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Trenches comic: Tuesday Oct. 4, 2011

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Posts

  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    edited October 2011
    There's a problem with the kerning on the font used in the stories. (God I feel like a typography nerd or something). The word clipping looks dipping.

    I thought I knew something about typography. I apparently do not. What the heck did you just say?

    Darkewolfe on
    What is this I don't even.
  • jwalkjwalk Registered User regular
    I hear everything in H. Jon Benjamin

    either that or Patrick Warburton

  • SkittlebrauSkittlebrau Registered User regular
    Hargrim wrote:
    You are now reading the 'Test Lead's dialogue in the voice of Henry Jon Benjamin

    I went with Brian Posehn.

  • JustinSane07JustinSane07 Really, stupid? Brockton__BANNED USERS regular
    Hargrim wrote:
    You are now reading the 'Test Lead's dialogue in the voice of Henry Jon Benjamin

    I went with Brian Posehn.

    Ooo, that one's better.

  • tastydonutstastydonuts Registered User regular
    agoaj wrote:
    Is it JUDAS or JUDAS. ? I don't want to get locked out on my first day!

    Yea, it could really be either one. This is a horribly nerdy moment for both of us.

    “I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
  • bwaniebwanie Posting into the void Registered User regular
    why the hell does that guy even wear a belt if he's walking around like that?

    Yh6tI4T.jpg
  • NorthNorth Registered User regular
    bwanie wrote:
    why the hell does that guy even wear a belt if he's walking around like that?

    It's holding up his kilt. The stance he is in appears to be trying to further convey his unwelcoming attitude through body language.

  • FramlingFramling FaceHead Geebs has bad ideas.Registered User regular
    bwanie wrote:
    why the hell does that guy even wear a belt if he's walking around like that?

    So he has something to hook his thumbs into.

    you're = you are
    your = belonging to you

    their = belonging to them
    there = not here
    they're = they are
  • HargrimHargrim Registered User new member
    Hargrim wrote:
    You are now reading the 'Test Lead's dialogue in the voice of Henry Jon Benjamin

    I went with Brian Posehn.

    I'm on board with this

  • NeadenNeaden Registered User regular
    They changed the little story to a new one in case anyone missed it.
    Back in ‘06 I spent about six glorious months working for a very large name game company on a few of the most well known franchises in the gaming world. The most memorable experience was before I even got in the door.

    In short, the hiring process felt like being on a modern day reality TV show, competing at small rigged contests for the pure amusement of others while attempting to win a mystery prize that ends up sucking.

    The whole ordeal starts by arriving at the front of the QA building as you and 20 to 30 other gamers are herded like cattle into a tiny lobby. Some of them were evidently “hardcore,” as you could identify them by the scent.

    Eventually, when on the verge of passing out from the heat and smell, an “official” employee comes to gather everyone into a slightly more spacious room. You are given a written exam. Nothing that was too strenuous by any means. Here is a picture of a controller, identify which system it goes to. Basically it was there to weed out idiots that wanted to play pre-release games but didn’t know anything about systems. The half that passed said written test moved on.

    Round two takes place on a variety of consoles. You are shown standard bugs in a game (clipping, audio, video, gameplay) and then given a sheet with directions for recreating some of the bugs. After you go through the process a few times you get 15 minutes to find as many bugs as you can, reproduce them and then write the directions for a dev to follow to reproduce them. On average, maybe 5 people get past this. Those 5 people move on to the next round.

    Round three is an actual interview. In my case, I was lead to a room with two guys behind a table. They greet me and ask some random getting to know you questions for a couple minutes and about five minutes in I, no joke, get handed a blindfold. After it is firmly affixed, the “real” interview begins. You get hit with a never ending assault of questions about what they are each wearing, what they look like, what the room looks like, what furniture was in it, what colors the walls are (three of the four walls were different colors), etc.

    After what seemed like hours, the questions stopped coming. You then get to sit out with the receptionist out front. Out of my group of five, I was the only one to “win” a position. I guess that was
    Supposed to be something special as they said statistically only about 3 of every 100 applicants actually got a job.

    The prize however was not on par with the obstacle course you must run to “earn” it. 80 hour weeks leading up to a game release with no overtime pay and never seeing your loved ones let alone the light of day… and for some a shower, is not worth a free copy of the game on the system of your choice upon release.

  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    That... is actually pretty reasonable, and kind of cool. A huge number of factors can go into a tough-to-find bug, so having a tester who can list those out after replicating it is really helpful.

    However, it gets much less reasonable when you get to the "prize" of being treated like cattle and paid similarly.

  • MuddBuddMuddBudd Registered User regular
    Welcome to the games industry. We require a very specific set of skills and don't pay well for it.

