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I was working QA for a small company that does a lot of licensed properties, the kind that people who have young children are all too familiar with. We often had long days of parsing random doc tables of first grade math problems, with the execs at the licensee always giving us fun bugs like “that line in the car doesn’t look like the right shade of red” or “equations aren’t appearing at a random enough interval, it needs to be more random.”
However, this story isn’t about bugs (though I could go on). This story is about our VP of Technology and the President’s dog.
Our President liked to bring in his dog to the office. The dog would run around the cubes, beg at desks for treats or attention. Being a development studio, things would get busy and sometimes the dog wouldn’t get to go out for a walk on time and would have an accident on the carpet. The President would always be quick to clean it up - I think we actually budgeted for carpet cleaner - so no one was overly upset about it, though we did joke about “working conditions.”
One day, while we were in crunch-mode, the dog hadn’t been able to get outside at all and ended up taking a huge dump right outside the entrance to the programmer’s pit. I guess no one really noticed until the VP of Tech walked by and noticed. What he did next is something I will never forget: he went to the kitchen and got a large, stainless steel bowl. He then proceeded use the bowl to cover the pile of poop and walked away.
It was about 2 or 3 hours before a coder emerged and found what I can safely assume is the worst surprise ever.
QA began use the phrase “put a bowl over it” for bugs that weren’t alpha or beta blockers.
It’s better that you DON’T know. 01/16/2014 - Anonymous
At a small independent developer studio I worked at, one of my tasks was to pretty much single-handedly port our PS2/Xbox game engine to support the PSP. This included not only rendering, etc., but also enabling our tools to output compatible data formats since it was all one codebase. I was pretty much the only engineer working on this particular project most of the way through, and I was given 4 months to do it.
There was a small problem in getting started on it, though. I was given a devkit and a small subset of the documentation—but no compiler. Meaning that for the first 70 days, I had no ability to even test any code, and for that matter, all the documentation I had was only hardware documentation and little to no API documentation, so I had no clue where to even begin. Eventually, they filled out the paperwork, and I was able to get setup and everything, but of course the 4 month deadline hadn’t shifted to account for the 70 days with hardware and no software.
So that meant I had to go into a private crunch of sorts, working on weekends, etc, and although I was making progress, things were behaving very curiously with network failures, and I was still getting a whip to my back. This culminated in a 28 day continuous stretch at the office where I did not go home at all, eventually getting some basic runtime going where I could play a small section of a separate Xbox/PS2 game running on the PSP. But with 1 week to go, they proceed to tell me—“hey, we wanted a whole port of the game running because we were going to license the tech out to other companies… oh, and one of them is coming to visit on Friday.”
Me: You couldn’t have told me this sooner?
CEO: Well, but then you’d know.
Me: Yeah! Shouldn’t I know the gravity of what it is I’m working on??
CEO: No. It’s better you don’t, so that you can be separated from company affairs. If all goes well on Friday, we’ll probably lay you off anyway.
So. No updates for a week. Even when updates are posted, they're often up on Wed and Fri instead of Tues and Thurs. Kind of dragging the PA name down, sloppy. Sadly, I'm wondering why Khoo didn't flick this booger during the great purge a couple weeks ago due to repeated late work. I love the artists work, when they actually, you know... ART. Same problem with some of the other strip search artists. Can't keep a schedule to save their lives. Or careers. They're getting paid to not produce? Basically I used to browse all the strip search artists sites a few times a week. Ended up being just a few artists twice a week, now I'm pretty much skipping the last two (trenches and Halloween) because there doesn't seem to be much point visiting a webcomic page that doesn't have a new webcomic on it, if you know what I mean. Once I break the habit of going every week on certain days, it isn't likely I'll magically resume. SMBC posts pretty much every day. Regular PA is, well, *regular*. As in every day or you see a placeholder or explanation, and not very many of those. Even when it's just a scribbling on a napkin, photographed with a smartphone, and mailed in to be posted, that would at least be art worth visiting to see.
now I'm pretty much skipping the last two (trenches and Halloween) because there doesn't seem to be much point visiting a webcomic page that doesn't have a new webcomic on it
Aw, man. I love The Last Halloween. She took a holiday break and missed last week's update, but I'll forgive her almost anything for the quality she's pouring into that thing.
