@“JoJoestar”#p151492 it sounds like you’ve done quite well for yourself despite the stress. congratulations, and i hope you feel pride and eventually peace.
it was very writerly of you to vow against writing forever. this tells me you will start writing again one day, and i look forward to reading it when that day comes.
@JoJoestar I’m really sorry I didn’t do the things I said I was going to.
Don't worry about it! And with this team of 35, I hope you are at least getting paid! Ha ha
I‘m sure the forum only wants what’s best for our pal JoJoestar
@Tradegood Thanks that is very thoughtful of you. Also wild that you made a similar transition, maybe I can ask you for tips or help down the road if you're ok with that?
@MoH this tells me you will start writing again one day
Well, actually one of the reasons why I'm in a far far better place now is because a) I have more time for myself and self-care, b) I actually was approached by the editor of the website I used to freelance for to do some new stuff for them that fits very well with my current schedule.
@"exodus"#p151530 Damn, don't know if it makes me glad or sad that it was that obvious this was one of the things I had in mind. Bittersweet! Hoping to have the chance to make it right to you at some point.
With that team of 35 I actually wasn't being paid *HONK*. We worked for 9 months on a vertical slice that sadly didn't pay out. We were making a Pikmin clone which also was a 3D platformer and it was just a really bad combo of too ambitious of an idea vs. too unexperienced as a team. We released what we had on Steam but the development did not continue sadly.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2378370/Puddies/
Thankfully, I AM getting paid on my current project, a turn-based strategy game called Songs of Steel. It's a bit of step down from being the producer for a whole team, as I don't have any creative control on this one. I'm "only" in charge of managing the QA strategy to hit the milestones with as few bugs as possible, but it's good work anyway.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2603300/Songs_of_Steel_Hispania/
We are releasing the game soon and it doesn't look like the publisher is willing to fund a new game after this one, so I may have to look for something more solid soon, but for now it's working out.
@yeso Gracias de corazón yesito, popping a beer to your good wishes as we speak and sending good wishes back to you as well.
@JoJoestar yeah, I was gonna say it sure didn't sound like you were getting paid! But good luck with the new one, selling games is hard!! And congrats on getting paid!
@exodus Congrats on being paid is such a weird turn of phrase, but actually one of the first things I noticed is the amount of essentially free work that is demanded from aspiring developers in order to break into the industry, be it in the form of game jams, small projects, portfolio or whatever. It‘s kind of yeah do some shit without any expectation of being paid on your own and we’ll hire you if we think it is good enough.
been thinking about this a lot lately and i'm currently speedrunning this semester of uni so that I can focus in doing stuff like this
Who would have thought: capitalism fucking sucks!
Good luck with your projects Ana! And please do share if you do anything cool 👀
@JoJoestar yeah I mean I refused to ever work for free but I had the advantage of starting almost 20 years ago. Tough to get started these days! When I was putting up ads for jobs I‘d get about 100 students with no experience immediately apply, and like… I got a real small team here and no time to teach anyone anything. If anyone on the team isn’t performing within a couple weeks we are in serious trouble schedule-wise. I want to help out the youths but just don‘t have the money or time. It’s a shame!
@exodus Feels like the only ones with the willingness to nurture/teach new people are small studios, but they lack the resources (money + time). The ones who do have the resources couldn't care less about aspiring developers and in fact their biggest aim is getting only the most talented + better trained people, at the lowest cost possible (and they WILL underpay you if they can get away with it so you better get your negotiation skills rolling fast).
On top of that you have the huge waves of people being fired who need to relocate and have more experience than you, putting you at a severe disadvantage. I may have chosen a really bad time to transition but time will tell I guess...
I've finally realised that this is my philosophy when getting excited about almost all games, for some reason particularly fighting games but also a lot of games that are currently in the zeitgeist (like Alan Wake 2). But only after I actually buy them.
Oh, and a few titles that the IC crew have discussed, including stuff like Balan Wonderworld which I know I'll barely play let alone enjoy!
