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Stressed out
15 years ago
Hey guys,
Lately, I've been very stressed out about a friend of mine who is working on a video game project with me. For the past month, him and I were working on different parts of the game: I did some coding on the GUI and the character movement, while he did the animations. After a month and after he spent a lot of time working, I saw his animations.
However, they looked quite... bad... even for the amount of time he was given. I didn't want to tell him this but eventually I had to, because he didn't seem to think it mattered very much, and he didn't take it very well at all. He was extremely upset, telling me things like, "why don't you just do everything, then?", and I tried my best to act as professionally and as modestly as I could without avoiding the problem.
He said that I didn't know what I was talking about, because he claimed to have more experience with animation than me. However, some of the issues he had were with basic posture problems which could be resolved by using walk cycle animations on YouTube as a reference. The character's feet would protrude through the floor - something that takes seconds to fix.
He doesn't seem to have good work practices, in that he won't "sharpen the axe": He doesn't take the time to do things like familiarize himself with his environment, use reference material as guidelines such as other example animations, create a comfortable workflow where he is in control, or take time to learn tips and tricks from those who are experienced IE tutorial videos. It's also just the way he talks about the project. He'll often say "Players won't notice", or "This is good enough for X game, so its good enough for us!" and then do kind of a mickey-mouse job.
He tries to find the simplest and easiest solution, rather than one that will deliver the results players are looking for.
He seems unable to distinguish a quality result from a mediocre one.
Even little things like making sure objects are aligned and symmetrical he seems to overlook and dismiss as trivial.
I am afraid to let him do anything because I don't think he holds the same standard of quality and attention to detail that I do. However, I cannot exclude him from the project, nor do I want to because he is a good friend of mine, but its difficult to bear working with bad art and game assets. I just don't know what to tell him, and it's really eating up my sanity. x_x
Thanks for any help, support or advice you may have.
Lately, I've been very stressed out about a friend of mine who is working on a video game project with me. For the past month, him and I were working on different parts of the game: I did some coding on the GUI and the character movement, while he did the animations. After a month and after he spent a lot of time working, I saw his animations.
However, they looked quite... bad... even for the amount of time he was given. I didn't want to tell him this but eventually I had to, because he didn't seem to think it mattered very much, and he didn't take it very well at all. He was extremely upset, telling me things like, "why don't you just do everything, then?", and I tried my best to act as professionally and as modestly as I could without avoiding the problem.
He said that I didn't know what I was talking about, because he claimed to have more experience with animation than me. However, some of the issues he had were with basic posture problems which could be resolved by using walk cycle animations on YouTube as a reference. The character's feet would protrude through the floor - something that takes seconds to fix.
He doesn't seem to have good work practices, in that he won't "sharpen the axe": He doesn't take the time to do things like familiarize himself with his environment, use reference material as guidelines such as other example animations, create a comfortable workflow where he is in control, or take time to learn tips and tricks from those who are experienced IE tutorial videos. It's also just the way he talks about the project. He'll often say "Players won't notice", or "This is good enough for X game, so its good enough for us!" and then do kind of a mickey-mouse job.
He tries to find the simplest and easiest solution, rather than one that will deliver the results players are looking for.
He seems unable to distinguish a quality result from a mediocre one.
Even little things like making sure objects are aligned and symmetrical he seems to overlook and dismiss as trivial.
I am afraid to let him do anything because I don't think he holds the same standard of quality and attention to detail that I do. However, I cannot exclude him from the project, nor do I want to because he is a good friend of mine, but its difficult to bear working with bad art and game assets. I just don't know what to tell him, and it's really eating up my sanity. x_x
Thanks for any help, support or advice you may have.
Why not ask someone to ''beta'' test the game and use that person as the way to tell him that the artwork need work, that way it does not come from you and the guy is there to actually comment on theses things.
a view from someone outside the team would be much more neutral
I left a detail out that might be of some relevance: We are trying to get an "early-alpha" version of the game available for users to try by August. Because of this, we need to get past the essential work first, and then make perfections as we go along. He is fine with showing the game earlier than that provided that I don't give away the underlying, self-proclaimed "golden idea" he thought up which gave rise to the project. (I do agree it's a good idea, but that's a separate issue.) With that, I might be able to get the feedback he needs.
Despite the time constraints I still think it is a matter of attitude. As I said, it doesn't really take massive amounts of time to do something rudimentary like keep a character's feet on the ground. I've seen this and heard the same sort of tone and work ethic with his previous projects. He wants to do a sufficient job, but he never really seems to want to go beyond that and do an astounding job, regardless of what time constraints he is under. He seems uncomfortable with going further than what he feels is safe.
At this point I know this is starting to sound more like a rant than an attempt to construct a solution. To give him the benefit of the doubt for a minute, I have to admire his ability to stick with a project regardless of how sick of it he may be. He continued a solo game project for 7 years and is just releasing the game now.
I never really planned on doing more than just a couple projects just so that both of us can get on our feet, but my friend had been planning to start a business partnership with me, with a company founded between us, that'd last for years at least. Unless I see some changes or am proven to be wrong, I think it'd be a scary road ahead to be honest.
Point is, you work with him. Get someone that he really don't know to give both a view on how outside view the project so far and i really wish you well on your side, I'm starting college next year in computer engineering
Let him know how you feel as emotionally-detached as possible, and ask him what he thinks. Then try to come to some compromises/solutions, on his terms if need be. Keep the communications open, or the rocky road is going to get even more unstable as time goes on.
Hell, it's not hard to make shit work if you know how to, and pace yourself. A dev team has to be a TEAM. Something EA, Bungie, Activision and almost every other developer short of Valve seems to miss on (valve only works so well because they're tiny though). If he won't work with you, neither will budge on a point; try to persuade him by showing him Fallout 3 or Fallout New Vegas's gameplay. If he doesn't CRINGE because of the half-finished animations, it is probably time to remove him and find another (or do it yourself).