10 Things I Learned Working In The Gaming Industry
3. Organisation And Workflow Matter More Than Ever
Did you know that Deathloop is significantly more complex than Arkanoid? Don't lie. You didn't know that. But it is.
There's significantly more work involved in building a more complex game, but this in turn requires far more organisation. And sure, you have producers there to keep you on the right path, but they're there to make sure you hand in your completed colouring books on time - you have to learn to colour inside the lines on your own.
As games grow in complexity, so too do the file paths and naming structures, the methods of checking in and extracting files, and the necessity for good file hygiene.
What's good file hygiene? Well, have you ever opened up your mum's laptop to fix it, only to find about one hundred and eighty-six wordpads all named "New_Wordpad_029HOWTOMAKE..RHUBARBCRUMBLEGOOGLE"? That's bad file hygiene. Bad, mum.
When working in Photoshop (or pretty much any software, really, but we'll use Photoshop as an example), you need to be aware that this file will probably be used by three, five... even ten different people, so you need to make sure everything is as clear as possible. Make sure to present your art layers as though the King of Games is coming to the studio.
There is deep shame to having a fellow developer open your file only to shudder in fear and gibber, "y...you LIVE like this?!".