[henrik]

Just a question for people in the games industry; how long are working days for you? And do you work weekends and holidays?

I'm currently working as an animator for a big project. We have a very tight deadline, (going into beta soon) so i'm working late every day. Haven't been forced to work holidays or weekends that much till now, but that will change. I'll probably work 55+ hours a week from now on.

I was curoius how you guys feel about this...
And especially companies in the US!
Do you feel you have enough free time or is work everything? I enjoy my work, but if this won't change, i'm going to quit my job.
I feel my life and freedom is more important to me than my work.

The good thing about my work (and the project) is that i can work as much/little as i want. As long as i get my stuff together. I sometimes set some kind of goals when working. Like "today i'm going to animate this character 700 frames..." or similar. Then i go home even if there might be 2 hours left of the day. Or the opposite. It might take 2 hours longer than expected.

over and out

[ June 13, 2001: Message edited by: henrik ]

[Guy]

well i dont work in the game industry, but i am trying... with no success ... anyways. ive heard that most people in game companies work long hours. especially when the game is nearing completion. i read that the people at barking dog (a game company in vancouver) were working 100 hour weeks when they were making that Homeworld add-on. pretty crazy. i dont think it always gets that bad though, but i dont know for sure.

[Jock McxSporran]

Start of a project: 9-5 (ish) Mon-Fri
Deadline time: don't leave the office for days

[Dharma Bum]

It depends on what you get out of it. If they�re not paying you/giving you days off for the work you do, don't work. They have no right to ask you to work for free and you shouldn't feel pressured to do so. Of course, if you get loads of money for it it's another kettle of fish altogether.

[Etict]

Mine's are 10 to 6. Usually stay at the office longer though.

[Etict]

Mine is 10 to 6. Usually stay at the office longer tho.

[frostfyre]

Jock McxSporran hit it right on the head, and there are all sorts of places in between. It all depends on how good you are. I've seen people that can get all of their tasks nailed on the first try, in a 40 hour wrok week. I've seen others who put in massive overtime and never get it quite "there". This is in California.

Good luck!

[Lunatique]

I asked the same questions when I got into games a few years ago. I was really surprised that no one seemed to care they worked ridiculously long hours and weekends.

Well, now that I'm used to it, I guess there are worse things in life.

It's really about how well you can control the project's schedule, and how smart you work. Some people can get all the work done in regular 8 hour days, and pull the occassional weekends when milestones hit.

Some are just workaholics. If they didn't pull the long hours, they wouldn't know what to do.

For me, as long as the regular production times are pretty normal, and the long hours+weekends are kept to the minimum, I guess I'm ok.


At one point, I thought about starting an union for game artists/programmers. I dropped that idea when I realized no one really cared.

[ June 13, 2001: Message edited by: Lunatique ]

[ June 13, 2001: Message edited by: Lunatique ]

[henrik]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Problem is, i'm working a lot more and a lot more effective than (some) of the others. So when i've done my part, i have to help the others out. I guess that's what you get for being effective huh? And in the end, it looks like i'm the lazy one when in reality i'm doing 1.5 man's job...oh well

[ June 14, 2001: Message edited by: henrik ]

[avaj]

10 to 7, always, we all do. Times have changed since you were here

Help others? yeah right .. ;D

Ta det lugnt nu kompis, br�nn inte ut dig.

[Perplexer]

Hey Henrik, I understand what you mean and so far I have come across many people that feel the same way as you do.I'd like to apologize beforehand that this might sound a little philosophical, you'll just have to excuse this please.

I don't work in the games industry, but have been working long hours as well (CG animation company). we have had deadlines that caused us to "camp" in the office to the degree that at times we hadn't been home for 5 to 6 days in a row. those times were very stressful and very hard, but they were also a lot of fun- especially with a cool team such as I am lucky to work with.

I usually work 10-15 hours a day, often including weekends. if the work loads are not as big I usually stay longer and do my own stuff. I wouldn't do it if I didn't love it. working for film, drawing and creating imagery for storytelling is all I ever want to do. that, the urge to get better and my dreams motivate me to live that way. I know that if I work hard enough, there is a tiny chance that I will reach those dreams one day. I also know that I miss out on many parts of life at the same time. and if I never reach those dreams (FAR more likely of course than actually making it) I realize that by missing out on life I risk even more than I maybe should.

even though I work among freaks not all of my colleagues think that way, and that's ok. it's just a decision one has to make for him- or herself. do you want a chance to reach many people and some day work with the best? then you'll probably have to work long, long hours (unless you have one in a billion type talent), but eventually you might get an opportunity to get where you want to go. In return you'll have to take the huge chance of complete and total failure- or a great disappointment after reaching your dreams, when finding out that it isn't the way you imagined at all and not nearly as wonderful.

Or do you want to live for your private life? That's cool, too because it's safer. Most people do that. I think it might easily be the better way. But you're most likely to live a life like anyone else. Not saying that this is bad. However, without trying to sound snobby, considering my family and background, I must admit that -personally- this fate wouldn't really make me jump for joy at all. It's up to each person individually how much time one wants to spend on their job and how one wants to live ones life, but I know for sure that the best didn't get where they are today by going home at 4pm.

Maybe it's not even a decision, maybe the amount of passion that is inside you that makes that decision for you. Maybe it's all inside you from the beginning. I don't know. Everyone has dreams, but most people seem to forget them as they grow older or they get discouraged.

