作者：Craig Chapple

作为我们每年薪资调查的一部分，我们询问了开发者关于其中生活质量的一些重要问题。而他们的回答绘制出了一张略显无聊的工作室生活图。

超过41%的开发者表示在正常开发期间他们平均每周会工作31至40个小时。另外41%的开发者表示他们平均每周工作时间是41至50个小时。

还有10%的调查参与者回答他们平均每周工作时间为51至60个小时。3%的参与者声称他们一周需要工作61至70个小时，剩下的少部分人每周工作时间超过70个小时。

根据国家统计局关于劳动力的调查，2014年英国国民一周平均工作时间为37.6个小时。如此便说明在英国（游戏邦注：也是我们最多调查对象所来自的国家）游戏开发是工作强度最大的产业之一。

需要注意的是，根据相关法律，雇主每周不能强迫雇员工作超过48个小时。其中包含需要有偿以及一些无偿的加班。

对此并不存在任何例外情况。

那些每周想要工作超过48个小时的工人可以选择脱离这种特定时期的限制，但前提必须是他们是自愿的并写下担保书。

我们必须清楚英国政府的官方网站明确说明：“不能与任何劳动力签订相关协议。然而雇主却能够事先询问雇员是否愿意脱离这样的限制。”

并且：“雇主不应该解雇或给予拒接签订脱离限制协议的雇员不公正的待遇。”

英国政府同样还声称雇员可以随时取消这样的决定—-即使这是他们工作合同中的一部分。

加班

尽管英国政府提供给雇员如此的保护，在某些情况下有些工作室却忽视了这些规定，或者在可接受范围内，大多数员工还是表示进行了无偿的加工。

45%的开发者表示他们会定期加班。超过80%的开发者也表示他们所进行的是无偿加班。

不过75%的开发者表示获得了较为灵活的工作选择，即包括可以在家办公或者拥有灵活的工作时间。

我们询问了游戏产业中一些开发者关于其加班的经历，以及这对于他们的身体健康与个人生活的影响。

Tammeka Games的游戏制作人Sam Watts便表示自己曾在多家工作室中经历过加班。

他解释道：“通常情况下在发行前还剩下最后10%至20%的开发工作，所以每周的工作时间是正常情况下的2倍。”

“最长的一次是在一件产品面向全球发行前，即达到了3个月，那时候需要同时进行QA，本土化，与生成以及分销等工作。”

他说道，尽管自己足够幸运拥有一个能够理解自己的伴侣，同时在如此长的工作期间他们也还未拥有小孩，但他也看到了这种情况对于其他同事生活的影响。

Watt说道：“我便见证过一些爱人不能理解或者有孩子的开发者们遭遇了家庭破裂，离婚，甚至是因为顶着过多压力而生病的情况。”

“有时候我会想，当你致力于你不能100%相信的一款游戏时，所有的这一切投入是否真的有价值。”

另外一位曾经致力于多家发行商的AAA级游戏的开发者（匿名）说道，提供有计划性且较短的开发时间将会更有效，如此开发者便能够事先进行规划。

他表示自己也经历过“一些非常艰难的加班时期。”

他说道：“在早期，我便因为很少离开办公室而错失了一段感情。之后这样的工作也对我的身体健康以及我周边人的健康产生了不利的影响。”

“有一次我便昏倒在了办公室，脸朝键盘正面倒下；随后我回家休息了几个小时又回到了办公室继续工作。我曾听到一个非常好玩的故事，一个同事因为没有足够的时间洗衣服而不得已穿上男式褶裙以及苏格兰短裙去上班。”

“按小时计算的话，最糟糕的情况是每个工作日需要工作10至14个小时，而每个休息日还要再工作6至8个小时。就像我曾在两个项目中未曾享有过周末3周时间。保守估计的话在连续26天时间里我共工作了180个小时。”

平衡

糟糕的工作条件不仅限于工作室生活。独立开发者经常会因为未意识到完整的结果而对自己造成不利影响。想要快速创造出游戏的激情会导致更长的工作时间，并可能影响开发者的健康，导致他们缺少运动，并因为不利的坐姿和未能按时吃饭而引起一些较为严重的问题。

