Many of you reading this will have already encountered some kind of social restrictions over the last month or as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic that the country is currently experiencing. While safety measures designed to combat the spread of coronavirus vary from country to country, adequate socioeconomic restrictions and remote access have a significant impact on people from all walks of life.
The Nintendo Life team is extremely fortunate to be able to work remotely with minimal disruption to our normal working life. The cancellation of certain events may mean that you have to reorder or reconsider certain features (our demo & # 39; demo & Sabotage & # 39; s) Star Sea, for example, due to the cancellation of GDC), but digital distribution and communication means most of the reviews, features, our conversations and the like happen to continue with little or no disruption.
We have seen the disruption in the gaming industry, and the results are likely to become more evident as the year goes on as large and small companies are forced to delay projects. However, we were looking forward to getting the status updates from the developer's perspective, so we spoke to a handful of switchch developers from around the world to find out how the coronaviruses have changed daily in the last month or so, and find out how those changes will affect their projects going forward.
We spoke with Studio Director and Founder of Playtonic Games Gavin Price (Yooka-Laylee and Impible Lair); SMG Studio founder Ashley Ringrose (Death is a Square, Check-out); DotEmu CEO Cyrille Imbert (Wonder Boy: The Dragon Boat, Rage 4 roads) and a photo with Form Producer Petter Magnusson (SteamWorld series).
Nintendo's health: How has the COVID-19 epidemic affected your working day?
Gavin Price, Director of Studio and Collaborative Playtonic Games: It's very much and probably very similar to how people around the world are affected. Technically, getting everyone in the Home From Work position was an easy thing for us, allowing employees to work from home when it helps them with their work / life balance. However, the additional steps needed to communicate effectively, and most importantly for game developers the ability to collaborate, are gradually reduced. Work can provide temporary relief and focus away from the epidemic and we work remotely to learn how to communicate and express our ideas in new ways which is a nice little time during these challenging times.
Ashley Ringrose, Founder of SMG Studio: For myself and many of the parenting team we are now working on a combination of home / childcare work. Fortunately we don't have a big deadline, so we can change. So it's a normal work day divided by a lot of parenting time. Removal is complete and we have been working with premium and social content with minor modifications here and there. As a human manager it will be difficult to keep everyone motivated in the end.
SMG is in good shape and is doing a good job now but I miss the face of focus and cohesion. I remember going to lunch with a group.
Cyrille Imbert, manager of Dotemu: As soon as we were informed that the virus was more dangerous than originally thought, we all decided to leave the office. This was before the official ban. Since then, everyone (about 30 people) work from home.
We had a lot of people working from home in general strikes in December 2019 where there was no public transport (Note: DotEmu is based in Paris), so we can say that we were all ready.
So our work seems very unpopular with the situation so far. Surprising but our team adapted very quickly.
Peter Magnusson, Manufacturer's photo and form: We have implemented the recommended but voluntary home-based policy from home most of us follow. The days at the office have always been calm and focused on those still present, however.
What has been your biggest obstacle to working on projects since you worked from home?
Gavin Price: I think we are lacking in the ability to initiate natural discussions about game development materials as we used to, "How does this feel to you?", "Which enemy might work best in this situation", "What is the best animation to sell this kind of move" etc. We will have to agree before accepting the objectives lots of other features and principles to help guide our ideas in. I would be lying if I didn't care about having lost some of the rational mind that was providing historical benefits in the past.
Ashley Ringrose: For me personally the internet is slow. I run everything with my 4G on my phone as (I) live in a new place and I don't think that's a problem. Now there are many people in the home (network) who are suffering. For others it is the same thing. Keeping kids entertained while they work.
I would be lying if I didn't care about me losing some of the rational intellectual status that has given historical assignments
Cyrille Imbert: We saw no particular obstacle. For me the only thing I really miss seeing is people in real life and interacting with a lot of people. I could hear it separately but thanks Slack we maintain a lasting connection with the whole team and everyone is working.
Peter Magnusson: With many of us working from home there have been all kinds of practical problems with ensuring that everyone has the same headset or equipment com. Not everyone has a high-end home computer and even growing games often do good performance. All in all though I think we were in good control.
What tools / apps have you used most to communicate with the team?
Gavin Price: In the studio we have been using MS Teams to focus on conversations and sharing information about our games, disciplines, activities and & # 39; ut chit-chat & # 39;
Ashley Ringrose: We are in Slack in particular, so this allows for (Instant Messages) within the group but also for video calls and to keep the flow flowing.
Cyrille Imbert: Especially Slack and Google Meet, as well as old email.
Peter Magnussto: Our most trusted communication tool has been our regular Slack server. Both voice calls and screen sharing worked well. We need to complement Slack with some unique tools, such as Google Meet for meetings with more than 15 participants and Discord for casual voice chats.
I've been watching YouTube broadcasts for high quality private broadcasts. We love sharing gameplay or video content with a group but the usual screen sharing tools have a limited- and bitrate frame.
