As readers will have noticed, posts have been less frequent in the last few months, for lack of time, decreased motivation and conflicting interests. Although this site was initially conceived as a collaborative project, with several contributors, few voices have risen to join in addressing the technical issues and/or the working conditions within the industry. At this point, given other emerging priorities, I must therefore put this site on hiatus for an indefinite period.

This site has achieved two of its three initial goals: to spread awareness of the working conditions of game developers, and to dispel lies and rumors as it relates to console development. However, getting other game developers to write about their experiences has proven frustratingly difficult.

Despite the multitude of bitter complaints voiced privately in forums or in person, and with few notable exceptions (japanmanship, particleblog, Magical Wasteland, ea_spouse , Alphabet City), most colleagues seem unable or unwilling to speaking-up publicly (albeit anonymously) for themselves. Also, this site has attracted much more interest in insider information and rumors (rumble controllers, memory constraints and so on), than in overtime and management issues, which are closer to my heart.

While I enjoyed writing the first few Sony firmware-related articles (pre-launch, post-launch, 1.60 and 1.80), as the public facts at the time were very muddled, and the constraints do impact consumers in one way or another, most people are still more interested in the little details that will differentiate their preferred console in the console wars than they are interested in the working conditions of game developers.

Thanks to all the readers over the past year, It’s been a very liberating experience being able to share my thoughts on issues I care deeply about. I may well post again occasionally as the mood strikes, and will maintain this space should others want to step in to cover topics of interest to game developers, as they fell comfortable. Just drop me a note at raoul@innerbits.com

Admin | 9 Comments »
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A few months ago, we introduced a new feature here at Innerbits with an interview with a former game developer. The issue at hand is the terrible retention rate of the games industry. Today we bring you a new interview with another former developer “Rodrigo Santos”, who wishes to remain anonymous.

We believe that in order to address the issues facing the games industry we must try to understand why so many developers leave the industry every year. The best way to do this of course is to ask them. While these interviews provide only anecdotal evidence, we expect that over a time (and a series of interviews with other former developers), a trend will emerge, and conclusions can be drawn.

As a final note, if you are a former developer (or a current one thinking of leaving the industry) and would like to share your opinions, please email us so we can set up an interview or post in the comments.

1. First off, the introduction. Who are you and what do you currently do? What is your background?

My name is Rodrigo Santos, I currently working as a software consultant. I’m mostly self-taught, writing computer games has been a hobby of mine since I was a child. I’ve worked for a number of games companies, and also in Windows application development.

2. How long did you work in the games industry? What position did you hold? What did your day to day duties entail?

I have worked in the games industry for about six years—out of an eleven year career as an engineer. My job title for my last position in the industry was games programmer. I was involved in implementing graphical effects and general bug fixing. I also did a little tools work, which was a welcome diversion.

3. Why did you decide to leave?

I felt no sense of ownership in the project I was working on, as I was given little scope to be creative or implement solutions to technological problems. This was possibly because it was a large project that was well underway when I started, but I couldn’t help feeling disinvested in the whole thing—and I suspect management were beginning to notice my lack of enthusiasm. I could have kept going, doing an adequate job and picking up my paycheck but I didn’t want to be a wage-slave, and I didn’t want to being doing the work of a junior programmer for years to come! An opportunity to do contract work came up, which allowed me to work on an interesting project, and gave me a lot more free time. It’s not quite as safe as a full-time position; it could dry up at any moment, but for the time being at least, I am much more content in my work-life.

4. What did you enjoy about the industry?

There is an interesting mix of people in games companies that you don’t find in other places of work. There are technical people and creative types, which makes the games industry a lively place at times. I also enjoyed the fact that there were a lot of people interested in the product you are working on, something which you just don’t see with other software industries.

I should also confess that I enjoyed the work at times. As cynical as I am, even the mundane work I was doing threw up some interesting problems occasionally.

