When I was a kid, I wanted to get into the game industry and develop games. In this case, I’m kind of glad I’m now mainly working with art and have games as just a hobby.
With all of the PR disasters surrounding games that you pay 60 USD for yet feel glitchy, incomplete, unstable, and downright unplayable in spots, you’re left to wonder. Could it be that one of the easiest ways a company like EA can improve their game quality is to ensure that their developers aren’t sleep deprived when they’re writing code?
Think about it, light sleep deprivation has shown to already have an effect on your reaction time and thinking abilities, consequently, you’re operating under the assumption that your IQ has dropped 5 points. I could only imagine that being a lot worse if you’re staring bleary eyed at a screen while your brain seems mired in a thick fog. It makes clear sense to me that your code quality gets worse and worse the higher your sleep deficit, because even I, while not being even close to having that kind of sleep deprivation, have tried to stay up late to figure out how to make a game mechanic in the BGE only to feel too clouded to get the answer and only getting it after a good sleep.
Maybe that’s why a lot of indie games seem to work so much better, the developers are actually getting their sleep and coding with a clear mind and the full ability to focus.
Those big names and franchises carry a lot of stress with them. No matter how talented a programmer is, combine sleep deprivation with the stress of reaching a deadline, you quite often sentence yourself to a bad launch.
Perhaps that is why Indie is the way to go. People that are involved in an Indie project usually are more open-minded, more ‘flexible’ and more adaptive…at least I want to think so.
I hope that not so far in the distant future, more Indie developers will start to make AAA games.
The problem is employees not standing up for themselves. You just have to be blunt and say ‘If you show me the money then I’d be happy to do the extra hours’ and before they try telling you the “realities of the business”, you have to cut them off with ‘If you need a bank manager then I will take you down to Barclay’s, but I do NOT work for free.’.
As for sleep deprivation - no job is worth your health.
Fortunately most companies recognize the ill - effects of sleep deprivation and take measures to prevent this hazard. Ultimately it is the employee’s responsibility to take best care of themselves. However I have been in a position where this was not a factor, you was expected to function even when exhausted and at the same time be accountable. Well the obvious solution … a “goodbye”
There’s actually a number of studies that emphasize that caffeine cannot be used as a sleep replacement, you might feel more alert, but the negative effects on sleep deprivation remain.
Your brain for example is busy taking out the trash that built up during the day while you sleep, can caffeine do that?
It’s not just money (even though it probably contributes to driving the very long hours), try writing a Python script while sleep deprived and then try to write one when fully awake. There’s a much lower chance the sleep deprivation will lead to you writing a working script as well as a lower chance of fixing errors or bugs. The game developers mentioned will literally go all-night and potentially even close to 2 days without a wink of sleep, it’s a very dangerous practice which essentially produces a major drop in your IQ and your overall cognitive ability.
I’ve stayed up till 1 in the morning before to get a script in the BGE working, doing that in itself tends to be a slog until I actually get a good night’s rest and resume in the morning (and that is just a few hours of sleep deprivation). Many gamers these days will have the tendency to not look at the whole picture and instead interpret it in a way that satisfies them (and in some cases to justify their lust for rage).