Stuart Poole

I wrote a bit of an overview of how we animate our Citadel band ("The Wingnuts") using 'silent MIDI' tracks, as well as some of the reasoning behind having them in Badlands Crew. Read more, and see them in action here: https://lnkd.in/eSKcXspE

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Lots of interesting info in this survey for people in the industry at every level. How does your pay compare? Which areas are struggling/thriving? Do take a look, there's some useful insights in there :)

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13 years ago I had a failing music studio, debt, high stress levels. 12 years ago I started Bigmouth Audio, focussed on B2B, offered multiple audio services (to see what would stick). 10 years ago I landed my first sound design project, started to laser focus on sound design for animation, started attending industry events relevant to my niche, started going to the gym. 9 years ago we landed our first BIG project, this changed my mindset, asked this client how we could better support them in achieving their goals going forward, started to focus more on voice casting & production. 8 years ago I found out I was going to be a dad, stopped working IN the business, focussed my time working ON the business, read Profit First to tackle more of the debt. 6 years ago pivoted the business to service games as well as animation, moved into a bigger studio, landed our first MAJOR project, this changed my mindset again. 5 years ago I hired project management staff, signed Netflix as a client, signed our first games client. 4 years ago we invested in building a state of the art audio facility in Glasgow, took over the rest of our building for office space, launched our business in Toronto, started doing sauna therapy. 3 years ago saw the end of the busiest spell we have ever had, entered one of the most challenging spells our industry has seen, blew through our cash reserves. only recently we have started to land decent projects again, saw a slight improvement in the market, started to focus on building our / my brand, decided to invest in the basics (finance & strategy). Now I have: - Experience & battle scars - A great team - Great clients - Resilience and better mental health - No debt - A profitable business All things I didn't have 12 years ago. Turning things around takes time. Often a lot of time! It's also never going to be a smooth ride. But it's guaranteed to be one hell of a journey.

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More terrible news today with Payload Studios announcing that they had to make reductions in staff due to the economic climate. You can find the full detail, as well as references for those affected, here: https://lnkd.in/eyKhTqEZ Those of you who are affected by this, please make use of my resources below: 🥇First, reach out to us at People Can Fly Studio, we have many roles open right now in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Europe, please check them out here: https://lnkd.in/eWpV5PbA 🥈Next, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past months I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines, and I would urge you to check them out, if anything just to see what would be available to you: https://lnkd.in/e2qSeKk6 You can find over 5,600 jobs there. 🥉 Third, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ I urge you to check out the areas in particular about CV support and mentoring, as these will help you no matter what industry you are hailing from or are looking into going next. 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #payloadstudios #layoffs

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Awful news overnight with Ancient Forge having had to lay off 24 of its 59 employees at the end of August, according to Polish outlet CD-Action. The cuts reportedly affected both new hires and experienced devs, including leads and producers. This comes amid financial struggles reported at the studio in July. (source: https://lnkd.in/eywVcGt8) Those of you who are affected by this, please make use of my resources below: 🥇First, reach out to us at People Can Fly Studio, we have many roles open right now in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Europe, please check them out here: https://lnkd.in/eWpV5PbA 🥈Next, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past months I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines, and I would urge you to check them out, if anything just to see what would be available to you: https://lnkd.in/ePywd2kq You can find over 6,000 jobs there. 🥉 Third, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ I urge you to check out the areas in particular about CV support and mentoring, as these will help you no matter what industry you are hailing from or are looking into going next. 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #ancientforge #layoffs

