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 by The Extremist, Level 25
Last updated at June 3, 2009, 8:02 pm
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Below follow parts 1 and 2 of the documentary Stardock shot while performing open heart surgery on the networking code of Demigod in an attempt to fix the multiplayer issues that prevented the game from being the launch day success it should have been.Part 1 shows the various meetings that were held discussing the problem and deciding who to pull in on the team. Stardock pulled resources from everywhere in the company, including the Elemental (the upcoming Stardock strategy title), WinCustomize, and Impulse teams to try and make Demigod work.
Part 2 shows a batch of interviews conducted by Frogboy/Brad Wardell during the wee hours of the morning with some of the Stardock staff that were working on the new Demigod multiplayer system.
Most of the stuff said in the videos has already been covered in my previous posts on the topic, Piracy of Demigod: The Real Story and From exemplary PR to colossal disaster (and back again) - What happened to Demigod? It is interesting, and I'm sure in many cases it'll be enlightening, to see what Stardock has had to do to recover from some poor initial design and architecture decisions.
I've been waiting for this 'documentary' since Brad Wardell first mentioned it in one of his Demigod Journals. I didn't notice these videos until now since I naturally assumed he would be the one posting them. It turns out Frogboy isn't the only one posting Demigod Journals.
EDIT v0.5: Here's part 3 so long. It shows the Demigod/Impulse team trying to track down a bug that's deleting records from the database it's not supposed to. More interestingly it shows some early work on Elemental, Stardock's next game.
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marb Jun 3, 2009 at 8:53 pm
+0 votes
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The Extremist Jun 4, 2009 at 3:21 am
+1 votes
Care to qualify that statement with those irritating things called 'reasons'? If it's because of the 108 hour week, all the staff on camera confirmed the CEO's story that Stardock isn't used to crunch time because they don't usually do crunch times.
If it's something else that makes it look like a horrible place to work, please share why you think so.
If it's something else that makes it look like a horrible place to work, please share why you think so.
anonymous duck Jun 7, 2009 at 12:11 am
+1 votes
Computer dungeon, polka dot chairs. Software development can take over your life, and the worst is living in a cave for someone else's profit.
This above Jun 7, 2009 at 10:46 am
+1 votes
Seriously, unless they are all making equal shares or profit, why waste away for someone else?
reinux Jun 7, 2009 at 5:00 pm
+1 votes
yeah, good luck starting your own company then.
Dison Jun 14, 2009 at 6:34 am
+1 votes
Have I tuned into the 'The Office'?
The best bit was in part 3 when the CEO brought in the bees. Theres nothing like the risk of an Anaphylaxic Shock to focus the minds of Developers suffering from sleep deprevation. He then proceeded to lecure the audience no bees and how he save the turtle from the mortal danger of the carpark. Pure Comedy.
The best bit was in part 3 when the CEO brought in the bees. Theres nothing like the risk of an Anaphylaxic Shock to focus the minds of Developers suffering from sleep deprevation. He then proceeded to lecure the audience no bees and how he save the turtle from the mortal danger of the carpark. Pure Comedy.
The Extremist Jun 4, 2009 at 10:23 am
+1 votes
My pleasure, 'Dog 
. Looking forward to it. Thanks for making the effort to register and comment!
. Looking forward to it. Thanks for making the effort to register and comment!nsxdavid Jun 7, 2009 at 1:21 pm
+1 votes
Okay I hate to call BS guys.... but, seriously, could the "meeting" have been any more camera-conscious? It was so blatantly obvious that what was being said was pretty much planned. "So what are we doing about refunds?" "Oh, we'll give anyone having problems their money back."
Oh yeah? You didn't know that? Small company, CEO unaware of that. Uh uh. Sure.
Am I just trolling? Um, well I've run a computer game company for 22 years now so I think I know what I'm talking about. This is a PR effort too smooth ruffled feathers. The fake meetings resemble nothing like what your real meetings look and sound like... and anyone's for that matter. Puuuulease.
-- David
Oh yeah? You didn't know that? Small company, CEO unaware of that. Uh uh. Sure.
Am I just trolling? Um, well I've run a computer game company for 22 years now so I think I know what I'm talking about. This is a PR effort too smooth ruffled feathers. The fake meetings resemble nothing like what your real meetings look and sound like... and anyone's for that matter. Puuuulease.
