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Tag: myself

The most important resolution

Published by Paolo on 02/01/2025

In this fight for taking back our attention, I started unsubscribing from newsletter and YouTube channels. I don’t have specific resolutions for the new year, apart from those who are always in my life. But I got to a level where I don’t tolerate anymore all this information that I constantly have access to. Maybe is better knowing less, but deeply.

This thing is valid for everything, from professional life to the rest of it. I need to get my attention back from infinite scrolling feeds and silly games if I want to really build a good game. I need to focus on other things of my life, too. So that I will probably stop looking at curves and statistics. I will not listen to industry experts building their stories to sell their brand. Not that I don’t like them, please do not misunderstand. I love that thing!

But I feel overwhelmed by too many sources, images, sounds, slangs. It’s just too much to leave into my mind the necessary space to build my things up. It will probably hurt for a while, but I have too. My mind and also my body are begging me this.

Happy 2025!

Published by Paolo on 31/12/2024

I have lost the password of this blog and I switched PC because I am traveling. That is why I wasn’t writing from a while. I am in Brazil now with my family.

I wish to all my readers a great 2025, with less things but more meaningful.

Predictions and prizes

Published by Paolo on 09/12/2024

We are arriving at the end of 2024, and every year, we will get predictions from experts and prizes for the best games according to many different lenses.

Until now, I have seen a lot of AI in predictions, and China is the clear winner of the year. The underlying message seems to be that the industry is moving towards cheaper developments and removing the intervention of humans from simple tasks, at least.

The message is that the big-budget, high-quality human craft is not sustainable anymore, but is it? I think the main issue is greed instead. The idea is that 3-5 people in the World need to get stellar bonuses at the end of the year and grow and grow. This is unsustainable, for sure, not quality. Not craft. Not the participation of people also in simple tasks, which are the tasks that made us seniors.

I do not have predictions, as every year, I am a designer, not a marketer. I am a creative guy, and I accept that it’s impossible to predict anything, the World is made by interconnected systems and tomorrow a plane accident can easily unlock WW3 and disrupt the job market for many years.

But I do have a wish: to see great games coming from my continent, Europe. And I do have a dream to complete my game this year my game Pawtners Case. Wishing and dreaming are refreshing.

Iterations beat best practices

Published by Paolo on 15/11/2024

Now that money is moving toward financially responsible games, I am studying indie more and more. When I listen to people who have created successful products, everyone has found their way and that way is unique and difficult to repeat.

It could be a kid who has generated hundreds of thousands of euros with a game made with friends, or a company with financiers behind it and a business plan. Knowing some details and how to overcome concrete challenges is interesting, but human creativity is inimitable.

That’s why I do not believe too much in best practices as solutions. They are great starting points; knowing them speeds things up. But then you are in your context, with your skills, and you have to deal with specific challenges. Doing things repeatedly, possibly with the same group of people, is key. Not best practices, everyone can get them easily nowadays.

Setting up the day for success

Published by Paolo on 14/11/2024

I am a morning guy. I never set an alarm because I naturally wake up very early. I made my things to start the day and then I like to do my first tasks, usually related to communications. You know, reading and answering emails, thinking about my daily posts. Stuff like that.

And then I can start to work for my clients and bosses. This is something that only remote work is possible. And the value of this is huge also if often leads to work more time. Having no people around this first hour, maybe two is unpayable. Sets up the day for success.

A fact on career development

Published by Paolo on 13/11/2024

When you work for a company, full-time, you become skilled at working at that company. That’s all.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you will fit well in a similar project with a competitor. For creative jobs, like game design, you become skilled (or “talented” if you prefer) when you have the opportunity to interiorize, write, and develop your own strategic way of doing things.

That is hard to reach if you only work in a single company for years.

It’s the struggle, instead, the willpower and hitting your face against walls over and over (also with shitty and personal projects) that makes the talent.

Maradona came from a very poor situation playing at night with a broken ball hitting it against a dirty wall over and over.

The most talented people I know do not fit in the majority of corporations out there.

