Working remotely.

Quote from marks

You'd be surprised.

Well yeah, maybe he'd be, but we're all to blame if it is. The responsibility for a team with an open communication It's in every single one of us. You expect your lead or manager to make us all hold hands and bond?

I love working with a team, there's nothing like getting up and ask: "Hey dude, quick question, do you remember the parameters to export a mesh?" or you just walk around the office when you're having a cup of coffee check out other peoples work, and giving feedback while you do it.

Quote

":dwtfk9e9]

You'd be surprised.

Well yeah, maybe he'd be, but we're all to blame if it is. The responsibility for a team with an open communication It's in every single one of us. You expect your lead or manager to make us all hold hands and bond?

I love working with a team, there's nothing like getting up and ask: "Hey dude, quick question, do you remember the parameters to export a mesh?" or you just walk around the office when you're having a cup of coffee check out other peoples work, and giving feedback while you do it.

but nobody is in the office at 3am HP, do you just leave post-it notes with feedback?

This comic from The Oatmeal sums things up nicely:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/working_home

o gad that is all so true.

Only the regime has changed for me

Quote from Rick_D

You'd be surprised.

Well yeah, maybe he'd be, but we're all to blame if it is. The responsibility for a team with an open communication It's in every single one of us. You expect your lead or manager to make us all hold hands and bond?

I love working with a team, there's nothing like getting up and ask: "Hey dude, quick question, do you remember the parameters to export a mesh?" or you just walk around the office when you're having a cup of coffee check out other peoples work, and giving feedback while you do it.

but nobody is in the office at 3am HP, do you just leave post-it notes with feedback?

Good point.

Skype dingle at 3am on sunday sucks.

Ehh I wouldn't really be suprised. I am, like, an adult that has had a couple jobs and gone to school and spent time with other human beings, even if I haven't been in a studio in this field.

I said it's easier, more efficient, to communicate. The mesh exporting example is exactly what I mean. Ever needed to just point to something? "Let's make it like that thing over there except more like 'whoah'" makes sense but not in text or video chat.

This entire thread would be a ten minute conversation 'irl', but it's weeks of back and forth and my point wasn't clear even though I tried to be but I could have written paragraphs to be more clear but who wants to read that?

Anyway, it all sounds very nice to be in a studio. You wouldn't script an epic battle inside a closet meant for hidden items. You don't cook in the washroom. You segment the environment based on function and experience type.

i dont think i have ever had a paid freelance/remote gig that didnt "emerge" because of some previous office work or rl-relationships. so i am not even sure if my opinion matters really but here we go:

+not having to commute through the cold/rain/snow/hale/thunderstorm ever is a big thing for me and i enjoy the fuck out of that.

-but the real fucking work, the real good shit that ties into the tech and design the stuff that ends up getting used and actually adds value to the game ONLY gets done when you are "at" work and there is talent around you in shouting distance.

so unless you are fine with doing "superflouse","pedestrian"or lets call it "background" stuff for a game you gotta work inhouse !

Quote from Warby

i dont think i have ever had a paid freelance/remote gig that didnt "emerge" because of some previous office work or rl-relationships. so i am not even sure if my opinion matters really but here we go:+not having to commute through the cold/rain/snow/hale/thunderstorm ever is a big thing for me and i enjoy the fuck out of that.

-but the real fucking work, the real good shit that ties into the tech and design the stuff that ends up getting used and actually adds value to the game ONLY gets done when you are "at" work and there is talent around you in shouting distance.

so unless you are fine with doing "superflouse","pedestrian"or lets call it "background" stuff for a game you gotta work inhouse !

I dunno, I disagree with that. The LDs and environment artists on NS2 are all external, and work from home, and they've pretty much done all of the art for the game.

See pogo, we are bestest in da werld

I was talking about the rest of you guys, I haven't done much worthwhile yet

Really depends on the project and what your remote job contains.

I feel my work for Insurgency 2 had a pretty big impact on the appearence of the game so far. That's because i get to work on the look of whole environments from time to time and my stuff is used pretty much everywhere in the game.

But of course if my contract was to make single random props for a big AAA game that wouldn't be the case.

Quote from PogoP

I dunno, I disagree with that. The LDs and environment artists on NS2 are all external, and work from home, and they've pretty much done all of the art for the game.

as far as I know, UWE is pretty special in this regard as they let people on their core team work abroad. At our company we have two guys who produce art that live abroad and they only produce source material (psd's and fbx's + animations) that we then have our in house artist throw into unity and do stuff with. It works for the off site people because they don't have to learn a new engine.

But I would not be content with this as learning a new engine is super awesome to have on your cv.

Quote from PogoP

I dunno, I disagree with that. The LDs and environment artists on NS2 are all external, and work from home, and they've pretty much done all of the art for the game.

Spark is a pretty basic engine though in fairness.

Long time no post.

I have worked almost more remote than on-site now, as well as hybrid setups with half the week on-site half the week remote. I worked remote for small startup teams, large established developers, as well as for my own products and company. Both working remotely and working on-site obviously have clear advantages and disadvantages, and there is no definite way to go imo. I have seen entirely on-site projects fail spectacularly (and often due to lack of communication even), and I have seen entirely remote projects succeed spectacularly. It really comes down to the people you work with and yourself. A lot of people see working remotely as an easy way out (when they live in places where there are no jobs or they cannot find work) but it really isn't that easy at all (doing it and finding it). You need to take the right approach to it as well on a personal level. It took me years to get to a point where I felt I was handling remote work correctly and efficient, before that time I too lost a lot of time on distractions (easy at home) or bad working habits (working at 3 am and getting entirely messed up). Communication is also key, it took me years also to get to a point where I began communicating in a very clear and structured way towards whoever was above me, when sitting at home, another thing most people really do not get right at all when they begin with working remotely.

There are also things that can help the work tremendously. Having a locked down fully functional standard engine to begin with helps enormously, so you are able to work more independently of the tech team. There must be a greater degree of personal freedom in the work you do than usual, as else you will get stuck all the time, waiting for feedback. When I work, I ensure that I am largely in charge so that I can do as I wish without having to acquire constant feedback and approval from other people, as that can quickly take hours if not days to get when remote. Too much hierarchy or too many people involved is also lethal. I ensure that either the teams I work with have a very flat hierarchy or I deal with a very select group of people, or both ideally. You cannot have meetings easily, and feedback takes a long time to get, I cannot have to deal with 4 departments and 6 leads or such, that really won't work remotely. One or max two guys.

Quote from 3Dnj

Another question guys - For those who were working remotely as a freelance contractor, what did you do to have a legal status ? Have you been "Auto-entrepreneur" (don't know if there is a term in english) or somethig else ?

I think the English term you're looking for is 'self-employed'. When working with UWE, I have to class myself as self-employed, as I have to work out and pay my own taxes.