就像Vlambeer的Rami Ismail所说的那样，独立开发者不应该忽视自己的个人生活。

Ismail这么说道：“这开始作为他们的第二考虑对象，并且开发者们需要学会去平衡它们。”

“这是你需要学习的最重要的软技能，即处于纪律与自护之间。当我的祖母听到我一周的工作时间后，她跟我讲了一个故事，即尽管她有12个小孩，她也始终坚持先为自己做好早餐。因为如果她不能拥有健康的身体，那么所有的孩子也将没有早餐吃。”

他继续说道，当成立Vlambeer时，他发现所有的一切“都在继续发展着”，甚至超越他们对于各种项目的预期。结果便是其团队不得不工作“更长时间，并更加努力去维持这样的势头。”尽管处于他所谓的“超级创造时间”，他也承认他们未能意识到他们因此所遭遇的情感创伤。

Ismail承认：“当出现某些问题时，我们变得难以维持我们的节奏，并陷入困境中长达数月。”

“我们的创造性消失得毫无踪影—-因为Jan Willem的灵感是来自舒适的情况下，我也不能再继续做任何事，只能呆呆地盯着屏幕上闪烁着的光标。我们变得毫无干劲，直到意识到我们的问题并不是因为不够努力，而是未能给予自己放松的空间。毫不夸张地说，如果我们未意识到这一问题，Vlambeer将难以再运行下去了。”

来自Mudvark & Toxic Games的开发者Daniel Da Rocha表示，保持平衡的生活方式非常重要，但他同时也承认区分工作与个人生活非常困难。

他表示自己习惯于在《Q立方》的最后开发阶段的“疯狂工作时间”，以此确保能够赶在截止期限内完成工作，但这却创造了极大的压力和身体负担。

工作属性为生活平衡创造了挑战，更别提个人激情和创造性动力了。

Da Rocha说道：“我的生活质量没有了保障，每日的生活方式完全是围绕着游戏开发打转。”

他补充道，为了确保工作与生活的平衡：“我尝试着遵守一定的规律，一天只确认几次电子邮件并适时停止工作。并尽可能地在晚上出门做些运动，散步或其它兴趣。”

战胜过度工作

对于工作室的雇员来说，处理工作与生活间的平衡更加困难，特别是在雇员们觉得可能会让同事失望或害怕因此失去工作的时候。

但这是较高级别的人员能够解决的事情。

他认为能够帮助缓解问题成为了所有游戏团队领导者的关键绩效指标，这也是提高游戏质量和效益的重要元素。

他说道：“如果未能做到这点，工作时间将难以得到重视。”

他同时也建议团队能够保持创造性与交付之间的平衡，就像Westwood Studios的创始人Louis Castle所描述的理想团队结构那般。

他解释道：“这是一个由3个领导人所领导的团队：首席创意总监负责创造出优秀的游戏，首席交付经历负责及时完成游戏而执行制作人比前两者更高级，并需要负责协调双方的需求。”

“这能够确保游戏改编与交付日程间的平衡并确保所有人能够遵守纪律。”

Tammeka的Watt说道，对于过度工作并不存在唯一的理由，这可能是因为团队间糟糕的交流，开发期间未调整时标而导致方向的改变或者工作室与发行商间的关系所导致。

他同时也担心独立开发者会复制复制AAA级工作室和发行商所规定的大量工作时间，影响身体健康的行为以及糟糕的开发实践。

他说道：“独立开发意味着你将免于这些压力并且能够按照你想要的方式创造出你想创造的游戏，同时还能够与玩家基础进行直接的交流。”

“不要认为抓紧任何时间工作便能够创造出更棒的游戏，为你带来更大的成功。这是人们想要逃离AAA级工作室和基于发行商的开发的理由。”

他补充道：“如果你因为制作游戏而害了自己并且不能享受整个过程，你便等于致力于没有任何回报且没有灵活的工作。”

这是Da Rocha反复强调的内容，他认为游戏开发应该是有趣的，并且开发者应该为自己留出适当的休息时间。

Da Rocha说道：“许多开发者倾向于长时间的工作，缺少锻炼，喝大量的红牛，顿顿吃披萨（我自己也会这样），但实际上，如果你能够遵循平衡的工作与生活方式，那么你投入于创造游戏的时间将会变得更有效率。”

通过牺牲自己去创造游戏并不妥当，如果能够留出足够的时间去投资自己的身体和个人生活的话便能够有效推动游戏的开发。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Crunch life: Why developers shouldn’t kill themselves to make a game

By Craig Chapple

As part of our annual Salary Survey we asked developers important questions related to their quality of life. And the answers paint a somewhat poor picture of studio life.