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Horrible news today with Rocksteady Studios Ltd being hit with a round of layoffs. According to Eurogamer, a number of employees have been laid off over the past month, with its QA department more than halved (from 33 staff to 15). Additionally, non-QA job were also affected. What is even more horrible is that the report also cites one employee who mentioned on social media that they had been informed they were being made redundant despite being in the middle of paternity leave. 😞 According to the source, the job losses are directly linked to the release of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, with its poor sales specifically mentioned as a reason for what it describes as “restructuring”. Those of you who are affected by this, please make use of my resources below: 🥇First, reach out to us at People Can Fly Studio, we have many roles open right now in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Europe, please check them out here: https://lnkd.in/eWpV5PbA 🥈Next, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past months I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines, and I would urge you to check them out, if anything just to see what would be available to you: https://lnkd.in/e2qSeKk6 You can find over 5,600 jobs there. 🥉 Third, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ I urge you to check out the areas in particular about CV support and mentoring, as these will help you no matter what industry you are hailing from or are looking into going next. 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #rocksteady #layoffs (source: https://lnkd.in/e3bXuFhy)

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Video Games Industry Memo landed in 3,500 inboxes this morning with an exclusive first look at Into Games's Difficulty Level report, exploring the UK video games industry's problematic relationship with social class. 34.7% of the UK population is working class, yet the proportion of people with such a background in games is 13%. This isn't just lower than similar creative industries like Film and TV (29%) music (22%); it's also a smaller share than the civil service (18%) and professional services such as law and accountancy (17% at each). And while there are wider social and institutional factors behind the problems that games face, the blunt truth is that the industry has known about its issues with social class for nearly half a decade and has done little about it. Fortunately, there is plenty industry can do to improve its lot including founding a relevant campaigning/advocacy group, creating guidance for businesses on how to support developing talent from lower socioeconomic groups and creating a cluster based strategy anchored around locations such as Birmingham and Middlesbrough to address challenges intersectionally. But there does need to be a push for action from industry. Otherwise, the UK games sector will struggle to argue that warm words committing to supporting diversity and inclusion are matched by its actions. Read the piece on Video Games Industry Memo in your inbox if you subscribe or by searching for it on Substack. And make sure to head over to Into Games's website to grab a copy of the report. It's a thoughtful, and thought provoking, read.

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My studio offers Production and Development services. From Consultancy to Full Game Development utilising a team of resources or single contract hires, we can support what you need for your studio. There are some differences though: 🦏 You get myself providing oversight on any single resource or work for hire team package 🦏 We are a UK registered studio allowing you to claim the new VGEC tax relief if you are eligible (VGTR if still to transition over) 🦏 Very competitive and transparent rates, with a new client discount 🦏 Flexible and professional team making you feel like we have always been part of the team 🦏 Can scale where needed delivering across different genres of titles 🦏 If using our Production services you receive a production deep dive for your studio included in the hire 🦏 If using any of our programming team we will include a code review to support the quality of delivery I can provide advice on your projects and ensure you are getting the most out of my team. Working across multiple engines and also providing XR development plus software product delivery services, get in touch to find out more! #indiestudio #gamedev #Indiegames #gamesservices #developmentservices #outsourcing #gamesoutsourcing #gamessupport #gamedevelopment #gamesdevelopment #indiedev #gaming #indiegamesstudio #gamesstudio #codev #technology #games #technologies #AIgamedevelopment #AIgameservices

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Not a great weekend: Ballistic Moon (who are currently working on the rebuilt and enhanced Until Dawn) and Toadman Interactive (who have been working on titles such as EvilvEvil, Immortal Unchained, Everquest, Planetside 2, Vermintide 1 & 2) have both announced layoffs in the past few days. I am truly sorry to hear about this, as both studios are amazing. Those of you who are affected by this, please make use of my resources below: 🥇First, reach out to us at People Can Fly Studio, we have many roles open right now in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Europe, please check them out here: https://lnkd.in/eWpV5PbA 🥈Next, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past months I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines, and I would urge you to check them out, if anything just to see what would be available to you: https://lnkd.in/e2qSeKk6 You can find over 5,600 jobs there. 🥉 Third, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ I urge you to check out the areas in particular about CV support and mentoring, as these will help you no matter what industry you are hailing from or are looking into going next. 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #ballisticmoon #toadmaninteractive #layoffs