5. What did you dislike?

The main thing I disliked about the games industry as a whole is the attitude that employees should have an almost fanatical loyalty to the company. There are some people in the games industry that do seem prepared to almost kill themselves to get the next game out—and they deserve high salaries! Unfortunately you can’t staff a company with just people like this, most employees are happy just to exchange a day’s work for a day’s salary (myself included). If the company wants more than that, then it should be a purely financial arrangement.

6. Would you ever come back? Under what circumstances would you come back?

I suspect I would come back to the games industry under some circumstances. Possibly by starting a games company of my own—it’s hard not to be invested in something when your own money is riding on it! If I was to work for an existing games company it would probably have to be on my terms; regular hours, more autonomy. To be honest through, neither is very likely. My career is diversifying in to other areas than engineering, and I doubt I’ll ever go back to games.

7. What do you think is the biggest obstacle facing the games industry?

The biggest obstacle is probably keeping employees. The industry is kept alive by a constant influx of enthusiastic young programmers that often leave after a few years. Without a good range of programmers of all experience levels, I suspect that the same mistakes will be repeated with each game.

8. What advice would you give to a young developer who has joined the industry?

I guess it would be to get it out of your system as quickly as possible. Games programmers can get type-cast because not many employers see games development as a transferable skill to another field of software development. It can be difficult to get out of the industry once you are in! On the other hand, if you do have a little skill and experience, you will have no problem finding new jobs in games.

As far as the work is concerned, I would say that it is important to stay current and try to work on different parts of the game. If you specialize too much then it reduces your job prospects.

Interview, Employee Issues | 2 Comments »
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A few months ago, in an ace PR move, Sony’s feature list for its 2.0 firmware update happened to leak out. Before it was retracted, the list had been copied and disseminated widely by avid fans and bloggers alike. One item in the list drew the most attention: “XMB™ (XrossMediaBar) is now accessible during gameplay”. We’ve argued in the past that the memory constraints Sony has already placed on itself and PS3 developers could not conceivably allow for such a feature without major restructuring. Instead of taking our a skeptic stance on this issue, we decided to examine how such a feature could be accomplished. Here’s the current theory we’ve come up with.

As of yet, no major restructuring of the memory management has occurred. Our research indicates that XMB takes up too much memory to fit in reserved OS memory while a game is being played. It is theoretically possible for Sony to rework the XMB so that it is much slimmer in terms of memory usage, in order to make it fit in the reserved memory, but we doubt this will happen. All memory improvements have come incrementally so far. The XMB has too much impact on other components to undergo such an upheaval of its fundamental architecture without severely impacting other areas.

The PS3 currently uses a lot of extra memory in order for developers to use fundamental online features. We argue that the Sony online experience won’t match Microsoft’s Xbox Live until it does so in terms of functionality and ease of use. This means primarily not dropping out of the game in order to do simple things such as messaging your friends.

Most mainstream users are either ignorant of the issues surrounding the memory constraints on the PS3 or simply won’t care. As such, the bad press from the past year will not affect them. Only some of them will compare their experiences with those on an Xbox Live (either because they’re loyal to Sony, don’t have 360 owning friends, or are not hardcore gamers).

Still, it is in Sony’s interest to make the experience as user-friendly and functional as possible. Sony understands this now. Regardless of what the competitors do, Sony needs to grab that online pie, which is only going to continue growing for the next 10-15 years. If they fall too far behind, the publishers will bail and look at other delivery platforms for their online content.

Sony knows this, which is why they are hard at work with Home and the spec list for a future software update was “accidentally” leaked. This was a genius move in terms of PR. Leak it, retract it, don’t comment on it, and let the public speculate and get excited over the possibilities.

We fully believe Sony is dedicated to this effort. The central issue remains how to get developer support despite the required extra cost in memory. The only viable solution would be to force developer support, rather than try to entice it. That ought to have been the approach from the start and can still be done..

As for the memory issues, simply swap it out.

Every PS3 SKU released to this day has a hard drive by default. It is fair to assume that over the PS3’s timeline, it has become a core component of the PS3. Every PS3 has one. You can guarantee a hard drive will be present. So, why not just swap the game’s memory out when the PS3 button is pressed and the XMB is brought up. Swapping out 50-60 MBs of memory should not take long at all. Modern PCs do it all the time.

