Rocket

DayZ made me a great deal of money

This forced me to answer a big question: what will I do with my life now that I can do nearly anything? It completely changed my life within a few short years, everything I had before was gone and replaced with new things. New people, new places, new experiences, new opportunities. Overnight my old life was discarded like dust in the wind and replaced with a new one.

DayZ is an unreconciled emotion for me. It was enormously commercially successful. It helped ArmA2 sell millions of units, and the standalone itself has done over three million units at full price barely a year after it went into early access. For three years it consumed me. The desire to make something worthy of it’s promise versus the reality that it needed to be done now, with old technology, using the old ways of making games. The drama of that game, and its development, is so complicated for me that I can’t resolve how I feel about it. I do not even know where to begin. Ivan and Martin being arrested as spies in Greece, clones coming out, dismantling my old life, the friendships lost, the enemies made, the whirlwind of video game conventions and business meetings. So much happened, that all I could do is simply put the last three years in a box in my mind labelled “DayZ” and move on without seeking to understand it.

Walking away from DayZ one of the hardest things I have ever done. But the reality is: I sold DayZ to Bohemia, I was working with them as a contractor, and that contract had ended. I was becoming a problem. The danger was there for me to be a burden on DayZ’s development. My ideas are radical. I have no interest in half measures. I do not want to make safe games. I do not want to make games the way we have been making them. I want to fail as often as I need to in order to deliver the kinds of games that I actually want to play.

On Everest I decided more than ever that I wanted to make video games, not money. Instead of buying new things I sold what meagre things I owned and put all the money I had made aside to chase the wildest ideas I could think of. I wanted to make the video games that nobody would dare make. I wanted to take the crazy ideas and I wanted to put the best people and money behind them. What if the most experienced video game staff in the world collaborated on the most esoteric and hardcore survival games without trying to please a major audience? What if games were made that did not seek to make money? What if we could get an incredibly well resourced team to just focus on making great games with no distractions? I sat in base camp and I thought about the games I have always wanted to play, and I realised that I had the opportunity to do that. In return for creating DayZ, I’ve been given the opportunity to make video games from an entirely economically independent standpoint. I don’t intend to squander that.

Last year I met a company called Improbable. My first meeting with Herman Narula, the CEO from Improbable, was one of the most surreal I ever had. The technology I had always wanted and tried to make was finally here. DayZ was born out of my aborted attempts to make a database architecture to support my wild mass multiplayer ideas. But now, I didn’t need a ten year plan to make my grand visions of multiplayer come true. I could do it now.

I believe we are on the cusp of a new era in making video games. The old ways we make and release games are tired, old and tattered. They worked when we had a retail focused market where you needed the distributor hyped about your game, in order to get them to stock shelves. I am rejecting these old rules and approaches; the focus on hype, on market research, and cool features. The technology exists now to make the kinds of video game worlds I have always wanted. Liberated from the constraints of intense community focus, freed from guilt of using other peoples money; I am working with Improbable to make one of the games I have always wanted to make. The other morning I woke and realized that, finally, I truly did not care if I made the money I have spent back. It was an incredibly liberating feeling. Already the process of development has been so emotionally rewarding that I consider the entire budget of the project to be money well spent. This is what making video games is about for me. It is about trying new things; being bold.

It took getting to the summit of Mount Everest, and finally leaving the emotional burden of DayZ behind me, but I finally reached a point where I just wanted to make great games with the most amazing people.

Working on my first improbable game is the most exhilarating thing I have ever done.

So you want a video game job?

Quite often I get asked for advice on how to break into the video gaming industry. Perhaps because I’ve done it twice now! Or maybe because of that zombie thing. I thought I would share a few words of advice I’ve assembled from both sides of the interview desk, for what it’s worth.

Know the game

The only thing that surprises more than how often candidates don’t know anything about the project they are applying to work on, is how often they admit it.  If you’re really not that passionate about the game or project it seems rude to me to at least not do a little bit of research before the interview. Several times I’ve seen a less qualified candidate been chosen for a role simply because their passion and interest in the project was evident when the more qualified candidate seemed barely interested.