-- David
wilson Jun 8, 2009 at 2:28 pm
+1 votes
For someone that has been running a company for 22 years, your tone lacks maturity.
Island Dog Jun 9, 2009 at 12:01 pm
+1 votes
Unless you have actually sat in a meeting at Stardock, I don't think you can sit there and tell anybody else what goes on in a meeting.
OrangeTimer Jun 7, 2009 at 2:38 pm
+1 votes
Lol... video 3 was the best. It reminded me of how your attention
wanders when you've just pulled an all nighter, and as a bonus it did
have some interesting footage of the Elemental models and gameplay.
WARNING: Video 3 contains footage of bees and turtles. Not for the faint hearted =P
wanders when you've just pulled an all nighter, and as a bonus it did
have some interesting footage of the Elemental models and gameplay.
WARNING: Video 3 contains footage of bees and turtles. Not for the faint hearted =P
Just a Programmer Jun 7, 2009 at 2:42 pm
+1 votes
Pretty scary.. so they went 2 days in a row without sleep? I would definitely check out and head to the local sofa to grab a full 8 hours of ZZZs or they could forget about me doing any work for the next 3 days lol.
dbunting Jun 7, 2009 at 6:44 pm
+1 votes
having worked at two large video game publishers (one for almost 2 1/2
year) i can say to marb (who said : "Looks like a really horrible place
to work.") that it looks alot better then then most.
no, 108 hour week isnt something anyone looks forward to. but these
people are obviously taken care of. I left the video game industry
because the companys that i worked for required you to do overtime and
did NOT realy care about our well being. the floor and project leads cared
because they were stuck there with us but none of the higher ups even
acknowledge any of us. The burnout rate was impressive.
Being willing to volunteer to stay for an undertaking like that shows that stardock is taking care of there people
so i appluad stardock for their commitment and the fact that the think about how DRM effects people using there games, like the coment about the soldiers over seas trying to use the game.
year) i can say to marb (who said : "Looks like a really horrible place
to work.") that it looks alot better then then most.
no, 108 hour week isnt something anyone looks forward to. but these
people are obviously taken care of. I left the video game industry
because the companys that i worked for required you to do overtime and
did NOT realy care about our well being. the floor and project leads cared
because they were stuck there with us but none of the higher ups even
acknowledge any of us. The burnout rate was impressive.
Being willing to volunteer to stay for an undertaking like that shows that stardock is taking care of there people
so i appluad stardock for their commitment and the fact that the think about how DRM effects people using there games, like the coment about the soldiers over seas trying to use the game.
Steve Jun 8, 2009 at 5:28 pm
+1 votes
I think it looks like a decent place to work, and multi-day runs at a
coding effort are _not_ uncommon in the least, so I'm not sure why
that's such a big deal.
My only thing is that their boss with the camera is obnoxious, and
obviously doesn't understand that bothering his coders this way is the
most unproductive thing he could possibly be doing. Not to mention the
fact that he's loud, and clearly has no understanding of the technical
aspects of what they're doing. Perhaps more effort in learning that
stuff would serve him better...and serve his employees better.
When your employee asked about "when is the professional masseuse
coming in?", he's kinda right. We developers ask for very little in
return for the efforts we put in - perhaps it isn't too wholly
unreasonable to just do something like that for them when they are
reducing their average hourly rate of pay for nothing.
coding effort are _not_ uncommon in the least, so I'm not sure why
that's such a big deal.
My only thing is that their boss with the camera is obnoxious, and
obviously doesn't understand that bothering his coders this way is the
most unproductive thing he could possibly be doing. Not to mention the
fact that he's loud, and clearly has no understanding of the technical
aspects of what they're doing. Perhaps more effort in learning that
stuff would serve him better...and serve his employees better.
When your employee asked about "when is the professional masseuse
coming in?", he's kinda right. We developers ask for very little in
return for the efforts we put in - perhaps it isn't too wholly
unreasonable to just do something like that for them when they are
reducing their average hourly rate of pay for nothing.
Marillion DeVoid Jun 16, 2009 at 9:40 pm
+0 votes
Wah WAh Try Shucking Oysters or hucking stone for a living, suddenly your comfy coding computer chair doesn't look so bad.
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