Just over 41 per cent of developers said they work 31 to 40 hour weeks on average during normal periods of development. A further 41 per cent said that on average they work 41 to 50 hours per week.

Ten per cent of our survey participants meanwhile reported average working hours of 51 to 60 hours per week. Three per cent claimed they were being required to work 61 to 70 hours on average a week, and a small number claimed to work more than 70 hours.

This is above the national average of 37.6 hours in 2014, according to the Office for National Statistics’ Labour Force Survey. This shows that games development is one of the most work intensive industries in the UK, which most of our respondents are from.

It should also be noted that, by law, employers can’t force adults to work more than 48 hours a week on average (averaged over a period of 17 weeks). This is said to include paid and some unpaid overtime.

There are no instances where exceptions to this apply to games development.

Workers who want to work more than 48 hours a week can choose to opt out of this limit for a certain period or indefinitely, but this must be done voluntarily and in writing.

It is important to know that the UK Government website specifies that this: “can’t be contained in an agreement with the whole workforce. However, employers are allowed to ask individual workers if they’d be willing to opt out”.

And: “An employer shouldn’t sack or unfairly treat a worker (e.g. refused promotion) for refusing to sign an opt-out.”

It is also stated workers can cancel their opt-out whenever they want – even if it’s part of their employment contract.

The Crunch

Despite such protections for UK employees, in some cases this appears to be wilfully ignored by studios, or at least just within the confines of what is acceptable, and most staff also report being unpaid for overtime.

45 per cent of developers said they were expected to work overtime regularly. Over 80 per cent said they were not paid for this.

One positive, however, is that the majority of employees – 75 per cent – are offered flexible working practices, including the option to work at home and have flexible hours.

We asked a number of developers in the games industry about their experience in working overtime and crunch, and the effect it has had on their health and personal lives.

Tammeka Games game producer Sam Watts, speaking of his experience at previous places of work, said he had experienced crunch at many studios.

“Typically it would be in the last ten-to-20 per cent of development before release and could involve at least double the usual number of normal working hours per week,” he explains.

“The longest period has been for three months before a global launch of a product when QA, localisation, pre-production and distribution comes into play.”

He said while he had been fortunate enough to have an understanding partner and also no children during such lengthy working periods, he had witnessed a serious impact on the lives of colleagues.

“I have seen others with less understanding partners or those with children suffer break-ups of relationships, marriages and ill-health through stress and working crazy additional hours,” says Watts.

“Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth it when you are working on a title you may not be 100 per cent confident in or believe in.”

Another developer who has worked on triple-A games at a number of publishers, speaking anonymously, said providing crunch time is well managed and short, it can be effective, and developers who know in advance can plan their lives around it.

He says, however, he has still experienced “some terrible crunch periods”.

“Early on in my career I lost a relationship because I was never out of the office. Later it affected my health and the health of people close to me,” he says.

“Once I passed out in the office and my face slammed against the keyboard; I went home for a couple of hours and then went back into work to finish the day off. One story that is amusing, or tragic depending on how you look at it, is that one colleague turned up to work in full highland dress, kilt and all, because he had not had the time to wash any clothes and that was all he had left.

“In terms of hours, at its worst, weekdays would be ten to 14 hours each, then I’d do six-to-eight hours each weekend day. On two projects, I did this continually through three weekends working Saturdays and Sundays. A conservative estimate is that I worked 180 hours over 26 consecutive days.”

The indie balance

Poor working conditions aren’t just limited to studio life. Indies can often impose this on themselves without realising the full consequences. Passion and a keenness to get that game out quickly can result in long hours, which can affect their general health, perhaps resulting in a lack of exercise, back problems from poor posture and a bad diet.

But indies shouldn’t take their personal life lightly, as Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail explains.

“It starts as a secondary thought, and invariably leads to having to adjust and learn to balance them,” says Ismail.