They earned my silence

Published by Paolo on 12/11/2024

Maybe it’s because I started on a new project. Maybe it’s because a company that canceled the position when I was the last candidate republished the position again. Maybe it’s because I am tired of influencers. Or maybe it’s because they use content to train shitty algorithms to produce empty content faster.

Maybe it’s because I don’t want to constantly check out likes and notifications there. Or maybe it’s just because I got bored.

I decided to commit to (at least) a period of silence on LinkedIn. I will continue to write here and on my Substack, though.

I am going indie!

Published by Paolo on 08/11/2024

Yesterday a client of mine hired me as lead game designer on a new game. I cannot say much about it, but it will be a Steam game, 3D, premium. The game will feature emerging narratives and I will care about the gameplay systems to support that.

Plus I will manage a team of game designers, which is something that I love. I am happy because I am trying to switch sector since quite a while.

Mobile F2P is broken, for now. A total race to the bottom with unrealistic expectations. Plus, the survivors are not looking at the future. They look at the past. They want people ex-<PutFamousCompanyNameHere> to repeat formulas. They hope the dramatic situation with distribution will change someday. It will not. They should look at the future instead.

I was happy to collaborate on f2p projects, but a little frustrated with this way of running businesses. Do you start a race following other runners? That’s wrong in so many ways.

That’s why I am happy to finally work on something truly creative. The expectations are not surreal. I am happy, thank you!

Respect your Creativity

Published by Paolo on 06/11/2024

Yesterday in a post I shared a GDD of a personal project. I found the right collaborators for my case, I thank all the people who helped me.

I edited the message and removed the link, it is no longer necessary to share. You can write to me privately if you are interested, no problem.

I work in this sector with great passion. But one should not confuse passion with professionalism. I love my job, but it is still work, the way I support my life.

I say this because some people wrote me quick messages like “Hi, I use Unreal Engine, I would like to help you with the game. I’ll do it for free.”

I respect everyone’s will to make it out there, but I would never dream of putting someone to work for free on a commercial project.

  • You didn’t tell me who you are and what you do and what you have done
  • You didn’t ask me for details about the project
  • You offered to collaborate for free, giving me a “cheap” image of you.

This is one of the problems of our sector, and if we want to improve it we have to do it “from the bottom”. That’s why I see smart people accepting “technical assessments” that are nothing more than unpaid jobs, in the hope of a position. Then we end up working for companies that don’t respect our work, on projects that don’t go anywhere.

Let’s be serious! I have experienced first-hand the frustration of not having a job and not seeing opportunities. I also cyclically find myself having to review my strategy. But we must never lose sight of the great creative capacity that we all have.

It’s better to work on your shitty project than to work for free for anyone.

It’s better to send a message of “Look what I did, can you give me your opinion?” rather than “I’m looking for a job, help me”.

It’s better to focus on improving your knowledge than showing unfinished projects to others.

I’m the first to not follow this advice. Human consciousness works unpredictably. But it’s still important to share them. I am not a master here, I am just a voice.

Nexflix will close the games department in 3 years maximum

Published by Paolo on 05/11/2024

At long last, I am ready to talk about what I’m doing next: I am working on driving a “once in a generation” inflection point for game development and player experiences using C++. This transformational technology will accelerate the velocity of development and unlock truly novel game experiences that will surprise, delight, and inspire players.  

I am focused on a creator-first vision for C++, one that puts creative talent at the center, with C++ being a catalyst and an accelerant. C++ will enable big game teams to move much faster, and will also put an almost unimaginable collection of new capabilities in the hands of developers in smaller game teams.

Sounds like weird, right? Well, someone wrote the same stuff, but instead of C++, he spoke about genAI. That guy earns more money than me, you, and everyone who will read this post altogether.

The difference is that in my version of the statement I named a technology that actually helped lots of people make fantastic games. This is not the case with genAI, which is a theft created to destroy jobs.

Game making is a creative activity, which means that there are a lot of micro-decisions that we have to make every day. It involves conscience. And conscience is not the result of a set of electric signals, it’s something higher that comes from above. The most powerful processor, or GPU, can create many signals and solve complex operations faster than our brain, but it can never have conscience.

Netflix will shut down its games operations in a maximum of 3 years. If you want to have a more secure/safe job do not work for a company that will fail.