Just Lost Job - Coping/Job Hunting Advice Needed

Everything else
2342

Well,man, I’m sorry you are going through this. That was a shitty thing to do.

The game design field is weird, at least around here, but I’m guessing everywhere. I don’t want to say much about it, since this is your issue, nor mine to rant about, but I know a people in situations similar to yours.

I can offer two thoughts (I wouldn’t call them pieces of advise) on the options you are thinking of:

Freelancing: While you might not be the foremost expert in anything, you have tons of experience. More than 99% of the game design field as a whole, I’d wager. You also have directed/managed projects, which is rare and invaluable. I think you might be underselling your options as a freelancer, specially now that a lot of development is being done off-site. I don’t think it will be easy at first, but I’m sure there are indie/small companies and projects over there than can use somebody with your experience. Remuneration can be an issue with works like this (tend to pay way less than working on site for an established studio) but it could be a good start if you don’t get leads on anything more solid. But anyway, don’t sell you sort on this. Your resume will look great, even if you are not an expert in a specific field/genre (and I think you might be, even if you say you arent).

Teaching: I love teaching. I do it part-time (and work is piling up and might have to stop for a while, though I hope I can manage), and I love it. Granted, part-time is perfect. If it was the only thing I did I might have an itch to do something else, but see below. It is a common pivot for game designers over here where the industry is not exactly healthy (much like Colorado?) and it is very satisfying. You also learn a lot by working with the students. I consider it a plus for my career, not only a financial safety network. Also, if you pivot to teaching you will find that suddenly you will have more free time in your hands. Full time teaching (at the correct, non-exploiting institution) allows for personal projects and you don’t have to give up game design altogether and might even allow you to explore freely. Teaching is the perfect position from which to try to start up a project you always thought about making, or from which to develop a series of small personal/indie projects that don’t need a lot of infrastructure to be completed. And if you eventually move into trying to prop up your own, financed, project, teaching is a great place to find amazing new collaborators and partners.

2343

That sucks. I wish I could help, but I don’t have many contacts in the game, freelancing or teaching industries, much less in Colorado. But if I hear of anything I’ll let you know!

2344

I’ve done some teaching at private schools in tech and at a university in game design. The private, for profit, schools pay well and usually work with you as a contractor, so you can be flexible. Universities can be mixed and I taught for a couple of semesters after being invited in to guest lecture a couple of times by a friend. Lots of places are looking for industry experienced people to help teach, so it’s worth checking out at least.

When my studio closed early last year, it was a grind to find something. I’m pretty senior so that made things worse from the number of open opportunities perspective, but even knowing that my stress levels were getting high a few months into the search. Be patient as you look (easy to say) and check out any form of contracting. There are lots of short term roles out there that can help pay the bills while you look for a home.

Here are our design job listings if it helps: https://www.riotgames.com/en/work-with-us/jobs#discipline=2549&subDiscipline=

Best to you,
John

2345

Hope it’s cool for me to post a positive follow-up here in the advice/commiseration thread.

So if you scroll up a bit you’ll see that I was let go out of the blue (to me, anyway) in November from the game studio I’d been at for 10 years. I had 20 years in the game industry, all at mid-sized studios in Colorado, and no interest in moving. What I was interested in was working on a small indie team–while also making enough to support my pretty big family (4 kids). Or teaching… while also making enough… etc, etc.

Luckily, my wife had just recently started working full-time as a nurse, after many years of being a stay-at-home-mom and nursing school student. The uncertainty got us to tighten our belts pretty effectively. So one nice thing that happened was we learned that we could live decently on her smaller salary for awhile if we had to.

I dipped into freelancing sites, explored technical writing, and started keeping my eyes out for game studios hiring remote. I applied to a few and typically did not hear back. I had an interview for a producer job with a new mobile studio opening up locally and it was abundantly clear very quickly that that was not a good fit.

I did apply to only one other job that was on-site: The folks who make Mini Metro–a game I adore–were hiring a lead designer for the Mini franchise. They’re located in (wait for it) Wellington, New Zealand. I saw it late at night and shot off my resume, then told my wife the next day, having no idea what she would say. She was probably even more into the idea than I was. I got deep into the interview process. They’re awesome folks, and the interviews went well. I finally revealed the possibility to our kids, who were mostly very anxious about leaving the only home they’d ever known. But eventually the studio decided to go with another candidate. (Can’t blame them; my most notable and recent title was a cinematic adventure game!) It’ll be one of those Sliding Doors scenarios I’ll always wonder about…

In the meantime, I had a few industry friends looking out for opportunities for me. These were not colleagues I had worked with, but local indie developers I had made an effort to reach out to over the last couple years. Through them I heard about some contract jobs. One was helping redesign a language learning game. It was a good fit, and I took that gig, which gave me 10 hours a week of work.