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Dave the Diver is getting a Godzilla DLC, and it is free!! This new DLC will see Dave come face-to-face with the might Godzilla himself, though in keeping with the true spirit of Godzilla you won’t be fighting the big lizard so much as helping it overcome one of its adversaries, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, from the 1966 live-action movie of the same name. Players will need to pilot the G-Force submarine to take Ebirah on, and work alongside Godzilla to protect the planet from the mighty crustacean’s threat. You can claim this DLC right now from the below digital console and PC storefronts, and you’ll need to do so before November 23rd, 2024, because it’s only available until then. After that point it will seemingly either become a paid DLC or completely unavailable, so make sure you scoop it up: 💾 PlayStation Store: https://lnkd.in/eHPjPi4C 💾 Steam: https://lnkd.in/eFGy6_Y5 💾 Nintendo Switch eShop: https://lnkd.in/ehr7r3zH

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Hopefully this is the first time you're seeing modular control rig working inside #uefn. I saw the hidden menu for making modular control rigs during #unrealfest and tried migrating all the modules over. Not without its kinks, we now have working modular control rigs and modules on the otherside. If people are interested in this process, I'll consider making a longer form tutorial. In the meantime, what should we rig up with the modules in UEFN?

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Terrible news this early morning with Mountaintop Studios confirming they have laid of 13 employees. "To make sure we're set up to support Spectre Divide and its community for the long term, we made the very difficult decision to reduce 13 full-time roles at the studio," Mountaintop co-founder and CEO Nate Mitchell said in a statement first reported by Nicole Carpenter. "We can’t thank these team members enough for their hard work and dedication to Spectre these past few years." To those impacted please check them out here: 🥇First, reach out to us at People Can Fly Studio, we have many roles open right now in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Europe, please check them out here: https://lnkd.in/eWpV5PbA 🥈Next, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past months I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines, and I would urge you to check them out, if anything just to see what would be available to you: https://lnkd.in/ePywd2kq You can find over 6,000 jobs there. 🥉 Third, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ I urge you to check out the areas in particular about CV support and mentoring, as these will help you no matter what industry you are hailing from or are looking into going next. 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #mountaintopstudios #layoffs

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Here's a timelapse of our main menu in Badlands Crew (screenshots taken by our regular build process). You can see how we really started with nothing. Towards the end where it starts jumping about is where we introduced animated cameras to the intro, and the process doesn't capture the screenshot at the exact same time through the motion (you can also see that because we're working on things much deeper in to the game, the main menu changes a lot less later on). This has been a complicated project to work on. We're still just a team of 4 (2 programmers, 2 artists - with anything that falls outside of those disciplines being covered a bit by all of us), and this game is huge. I've learnt a lot along the way on this one (but that's always the case). We've built a lot of stuff to help hold it all together. One of the most interesting things we've done (which we experimented a little with on the last project) is to ditch using Unity's "Update" (etc...) methods pretty much entirely in favour of our own update scheduler. This allows us to have stuff which updates infrequently, or only actually when it has something to worry about... it also means we can have things which aren't inherited from Unity's MonoBehaviour receiving the same update tick as things which are. We can also make this work nicer with jobs and raycast batching, too... so, there are many benefits. I have more timelapses which I will post another time, perhaps with some hashtags or banal motivational sentiment.

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Back from seeing a lot of great people at Develop Brighton, which was busy enough to distract me from doing the usual daily recaps. Let's continue, shall we? Today on GamesIndustry.biz... (Thursday, July 11th 2024) 1. Your must read is Chris' opinion piece on yesterday's Xbox Game Pass price hike announcement, exploring how the move reflects the need for profitability, the strength of Xbox's first-party line-up, and how determined Microsoft is to make Game Pass work https://lnkd.in/e5-rqs5R 2. In the news, Shift Up - the South Korean developer behind Stellar Blade - raised $320m with its IPO, which was the largest for a games company from that nation since 2021 https://lnkd.in/eUQzGTNf 3. Splash Damage is the latest studio to face layoffs, with the studio telling us a "small number of roles" will potentially be made redundant following a review of the business. These are said to be mostly operational roles, with development largely unaffected https://lnkd.in/ejA-f6Ri 4. GAME has reportedly dropped yet another part of its offering. After ditching pre-owned, its loyalty scheme, and Xbox All Access, the retailer will now apparently stop taking in-store pre-orders from August 1. The reason? According to staff, it's because the tills have to cope with too much so parent company Frasers Group is making it so GAME stores (or rather concessions) can only sell and refund products https://lnkd.in/ehMY4sg3 5. Tencent is shutting down free-to-play shooter Synced after just one year of it being available to play https://lnkd.in/e4r3C-kP 6. And Embracer has secured a new €600m ($652m) revolving credit facility with a two-year tenor, replacing the existing €420m ($456m) one, due in May 2025 https://lnkd.in/eGNwZC3g There's more news over at www.gamesindustry.biz and make sure you're signed up to the GI Daily to get it all delivered to your inbox: https://lnkd.in/eAkx_zen