We don’t have any confirmation that Sony is considering this option, so this is purely speculative. However, our analysis and study of the PS3’s architecture, our discussions with other developers, and the stated goals Sony is trying to achieve all point to this solution. We welcome any discussion on its feasibility. Have we overlooked any major stumbling blocks?

This solution doesn’t address all the potential problems. Sony would have to minimize the latency of popping up the XMB menu, and returning back to the game. They would have to test extensively to make sure they don’t break games (we know for a fact that currently released titles have had new bugs introduced solely through the release of a system software update).

It does however allow Sony to address both the developer and memory constraints. Let’s see how this issue plays out in the next few months.

PS3, Sony, Games Industry | 12 Comments »
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A few days ago, we brought you the latest feature list to be included in the PS3 firmware. Today, we offer insight and a bit of speculation as to what awaits PS3 consumers (and developers) in the months to come.

Our first prognostication involves memory. Sony has continued to make strides in lowering the memory consumption of the base OS. We expect this effort to continue over the next 6 to 12 months, and for additional memory to be returned to developers.

In our previous article, we also mentioned the availability of new music and picture utilities for developers to tap in. Sony will continue to expose such features to developers. The next step is to offer a video utility to developers, empowering developers to allow users to export video capture of their game play experience. We expect users to eventually be able to share the content they capture from any PS3 title. In the same vein, the music and picture utilities will continue to be expanded, allowing users to export music from games to their profiles. This creates a whole avenue of possibilities. Imagine being able to save your musical creations from a PS3 version of Electroplankton.

One of the biggest changes - anticipated since before launch - is a revamping of the invitation system. Currently, the invitation system does not allow cross-game invites, as our previous commentary indicates. You can only invite a player if they are already playing the same game as you, and are logged on. The Xbox 360 allows any user to invite a friend to join a game session regardless of what game that friend is currently playing. Well, PS3 consumers can rejoice, as that functionality is finally coming to the PS3.

Developers will finally have access to a flexible API which will allow them to deal with invites across titles. Such a feature is important; it is after all a requirement for Home, which portends to allow users to launch any multiplayer game from the Home lobby. The only remaining concerns have to do with how quickly this feature will be rolled across the various PS3 titles and whether or not it will be made core requirement for every PS3 title to support such a mechanism (we suspect it won’t be).

Other than this, what we observe is a continuing integration of the various system utilities into a more cohesive and consistent experience, and a general improvement of the PS3 experience. Sony continues to work hard at providing new functionality and improving the user experience.

PS3, Sony | No Comments »
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When we first heard of the brouhaha stirred up by the discovery of the PS3 controller-PSP hookup patent, we quickly dismissed the idea as highly speculative. However, the recent information obtained about the 1.80 developer release leads us to reexamine the issue, and provide a possible theory.

The 1.80 release contains a new PSP related utility, making it possible for developers to generate a display on the PSP. It is clear that Sony is allowing developers to use the PSP as a secondary display, and not just for remote play. Possible applications for such utilities are too numerous to list, ranging from a simple rear-view mirror for a driving game, to listing your own private inventory in a multiplayer RPG.

This wouldn’t be the first time that an external display device was used in conjunction with a console game to enhance the user’s experience. The most successful example is Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, on the Gamecube, which required each player to have its own GBA in order to play. Pacman Vs. did something similar. The most famous (and perhaps most ingenious) example is the Dreamcast version of the NFL 2K series, which lets player select their next play using the small display screen embedded in each controller (using the VMU).

As for the patent, most theories have been about using the PS3 controller to control the PSP. We suggest the opposite: the PSP will serve as an extra output, tied to a specific user. This would allow multiple users to play on the same TV screen, while maintaining a private screen with a private view on their game.

Given this utility, it makes sense for Sony to provide a way to hook up the controller to the PSP. How else will you hold both the PSP and controller while playing? The relevance of this patent has now become apparent.

Sixaxis, PS3, PSP, Sony, Games Industry | 1 Comment »
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