Joanna Czajka

This is irresponsible journalism that inflames an already tough situation. Is AI being used in #gamedev? Yes, of course it is. Especially in the ideation process. It is a fantastic tool for that process, so I am sorry if you are predominantly a concept artist. HOWEVER, is that the reason for all the #layoffs? No...Easy money is the reason for all the layoffs. The big money can be shoved into bonds and guaranteed a 4% return (just one example). Imagine that you have $1billion to invest in a portfolio. If you put it in bonds, you will be guaranteed $200million in profit ($40 million per year for 5 years). However, if you put that into projects, first off, it will take 1-3 years to get a project out the door. Second, the game industry is a hit driven business and the people who decide where the money goes are often the worst at judging which games will hit and which will not. Most of those projects will lose money or break even, so you are relying on a few hits to get you that $200million return over 5 years (and no returns while you are in development). Now, let's say you are not sitting on a hoard of capital, and you need to borrow that money to make those games. You'll pay 10-20% per year, which is a HEFTY sum of money to have to return JUST TO BREAK EVEN. At 20% over 5 years, that means that you have to more than double your investment just to break even. THIS is why the game industry is in a bloodbath at the moment. Is AI a threat to the job of certain individuals? Yes, but is it the driving force behind the massive loss of employment and general contraction? Absolutely not!! Spreading this misinformation creates a workforce that poorly understands the fundamental reason behind their employment or lack there of. #gamedevelopment #gamesindustry #opentowork

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Time for a post about Narrative Design in the context of VO! (For some context: I've worked on both the 3rd party contractor side and the internal dev side, being the main audio person coordinating the vision of VO on projects.) Something I see time and again is how game devs underestimate non-verbals. And it's understandable! 10 "pain grunts" seems less exciting and interesting than 2-3 spoken word lines that are each a full sentence. Efforts and pains are often seen as begrudging "must haves" by a lot of game teams. It feels like a chore to some. But what if I told you that those pains and efforts are actually PERFECT opportunities to show game and narrative information contextually with minimal cost to the player (and actually kind of for you too)! The only real cost is foresight and awareness to make sure your VO system (which you will be making anyways) can take in parameters for things like health and character specifics relevant to your project. For example: You have a juggernaut strong character in your game. You want them to feel big and unstoppable as a character. They have a huge ax that they wield in massive arcs with visible ease. You *could* just have the same effort VO play each time they use that ability. OR... You could have a very small (borderline-too-small) effort when they swing that massive ax, while at full health. But as they get damaged, even without needing to change the animation or art, they will FEEL more damaged because they start panting and making audible efforts that are angry and belabored with each swing. Without any new UI, character art, or animations, you've subconsciously communicated to your player that the juggernaut is flagging! And you did it in a way that isn't a fully-worded line that will get annoying to hear on its 15th playthrough. It will still feel organic. You see this in your favorite action sequences in movies. And it's very tunable after-the-fact, since you got a range of pains/efforts, not just one line! To be fair, is this ideal for every genre ever? No. But that's a bit like saying "Salt doesn't belong on all food" when someone asks why there isn't any salt at the feast. Too often, the incredibly versatile and sneakily powerful tool of non-verbals in narrative design is neglected. And when I've been on teams that don't embrace it, the reason wasn't "It wasn't a good fit for our product/scope," it was "We didn't think about it." Think about it. :)

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#gamedev #gamingindustry #gamingjob Hi everyone! Some of you may remember my recent posts about me looking for a job - I still am, but that's not the focus of today. A lot of my colleagues, extremely skilled ones, are looking for new jobs as well. I am unable to cover everyone in a similar situation among the people I've worked with for the last year or so. I hope nobody feels like it's unfair of me that I didn't include them - these are just some names from the top of my head. Let's go! Mikołaj Żelazny - an extremely skilled QA specialist; he joined the team I've been working with mid-work and caught up with the project in a blink, bringing the QA department to the next level. Łukasz Kwiatkowski - a great game designer and person who owned the combat design like an absolute champ; he is a unique mix of experience and diligence. Oskar Trochimowicz - an brilliant 3D artist, no matter what you ask of him, he will probably deliver something that exceeds your expectations. Piotr Wójtowicz - a talented VFX artist ready to bring your game to the next level; he is able to adapt quickly and take on any challenges and is a great person to collaborate with. I hope some of you might think back to this post if, by chance, you're ever in need of people with their skillsets. There is a possibility that, if any of my close colleagues are in need of that, I'll post another list or two, but I hope I won't have to and that everyone in need of a job right now will eventually find their place. ❤️ If you could leave a reaction for the visibility of the people I've mentioned, I'd be eternally thankful! (adorable image in the post: eggsdoodz @ Instagram)

