Few of the ‘key problems’ of the Indian Game Development Scene

Firstly, yeah I know it’s been a long time I had updated my blog. But I was a bit busy with my ‘real life’. Getting a job, doing a job for 6 months is a lot you know. ;)

[Note that this blog post is all about my ‘very’ personal thought, idea and feeling in staying somewhat close to the scene for the last few years and from my little working experience in a certain company(still working) as a game artist. These words might not reflect the reality of neither the scene, nor the company, as I could be one of those guys who survive on steroids and always have these vague idea about things I shouldn’t.]

So here it goes:-

Hands in the Socks, Feet in the gloves

The usual workflow of the management in the scene is something like:-

- Get a contract job (anything related to gamedev, irrelevant of the requirement or the capability of the team).

- Appoint the job to the employees in the team who are somehow related to the job without even bothering about if that would be the employee’s field of expertise/specialization.

- The appointed employees have to spend 50% of their time on RnD as it’d be a job the employee never expected he’d have to do.

- When the employee is ready as far as RnD is concerned, the team realizes it’s quite late. Development is then rushed to the maximum extent.

- In the end, either the project is really, well, ‘bad in terms of productive efficiency’ like most cases; Or they are just scrapped, which is better from the point that it doesn’t go on being yet another sample of the negative publicity of the Indian Gamedev Scene.

In my very personal opinion, it should be something like:-

- Form a ‘proper team’, even if people are less. Quality is what matters. But have atleast one person in one specialized department. Game Development didn’t start with a herd of sheep. It started with these two three guys who had some brilliant skills and ideas to be put to application to form a so-called ‘magic’ as we say.

- Spend at least fifteen days with the team ‘only’ discussing what all the people in the team likes about games. Different genres. Old-School Favorites. GameDev Idols, etc.

- After those fifteen days the team will be pretty much capable of deciding on their own what kind of a ‘really small game’ they should go with, keeping in mind what working area revolves around the skills of the individuals.

- The project could be a small one, it could take twice the time it should’ve. But I believe the team would learn a lot and also their enthusiasm would still be intact, because they did something they exactly intended, and that they finished it with the exact look n’ feel they wanted for it. This is a satisfaction only a developer can understand and not one of the, well, management officials, ahem.

Art for Artists, not for Programmers, nor even for thy Management

There were times when I asked god why did you give eyes to these visually tasteless people. And I still wonder how can a gamedev company survive without even having an ‘Art Director’ for god’s sake. What happens then you ask?? Well, the management comes in barging within the artists to direct how they want the art to look like. What could be better than such a golden moment??

Please management, programmers, and, well, owners; Artwork is for Artists. Please leave that space to us. Think about it like this. Artists are artists since their very childhood. You can’t beat the hell out of a guy who’s not an artist and make him an artist. I can understand that when you reach a position of higher authority you feel like utilizing your childhood scrapbook painting skills, and decide on colors over an artwork some artist is working on. But you do forget that that specific artist is dedicatedly used only with deciding colors for the last few years, plus that he was born being an artist.

Reach for the sky, and you’ll be falling before you even know

Over-ambitious. I have NO idea why ‘still’ Indian Companies are so over ambitious with their projects. There have already been almost half a dozen projects in the scene I know which got canned because it was trying to reach too high. History is for learning. To learn how to not fall in the same known pit. To blacklist a path they know is a ‘sure-failure’. Then why do these people do the same mistake?? Ah well, no more whining on this.

I think I’m done with this post, or a rant-post you can say. I’ll add up more as I think of more. Stay Cool People. Life is not about getting the highest-paid job and earning loads of money. It’s about re-discovering yourself. ;)

Regards,

Sayantan

Satan

Sate

Sanantanan (:o)

Miltu

Milta

Gullu …. And whatever all you people know me with. :P