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Back in Westminster today for the launch of Westminster Games Week! We have had a fantastic reception from new and established MPs and Peers keen to talk about the UK's world-leading video game and interactive entertainment industry. Over the next three days Ukie has organised a series of round-tables, Parliamentary events, networking receptions and private conversations aimed at securing the long-term interests of our industry. The "mood music" around our industry is encouraging - the new Government have consistently referred to us as a key industry in their growth agenda and we have had really good conversations with officials and Parliamentarians. Now we need to translate positive sentiment into concrete support. We all looked with envy at the Independent Films Tax Relief announced recently (although based as it was on a market failure argument I'm not sure it's the exact path we want to follow!). We need to ensure that we're building a supportive financial environment for people to scale and grow their games business. Video games and interactive entertainment are a massive success story, but sustaining and growing that success on a sustainable basis needs Government to work hand-in-hand with industry to ensure that the right support mechanisms are in place. It promises to be an exciting week!

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Great response to our first developer diary of A Quiet Place! This episode focuses on a crucial element: silence. In the world of AQP, silence is everything, where every sound can mean life or death. Check out the video here: https://lnkd.in/d2NnGEzv #videogame #development #AQP

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I recently created a section on my site, called One Pagers – https://lnkd.in/eR9EbsKB The idea is to capture big and important areas of my life into one page. I’ve kicked things off with a one pager on How to Invest – https://lnkd.in/eKjpCa-v This has been a ten + year journey for me, with many twists and turns. I’ve finally settled on something straight forward, which will help me achieve my long term financial goals. And importantly, is right for me. I’m not saying this is the only way to invest, or that it will work for you. But, I do think it’s a pretty solid medium risk strategy for how most people might want to think about investing for the future. And in any case, it’s not a bad place to start thinking from. P.S. A gigantic thanks to my friend Paraskevas Avraam. He has been a HUGE help in evolving my own thinking on investing, and helped me become more self aware of my tolerance for risk over the last ten years or so. P.P.S The next one pager I will write will be bringing together my stance for how to train and exercise. Watch this space.

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Oh wow, you do not hear that often.... The entire staff of Annapurna Interactive, the video-game publishing division of Annapurna studio, resigned this month following a dispute with its owner. Annapurna Interactive President Nathan Gary and his team had been negotiating with Megan Ellison to spin off the video-game division as an independent entity. When Ellison pulled out of the negotiations, Gary and other executives resigned and were followed by around two dozen other staffers. “All 25 members of the Annapurna Interactive team collectively resigned,’’ Gary and the group said in a joint statement. “This was one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make and we did not take this action lightly.” (source: https://lnkd.in/ehvi33Wg) To those who have resigned, if you are looking for new opportunities, please check them out here: 🥇First, reach out to us at People Can Fly Studio, we have many roles open right now in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Europe, please check them out here: https://lnkd.in/eWpV5PbA 🥈Next, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past months I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines, and I would urge you to check them out, if anything just to see what would be available to you: https://lnkd.in/ePywd2kq You can find over 6,000 jobs there. 🥉 Third, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ I urge you to check out the areas in particular about CV support and mentoring, as these will help you no matter what industry you are hailing from or are looking into going next. 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #annapurnainteractive #resignations

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