Four MONTHS of crunch? From what I''ve read and talked to others about, that sounds really excessive. Were the milestones well-planned or constant problems? I read an article in Game Developer last year that highlighted this problem really well, quoted that somewhere around two to three weeks of crunch for a year-long project was average.

My experience has been that we generally work 8-10 hours a day depending on the nature of our job, how much we have left to complete and how likely we are to make our intended deadline. For example our musician has been working long hours like mad for the past couple of weeks because our game is due to be completed today and, well, there are some sound samples that aren''t quite there. We had a slow start though, so our situation, I would say, is a bit unique. If we''d had the development kit and necessary software in the beginning then we''d probably be done already. Otherwise we often work 5-6 days per week and 8 hours per day. As others have said, it depends on if you''re in a crunch period when gearing up for finalization. Otherwise you should only put in about 40-50 hours per week and, ideally, just a steady 40. Otherwise people will get burned out and productivity will falter. Note: Not all people are the same, your mileage may vary.

Charles Galyon
NeoPong Software
www.neopong.com

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Original post by Jbs
Hi, I''m interested in getting into the field of game development (mainly the programming aspect) and I''ve read that some jobs require nearly 18 hour work days. What I''d like to know from some of you who maybe actually have experience in the field is, how do you manage to have a social life?

I don''t plan to be a bachelor my whole life, but will this come into conflict with my aspirations for game development?

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First of all you should already have a social life. You should be cool with your family and friends and do stuff with them. Second try to expand your mind, try having other hobbies. Me, I have many. During most of the day I''m riding bikes with my cousin and my sisters and then be go play some basketball, which I suck at, then we go see some of our friends for anothers 4 hours. After that we go home and I work on my garden for an hour. Then I draw some stuff. And THEN I program for 2 hours and get A LOT done. One time in one hour I finished an small game! Finally, on weekends we go party or my entire family and I go out. My life is AWESOME!!! I couldn''t imagine living better. As for work, well... I put in 3 days a week but I work the WHOLE day. This way I don''t have to work the other 4 days. NOW THAT''S THE WAY TO LIVE!!!


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Original post by Void
There is no social life. It''s Friday nite, my friends are all out partying, while I''m here coding.

Prepare to marry your computer.

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YOU ARE A NERD!!! There is more to life than coding. Have fun! You only live once! (probably)


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Original post by Nik02
My girlfriend is a programmer also.

I''ve ran my own business for six years with my friend, and we occasionally hire her to help us with some time-critical missions (otherwise she''s a freelancer).
Normally, we work about 8-10 h a day.

Note, we''re not a game studio per se, but an interactive graphics specialist house. We only gamedev for fun...

Could not be a sweeter deal

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Ahh... NERDS IN LOVE. It''s like Romeo and Julliet but with a nerdy tough. Good luck coding NERDS!!!

I bet if you guys get married they will call you Mr. and Mrs. NERD. 8 HOURS A DAY!!! HELL! Only a nerd could do that!

Geeze!!! I''m glad none of my friends are into computers. I would be constantly surrounded by NERDS.


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Original post by superpig
Our project manager often takes us out for drinks; I''ve been in here till 11:00pm the past couple of nights, but that''s mainly because I have to wait for him to give me a lift home (having stayed just past the last bus), and partly because the project has to be finished by, er, today. We''re not often asked to come in on weekends; when we do, it''s just a Saturday afternoon for a few hours type job. I''ll be in tomorrow - voluntarily - to help polish the final demo.

Working for one of the larger, more established studios like EA will be more of a ''normal'' working life. Despite what you may think, having your people stay to the wee hours of the morning does *not* increase productivity very much - you just end up with tired people. Management are beginning to catch onto this, and so a 5:30pm leaving time is kinda expected. That''s one of the reasons I don''t get paid overtime, I think - they don''t want to give us an incentive to work late.

Superpig
- saving pigs from untimely fates, and when he''s not doing that, runs The Binary Refinery.
Enginuity1 | Enginuity2 | Enginuity3 | Enginuity4

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This is your classic DRUNK NERD!


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Original post by Void
Partying involves chicks. Real human, not .jpgs.

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LMAO! That was bad!

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Original post by TreizeSG

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Original post by Void
There is no social life. It''s Friday nite, my friends are all out partying, while I''m here coding.

Prepare to marry your computer.

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Wait... partying != coding? No one ever told me that!! Since when has there been a difference?

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It''s ok, nerd, code your life away... Live man, live!


Hey, don''t forget to visit my page... by clicking here!

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Original post by Void
Partying involves chicks. Real human, not .jpgs.

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I hate ".jpgs" you can touch any of the chicks. That''s why I hate porno! I prefer real humans. I live in a real world. I''m not the Codeloader who is supposedly an AI virus (like he said) and gets his fun from infecting programs. I''m human no F***en machine is going to control me!


Hey, don''t forget to visit my page... by clicking here!

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Original post by Edward Ropple
Four MONTHS of crunch? From what I''ve read and talked to others about, that sounds really excessive. Were the milestones well-planned or constant problems? I read an article in Game Developer last year that highlighted this problem really well, quoted that somewhere around two to three weeks of crunch for a year-long project was average.

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I don''t crunch programs I cruch girls! Over programming is really a sucker. You can''t do too much of anything otherwise it starts to suck!


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