E:
(Not that a vacation and one skip seems like much to forgive)
The quality is there when it is updated... Not updating when its only once a week makes it a lot less likely I'll habitually visit. Nothing against the quality but uninteresting or non-updated links inevitably migrate to the bottom of the favorites list and disappear into the scrollable region, never to be seen again. I love her work too but ya know pavlovs dogs and all that, click on a link a few times and nothing interesting shows up... squirrel!
Understandable, that's how Cloud Factory fell off my radar. Between JSP and TLH, Abby earned her own perma-tab, so I don't have that problem with her stuff.
Sadly, I'm wondering why Khoo didn't flick this booger during the great purge a couple weeks ago due to repeated late work.
This is a rather rude and callous way to talk. What are you suggesting, exactly? Hand Trenches off to yet another new creative team? Or get rid of it entirely?
SMBC posts pretty much every day.
And is awful most days.
Anyway, in view of all this negativity about the Strip Search contestants' perceived inability to deliver regular comics, I feel I should mention that the actual Strip Search winner, Katie Rice, is trucking along nicely with Camp Weedonwantcha.
Sadly, I'm wondering why Khoo didn't flick this booger during the great purge a couple weeks ago due to repeated late work.
This is a rather rude and callous way to talk. What are you suggesting, exactly? Hand Trenches off to yet another new creative team? Or get rid of it entirely?
Get rid of it. When they announced it and then it didn't start for a year it was pretty clear they didn't actually care about it, but it's still limping along. It updates so slowly that nothing happens, and then they take huge breaks on top of that. I've never seen anyone on this entire forum express any interest in the incredibly bland characters and events, and I don't understand why anyone involved is still bothering.
And it still says copyright mike jerry and scott on the bottom even though it's actually made by ty and monica now (and it was drawn by mary cagle for a year), which makes me a little unhappy.
And it still says copyright mike jerry and scott on the bottom even though it's actually made by ty and monica now (and it was drawn by mary cagle for a year), which makes me a little unhappy.
That's how copyright works. Ty, Monica, and Mary are all work-for-hire on Trenches, which means that they were doing creative work for the true copyright holders, which are Mike, Jerry, and Scott. Thus the copyright notice is correct, as it has to be for legal reasons.
This is a rather rude and callous way to talk. What are you suggesting, exactly? Hand Trenches off to yet another new creative team? Or get rid of it entirely?
I'm suggesting that Mr. Khoo and the PA team have done a lot of trimming early this year, and it seems very unlike Mr. Khoo to tolerate repeated missed deadlines. They cut and wiped some fairly productive (in terms of content produced) features right off the PA brand, but kept trenches, which doesn't update on the schedule plastered right on the page and hasn't for quite some time. Now think about that demonstrated level of dedication to the brand and product, and compare it to the job descriptions posted up for the last few PA and PAX staff positions... There's a basic disconnect there. We've all heard about people who can't stand Mike and Jerry but regardless of any other personality quirks they might have, they produce *something* to post up three times a week, even if it's a rather shameful multi-part series they came up with to have something to post while they're on vacation. (just kidding, I LIKE the multi-part serial strips). And they still manage to keep creating other wonderful things. Mike and Jerry set the standard, and every would-be startup business wishes they had a Khoo of their own, because of the standards they set and the success it has brought them.
None of that points towards keeping Trenches linked to the PA brand, based on its actual performance in terms of art produced on time over the last year. So, it surprises me. I don't know Mike, Jerry, or Robert, but if in "real life" (tm) they are ANYTHING like they seem to be in the hours and hours of video that exist showing them doing what they do, it seems to me highly unusual for them to keep Trenches onboard.