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Every new project is an opportunity to meet new people. To become a part of a team of real professionals, creative personalities and just interesting people (Alexander Lodygin, Svyatoslav Kondratchuk, Anton Belchynskyi, Helen Kvitchenko), to enjoy the process of work is a great luck. I am sincerely grateful to iDoRecall.com educational project (David Handel and Lev A. Mazin) for interesting tasks and amazing acquaintances. The goal of the iDoRecall project, in partnership with Barbara Oakley, creator of the Coursera course "Learning how to learn", is to help people learn. It is a web application that is used in the browser along with a Chrome extension. For studying hard, users of the app are of course rewarded. My assignment was to create reward animations, with different behavior depending on the context and fully controllable by the developers. I also had to animate the icons on the buttons to make this serious app a little less serious :). Since app users receive pearls as rewards, it was logical to assume that the rewards should be given to them by a shell. Initially the work on the reward animation was conceived as the creation of a personal assistant, a cute cartoon character that would then be used elsewhere in the app as well. That's how the fun bouncy shell came about :) Then it was decided to create a second more serious version of the award animation, where the shell is just a shell :) Thus, another user customization has been added to the app and users can take a break from studying to think about which of the two assistants to choose. For both variants, complex Rive state machines were created with reactions to Hover and Click events, as well as giving out a certain number of pearls depending on the user's progress. The application control panel button animations are also created with Rive state machines and have reactions to Hover and Click events.

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Over the last few months, I've very (very!) slowly started to work on a new personal project following Environment Art Mastery course (https://lnkd.in/eCH8r_3j). Initially, I tried to come up with my own idea for the environment, but I kept thinking about the Neo Tokyo Artstation challenge I didn't finish last year. In the end, I decided to start it from scratch, use the challenge concept as a main shot and expand it further. One of my goals for this project was to dive as much as I can into PCG and blueprints/VFX (though maybe not too deep here 😅). It’s immensely slowing down my progress in art, and I’m still not sure if it’s a good idea to deviate so much from the course I’m trying to follow, but I just can’t stop myself 😄. Trying out custom PCG nodes, looking for any documentation/tutorials on the topic, failing to do something for a week just to figure out one tiny thing I was doing wrong… Hate it and love it at the same time, but it’s definitely fun to explore and even more fun to see things start to work as expected. So far, I have this WIP PCG building generator that I hope to use for the background/secondary buildings. I still have some tasks on my list, but overall, I'll most likely leave it as is for now and focus on the other aspects of the environment. Plan to come back to it later when I see what other features could be beneficial for my use case. Really happy to return back to personal art and excited to see where all these explorations will lead me 😊

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RTS isn't dead, at least in our memories I must say I didn't expect such a huge activity aside from my last post about RTS. There are a lot of people who still remember the genre and greatest titles in the history! Let's summarise the votes among the first candidates: 1️⃣ Starcraft 2️⃣ Warcraft 3️⃣ Warhammer 40K It seems like Warhammer is very much behind the rest, remaining the most niche strategy game. The last, but so unusual and special! Today I suggest another round of voting on favourite games from the RTS genre. Before we start, here is an interesting theory for you: in the first Age of Empires, the villagers' voices, including the famous "Rogan?" were recorded by the developers themselves. I can imagine the guys sitting around and just throwing in various obscure words, without even realising that after so many years these lines will generate memes and generally remain in history. What do you think, can it be the truth?

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Did you ever experience downloading a game after watching the trailer, only to discover that the actual gameplay was different from what was shown in the video? It's an unpleasant feeling, isn't it? At Wargaming World of Warships Franchise Video Team, 99% of our videos are created using the game engine, so you can see the ships, islands, water, and everything exactly as they appear in the game. Players can even activate a free camera and enjoy the scenery. Occasionally, we add some motion graphics to our videos to enhance them. One example of this can be seen in the work of my colleague Nikita Rudenko Here's the Epic Games store trailer! Enjoy! #worldofwarships #video