Know the team

In this day and age I do really struggle when I see candidates who know barely anything about the company they are applying for a job at. A cursory google search will turn up information on all but the most obscure of studios in the industry.

Not only does it make you seem not super interested in the role, but it also wastes time in the interview having to explain about the company, and introduce the hiring manager. A candidate who knows the company, the team, and the key people demonstrates passion, research, and is just more efficient. You can bet most hiring managers will be doing some research on you as well.

Consider your approach

You need to use different tactics depending on your approach. I used to universally recommend personalized and well researched cover letters to all potential candidates. However in my situation if I am pulled in to interview a candidate, I generally get a brief summary of the candidate typed by an internal HR person.

So my modified advice now is to tailor your approach commensurate to how you’re delivering it. Another example is submitting your resume directly to someone at a game convention. I’m generally okay with accepting business cards (and I’ve actually done business with people based on cold call receiving a business card this way), but receiving a job/idea pitch and/or portfolio this way doesn’t really work.

Overall my recommendation is still to do an outstanding covering letter on top of a brief and tailored CV. But in doing so, recognize that none of this might actually end up making it to the hiring manager. At the very least, that good cover letter and CV might end up getting you the interview if not the job.

Be passionate

I can’t speak for others, but for me, the most important thing I look for in a team member is passion about their life, their craft, and the project. Enthusiasm is infectious. I’m personally convinced that I could use any (appropriately) enthusiastic person who possesses the desire to learn and an inquiring mind. Additional skills are a bonus and become part of the value someone brings to the team.

Have (and show) skills

Probably the thing that I find most unusual, is the people who want a job in the game industry but have no skills at all. You don’t need the education or formal training to demonstrate skill - some of the most skilled people in their craft that I have met taught themselves or learnt via their own efforts from others.

If you want to be a game designer on a team, then show some game design examples. Don’t just show the companies you worked at. I’ve worked with terrible people who’ve worked at awesome companies. I’ve done terrible work while at awesome places. In reality you can get away with doing very little at a company, your hiring manager probably knows this because everyone’s half-done a job before and then plopped it on the CV.

However, being able to demonstrate application of skills is extremely valuable. This shows not only competence in the skill, but understanding enough to be able to explain it during an interview. Even better is the ability to critique your work in that setting as well.

Be flexible

I’ve moved around the world several times because of work, chasing opportunities as they presented themselves. I was able to jump on these because I remained very flexible. If for whatever reason you’re not able to be flexible about your location (move cities or even countries) then you need to understand it might significantly impact on employment opportunities.

Also keep in mind, though, that there are many legal roadblocks in some countries to employing someone from another country. Being mindful of this is important, but it’s also worth researching exactly what your situation is. For example as a New Zealander, I can get working holiday Visa’s for many countries very easily - which has enabled me to do short-term work in the industry for a bit of fun, travel, and good experience. It made me a low-risk option for studios that otherwise might not have hired me - because I was able to turn up with visa already prepared and good to go.

There are no perfect opportunities

Younger brother of the point above. I’ve regularly oscillated with salaries, taken massive pay-cuts, won them back again - all because I started chasing experiences that I valued. Sometimes the best jobs just paid really badly. Once I stopped equating pay with value, I started to see some opportunities that were stepping stones to others, and the dominos started falling.

By this I don’t mean accept shitty pay deals - but I do want to stress the importance of considering all opportunities on their merits, acknowledging that they are rarely perfect. The only way you can really assess an opportunity is if you…

Know what you want

Not only from the job, but your life. If you don’t know what you really want to do you are going to have a hard time deciding which opportunities to pursue and which to leave behind. And if you try to pursue too many you risk not putting enough effort to secure any.

The point here is to have an aim, not necessarily to reach it. Having the plan allows you to be somewhat objective and maintain a sense of direction when navigating all the opportunities.

When I was debating whether or not to quit the army and fly myself to the Czech Republic, taking a massive pay-cut in doing so - I wrote a big document outlining the pro’s can con’s. I weighed them up against my ultimate goal - run my own studio making the games I wanted. While financially the decision seemed stupid, even reckless, when considered with my ultimate goals in mind it made sense. I turned down other more financially rewarding options to pursue my ultimate goal. That decision ended up being a rather good one.

