Sam once worked for a large game studio where he overheard something that broke his heart
to Game developers
both agreed the studio's new policy
about not listing any credits in order to prevent companies from poaching their employees
Was a smart move
it's not
credits in this case
are in no way
extra
So let's talk about why game credits matter
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real quick up
I see welcome to Kayla
who will be doing guest start for this episode
Thanks, Kayla
to most developers in the industry
credits are essential
getting a job
especially
early in your career
is almost completely dependent on what games you've worked on
and a quick perusal of any industry job board
will show Almost every listing with the requirement in the vein of
must have worked on X shipped titles
But even if a person worked on a game for years
if they didn't get credited
it can be difficult for them to prove it
But of course credits
don't really benefit the studio
we touched on this with our episode about game celebrities
But because developers
don't typically have much name recognition
There really isn't a strong incentive for a company to show off
who worked on a game
and not having credits makes it harder for
Employees to leave
which means
that they're more dependent on a good recommendation from their former studio
which of course means they're more likely to stay in line and
companies have used game credits to the
Disadvantage of developers
from the very start of the industry
in the 70s and 80s
when Atari was the game industry
They had the exact policy we mentioned before
nobody gets credit
so other companies couldn't poach anyone
in fact The very reason developers like Warren Robinett
Invented the concept of the easter egg
in games like adventure
was to put their name on their work
Another way companies use credits as leverage
is by threatening not to credit people who don't stick with the project
until the very end
When confronted with this practice
companies like Rockstar
claim it's to incentivize people to
stick around
until the finish line
Which often points to poor working conditions?
If you do leave
you can imagine these are the places
that are less likely to confirm the work you did
and give you a good recommendation as you go hunting for jobs?
Some companies go the other route
and make guaranteeing game credit a job perk
Which if you think about it is kind of like saying
free air
with your hotel room. Ah
Smells like savings
if you've got to say something like that
There's already something wrong
But there are legitimate questions
for how to deal with credit issues like changing team members on a multi-year project
Let's say a game's lead designer leaves halfway through the game's development.
So a new lead designer steps up until the game is shipped
Who then should get credit as the lead designer?
Well, usually it's the second person
and the first person gets no recognition at all
But what if the first person
laid out the majority of the game's core design
and the second person merely polished it up
It really doesn't seem right that they'd get all the credit
actually
There's really no situation
short of one of them being fired for some gross offense
where just a single person should be credited
because they both worked on the game
Unfortunately
the idea of simply sharing credit by listing both people
isn't very popular in our industry
as most people would rather have work attributed
Entirely to them
plus many studios are happier to give all of the credit to the person who's still working there
rather than the person who's left
and now has no voice in the company at all
some companies compromise with a former employees section in their credits
But this label can feel like a grudging acknowledgement
even in the best of times
Then there's the problem of crediting people who served multiple roles during development
This happens all the time
because a lot of people get moved around
in a three plus year development cycle
So what do you do
granted them for everything they worked on?
give them what you consider their best credit
these both have problems
Sometimes
other employees will resent having to share credit for something they spent almost three years
Working on
with someone else who was fairly on it for a year
Especially if that other person pops up to other places in the credits
Also giving a person the
best credit
can sometimes be subjective
what if someone went from game design to QA over the course of a project
but for their next job
they're trying to land a
Lead QA gig
it's now harder for them
if they're only credited as a designer
another credit landmine
is the same job title meaning different things at different Studios
a lead at a big triple-a company
usually means that
person managed multiple people underneath them
But at a small indie studio
someone might be called a lead artist
because they were literally the only artists on the team
So even if they've gotten credit for it
if they went to a larger company for a lead art position
It's possible. It wouldn't be a good match
unfortunately
without a tool like Union bargaining
the game industry can't really create
a universal set of crediting standards
like the film industry has
So for now,
all we can do is offer suggestions
first
I think we need to make it clear that everybody who's worked on a game
should get credited
Even if they leave
keeping legacy credits would make this possible
even in perpetual online games
with different credits maintained for patches or expansions
and in the case where two or more people worked in the same role
an idea to reduce conflict
could be to track each person's time in said role
that way
both people are listed
But the person who had the longer tenure
gets listed first
one of the best solutions out there still seems to be
simply asking people to take a look and make sure they're being
Credited properly
send out the credits list to everybody being credited
so they can voice their approval
And yes
This will cause some arguments
but it's better to iron out those kinks before the game ships
rather than have the whole company come under
fire after the fact
Crediting somebody on a project
no matter at what level
literally costs nothing
but it can mean everything to that person
merely everybody who's in the industry
is here because they love the medium
and want to feel
Like they're making a contribution.
Well, it does feel good
to be able to look at a game and think to yourself
I've worked on that
It'll always feel better to have your credit be viewable to the world
and to help you land another job if your studio closes its doors
and taking that away is wrong
So
as we grow and mature as an industry
We need to make sure that everyone gets recognition
for the work they put in
and that doesn't really seem like too much to ask
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