there are so many game projects started in the “got skills?” section that are completely unrealistically and bound to die, because the project starters miss the aspect of the total workload. So let me describe the problem and suggest a simple solution:
PROBLEM:
Every game-enthusiastic can start a team or call itself “game studio” without knowing all the required workload that is necessary for even a demo or alpha release.
This leads to many large unrealistic projects, as most want do better than the AAA titles they used to play, like “our MMO game will be better than WoW”.
Even if such projects start, they are bound to die because sooner or later they realise the immense workload that is necessary to create such a game, starting from simple menus, over lots of custom code to the gigabytes of graphic assets that need to be created (as you cant buy a whole game from the marketplace and mix it either).
This is just frustrating for all, but could be avoided.
SUGGESTED SOLUTION:
Project leads should make a basic plan of how they can match the workload and their available resources.
For this a topic like “work-off plan” could be added to the recruitment template form.
There the project lead should sum up the estimated workload over all departments, e.g. in man-days, like “animations 100, concept art 10…”
Based on this the amount of teammembers can be calculated, e.g. from a hobby teammember working 1 day per week in average.
The result will be a realistic plan of what is necessary to match the workload and its required resources. Doing this exercise also give the project lead the possibility to adjust these parameters, like lowering the workload or raising the resources…thereby
coming to a realistic and doable project instead of a unrealistic dream.
Also the age of the project lead(s) should be added in the form, as every teenager can post here, who wants to make his own game today and learn skateboarding tomorrow…
To keep it down-to-earth, Epic could provide some (anonymously) examples of finished games and their workload, teamsize, development-time, like:
RPG single-player, about 50 maps/levels. 30 characters, coded AI/environment systems…Professional team, 30 people, 24 months
FPS multiplayer, 30 maps, 20 characters, bought assets, hobby/indie Team, 40 people, 18 months
MMO…
I think such measures would help to get more finished projects and start less that are unrealistically to finish right from the start.
If people dont want to make a final result, like even a demo, but rather learn some aspects of game-dev, then they should say so right from the start, so that all
temmembers have the same understanding and frustration is avoided.
Thats not only true for game development.
I know many novice programmers who think an OS is just a few lines of code mre than “Hello World” and are now “Im making a better OS now than Windows,Linux and the other one too”
Or in the microelectronic forums. Someone manages to put a sample-and-hold cicuit together and now wants to design a satellite. Of course a better one than all before…
Its when innocence meets enthusiasm.
Thats basic homework
The crux there is that you cannot really make an estimate without knowing about the other people´s skill levels. I know how long I would need for a modelling task, but who knows how long someone else might need.
Unless you know the people already, but then again why are you looking for “got skills”…
I wouldnt give age too much weight. Those ADHD-driven “developers” should be sieved out by the “show a proper plan” mechanism…
They do… In the leaning tab, there is the memory game, a tower defense, tappy chicken and more…
I think it all comes down to filtering of whats in the “got skills” section. Thats not something tha Epic can/should do for you.
Usually the first post is a dead giveaway
welcome to the new incarnation of the good old gamedev.net recruitment subforum.
for many years I saw projects rise and fall in the gamedev.net forums, from teenagers mostly but also from serious adults. a few years ago the gamedev.net one was removed and turned it into the Classifieds section, which has much more of a ‘job offers’ format than a free for all forum format. but now I see it all over again (except more crowded, and with an actual engine/toolset anyone can use), in our very own ‘looking for skills’ section
the gamedev.net one had all the problems you list, and in there it was also hard to tell what would be successful and what wouldn’t.
the age of the poster, his experience, or his estimates of the workload can help foresee if the project will take off or not, but really it all boils down to the commitment and effort put into the project, and the size/scope of it.
I’ve seen many young unexperienced people disappear from the face of the dev scene, but also some that keep at it and make something in the end.
also what helps the most is the tone and the expectations. any hobbyist making an MMO will most likely fail (at least we’re kinda past that phase, and now everyone wants to make a survival game instead, which is a bit more feasable). even just by the writing of the post you can get a grasp how much he knows, and how much the guy really has no clue.
also about estimates, they help a lot to keep yourself in scope and plan/cut features. but it’s really hard to make them in the early stages of a project because it’s hard to foresee the full scope, depth, and development impact of the desired features.
for example I now know that I have roughly 600 hours left of work to finish my project, but it would’ve been pretty much impossible to know the full workload 4 years ago when I started working on it, before the several dozen thousand hours I’ve put into it