Get some tertiary education

Following on from the point above, but if you are going to be working overseas having a tertiary education makes getting visa’s a lot easier. Doesn’t matter what country, getting a work visa is a pain in the arse. Eastern Europe, Asia, USA, UK, New Zealand - it’s still a bureaucratic pain in the backside unless you’re automatically eligible.

Whatever you do get a degree in something you enjoy doing. Personally I don’t care what your education is so long as you’re good.

Watch, learn, join

The most disruptive team members I find are those who join and think they need to change everything on day one. It does not matter if what they are saying is right, but if you’re a member of a team then you really need to spend some time learning how the team and the project functions first. Watching how the team works, learning how people do their jobs, is a key part of any new team member regardless of level - including CEO’s, leaders, and managers.

A good team member observes a team and then analyzes where they can best fit to fill holes. A good new leader will spend time studying a team to find out how they can help lead them. No matter how badly performing a team is those new to it need to take time to observe if only to figure out the best way how to turn the team around to an entirely new direction.

Practice makes perfect

Each bad interview, approach, or presentation is simply an opportunity to do better next time. It’s a tired cliche but it is also entirely accurate. The more interviews you do, the better you get at them. The more times you review your CV and improve your portfolio, the better it is. I often do public speaking opportunities simply because I’m always looking for ways to be better at it. While I wouldn’t recommend going to interviews just for “practice” without actually wanting to be hired, certainly coming out of a failed interview with a positive attitude for the future is the best way forward.

Be a team member

Not necessarily universally needed, some roles do allow (and possibly demand) a reasonable amount of independence. However, the more social skills you have the more you are useful. The difference here is simple, if you don’t want to make games with other people: make your own games. If you want a job on a game development team, then you really have to be a member of that team.

Being a member of a team means you have to take the good with the bad. It doesn’t mean you do your work based on committee, and it doesn’t always mean every decision will be unanimous. What it means is that communication can and will occur at all levels. Choosing the communication that best suits the team can be hard, but any communication is better than none. I’ve seen plenty of programmers who far prefer communicating via text on skype, because it is less likely to interrupt them.

Even the most socially introverted of us can still find ways to be a member of a team, it’s just a matter of finding ways that we feel more comfortable communicating.

Demonstrate what you can bring to the game

I can see the output of a programmer is directly affecting the delivery of the project, but if you’re coming to me telling me you’re a writer - you need to frame your argument to show how you’ll be making the game better. The same argument applies to a designer, particularly the dreaded “I’m a designer but I actually want to be a writer” designers - idea’s are just as cheap as talk, the hard part is implementation.

The same goes for marketing, advertising, or any support role. Don’t take it as assumed that these things will be valuable to a project simply because such roles exist. One of the most enjoyable interviews I attended was when I vehemently believed the position was entirely unnecessary. I hadn’t yet spoken but in the course of the interview, the candidate not only impressed me but convinced me completely just how much value the role would bring with them in it. This is the key here, framing the role with you in it leaves a lasting impression on the hiring manager.

Teams require leaders, not managers

In my view there is a massive difference between leadership and management. I have a fairly dim opinion of management in general, which is kind of sad considering it was my major at university. Largely my personal experience of management at all levels is that it has been a dismal failure, and that any accomplishments I’ve been part of were completed in spite of management thanks to the efforts of a team.

What I have witnessed, on occasion, is outstanding examples of leadership of someone with management responsibilities. People who could have been managers, but chose to be leaders. These people possessed an ability to get a group of people to do a task hardly ever having to tell anyone to do anything.

In my game development teams, we require team members not employees. A team member should be able to manage themselves, with a leader who is inspiring the team and lighting the way forward for the project.

Management buzzwords and business speak are bullshit

One of the reasons I like developing video games is that I find many kindred spirits regarding my desire for things to make sense, for logic, and for dealing with reality and not making stuff up. I’ve crossed swords with many business-minded folks who come in with all the language. I actually studied a degree in business, but the most valuable thing it taught me is that talk is cheap: results are what matters. Numbers. Metrics. Deliveries.

