Can someone offer me advice about pressure?

[ear]

Hey guys.

Im a little unexperienced. I have been working in Actionscript 3 projects (not Flash IDE based) for the last 3 years. It took me a while to find a job because i had no experience but i eventually got one.

Im the sole programmer for all kinds of different flash games but i feel constantly under pressure which really is starting to grind on me.

My employer seems to think that making a reusable high quality flash game can be done simply by putting some things on a timeline and magically a fully balanced, reusable, extendable, bug free game appears within a few days.

The last game i made took 3 weeks, it was comprised of about 40 classes and must have had a total of about 5000 lines of code. After about a week, i started to get "why the delay?" "when will you be finished?" "we need to move on".....

Its making me miserable because i literally have to work at night times for free to try and keep up with the demands.

So what can i say? Im pretty close to being at the point where i just tell them to £$%$ off and be realitic because i can spend a whole week of unpaid evenings trying to hit an unrealitic deadline and all i get at the end of it is pickyness. "that graphic is too small" "more gradient on that item"....

Is this just normal? It seems like flash runtime development is not taken seriously.

[jAQUAN]

You'll find different levels of understanding at different points in your career.
It sounds like both your skill set, team and employer are of the entry level. There needs to be sort of a "you get what you pay for" understanding among all parties. You work at a studio without anyone versed in game development therefor you are accepting a certain level of idiocy from your supervisors. They have hired someone who is not well versed in high level software development concepts or best practices so they are going to have to accept a certain level of frustration for what they're paying.

You can't expect perfect leadership from people without years of team leader experience and they can't expect to corner the market on shoe-string budgets. The sooner everyone accepts their situation, the less stressful it will be for everyone and the sooner the team can take action towards healing those deficiencies.

[sstalder]

Step one: Talk to your employer. Otherwise things will just keep getting worse. You guys clearly need to get on the same page before things will improve.

[argonauta]

I'm guessing that from their point of view, things are working: they ask for something and you get it done. They don't know or care if you're working on weekends or for free...they just see you keep doing what they ask for.

So, the more you keep working on weekends and evenings, they'll start thinking that's a normal and acceptable situation. If you don't think it is, talk.

Don't be confrontational, but stand firm. If you think a deadline is unrealistic, tell them, but learn to explain them why it is not possible. If your bosses are not developers, you can't talk to them about classes, or lines of code. Find "easier" ways to explain your situation: "the logic for this game is a bit complex. Making those enemies attack when this and that happens requires some time to achieve, etc, etc".

Also, this is one of the best tips I got when I started working: for every problem you mention, always mention at least one (possible) solution. For example, don't say "we won't be ready for that date "...say "we can't complete the game by that date, but we could certainly do it if we [insert solution here, like: use less graphics, remove this stage, remove this little detail]".

[argonauta]

also, don't expect them to ask you why it's taking so long. Keep everybody inform, all the time (and via email, so there's a record that you said you were doing something and when you were doing it).

By being loud, you protect yourself. They'll know you're making progress. For example, I constantly send emails to the people I work with telling them the status of the project, even if I have nothing to show ("I'm working on this part of the project, I have nothing to show and it's a mess as I'm testing everything, but I'll be able to show a very basic version on Friday"). I learned to work that way because I work remotely (like, in a completely different country from all the people I work with); and it works. They might see no progress for a couple of weeks, but because I'm informing them I'm doing things, they know and trust I'm making progress.

[banned]

Hey guys.

Im a little unexperienced. I have been working in Actionscript 3 projects (not Flash IDE based) for the last 3 years. It took me a while to find a job because i had no experience but i eventually got one.

Im the sole programmer for all kinds of different flash games but i feel constantly under pressure which really is starting to grind on me.

My employer seems to think that making a reusable high quality flash game can be done simply by putting some things on a timeline and magically a fully balanced, reusable, extendable, bug free game appears within a few days.

The last game i made took 3 weeks, it was comprised of about 40 classes and must have had a total of about 5000 lines of code. After about a week, i started to get "why the delay?" "when will you be finished?" "we need to move on".....

Its making me miserable because i literally have to work at night times for free to try and keep up with the demands.

So what can i say? Im pretty close to being at the point where i just tell them to £$%$ off and be realitic because i can spend a whole week of unpaid evenings trying to hit an unrealitic deadline and all i get at the end of it is pickyness. "that graphic is too small" "more gradient on that item"....

Is this just normal? It seems like flash runtime development is not taken seriously.

Sounds like flash game sweatshop to me.