However, this is just my naive attempt in making some sense of life- I could be completely wrong. I probably won't know till it's all over. Perhaps not even then.

Once again, sorry for rambling and philosophizing, reading your post I just felt you weren't exactly sure. in case of doubt: stick to your dreams!

[ June 14, 2001: Message edited by: Perplexer ]

[henrik]

Perplexer, thanks for the great response. Very nice to hear what you have to say from your perspective. You know what you want right?

I know i've got talent, but i don't know what to do with it. As it is now, I'm animating. But that is not what i'm good at and it's definatelt not what i want to do for the rest of my life. What i do turns out good, but i don't have the motivation to get even further.

This question whether you guys work long hours or not ...i don't know. I think i'm just rambling myself. What you said (Perplexer) made total sense to me. The job/free time/life thing can't have one single and simple answer. It's just too damn philosophical and complicated.

What should i do? Sometimes i feel that i have the potential, the motivation to get as far as i want. It would be a complete waste just to let what i've worked up go...
I've had to sacrifice a lot in my life to get me this far, but for what? i ask myself everyday. Every single day i ask myself...why? Why am i doing this? What can i get out of it? I sometimes feel that i just want to do something completely different. I don't want to do art, games, movies whatever...just let me go...

I don't know why i draw and paint. I don't even like it anymore. But at the same time, who would i be if it weren't beacause of the damned papers, brushes and pencils ...?
I almost feel like i'm forced to do it. Like i have no choice. Like the choice was made without me agreeing the day i was born...(no i'm not religous) Damn! =)

I'm in a very uncomfortable situation here.
I'm still quite young believe i can reach whatever goal i set up for myself. But i don't want to spend so much time at work animating. I want to live.

�h schei�e det h�r blev mycket skitsnack fr�n en stackars liten sate...

Rambling on my own. How sad. Poor guy. Get a life. Oh well...

Your feelings about work/life? Anybody?

[Perplexer]

hmmm, you sound a bit frustrated henrik.
often I feel similar to what you're describing. every once in a while I see the work of other people and realize that there is still so much for me to learn. maybe too much. that is discouraging at first. but then it grabs me and I feel this urge to just try it myself, maybe even do it better. when that is the case, I can barely sit still unless I have something to draw on. in reality such lows are a total boost of motivation, and often I find myself hopping a level higher- even though it felt crappy at first. those doubts are important! they are important in order for you to keep at it- and not to grow a big head. My mental condition constantly changes between highs and lows... it sucks, but if you handle the lows right they become the periods of the cycle that keep pushing you over the edge- bit by bit. it is bizarre, but it's the lows that really push me- not the highs.

take Gecko for instance. he really does absolutely terrific work, but being rejected after an art school admittance-test really dissapointed him. he was hurt- a natural matter of pride. but instead of giving up, of course, he started painting like crazy and, as a result, is improving rapidly (not saying that he was lazy before that ).

do you also sometimes feel that urge to try doing what other's are better at than you? that tad bit of pride that tells you that maybe you might even top them? if you do: hold onto that well-dosed bit of vanity- it's what helps you turn the lows into "boosts of energy, skill and potential".

what you said about the "wasting"-part is absolutely right: there's no way back for me either. changing my course now would leave me without any orientation in terms of what else to do with my life. However, if you say you don't like drawing anymore, period, and you feel forced to do it, do something else for a while. take some time off and think about what you really want. I'm not really that braindead or lazy, yet I badly sucked at math in school- mostly because I didn't have any love for playing with numbers. I simply wasn't interested in it and therefore never went home with a grade better than C. what I am trying to say is: you will never be nearly as successful at what you're doing if you don't love doing it.

you're very young, you said. you still have time to become clear of your dreams or change your mind. don't be afraid to make a decision, instead, be glad to have that freedom of choice- use it.
it's up to you

[ June 15, 2001: Message edited by: Perplexer ]

[Vgta]

Henrik, buddy. You are burned out. You need something to fill your spare time (even if that spare time is tiny). You need to get away from the puter and the drafting table for awhile. Now I am not saying just plain quit, not at all. I'm just saying do something to get your creatvie juices filled up again. Go do something completely different and out of your field. Nothing art related, something that will get your mind thinking differently. I believe that you have come to a turning point, I guess let me described where I am coming from. I graduated 2 years ago from the Art Institute here in Dallas, however I ended up working at a .com company as a web designer. It was either that or staying in retail. Well at first it was cool since I was learning new stuff but I ended up becoming stuck. I wasn't growing as an artist or designer and I wasn't doing what I wanted to do either....well about three months ago the company went under. Talk about a kick in the ass. So here I am trying to find a job, I don't necessarily want to go back to web design but that is where I have the most experience in, and I want to go into the gaming or TV industry, problem is I don't have the experience and I am stuck in Dallas.
My daily routing consists of coming to the contract job that I have till the end of the month, then going home and sitting infront of the computer both looking for jobs and working on my portfolio. Till is time to go to sleep. This is how I can tell that you are getting burned out, even if you love what you do what happens when you come to that turning point. Do you work to live or do you live to work?
In all honesty I wouldn't be spending close to 24hrs a day in front of a computer if I didn't really loved what I want to do, but you need sometime to get away and take a breather and enjoy the other aspects of life.
So take sometime off, go rollerblading, sailing, go race some cars, something that will let your left brain get some rest.
Hope this helps.