Modding is not in decline, it’s changing (like it always has)

I felt obliged to write this in response to a recent article in Develop Magazine, quoting New World Interactive director Jeremy Blum say saying modding was in “serious decline”.

Game modding scene ‘in serious decline’
by Craig Chapple 

My problem with the article is simple:

Total Conversion mods =/= Modding scene.

Modding has (and I think always will be) the fertile ground beyond the edge of what was “is”. Like biology in general, modding gets its life wherever it can find it, and for as long I’ve been involved with computers I’ve watched it adapt and change.

“He explained that while a few years ago creating mods could anywhere from one-to-two years, it could now take upwards of six years to complete.”

The article touches me as either misinformed, or arrogant, in that it seems to assume that all mods are total conversions, or that the ultimate mod is a total conversion.

If we take DayZ for example, it’s not a total conversion of the ArmA2 game but more of a “derailing”. And in fact, the mods of the mod, such as DayZ Zero and many others, are arguably more popular today than the base mod.

Later Blum hits the mark with this comment, but I don’t think the journalist quite realizes what that means:

“I know that a lot of people right now are working on modding our game. Not full total conversion style, but … creating custom maps and maybe server mods and stuff like that. I think that that is going to be the more common thing that we’re going to see, people making these smaller mods of games.”

In danger of laboring a point, but this is exactly my point. A good example of a game that supports many small mods is Kerbal Space Program. Gloriously easy to mod as it doesn’t have a vast swathe of complex shaders, textures, and complex asset requirements. Not surprisingly, it has a shit-ton of mods. Also Sins of a Solar empire, Company of Heroes, Prison Architect, and of course Minecraft.

Take a look at steam workshop for the great bounty of mods available for any game that supports it.

Is a Total Conversion even a mod?

From the closing point of the article:

“If you make a total conversion modification, that’s pretty much the same as making a game”

This leaves me very confused. Not only do I think total conversions aren’t really a mod, but the article appears to agree. What this essentially means is that:

It is now harder to make total conversions of AAA games

Why is this? Again, the answer is buried between the lines in the article:

“…this could partially be due to the fact that a lot of game developers aren’t really selling tools with their games…”

So it’s really a circular argument. As less “AAA” games support modding, there are less total conversions of AAA games. But far from being in decline, I would argue that this change has actually caused a Cambrian-esque explosion of modding (and associated user-generated content) in other areas. The creative people tinkering, have moved to areas that support the tinkering.

Take Project Reality, long the mainstay of professional modding of the Battlefield series, cast aside when the DICE ditched modding as it was “too hard” for anyone to do but them, apparently.

Total Conversions require big teams and controlled vision

Without the employer vs employee relationship, I’m not sure any AAA game would really get finished. Who in working a AAA studio hasn’t rolled their eyes in a design meeting when the marketing director gets up and goes full-retard on the whiteboard (remember that ad-hoc multiplayer guys?).

With the right individuals at the top, motivating their team through both encouragement and a little bit of fear, helps get the job done. When people aren’t paid to work on a project - when they’re not motivated they don’t usually quit, they just stop working.

This has always been the case with modding - but now the impacts are worse because the games take longer. That’s why with DayZ I made myself “the guy” and all decisions (and all costs, failures, and responsibility) belonged ultimately to me.

Why do a total conversion when you can make a game

This is so obvious and out there I feel like it’s blind ignorance every time I see an article that doesn’t mention it.

Unity makes it easier than ever before to make a game. Source Engine. Many more. It’s easier than ever to get out there and make something. When AAA games stop providing the tools, but other games/options are available, what were modders going to do?

Professional Developers need to get over themselves

I’m smart enough to know there are far smarter people than me out there. Maybe they lack the connections or they are too busy curing cancer in their day job to get into games - but at night they mod my game, at night they do better than I do, and the next day they inspire me to make my game better.

Games like KSP and Project Zomboid embrace modding and have ended up hiring extremely talented people early in the games development.

Conclusion

Any apparent decline in total conversion mods does not mean the community is not smart enough to do it, it just means they’ve moved on to greener pastures.

