100 developers missing from LA Noir credits?
mod
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-06-06-100-devs-protest-omission-from-l-a-noire-credits
We've talked about this in the past but we haven't talked about it recently. I'm tossed up, on one hand who cares, they can confirm employment a few different ways;
And on the other hand its kind of a sleazy thing to do to leave people out of the credits. It's either abhorrent management and record keeping or straight up spitefulness? Unfortunetly it happens all too often in our industry. What does it generate other than ill will and confusion? If they're worried about forcing players to sit through long strings of credits, then let them skip the credits...
We've talked about this in the past but we haven't talked about it recently. I'm tossed up, on one hand who cares, they can confirm employment a few different ways;
- They can call "was so and so an employee? Yes. Thank you. /click" I guess that works until the company goes under or their records fall out of date.
- Your portfolio "Can we see some of your work that made it into the game?"
- Your pay stubs?
- Art test? If your lying then its an easy way to see if you can do the job or not.
And on the other hand its kind of a sleazy thing to do to leave people out of the credits. It's either abhorrent management and record keeping or straight up spitefulness? Unfortunetly it happens all too often in our industry. What does it generate other than ill will and confusion? If they're worried about forcing players to sit through long strings of credits, then let them skip the credits...
Replies
Besides who's rushing out to brag they worked on Game Party 2 on the wii?
Mark you should start your own company man. We need sincere, passionate, and intelligent developers like you with management roles.
Lets begin with giving the game industry an Intervention :poly124:
The funny thing is they included me on a game I didn't work on at all a couple years earlier. I was on a totally different team.
But seriously, if you worked on a game you should get credit.
sincere, passionate and intelligent - when was the last time any person with these qualities got far?
I've been uncredited on a few games.
IGDA has a guideline for this:
http://www.igda.org/sites/default/files/IGDA_Game_Crediting_Guide_Draft_8-5.pdf
Fucked up thing is, I was uncredited on a title with one of the draftees credited with upkeeping this standard on behalf of the IGDA.
It really has no bearing on anything. A big reason why crediting is taken very seriously in Hollywood, is because of the various unions.
I'll never understand this practice of excluding people from game credits. It happens all to often in the case when an employee is fired or laid off, even if their work ends up in the game.
From my perspective, credits are essentially free to create, just add their name to the list and forget about it. If a person did any work on the project, even if that work ends up getting axed, they should still be credited. It's just basic professional courtesy.
I guess I don't see what the big deal is. Usually in the course of interviewing or starting a job you will talk to someone who knows people at your old studio and it would be obvious if you were lying. If you are a freelancer you have portfolio work from the gig or enough work clearly from other games that it wouldn't make sense for to risk your reputation and lie about working on something you didn't.
I get that it can feel like a slap in face or something when you are not credited but who actually reads all the names anyway?
it's difficult not to get a bit annoyed when you know some suit / management type has omitted you, regardless of your contributions. it also doesn't exactly inspire a good atmosphere inside the studio when such a minor detail is so contentious. i've seen a few people get quite upset over how they were categorized / not included at all because they saw it as a slap in the face.
Or it's like, these people did work that's worth listing, you didn't.
I doubt anyone taking issue with it cares about proving they worked on the project, it's the principle of the thing. Someone should force them to make the decision: put the name in the credits or remove the assets they made from the game.. then we'd see nice full lists..
Yeah same here
get a dump of the people's names you assigned tasks to in your task tracking software.
Or check which artists contributed to your alienbrain/p4 depot
Or check who had windows accounts/permissions to your project group
Or check your organisation chart where you assign people to teams
Or remember to check with your outsourcers before release
Or just get a really long sheet of paper and jot down the names...
Makes you wonder if they're better at counting their sales/money/subscriptions/yadda yadda
Then again I wasn't very impressed with their organisation talent either when applying for a job there. Did the art test, got a response "we want to talk tou you again" and then never heard from them again. Good I had another job lined up I wanted more so I didn't care. It was just very weird though.
Those same qualities wouldn't make him last long.
ever notice how long the credits are at the end of shows that even air them?
yeah, like, 15-20 ppl.
that's basically the guest star, and the guys at the top.
nothing for the other 100-300 ppl working on the show.
I've spent 5 years in film, and worked on dozens of features, and several full seasons of shows, and I don't have any credits at all.
some people I've worked with had been 15 years without one.
others show up 1 day as a day call and get in.
it's rather mismanaged if you're not on set, or in the production office all the time.
so hollywood still screws up all the time too.
the glaring omission of hundreds of people is a bit much tho.
It's more an issue of respect towards the people who worked on the game and suffered through crunch and the usual game production cycle who made your product shine (especially in LA Noire's case!)
'tis called MobyGames
http://www.mobygames.com/game/xbox360/la-noire/credits
Seems like everyone uncredited is accounted for there.
developer example: http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,16262/