In these confusing, complex, and scary past few weeks, I’ve been constantly reminded of just how fortunate game developers are. We’re comfortable working remotely and operating, if not at 100% efficiency, something like 70-80%. We can hold online design meetings, write code, and make art. We can move our work forward – and with digital storefronts being the main way consumers purchase our products, teams can release a game without ever being in the same room together.
Most others in the world are far less fortunate. Beyond the increasing death toll and obvious and devastating health care crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic will cripple the world’s economy. Millions of people are losing their jobs and struggling to figure out how to pay the bills and feed their families next month. Even after the virus is finally under control, the effects of this pandemic will be felt for years to come, defining entire generations like the 2008 crash and the Great Depression did.
So: everyone’s got a lot on their minds these days.
And while I was originally going to write a much longer blog post, I’ll keep this short, because in the grand scheme of where the world is, this announcement is an insignificant blip: I’m going to put the independent game I’ve been building on hold.
The Scree Games blog will still keep going and I’ll continue to write in my free time. As you may have noticed, the Scree Games website’s been reframed to focus on the blog as I wind down current consulting work. But I’ve decided to take a full-time position starting next week as a Senior Producer at BonusXP.
This decision was not made in response to the COVID-19 disruption or because I felt that Scree Games as a venture wasn’t working out. I’ve been contracting part-time for BonusXP for a while, and found myself increasingly in alignment with the direction of the studio, the amazing team, and the great games they’re planning to make over the next few years. The opportunity at BonusXP arose before the effects of the pandemic, and it was simply too compelling and interesting to ignore.
While I’m still passionate about the game I was working on, the idea is not time-sensitive and it’s not going anywhere. I continue to stand 100% by everything I wrote on this blog in the last year and a half. I plan to continue to be an advocate for issues that impact developers – eliminating crunch, promoting smart development processes, and pushing for the creation of genuinely empowered professional organizations and unions that can provide safety nets for developers affected by the industry’s endless cycles of hiring and layoffs.
I’ve said repeatedly that the most important thing for game developers is to take ownership of their careers and follow their passions. But there’s very few of us that have a single passion, and it’s okay if the road through our career takes unexpected turns.
Sometimes the road will fork, and we’ll have to make a tough decision about which way to go. The bottom line is this: I’m incredibly excited about this new direction and where it will take me over the next few years – and what I’ll learn along the way.
To all the developers out there: keep making games, never stop learning, and follow your own road. (Except wait for the pandemic to end first. For now stay the hell home!)
Stay safe out there, friends.