on being a salaried game designer

sometimes i forget how totally cool my job can be.

take today for example. i had an "alarm malfunction" this morning - meaning that i either forgot to set it last night or i didn't wake up to it - and didn't get into work until 11am (i'm usually in at 9:30-9:45). the entire time i was getting ready for work i kept going back and forth on what excuse i would use for being late.

i get in and guess what? nobody even said a word.

ah, to be a salaried worker. hell, they know i work at home sometimes, and even if i didn't, they just figure i'll cover the missed hours by staying late - hell, i stay a half hour/hour late EVERY night... as long as i'm not missing meetings and keeping SOMEWHAT of a regular schedule (not doing this every week), i'm fine. so yay for being salaried.

and yay for being a game designer.

i was doing research on a game idea that i'm writing a pitch document for, and i found 2 games that have similar elements to them as our game. well, i read as much as i could online about them, but it's not the same as getting your hands on the real thing - and, truth be told, one of the games i've actually been wanting to play since it came out a few months ago. so what did i do? well i told my producer that i needed them for research and BOOM - she ordered them on amazon.

and it's good being a salaried game designer.

over the past 2 weeks it's been becoming apparent that we need a face-to-face pow-wow with the writers on our project to map out some more of the game. so we decided we'd step up and go to them, and guess who they decided to send? me, of course (and another designer on the production side). and where do the writers reside? that's right - Madison, WI. i'm getting a free trip back home to Wisconsin for 3 days. of course, i'll be busy for the majority of it, but it'll be good to at least get to see some friends for a short amount of time.

it's good being a salaried game designer. you can sleep in (by accident), get whatever games you need (for research), and get free trips (this time, back home). good times.

- kawitchate