I say I’m glad they did. Total conversions are tough and in my experience have involved a great deal of conflict internally. These days if you can hold a total conversion team together then you can probably do a kickstarter and hold a development team together.

If modding is “dead” then it’s seen more life in death than it did before anyway, you just have to know where to look.

So please, the next time you see a journalist use a sensationalist headline about the “decline of modding”, or some gaming executive say their engine is “too complex” - point them to this post.

And if they want to debate it with me..

Anytime

Anywhere

What it’s like to walk onto the summit of Mount Everest

In the past few days since coming back from Everest Base Camp I’ve been constantly asked what it was like to walk onto the summit so I’ll try to explain it:

In my case, we had been climbing for around five hours in the dark from the South Col, passing most of the climbers that day. This included a climber who had died/was dying and clipped into the rope, requiring every climber passing him to unclip and climb around him. His position and posture symbolized absolute desperation and sadness. He was utterly beyond rescue. My digestive system had begun to shut down after just one night on the col, but I was very healthy relative to others and we ascended in an extremely good time.

After climbing the Hillary step, a short section of steep rock, you start walking towards the summit. At that time (about 4am), the sky was just starting to light up. I stopped to adjust my oxygen mask and turned to the right, noticing the suns rays hitting the atmosphere in such a way you could easily see the curvature of the Earth. Seeing that was probably the most amazing thing I have ever seen. The sight was so breathtaking it was like being slapped in the face. I immediately started crying and so my nose began to run - clogging up my mask.

I tried to yell “it’s beautiful” and started waving my arms at my Sherpa - pointing to the rounded sea of colours stretching across the black sky to our right. I think at that point it finally occurred to me I was about ten meters away from the highest point on Earth. It was the culmination of two months actively climbing on the mountain, a year of physical training, nearly a hundred thousand dollars, and over a decade of dreaming. It was below negative thirty degrees, I couldn’t feel the toes on my right foot, and I was very thirsty and tired. But here I was - mere meters away from the summit.

There is no way to describe the view, no photo that can do it justice. You are so unbelievably high above everything. You’re surrounded by beauty. Everyone on the summit is trying to wipe tears from their eyes and clear out their masks.

I took out my camera and tried to take pictures, the extreme cold of predawn meant after a couple of photos the battery died. I barely cared at all, the camera seemed so utterly pointless and useless to try and capture the view, the feeling. I was so completely overcome with emotion at the summit that I couldn’t really feel anything.

We got to the summit just as a kaleidoscope of colors danced across the atmosphere in a circular glow, five of us from my expedition sat on the summit alone to watch dawn break across the world on the 21st of May.

I’ve thought a lot how to summarize the feeling, and the best I can do is say that if there is a god, then it’s like looking upon his face.

Noone ever told me just how much blood and mucus your sinuses generate while trying to climb Mt Everest. I feel like a blood and mucus generator. Anyway, we just finished our first “cycle” up the mountain. Each cycle is designed to help your body acclimatize to the extremes in altitude. Base camp is located at around 5200m, which is considered very high in itself. This first cycle, we proceeded through the extremely dangerous Khumbu Icefall and then onto Camp One, which is located in a precarious position just atop the Khumbu Icefall. This is the only time we will intentionally stay at that camp.

After spending a night there, we moved onto Camp Two, located about 6400m, and we spent several nights there. I haven’t had any serious reactions to the altitude, but the extremely cold and dry air is causing havoc with my sinuses and the lining in my nose. A constant stream of snot and blood is both disgusting, disturbing, and messy. I also found at camp two that I was restless at night, mainly around my breathing. Doing anything involving your mouth (such as pausing to eat or drink) gives me some panicky catch-up breathing.

On the whole, the move through the icefall was both terrifying and breathtaking. It is extremely dangerous, climbing fixed ropes and ladders placed in the middle of massive towering seracs (ice blocks, sometimes as big as houses). The only thing more terrifying than going up was coming back down it, and noticing the route we took up had been obliterated in places - crushed aluminium ladders forming silent memorials to where the route was.