I guess acknowledging it is the first step and keeping it front of mind will save me some moneys in the long run.
I've been trying to get my bachelor degree for years now.
My college keeps changing the curriculum so the mandatory classes i FINISHED do not count anymore and goes as "optional credits" instead. If counted right, i'd only need 52 hours of mandatory classes. That's roughly 2 weeks.
I'm so mad. They keep doing everything to keep me paying tuition. Every semester the price increases.
The university was part of a huge international group but it kept been sold around.
God knows how much i need this degree. I can't even think straight today. I might need to take this to the court.
If i stayed at the public colleges i got into, i wouldn't have this problem. God i feel so stupid.
@marxseny Damn. Who makes the decision to count them as optional vs. mandatory? Retroactively making them optional is messed up :/ You might have tried this already but I've had much more success dealing with university BS if I go to the office in person.
@Viralata That's the catch. The Uni changed groups and this new one got rid off everything in-person they could. Everything is online talk to bots now.
@marxseny that sounds like hell, I'm sorry :/
@marxseny This is absolutely absurd. First off, I’m so sorry that you even have to deal with this in the first place — please don’t blame yourself, it is not your fault that the school is enacting such blatantly predatory policies. You couldn’t have anticipated such an egregious lack of ethics, so please do not blame yourself.
Based on your description, I agree that, if this were to go to court, a judge / jury would most likely side with you, the undergrad, however, litigation is a massive resource / time commitment, so I’m not sure how serious you are about that.
My advice would be to get VERY persistent in contacting as many individuals in administration as possible — make your situation known to as many people as you can, perhaps someone will be able to help you (squeaky wheel and all that). Be polite, but persistent (admissions, counseling, even past professors you think might be particularly empathetic). Explain your situation clearly and concisely, help them see YOU as a person, help them understand how you are being mistreated and ask them if they might be able to help you by putting you in touch with someone who can, advocating on your behalf or providing you with advice / direction. I imagine your situation will be very easy to sympathize with, it could just be a matter of getting it in front of the right people.
I don’t work in academia, so this is very general advice. I’m very upset that you (and probably many other students) have to deal with this kind of theft.
Maybe there is someone here who works in academia and might be able to offer more specific advice?
@marxseny God, that sucks.
In the universities I have attended, students are essentially grandfathered into the handbook/catalogue at the time they enrolled. So as a graduate student at a private university, I used the handbook policies for the year I enrolled, even after they made some changes to the class requirements. That is a common practice, so I'm disappointed to hear that they are jerking you around.
I work in academia. My context may not fit yours, but I'd second what safety_lite is saying. Besides administration, advising and the registrar (or whatever entity actually maintains academic records) are two places that could give you a direct answer of how your situation should be treated. At my own university, I heard a case just today where students' online tools were assigning classes to the wrong requirements, which would have affected their plans for when to graduate. A quick conversation with an advisor followed by their conversation with the registrar cleared up the issue.
Universities in many countries also have an ombuds(man), a people's advocate, or a similar position. They don't take sides and are intended to advise students/faculty/staff of policy, recommend what to do, and mediate potential issues. In my experience, they are really useful for listening to an issue and giving options for next steps.
If none of these are options because they're so relentlessly online/bot now, marxseny, maybe court is the next step.
@marxseny do you know whether they‘ve done this to many others? Unfortunately I know there are “online colleges” where this is basically their whole business model, but I’m not sure id that's your situation.
I do know my buddy vince kept having his major disappear on him so he had to pledge a new one. It happened at least twice! And this was at the university of southern california. So it can happen anywhere.
WTF i had no idea something like this is even legal. similar to others have said, my school made some major changes to the film program while i was there and their policy was that i could choose whichever graduation path worked best for me, starting from the year i began the program. every day i learn a new way that privatization is extremely cool and good, just like my libertarian dad has told me all my life. i'm so sorry to hear this!