A little later, another friend let me know about an opportunity that was mentioned in an indie-dev community slack: An experienced indie dev wanted a designer/co-director for a new project, the first project for a new studio. All remote. Things moved quickly. I admired his past games. We shared a passion for similar kinds of small strategy experiences. He showed me his prototype and I fell in love with the concept. I gave him feedback that must have impressed him–and he wanted me to join on! To start it was a contract gig; he was paying out of his own pocket. It made less than the language game gig, but the plan was to find funding and bring the various team members (3-4 of us) on full-time then. And other than being part-time, it was exactly the sort of team and project I’d been dreaming about for four or five years at least.

Having the two gigs got me back to an almost normal place financially. Jumping back and forth between them was weird and not ideal. But I think I’ve contributed a lot to both.

A month or so ago, the second gig secured funding. The studio is now a new company and the team is going full-time, including myself, starting tomorrow! We’ve got about a year to build this cool indie thing we’ve been prototyping for the last six months.

Not sure anyone wanted to read quite that much about my little career derail/re-rail. But I guess I needed to share it.

Fuck, I’m lucky. Undeservedly so. It wasn’t huge hustle or stunning credentials that got me this opportunity. Mostly it was happening to know the right people (pretty much how I’ve gotten through most of my career, frankly). I don’t know if that’s helpful to anyone. It might even be irritating–I wouldn’t blame anyone if it was! I’ll try to make it up to you by putting out a great game you might like.

Wish me luck (more of it)! We’ll need beta testers eventually, and I’ll sound the call here at Qt3!

2346

Congrats @Nightgaunt! It’s always cool to hear a success story.

2347

That’s awesome @Nightgaunt. I even remember playing and liking Threes way back when. You will have to keep us apprised of your progress when you can.

2348

Congrats @Nightgaunt. That’s fantastic news!

2349

That’s great news. Congratulations!

2350

Fuck yeah!

2351

Nice going. I think that is great news.

2352

That’s really cool, man, congrats!

It’s honestly soothing to hear about something good happening to someone in 2020. The world isn’t just a vampire (sent to drain).

2353

I’m so happy for you, @Nightgaunt ! Best of luck on this new endeavour. I wish you and the studio the best! And don’t forget to tell us about the game when it’s ready to show.

2354

Really glad to hear about things coming together that way. Congrats on securing the position.

Here is looking forward to hearing about the game once you are ready to share.

2355

Awesome news @Nightgaunt, glad to hear it!

2356

@Nightgaunt Congrats! And it does seem that good new opportunities come far more often from networking than anything else. I always advise people to work on their network while they have a good job, try to help as many people as you can in a very proactive manner, and just be proactive in growing and maintaining your network in a sincere way. When I had a VERY unexpected job loss last August, it was amazingly gratifying how many people in my network reached out to me, reached out to THEIR network on my behalf, and within 10 days I actually had accepted a great new job (though I had to move across the country to take it, but in my role that was to be expected.)

And do keep us updated on the new game as soon as you can!

2357

I want to hop in and congratulate you on the new full-time gig. It’s REALLY heartening to hear a story like this right now. I’d buy you a beer if you were closer.

2358

Great news and congratulations.

Wellington would have been interesting too! My GF’s mother is from New Zealand so the GF is eligible for citizenship and plans on getting it. It will be our bugout place when things get too crazy here.

2359

Congratulations! That is really cool news.

And I have to add, thank you for posting it in that level of detail. You might have no idea how cheering it is to hear about things going RIGHT for somebody for a change.

2360

Woah, thanks everyone. Sounds like it helped to hear a cheering story for once, so I’m glad I shared. I will absolutely be telling Qt3 all about the game when it’s time!

This is great advice. My previous employer didn’t value networking at all–for individual employees or as a company. In 20 years of being in games, I went to GDC once (last year, luckily) and on my own dime. I think meeting people is vital to dealing with those moments when the rug gets pulled out from under you.

2361

That’s not luck, you’re an awesome person. So happy for you!