Working remotely.

[ElectroSheep]

Hi guys !

I want to talk with you about remote work in video game companies. Because now I'm strongly attached to the city where I'm living and the closest interesting game company for me is in Paris, a city I completly dislike to live in because of the price of life (not far from a half of your pay for a room is not possible ) I was working as a contractual the last 5 months and, yes working alone at home is very difficult but after two months I found my marks and I really enjoyed living with my closest friends.

But now it's finished and I'm thinking about working like this the next year for some good reasons (after that I will move wherever I can) So I'm asking for help, advice and testimonials from people who already did this

Thanks guys !

[PhilipK]

I don't have any longer experience with this (around 3 months only). But it is very difficult for a number of reasons, and even for a short time like that it got progressively harder.

- First off it can be pretty hard to find jobs, especially for a longer period.

- You should make up a schedule and really try hard to follow it. It gets really easy to postpone stuff and start working really irregularly (but this is also one of the biggest advantages if used with moderation: you get to decide when and where you do your work).

- I'd set up a dedicated work space as closed off from the rest of your spare time areas as possible. I worked from my living room and it was horrible :S I still don't have any type of office space home. I really wish I do sometimes.

- Make sure to leave your home for breaks, eat lunch outside as much as possible. I remember I started to hate my apartment more and more just because I spent ALL of my time there.

I'm not cut out for the freelancing type of life, I definitely found that out. Maybe some day that will change, but at the moment I really like having a workplace to go to and I can switch to "work mode" and really be focused for 8 hours and then totally relax and cut off any work related stuff (well not entirely but at least try to ). I'd try to apply that mindset even if I worked from home, as much as I could anyhow.

[dux]

I've been working remotely on natural seelction 2 for about three years now from my pimp pad. I'm moderately agoraphobic so this method suits me down to the ground nicely. I've never lived in a city before, always the country so relocating to a huge ass place would put me up the shits for some time. I had 2 job interviews before I got this, and they weren't so great. One was with Climax in Portsmouth and the other with Bizarre Creations in Liverpool and these two put me off applying for Junior positions pretty badly.

The only downside with working remotley for me right now is I get paid in dollars, so I have to take into account the exchange rate which goes up and down at times. But apart from that I love it. Don't need to put up with retards in the work space, I'm the boss of my own time and don't need to punch anyone in the face for their shit ideas.

[AlexM]

I've been working remotely for about 9 months. It's pretty good because I get pad by the hour so I tend to do large crunches of 12 hours days so I can have 4 day weekends.

You can tend to avoid working on the less fun aspects of a project though. You definitely have to keep that in check. Also exercise becomes really important. I ended up buying an eliptical so I can get 20-30 mins of cardio whenever I need a break. I noticed with a lack of exercise I worked way more inefficiently.

[Skacky]

I worked remotely for more than 2 years and now that I work in an office, I definitely think the latter is the best. Still, I had to leave a city I love to move to Paris, and I know what you mean. While my crib isn't very expensive, it's still a third of my pay, and the weather cold and cloudy every day.

Anyway, working remotely has its advantages, but like AlexM I tended to work a lot less when I had to do the boring part of the work, whereas I could work 10-12 hours straight when I worked on the fun part, and I tend to procrastinate a lot when I work at home. Besides, as much as I don't like people much in general, I still like human contact so working in an office is a plus for me, as long as my co-workers aren't morons.

[ElectroSheep]

Thanks for your post.

PhilipK, with my 5 months of remote work, I passed in all the things you said, the first 2 months were really difficult because I had nothing planned and it was hard to have stable shedule. But thanks to where I lived after that and my friends, I was finally very motivated and didn't spend a lot of time at home except for work So I think now I'm ready, I know things I have to avoid, etc...

Dux, working on NS2 is really huge I think I can understand why you chose to work alone. Working with a big team is not easy. I worked 6 months at Ubi Paris before that and I can say without a mistake that it's the biggest studio in France. But I enjoyed it ! I like seeing people at work and I really want to work with other people but not now

About finding a job, I think my portfolio miss some art content, I should take a few months to work on great piece of art (want to make somestuff on CE3) lot of my work is partially level design and building but I miss some great props, mod and textures.

[ElectroSheep]

Yeah I know what you and Alex are talking about. When I needed to work on design during my project, I wasn't very motivated

The three reasons I want to work remotely this year :

- I'm 25 but I don't have my driving license Now I have the money but it take time and Paris is not the best place to do it.

- I really want people to consider me as an env artist and not a designer, I want to take some time working on my port. Last year before I enterred Ubisoft, I was call for a level designer position...

- I'm very attached to a person here and she can't move this year.

[Skacky]

I know what you mean about the driving license. As stupid as it may sound, I'm afraid of cars so I won't be getting one anytime soon. I was lucky enough to find a place close to my workplace so I literally have to walk 20 minutes to get there. You're not wrong when you say it's not the best place for getting a driving license, I took a look at some agencies and some of them are ridiculously expensive. And of course, when you live with another person it's hard to move, but fortunately I wasn't in a relationship at that time and I'm most probably about to begin one now, so I think my move turned out pretty cool. Still, I had to leave a ton of friends behind.

[Vilham]

On your last post. You will never work remotely as a level designer unless you are working on an indie title. If you want to work remotely focus on your art.

[PhilipK]

Ah it's interesting to read this feels like I could have a tOtally different point of view if I would have worked remotely for a longer period of time.

[Sentura]

been working off-site for just about 3 months as a LD. there's been a few times when i've met with studio folks to work with them in a studio atmosphere but this has been limited. personally i would prefer having to work at the studio rather than work from home, but that's more likely because i've always set myself up so that my home is related to everything non-work related.

anyway it hasn't been bad, conference calls on skype solve most of the problems and there isn't that much else to it. our lead programmer is not impressed with how things are, however. i do sort of miss the life of a studio and the way you can take 5 min breaks to check out what other people do. i get inspired from shit like that so it helps me focus better on my own task. then comes the question of relationships between people at work, which are REALLY weak when you haven't met the people in person.

as for friends and everything, everything in denmark is pretty closely stitched together, so there isn't really anything you're leaving behind... at least for as long as you live on the same island. but as far as i know the industry doesn't really cater to the home atmosphere and job security most other industries offer, so chances are if you want a better job you'll have to move someplace else. i'm prepared for this, because this is my passion.

[ElectroSheep]

Don't worry, I'm prepared. I already did my studies in a foreign country really far from home. But it's actually not the best moment to move I think. But If I don't find my way, I'm still prepared to move anyway.

[Sentura]

Don't worry, I'm prepared. I already did my studies in a foreign country really far from home. But it's actually not the best moment to move I think. But If I don't find my way, I'm still prepared to move anyway.

well if you're just waiting for the right moment, then try to see if you can pick up a position like dux'.

[Steppenwolf]

Been working remotely for almost 3 years now. I wouldn't want to do it if i had to search for new jobs every couple weeks or even months. I was lucky that both companies i've worked for so far provided me with work for over a year.

I don't find the work itself that much different from working in a studio because most of the time you just just sit in front of your PC anyway and use IM to communicate with people on the other end of the office. But of course it's less social and can get a bit lonely. So take care not to become a hermit. Maintain social contacts.

The plus side is that i live and work according to my natural (night owl) biorhythm so i rarely feel like complete shit during the day.

To get work done my strategy is to always think of goals that i want to achive the next day before i go to sleep. And then i usualy just work till the goal is achieved. Sometimes if i fall behind i just work a few hours on the weekend to make up for it.

[PogoP]

Been working remotely for the past 3 months, best thing I ever did.