Maybe I'm wrong. I love Ty and Monica's art and really enjoyed watching them on strip search. But as a PA associated feature, execution on Trenches doesn't seem to come even close to meeting the standard PA has set for everything else they do.
And yes I agree, Katie is creating a ton of work and keeping to her production schedule. She's one of the few I keep coming back to visit, and I hope it pays off for her.
I suspect that many of the regular readers are involved in some way in the industry, and that's what keeps them coming back. Personally I come here for the Tales and consider the strip something like a bonus.
The comic is lacking in sympathetic characters and the plot is slow, so I would be surprised to see it garner much attention outside the niche of industry folks. YMMV.
I've never worked in the games industry, but I find it relatable as a generic corporate environment in which jerks, fuck-ups, and weirdos act like jerks, fuck-ups, and weirdos.
Jokes about dlc hats may cater to a niche audience, but the relatability bar for the setting and characters isn't set very high here.
Same problem with some of the other strip search artists. Can't keep a schedule to save their lives. Or careers. They're getting paid to not produce? Basically I used to browse all the strip search artists sites a few times a week. Ended up being just a few artists twice a week, now I'm pretty much skipping the last two (trenches and Halloween) because there doesn't seem to be much point visiting a webcomic page that doesn't have a new webcomic on it, if you know what I mean.
People tend to forget about him, but Alex's Wanderlust Kid has been updating like clockwork. Even though he was the first contestant eliminated and is one of the more inexperienced artists, I've really been won over by his comic because it's reliably funny, keeps improving, and actually updates. He's a trooper.
What I'm hearing here is that Strip Search sorted the artists (except Katie) in reverse order?
I don't think there really is an order, as each has their own lives and schedules and degrees of success.
Katie has been updating like clockwork with beautiful, high quality comics.
Erica launched a new comic and has been updating fairly regularly, also with excellent work.
Maki finished his kickstarter, launched on schedule, and has been updating regularly.
Tavis has finished his kickstarter, kept updating his comics and has rewards shipping out.
Abby finished her kickstarter, launched on schedule and has been updating The Last Halloween regularly aside from this month's hickups. She's also kept up with JSP.
Amy appears to be on schedule for her kickstarter and is set to launch at the end of the month.
But I will agree that trenches seems to have fallen by the wayside, not sure where the breakdown is.
The two that concern me are Lexxy and Nick, both of whom seem to have dropped off the face of the earth. The Cloud Factory was going strong there for a while but I haven't heard a peep since Thanksgiving. About anything really.
The two that concern me are Lexxy and Nick, both of whom seem to have dropped off the face of the earth. The Cloud Factory was going strong there for a while but I haven't heard a peep since Thanksgiving. About anything really.
I'm not prepared to rule out severe turkey coma as the cause.
It seems a lot of the comics I regularly follow have been getting lax with their updates, even those who champion the notion of updating something no matter the circumstances. I understand that life gets in the way, but if I see a comic miss two updates or just barely squeak an update through at 11:59PM, I might not check the site for awhile. It's not that I hate the artist or the comic, but it's easy to underestimate the value of "click a link, get a new comic" for a reader's psychology. Even if an artist announces a hiatus well in advance, if there's not even supplemental content like sketches or scrapped ideas, I may forget to check back when the artist returns.
Say what you will about Mike and Jerry, but they've held to their schedule almost flawlessly for over 15 years. I'm sure that consistency is no small part of their success.
That said, it's disheartening to see The Trenches fall by the wayside.
A few years back I was climbing the ladder in one of the support departments for a huge PC developer. The release and overwhelming success had caused their support teams to balloon in size, growing so fast that the company almost couldn’t handle it. When I started, there were less than a dozen people in the department, a year later there were 50, and a year later 150. And we were the “small” support team.
