Moving to Vancouver - anyone there?
Hey folks,
I'm moving to Vancouver in a few months time from New Zealand and I'm wondering if there are any Polycounters there. Back here the local devs get together for a monthly MeetUp which is awesome - is there anything like that in Van? It'd be great to meet some like minded people and do some sweet networking.
Also, I'll be looking for ANY work when I get there. Does anyone need a guitar teacher/waiter/doanythingforcashguy?
I'm moving to Vancouver in a few months time from New Zealand and I'm wondering if there are any Polycounters there. Back here the local devs get together for a monthly MeetUp which is awesome - is there anything like that in Van? It'd be great to meet some like minded people and do some sweet networking.
Also, I'll be looking for ANY work when I get there. Does anyone need a guitar teacher/waiter/doanythingforcashguy?
Replies
Either way, hope you like it here!
vancouver has quite a few game artists (probably quite a few unemployed right now too). there is usually a monthly local siggraph chapter event that sometimes covers things like game design, post mortems on games and breakdowns on certain film fx from studios all over the world. I actually got to meet and shake dennis muren's hand when ILM came up to give a wicked presentation.
those events usually have a mixer at the beginning with some often free booze and snacks and are a good place to chat with various students and industry folks. drop a line back here or send me a pm when you are in town and I would be happy to grab a beer with you, probably drag some of the other relic folk out to join us too.
I'm definitely going to hold you to that beer.
:poly122: other than that I'd love to get together for some brews.
I guess we were just waiting until after Gav, ae. Adam moved, because, who would want to have beers with those guys?
Zack
Yeah, I thought you made a thread a while ago saying you were moving to California! It was a trap!
Zack
Propaganda closing,
Radical layoffs,
EA layoffs,
UFG loosing True Crime and laying off all their contractors
Relic hiring freeze.
Blue Castle (now know as CGS:V) near its staff limit.
It's recovering slowly, with Microsoft opening the halo studio, but still a lot of unemployed devs
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/02/back-on-the-streets-true-crime-hong-kong/
On the subject of the relic hiring freeze, I dont know about that, I was hired there last year on an 11 month contract and throughout it they were bringing artists on board, contractors but still steadily staffing.
All the decent artists I know have found work, contract or in some cases fulltime which is super rare. I was lucky enough to transition from enviro art to fulltime lighting here and Im still thanking the gods of gaming to be an actual employee after 2 years of contracting. although even when i was a contractor there was always work available it seems so once you get past the instinct to panic when your contract is coming to an end in 2 months time you get used to it.
I think a big part of the reason for the layoffs in vancouver is partially due to fat trimming. I have worked with some mediocre or down right lazy people that dont really care about the end product. Most studios seem to always have some of those guys who have been there for a long time that their severance would be huge, so they just keep floating along.
There is a reason most vancouver games get reviews in the 50-70 score ranges. there seems to be this attitude of "its good enough" or "just get it done" around town that seems to be slowly changing as studios realize they cant just pump out shit when other studios in Canada like toronto or montreal are making huge blockbuster AAA titles.
I know in the last couple years since the layoffs studios in town have started to change their mantra, possibly because the right people kept their jobs. Im not saying this applies to everyone who was laid off but its a definite observation that me and a few industry buds I go for beers with on a regular basis agree on.
I've noticed a few of the guys I just worked with who had been around for a long time couldn't care less about the project which led to a fair bit of cleanup by other people after they left. They we're nice enough people , and I get that a niche "sport" title isn't as exciting as a AAA actionspolsion, but talk about counter-fucking-productive. So what if you're doing texture clean-up on a rabbit? it's better better then telling a fat guy he looks good in a medium t-shirt for zero commision. I don't know, for a little while I got to make art for games all day and I just can't comprehend not being able to find some kind of joy in that.
I also know a couple guys who got "trimmed" because even though they're excellent artists, somebody higher up dpesn't like em and now they're out of work. And that is fucking bullshit.
As for the "it's good enough/just get it done" games. Many of them really weren't good enough. I don't mean the art necessarily, but the actually gameplay. There's been some pretty big titles out here and they've ended up as some pretty half-assed, boring games, that absolutely deserved the scores they got. I know alot of it is marketing people who convince the money people the games have to be X, X, and X and if it's gritty than the hero has to be a bald white guy and whatever in order to sell but they've stolen those bullet-ponts from successfull games that were fun, so it's definatley possible.
I don't know if that made any sense, I get pretty annoyed about the whole subject and I'm rarely coherant at the best of times (there's a reason most of my posts are short and sarcastic), but that's my oppinion.
er, welcome to Vancouver Hamish and Nemlet :poly141:
Capcom is going to have to move, or expand to another floor if they want to grow, they were near max capacity for DR2. maybe they will...
I wouldn't blame the low scores on the average workers. I would blame it on the crappy management and vision.
I also know quite a few great artists there that got booted because they didn't "keep quite and do your work". They cared about making an awesome game and fought for changes, and the producer or CD didn't want to hear any of it. Then the game ships with a 70% rating.
For a game to dip below to 50-70% rating is WELLL beyond the power of the normal staff, that a leadership issue there.
In the end, the more companies in vancouver the better! healthy competition! healthy workforce! Though the reliance on contract and not full time positions does make a few people uneasy