I'm not even that.

Second worst goof up- that last comment - now u guys think I'm bitter and repressed.

Third worst - that last comment - now u r sure!!!

[paulm]

My most recent faux pas... screwing up a recent concept art contract. That was unfortunate, and cost me a lot of money, as well as getting a published game under my belt. Finding the confidence to go back out there and contact potential clients is hard, but it has to be done, so the sooner I do, the better.

Worst goof up- being born into working class family. The video game industry is only open to "Lucky people", as opposed to "talented" people, and I should be happy working as a tradesperson, and I'm not even that.

I was born into a working class family as well, so I can relate to lacking certain opportunities when growing up, but in the end that only drives me harder. Everyone is talented, and no-one is really lucky; "lucky" people just make the best of the opportunities that are presented to them. I have known people who have had so many doors opened for them, yet who would consistently blow them simply because they never made the best of what they had.

You'll screw up, you'll blow opportunities, but don't let that stop you having a go. The video game industry is open to you if you really want it, no matter what your skill set. You may have to work harder than some, but in the end it will be to your benefit anyway.

Cheers,
Paul.

[Escotia]

Worst goof up- being born into working class family. The video game industry is only open to "Lucky people", as opposed to "talented" people

What country are you in? Most of the western world has forcibly educated children from all backgrounds, regardless of 'class', for the last hundred or so years. I'd reckon, given the pyramidal nature of society, that most people are born into 'working class' families. I certainly was and the *vast* majority of people I've ever worked with in this industry were as well.

You're using a computer and you can clearly read and write so I'm assuming that you have had an education? I would say that you're a pretty lucky person.

I'm bitter and repressed

A repressed... what?

[jpantuso]

I've got a few interesting ones, but the most interesting ones are things I've been in near proximity to but (thankfully) not responsible for.

This stuff is too sensitive to name names, but if you look at my bio you'll figure out some of them.

Funny but not too bad... we had a key bitmap in the GUI which needed to be accessible to partners so it could be branded. This was done last minute so the (hack) was to put that bitmap external, and in the Windows directory. We all promptly forgot about it, then were freaking out six months later when another program appeared to be 'infecting' ours. Turns out they had a bitmap by the same name in the same place...

Faux pas... I've always prided myself on extensive international testing of everything. Then with only 12 hours to go before a gold master had to be delivered for CD manufacturing, it was discovered that the @ symbol key on a real French keyboard was a different key scan code than the @ on the keyboards the testing had been done on. Net result, impossible for users to enter their email address on the mandatory user registration screen to get into the softare. Much forehead smacking ensued.

The absolute worst in every way... an automatic update to a key piece security of software, which had the side-effect of killing the users Internet connection. Permanently. Now you've no way to reach the customers to fix it with another update, can't even send them email with corrective instructions. Different team than mine in a different state with a different product, but that taint smelled bad all the way from here... I don't miss that company.

[Jay_Kyburz]

Worst goof up- being born into working class family. The video game industry is only open to "Lucky people", as opposed to "talented" people, and I should be happy working as a tradesperson, and I'm not even that.

Second worst goof up- that last comment - now u guys think I'm bitter and repressed.

Third worst - that last comment - now u r sure!!!

i don't know about the rest of the world, but tradesment get paid a hell of allot better that peopel working on video games in Australia. I has to pay some guy $80 to disconnect the gas last month. Then $80 to come back and reconnect it. About 15 minutes in total.