What Would Matt Do

With whom, you ask? Why, one Mr. Chris Taylor, of course, Because he’s dreamy. But he’s been dreamy for awhile now what with all of his making of superb strategy games (TA, DS, and now SupCom). Why am I now head over heels in love with Taylor? It probably has a lot do with his D.I.C.E speech:

The energetic Taylor forewent the podium when he took the stage, and described how when he and Gas Powered Games created the earlier Dungeon Siege games, overtime hours were in the thousands. “It was completely wrong [to work that much],” he said. “I don’t like to admit it, but I’m at an age now where I can admit that. We impaled ourselves on a sword…”

This kind of thing just makes me happy. Each time a development house, be they gaming or otherwise, realize that you don’t need to kill yourself to create good software, an angel gets their wings. Really, it’s true. It’s especially true when a game developer gets this. The most overworked, underpaid people in the software industry? Game developers.

More from his speech:

He elaborated, “…Creators don’t stop creating when they leave the office. … When I figured that out, our productivity went up. … When you’re twenty… your family is the guys you work with. … We were 20-year-old guys making games for 20-year-old guys. … Meanwhile the rest of the world is asking ‘When are you going to make games for us?’”

Taylor said that at first he questioned whether or not publishers, who are investing millions of dollars in a game, would appreciate how game creation at Gas Powered would come after health and family. “They were okay with it” because they have kids too, he said. “The industry is growing up.”

“We have so much more to lose than just sales,” he added.

So, with that in mind, I’m now liking Mr. Taylor even more. To able to create something as spetacular as SupCom (Eurogamer gives it a 9/10) and do it without completely killing yourself…well, I can’t say much else, but I love you. And now if you’ll just pay your developers what us saps in the business software industry make, I’ll be happy to work for you. Because I know you’ve been waiting, wishing, hoping I would work for you.

Now to be fair, my industry isn’t all roses and candy, but ask around…crunch time at gaming companies can lost for months and sometimes years. That happens in my industry and you find another job.

Oh, and note to anyone developing games? Yoga is key.

Taylor said that a key to staying balanced is yoga. “It absolutely changes people. … I could not do what I did without [yoga].”

What Would Matt Do: You think if I started doing Yoga I could get paid more to work at Gas Powered Games? Hmmmm…