We fit nicely into the office we had when I first arrived, then we were cramped, then we were putting desks in closets, then we rented another building and the whole process started over. Within six months of moving into the new building, our break room had to be converted into more desk space.
Obviously, most of the people who signed up had dreams of ascending to the ranks of the developers, although few had any actual development skills and even fewer really understood what game developers do. When it became clear that doing time in support did not guarantee a free pass into dev, murmurs of discontent started to surface. Faced with literally thousands of employees trying to bridge the gap, upper management decided to implement a program which would educate the support staff on the responsibilities of each different developer position and what qualifications were expected of an applicant. Their aim was two-fold: to inform their naive support crews about the necessary qualifications and to farm a small amount of talent.
To this end, they scheduled a series of brief seminars given by senior developers, and established strict criteria to attend. Only support staff who had been with the company for an entire year (which eliminated 90% of the candidates) and had good performance reviews would be permitted to go.
I signed up for a lecture featuring a senior producer and the company’s lead producer. There were about forty support employees crowded into a small room as the presenters went through a short description of the role and responsibilities of an associate producer. It was nothing unexpected. At the end, they offered to answer questions.
An eager hand shot up from the front row. “What is the best thing we can do to improve our chances of being hired?”
The lead producer thought for a second, then replied, “Make games of your own. Or mods. As a matter of fact, I’d rather hire someone who spends all day working on their own game than someone who works an unrelated job.”
Silence. “You mean I should quit?” the hopeful support staffer asked, incredulous.
“Well, if I have the choice between someone who talks to our customers all day and someone who sits in their room making maps, its no contest. Even if you have a portfolio, you just aren’t going to have the same amount of time that an un-distracted candidate has to develop his skills.”
Nobody asked another question. They were too shaken by the idea that we were further from getting a job at a game company because we already worked there.
Get rid of it. When they announced it and then it didn't start for a year it was pretty clear they didn't actually care about it, but it's still limping along. It updates so slowly that nothing happens, and then they take huge breaks on top of that. I've never seen anyone on this entire forum express any interest in the incredibly bland characters and events, and I don't understand why anyone involved is still bothering.
It's hard for fans to love something when its creators obviously don't.
Whatever the quality of the strips, the characters, the pace, etc.... It's all for nothing when it's p much completely neglected and ignored by its creators.
None of these come close to poor Fred Gallagher.
Then again, life served him a bunch of curved balls one after the other which didn't help his already hell-of-a-mess schedule-keeping issues.
Monica's Twitter feed is down, at least for me, and this went up on her site. I don't know if the two items are related.
At least she's making comics.
As a bonus, the new Trenches is up today. The batch of comics from Monica and Ty are some of the best they've ever been, but I have no idea why either Scott Kurtz or PA won't update the site in any way shape or form to reflect the changes.
Posts
http://trenchescomic.com/tales/post/dog-days
http://trenchescomic.com/tales/post/its-better-that-you-dont-know
Aw, man. I love The Last Halloween. She took a holiday break and missed last week's update, but I'll forgive her almost anything for the quality she's pouring into that thing.
E:
(Not that a vacation and one skip seems like much to forgive)
This is a rather rude and callous way to talk. What are you suggesting, exactly? Hand Trenches off to yet another new creative team? Or get rid of it entirely?
And is awful most days.
Anyway, in view of all this negativity about the Strip Search contestants' perceived inability to deliver regular comics, I feel I should mention that the actual Strip Search winner, Katie Rice, is trucking along nicely with Camp Weedonwantcha.
And it still says copyright mike jerry and scott on the bottom even though it's actually made by ty and monica now (and it was drawn by mary cagle for a year), which makes me a little unhappy.
But yeah, Katie is great.
Clearly you have never read any of my posts on it then.
But it's hard to argue with the conclusion that Trenches has always been the red-headed stepchild of the PA family of media.