    There's no plan, there's no race to be run
    The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    Darkewolfe wrote:
    There's a problem with the kerning on the font used in the stories. (God I feel like a typography nerd or something). The word clipping looks dipping.

    I thought I knew something about typography. I apparently do not. What the heck did you just say?
    Well, it would have helped if I could type in English instead of leaving out random words like 'like'.
    Kerning refers the the spacing between letters in a variable width font. In the story, the spacing between the 'c' and the 'l' in the word clipping made them look like a 'd'. Though it could very well be a problem with my font size or browser. And basically pretty much everyone who knows anything about typography knows more than me.

    Ontopic: Is Test Lead Guy wearing a Utilikilt?

    steam_sig.png
  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    Ontopic: Is Test Lead Guy wearing a Utilikilt?

    The sobering consensus, I believe, is that yes, he is.

  • IvarIvar Oslo, NorwayRegistered User regular
    edited October 2011
    Why does that guy think the test lead is Scottish?

    Ivar on
  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    Because his wearing a kilt is currently his main identifying feature.

    Without years of Scottish history on your side, a man wearing a dress is always going to look ridiculous in modern society. But hey, the same would have once been said of a woman in trousers! Every fashion needs its trailblazers so swing free kilt wearers of the modern world, swing free. Just don't expect me not to laugh at you along with it.

    MhCw7nZ.gif
  • The GeekThe Geek Oh-Two Crew, Omeganaut Registered User, ClubPA regular
    I do read the forums, sometimes. Hello.

    Oh sure, make me look like the jerk now. SHEESH

    See if I ever promote Heart Choices Fiber Plus Nutrition Bars at a karaoke bar ever again, pal.

    BLM - ACAB
  • IvarIvar Oslo, NorwayRegistered User regular
    I thought it was established that he was wearing an utilikilt.

  • FramlingFramling FaceHead Geebs has bad ideas.Registered User regular
    The Geek wrote:
    I do read the forums, sometimes. Hello.

    Oh sure, make me look like the jerk now. SHEESH

    See if I ever promote Heart Choices Fiber Plus Nutrition Bars at a karaoke bar ever again, pal.

    I can vouch for this, this happened.

    Knowing Geek the way I do, though, I wouldn't be too worried about him stopping this kind of thing. He can't help himself.

    you're = you are
    your = belonging to you

    their = belonging to them
    there = not here
    they're = they are
  • runwiledrunwiled Registered User regular
    I think someone hit upon this earlier. Trenches might work better in a format other than the 3-4 panel, two days a week. I know it's what Mike, Jerry and Scott are used to working with, but I think this project might need a new approach. They've done other works in different formats (Lookouts; Automata; Truth, Justin & The American Way) and I don't think the tone so far matches Penny-Arcade or PVP in terms of the pacing of storyline and jokes. Trenches so far has been a lot more grim and sombre, with occasional, dark humour. I almost feel like there's a cart-before-the-horse phenomenon going on, where the format has been dictating the pacing of storytelling, characterisation and gags, rather than letting the writing dictate the format that should be used. Right now it just seems like a weird spin-off of Penny-Arcade and PVP, format and all, only it doesn't compare favourably. It needs more of its own identity.

    mpmdoodsig.jpg
  • MolybdenumMolybdenum Registered User regular
    There's a problem with the kerning on the font used in the stories. (God I feel like a typography nerd or something). The word clipping looks dipping.

    the at and ay pairs look pretty terrible. also u is up in everything else's business.

    Steam: Cilantr0
    3DS: 0447-9966-6178
  • IncenjucarIncenjucar VChatter Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    MuddBudd wrote:
    Welcome to the games industry. We require a very specific set of skills and don't pay well for it.

    Yep.

    Labor surplus is a terrible, terrible thing. Terrible.

  • Robos A Go GoRobos A Go Go Registered User regular
    edited October 2011
    runwiled wrote:
    I think someone hit upon this earlier. Trenches might work better in a format other than the 3-4 panel, two days a week. I know it's what Mike, Jerry and Scott are used to working with, but I think this project might need a new approach. They've done other works in different formats (Lookouts; Automata; Truth, Justin & The American Way) and I don't think the tone so far matches Penny-Arcade or PVP in terms of the pacing of storyline and jokes. Trenches so far has been a lot more grim and sombre, with occasional, dark humour. I almost feel like there's a cart-before-the-horse phenomenon going on, where the format has been dictating the pacing of storytelling, characterisation and gags, rather than letting the writing dictate the format that should be used. Right now it just seems like a weird spin-off of Penny-Arcade and PVP, format and all, only it doesn't compare favourably. It needs more of its own identity.

    I'd be interested in seeing someone edit the existing strips together into longer segments to see if that changes things for the better. It would still be paced for the three or four panel format, of course, but it would at least give us some sense of how things may be improved..

    Robos A Go Go on
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