esper From Ash Parrish: If game development studio was run like a busy kitchen, what would employees shout while running around? (01:18)
I am definitely interested in watching The Bear. I have more experience with front of house - serving, bussing tables, bartending - and I’m not sure if I would be more or less interested if the show seemed to have more of that. The setting of the show confuses me though; the kitchen seems like it’s run like a somewhat high end restaurant, which clashes with the restaurant in the show, which resembles a deli. In fairness, I do not live anywhere near as populated as Chicago and am likely not exposed to all the types of eateries there are.
Regarding kitchen jargon, I would imagine it does not serve a game studio environment well at all. I have never worked in an office, so I will highlight why words like “heard” and “behind”* are lubricants to a busy restaurant.
*The “hot behind” thing is less codified, though I did know a chef who would lazily chant “behind, hot, sharp” whenever he was behind anyone in any situation, obscuring what he actually meant and generally just getting on my nerves
One of the things I learned at my first restaurant job was that jargon solves a huge communication problem - language barrier. I work and have worked with a lot of people with limited English, and I can easily communicate certain vital pieces of information without knowing a lick of English.
There are certain phrases - 86, all day, heard - that are meant to remove the need to clarify or follow up with something. Time during a dinner rush matters in minutes and seconds, so having to repeat yourself is a loss of efficiency. I try to tailor everything I need to communicate mid shift to be as concise and complete as possible while also projecting my voice when necessary.
This urgency of information has a place in games outside of development: multiplayer. Visually dense action games like Killer Queen and Towerfall are difficult to keep track of for one person, and communicating effectively is key to success. The same is true of MOBAs and FPSs, where one person cannot have all the information onscreen at once and knowing where to direct your attention is vital. Brandon has mentioned on the podcast how natural it was to imitate the in-game dialogue in Left 4 Dead multiplayer.
I think about how bartending is a video game just about every day, so forgive the length of this post. I started this reply like six days ago and totally forgot about it. There is also an essay about why bartending is my favorite action puzzle game brewing in my head.