“It actually is the single most important soft skill you can learn, somewhere between discipline and self-care. When my grandmother would hear how many hours I work a week, she would tell me a story that, even though she had 12 kids, she would always make breakfast for herself first. If she wasn’t strong enough to make breakfast for 12, after all, nobody would get breakfast.”

He goes on to say that when Vlambeer was formed, he found everything “was continuously on the up”, exceeding expectations for its various projects. As a result, the team worked “ridiculous hours, on that adrenaline rush, trying to hold on to that momentum”. Despite being what he calls a ‘super-create time’, he admits they were not aware of how much they were emotionally exhausting themselves.

“When something went wrong – in this case, the Ridiculous Fishing clone – we were completely incapable of sustaining our pace, and crashed into a rather dark place for months,” admits Ismail.

“Our creativity was gone – Jan Willem’s inspiration comes from a place of comfort, and I was incapable of doing anything but stare at a blinking cursor. We didn’t crawl out until we realised our issue wasn’t that we weren’t trying enough, but that we weren’t giving ourselves space to not try. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that if we hadn’t figured that out, it would’ve ended Vlambeer right then and there.”

Fellow indie, Mudvark and Toxic Games developer Daniel Da Rocha says it’s highly important to keep a balanced lifestyle, but admits it can be difficult to separate professional and personal life.

He admits he used to work “crazy hours” during the latter development of Q.U.B.E. to ensure he hit important deadlines, but this ultimately led to stress and physical problems.

The nature of the work can make it challenging to have a balance, not to mention your personal passion and creative drive.

“Quality of life went out the window and my day-to-day lifestyle was completely orientated around game development,” says Da Rocha.

On keeping a more balanced worklife, he adds: “I try to be disciplined and only check email a few times a day and shut off at a sensible time. I tend to get out and do things in the evenings when I can, such as hit the gym, photo walks and other various hobbies. “

Beating the crunch

For employees at studios however, addressing the balance can be more difficult, particularly when staff feel they may let their co-workers down or lose their job should they kick up a fuss and realise their rights.

But this is something that can be solved at senior level, claims our anonymous source that has worked at numerous triple-A publishers, who blames creative indiscipline.

If you live a balanced lifestyle, the hours you do spend making a game will be far more productive.

Daniel Da Rocha, Mudvark and Toxic Games

He recommends that to help alleviate issues, hours worked by the team be made into a key performance indicator for all game team leaders, with an equal importance to the quality and the profitability of the game.

“Without this being enforced, hours worked will always be lower priority,” he says.

He also advised teams be structured in such a way that the needs of the creative and delivery side of the team are balanced, and describes a talk by Westwood Studios founder Louis Castle on the ideal team structure.

“It had a team being led by three senior people: the chief creative who is responsible for the game being good, the chief delivery manager who is responsible for the game being finished on time and an executive producer who is more senior than both of these and who arbitrates between the needs of both,” he explains.

“This ensures that there is a balance between game changes and delivery schedules and will curb creative indiscipline.”

Tammeka’s Watts says there is no one single cause of crunch, and that it can result from poor communication within a team, changes in direction during development without adjusting timescales, and the relationship studios have with publishers.

He also says he is concerned to see the indies racing to replicate the triple-A studio and publisher norms with extensive hours, health-affecting behaviour and overall bad practice for development.

“Indie should mean you are free from these pressures and able to make the game you want to make and how you want to make it, whilst being in touch directly with your playerbase,” he says.

“Don’t think that killing yourself and working every hour available is going to make your game any better, make you more successful or be rewarded in any way. These are all the reasons people want to escape triple-A and publisher-based development.

He adds: “If you are killing yourself making a game and not enjoying the process, you may as well be working at any other soul-crushing job that doesn’t reward either.”

It’s a thought echoed by Da Rocha, who says games development should be fun, and regular breaks are a must for developers.

“A lot of devs tend to crunch long hours, lack exercise, drink Red Bull and eat pizza – I did this too – but in reality, if you live a balanced lifestyle, the hours you do spend making a game will be far more productive,” says Da Rocha.

The message is clear, killing yourself to make a game is not okay, and cutting down on hours to address your health and personal life can be just the boost your game needs.

Got something to say on crunch? We’re looking for comment on the issue and how studios can curb excessive overtime. You can find more details here.(source:develop-online)