So now we have three or four days rest at base camp before our second cycle, during which we will go to Camp three (located over 7000m) and possibly spend a night there without oxygen. After that one time, each time we visit camp three it will be on bottled oxygen. Once that cycle is complete, we return to base camp and nervously wait for our weather window.

Finally, yes, I was at Camp two while the “altercation” happened and all I will say is that I wasn’t involved, that the guiding company I am with has been completely professional at all times, and that personally I believe Everest seems to attract some of the most crazy drama I have ever seen in my life.

For context, read the Adventure Consultants dispatches, these are just my personal thoughts for the day!

Waking up this morning I really felt like I was well on the winning side of my cold, and I joined most of the team on another acclimatization climb of a nearby mountain. The target was to climb from the 5300m of base camp, up to about 5800m. While 500m doesn’t sound like much, at this altitude I found it makes a big difference.

All this is preparation for our “cycles” up Everest, where we go progressively higher and higher. Our first cycle  is roughly scheduled for the 21st, I sure hope my dreaded cough is cleared up by then!

The altitude has such a heavy impact, even at 5000-6000m, that I find I am having to relearn basic approaches to mountaineering from what I would do nearer sea level. Getting cold is the absolute worst thing, it is much harder to rewarm my hands once they are cold. Eating and drinking takes a little effort and briefly restricts my breathing so sometimes I find I am really having to tell myself to do these things. I realize this all sounds incredibly basic, but when you are thundering ice cold air in and out of your lungs and still feeling slightly breathless, and your nearly empty pack feels like it is full of stones - the basic things can become chores. I guess this will get even worse the further up the mountain we go.

At the moment my focus is on basic maintenance of myself, keeping my feet dry and regularly powdered, keeping myself eating, drinking as often as I can, keeping warm, and playing lots of cards with the team at night! Adventure Consultants have a legendary camp setup, and I find this greatly eases things for me at base camp. The food is fantastic, and we get woken up with a hot towel and a cup of tea by the sherpas in the morning.

I am really enjoying the company of our guides, the sherpas, and the team as well so I’m feeling very optimistic about the 21st and our first cycle.

P.S. I’m also developing a really great concept for a game here…

Today dispelled any notion that one could simply pay money and get to the top of Everest. Getting past the Khumbu is the first thing we do as we get onto the mountain proper, and it involves climbing ladders, ascending fixed ropes, abseiling… all done in darkness with crampons and expedition down mitts on, all on a living, moving river of ice (up to 1m a day). And this is just the START of the climb!

Our training was conducted on the lower sections of the Khumbu Glacier, preparing us for our “cycles” up the mountain, each one going further and further until our summit push cycle.

I was pretty nervous about the training, mainly because I didn’t want to look like a complete ass. I’m the only member of the team with NO high altitude experience. Hell, I’ve never even used an Ascender device (small device that allows you to move it up the rope, but not down - used on fixed ropes). I’ve never climbed on fixed ropes, always more traditional mountaineering with belay and anchors or roped together for glacier travel.

I’ve also been recovering from a cold which stopped me from completing one of the acclimatization trips. The slightest thing at this altitude becomes and problem. I had a bad finger infection that got progressively worse. Eating too much makes you nauseous very fast, drinking to little gives an instant headache.

Tomorrow? Why back to the Khumbu for more of the same training!

Everest view from above Namche village

Trekking to Namchi village 3443m

After a day walking in from Lukla airport, today we trekked up to Namchi village, a crazy village perched on the side of a mountain reached by foot. It’s our first initial tastes of altitude where you can start to feel its effects. We reached Namchi at about 1400hrs and will spend the rest of he day here and al of tomorrow, before continuing the trek into base camp. Our packs are very light, as the bulk of our trek gear is carried to lodges each day by porters. The lodges are quite luxurious considering their remoteness and their altitude, the juxtaposition of subsistence and technology is everywhere, porters with the most basic of equipment and clothing talking on cellphones during breaks.

The views on the trek were stunning, much better than I expected, and we also got our first look at Everest halfway along. The summit was being smashed with strong winds, blowing moisture off in massive plumes. And so we start a few days of rest and exploring Namchi village to see all the things it has to offer!