© SlackHow long do you think the results of the closure will affect your projects? Months? Years?
Gavin Price: It is very difficult to say and predict; best case & # 39; months & # 39; and the worst case is years & # 39; s, and we'll be somewhere in the middle, hoping to get closer to the end of the scale & # 39; It is scary to not know but when certain things are out of your control I always think it helps you to focus on what you control.
Ashley Ringrose: We don't see much impact. We are fortunate to have all our projects within our limits. LIGHT and No Road Home we can adapt flexibly (forcing a few internal ones to come back with pressure) and Exit is done. We just need to be careful that we don't set deadlines. As the internet can come down to the house of the person of the day and interrupt the construction process altogether. So we need to stay hydrated.
We do not currently reserve a place for funding / support and may be affected in the future if everything has to be done remotely.
the internet may come down on someone's house and interrupt the complete construction process
Cyrille Imbert: No significant impact so far, so I hope it always will be.
Peter Magnussto: I feel pretty confident this only affects us for a few months. We hope our situation will return to normal during the summer. That means, the current situation will have an impact on our projects in the long term.
Given this wonderful experience, do you think your team / company could be better suited for similar locking situations in the future? If so, how?
Gavin Price: We definitely have the best preparation, experience and knowledge that we & # 39; d do this & # 39; just like any health study prepares you mentally
Ashley Ringrose: We had a lot of work from home every once or twice a week (for family reasons) so we were able to move home “easily”. So I feel ready now as we work on existing projects. It can be a great struggle when we start working on a new game. And we're in week 5 – or 6? – working from home. The vibe is good but who knows what a 15, 30, 50 (!?) Week would feel like. I think coming to the office and seeing people's faces would be a welcome return from home 24/7. (smiles)
There is a good chance that this situation will happen again, ever
Cyrille Imbert: I actually build a full HR operation, with internal and external resources, to collect feedback from each team member on their work experience during the shutdown. The goal is to draw conclusions from the experience, and set up a plan of action that should work within Lockdown that works well and is fun for everyone. We should get the results in two weeks.
There is a good chance that this situation will happen again, ever. I really hope not, but we choose to be prepared, to think and to learn from our experiences to make life easier.
Peter Magnussto: We are constantly learning how to change our process to work better with a distributed team. All of those experiences are invaluable in situations like this but also enhance our common process.
Is there anything that surprised you the most about this situation (from a career standpoint) – good or bad?
Gavin Price: The way we communicate has become 1000% of our thinking. I just made this number very obvious but it greatly enhances our communication and analytical skills and focuses on the key information rather than doing that sound like it used to. There is also the feeling that we are “in this place together” with the rest of the world, both inside and outside our industry. Many wonderful stories and acts of kindness have appeared and can provide much-needed inspiration to take a deep breath and know that even if you can, even if you just stay home, you can contribute to help beat the epidemic and save lives… save lives…
Many great stories and acts of kindness have appeared and can provide much-needed inspiration
Ashley Ringrose: We had one staff member who took his first Uber to the office to fetch equipment and I was too it's 2020 !! How have you never taken an uber before? I wanted that debt too! We also found a really nice green wall with plants in the office! And without AC at all times in hot weather the plants work really well !! (laughs)
Cyrille Imbert: I'm so glad we didn't see much of an impact on our work. Surprisingly, this works naturally, without any specific guidance on how to handle this. There is always room for improvement so we'll work on that, but I'm proud of the team's ability to adapt.
Peter Magnussto: It's amazing how well everyone has agreed, almost overnight, to work remotely. Although not quite far away, our projects are also remarkably successful.
Looking at those answers, it seems like the Lockdown effect really depends on the size of the team and where the team is in the project cycle. Small and medium sized groups are naturally more old and may already have home applications. Communication between a couple of people who usually work under one roof will naturally be easy to coordinate, even if work progress is slowing down poorly.
Big companies themselves like Ubisoft, with development teams that are distributed around the world and internal and unmatched security systems in place, will face major difficulties. The idea that game devs will be unaffected feels very interesting and overly optimistic when the process of bringing the game to market involves too many features and processes. The digital world empowers developers to continue to operate at a certain level, but not necessarily everything it can be done by staying at home on a laptop with decent Wi-Fi, especially if the next step in the process depends on outside companies.
Throw in the extra stresses of incarceration, childcare and schooling, and worry about the situation (either at the individual or international levels), and it reassures us that the people we spoke to are the same as we are. We hope this continues, and that developers in less fortunate positions are able to cope in the coming weeks and months.
If nothing else, there might be one takeaway that is beyond all the others we are interviewed for: Thank goodness for Slack.
Many thanks to Gavin, Ashley, Cyrille and Petter for their time. How do you think other developers and game companies will handle this global trend? Are you looking forward to any games that you think will be affected? Let us know your thoughts below and above all, stay safe for everyone.