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✨When There Are So Many Layoffs in Gamedev, Should I be Bothered? Maybe It is Time to Consider a Change of Industry?✨ This question needs to be looked at from various angles, reflecting on your professional experience and considering your current concerns. ✨ How worried are you about all the news of layoffs?✨ Does this background worry hinder your ability to function and work normally? If so, you need an action plan. First and foremost, ✨assess the uniqueness and success of your experience✨. Have you been able to bring something new to the company, achieve outstanding results? If the answer is more yes, then you can feel more confident, as with such expertise and experience, even in the event of layoffs, it will be easier for you to find a new job in the industry. ✨Look at the job market to see how in-demand your field and profession are✨. If layoffs were to happen tomorrow, how many gaming companies could you apply to? Make an approximate list of these companies. It's also important to ✨assess your emotional and psychological state✨. If the thought of layoffs, industry crises, or the rise of AI is depriving you of normal sleep, perhaps it's worth seeking help from a therapist. It wouldn't hurt to ✨create a "backup plan”✨, considering how you can apply your experience from the gaming industry to other fields and, most importantly, whether there are suitable vacancies in other industries. Evaluating other industries, check if there's a crisis in them. How promising would your new activity be in a new industry for you? And overall, does the thought of a new industry interest you? It's important that you enjoy your work. If you realize that it makes sense to move into a new field, ✨evaluate your decision from a financial point of view✨: will the new job cover your minimum financial needs at the start, or do you need a safety net/partner's income/temporary freelance or consulting projects? How much time will you need to retrain? If you've considered all the risks and are ready for them, then we wish you good luck! The truth is, ✨money will continue to flow into the games industry ✨ because people have played and will continue to play. The question is just to weather this storm, see the emergence of new trends, and continue to create new hits. If your involvement in the industry and game production outweighs all these concerns, you probably won't leave. But make sure you have plans B and C, just in case!

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🎮Proud Support for Our Team at Digital Dragons❗️🚀 Our colleagues Michael Kubiak and Magdalena Grzesiak are set to attend Digital Dragons 2024, and though I’m not there in person, I’m with them in spirit!🔥 Our work together at GamerSEO supports this kind of industry engagement. Join me in cheering them on as they represent us and explore how we’re transforming game marketing. More updates to follow from the event! #DigitalDragons2024 #GamerSEO #DigitalMarketing #GamingIndustry

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Check out the game I am working on!! If you are interested in the game and how we work on the game, join our discord! :) Link in comment

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How is IO Interactive still going strong in such a challenged industry? This year was not easy for game developers. Véronique, our CDO, shares 3 core pillars of how we think about developing our games, and why we have reason and means to keep going. Great read on IOI's stability. 🙂

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Hi everyone. The project involves the development of puzzle-adventure game concepts. The game tells the story of scientist Albert Landgraf, who is engaged in resizing objects. During one of his experiments, the scientist accidentally shrinks himself. His task is to navigate various objects such as a charger, lighter, and notebook, collecting the necessary materials to return to his previous dimensions, where various creatures and numerous dangers await the scientist. "Slight Things" by Hovhannes Hovsepyan https://lnkd.in/dMczg-RU

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Another International Talk Completed ✅ Digital Dragons, thank you so much for having me! With everything happening in our industry, it's easy to spiral, but that's when you need community the most. That's why travelling to Poland, representing Sumo Digital Ltd and PixelAnt Games, felt extra special! There's something amazing about getting together on-site, with people from all over, to #RethinkRecruitment (even if that means I need to budget extra energy for public speaking 😅), and I'm super grateful for the opportunity. --- This got me thinking... ...you might have noticed I haven't posted much recently, and this is why: 🗺️ Bird's Eye View has been working with two amazing partners to put together a bid for the BFI grant. 🔍 I'm busy at work reviewing a couple of hiring processes. 🤖 The LinkedIn Algorithm™️ is incredibly demotivating when it comes to pushing helpful content to people that need it the most. 🚫 I wasn't sure if I was making any difference since the industry barely has any roles open. However, so many people reached out during #DigitalDragons to say my content really helped their job hunt; I can't help but think I should give it another try! 👉🏼 So bear with me, I probably won't post every day (I'm aiming for 1-2 a week), but I'm planning on writing articles with all the content from previous posts, as well as new bits of advice, especially when it comes to a slower industry. 💬 If you have topics you would like me to write about, feel free to drop them below! --- 📣 Follow #RethinkRecruitment and ring the 🔔 to read about: 📙 #GameDev Recruitment Best Practices 🔎 #JobHunting, #CareerAdvice & #RecruiterTips 👁️ Bird's Eye View & the #ELSH ⏩ https://entrylevel.games/ 🌟 Opinions are very much my own™️

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The demo is LIVE! There's a short survey at the end of it, make sure to share your opinion ;]

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