I'm suggesting that Mr. Khoo and the PA team have done a lot of trimming early this year, and it seems very unlike Mr. Khoo to tolerate repeated missed deadlines. They cut and wiped some fairly productive (in terms of content produced) features right off the PA brand, but kept trenches, which doesn't update on the schedule plastered right on the page and hasn't for quite some time. Now think about that demonstrated level of dedication to the brand and product, and compare it to the job descriptions posted up for the last few PA and PAX staff positions... There's a basic disconnect there. We've all heard about people who can't stand Mike and Jerry but regardless of any other personality quirks they might have, they produce *something* to post up three times a week, even if it's a rather shameful multi-part series they came up with to have something to post while they're on vacation. (just kidding, I LIKE the multi-part serial strips). And they still manage to keep creating other wonderful things. Mike and Jerry set the standard, and every would-be startup business wishes they had a Khoo of their own, because of the standards they set and the success it has brought them.
None of that points towards keeping Trenches linked to the PA brand, based on its actual performance in terms of art produced on time over the last year. So, it surprises me. I don't know Mike, Jerry, or Robert, but if in "real life" (tm) they are ANYTHING like they seem to be in the hours and hours of video that exist showing them doing what they do, it seems to me highly unusual for them to keep Trenches onboard.
Maybe I'm wrong. I love Ty and Monica's art and really enjoyed watching them on strip search. But as a PA associated feature, execution on Trenches doesn't seem to come even close to meeting the standard PA has set for everything else they do.
The comic is lacking in sympathetic characters and the plot is slow, so I would be surprised to see it garner much attention outside the niche of industry folks. YMMV.
Jokes about dlc hats may cater to a niche audience, but the relatability bar for the setting and characters isn't set very high here.
Except, I guess, one of your points was relatability. In Dilbert you could usually point out specific coworkers and relate them to the characters.
People tend to forget about him, but Alex's Wanderlust Kid has been updating like clockwork. Even though he was the first contestant eliminated and is one of the more inexperienced artists, I've really been won over by his comic because it's reliably funny, keeps improving, and actually updates. He's a trooper.
I don't think there really is an order, as each has their own lives and schedules and degrees of success.
Katie has been updating like clockwork with beautiful, high quality comics.
Erica launched a new comic and has been updating fairly regularly, also with excellent work.
Maki finished his kickstarter, launched on schedule, and has been updating regularly.
Tavis has finished his kickstarter, kept updating his comics and has rewards shipping out.
Abby finished her kickstarter, launched on schedule and has been updating The Last Halloween regularly aside from this month's hickups. She's also kept up with JSP.
Amy appears to be on schedule for her kickstarter and is set to launch at the end of the month.
But I will agree that trenches seems to have fallen by the wayside, not sure where the breakdown is.
The two that concern me are Lexxy and Nick, both of whom seem to have dropped off the face of the earth. The Cloud Factory was going strong there for a while but I haven't heard a peep since Thanksgiving. About anything really.
Say what you will about Mike and Jerry, but they've held to their schedule almost flawlessly for over 15 years. I'm sure that consistency is no small part of their success.
That said, it's disheartening to see The Trenches fall by the wayside.
http://trenchescomic.com/tales/post/the-great-divide
It reminded me of this tale from a few years ago:
http://trenchescomic.com/tales/post/the-secret-to-success-is...-success
also make with the jpegs!
It's hard for fans to love something when its creators obviously don't.
Whatever the quality of the strips, the characters, the pace, etc.... It's all for nothing when it's p much completely neglected and ignored by its creators.
Then again, life served him a bunch of curved balls one after the other which didn't help his already hell-of-a-mess schedule-keeping issues.
The Tales are carrying the comic at this point.
At least she's making comics.
As a bonus, the new Trenches is up today. The batch of comics from Monica and Ty are some of the best they've ever been, but I have no idea why either Scott Kurtz or PA won't update the site in any way shape or form to reflect the changes.