If, and when, Krome Studios Adelaide closes in two weeks, it will mark the end of the Ratbag Games legacy. Ratbag Games formed in 1993 and within a few years became one of the most prominent Austalian games developers after the release of their world-wide hit, Powerslide. For over a decade, Ratbag Games became the main games development studio in Adelaide, providing many students the opportunity to enter the games industry without having to relocate interstate.
With the impending closure of Krome Studios Adelaide, that opportunity will no longer be any more. While various studios have cropped up since Ratbag's demise (Hardcover Entertainment etc), many were short lived. With only a small handful of independent games developers in Adelaide, the opportunity for someone looking to have a viable career in games development in that state seems fairly slim.
And as Krome Studios Adelaide closes, it will also mean the end of the road for the passionate and talented team who've gone through thick and thin doing what they love.
Dan Thorsland, previously a producer from Ratbag Games and Senior Producer from Krome Studios Adelaide, knows what they've gone through and has written an impassioned plea with the hope of kickstarting some effort to save what's left for the people working at the Adelaide studio and the last bastion of Adelaide games development, and why people in Adelaide should be concerned...
(Dan) This team loves Adelaide, and they love games. I have sat with them, night after very long night, honored and shamed by their commitment to deliver the best game possible, no matter how impossible the budget and deadline.
I could sit here for hours and tell you about 4AM calls, dragging exhausted developers out of bed to fix a critical bug. Of stand-up shouting matches over what could be done, and should be done, with limited time and resources. Of moments of incredible inspiration and ingenuity that were quickly dashed to ruin by the politics of interstate management and overseas funding...
I'm asking, imploring, and begging everyone in Adelaide who is investing their money in games at EB, their educational future in animation, programming and design courses, to get organized and scream long and loud to their local MP.
Use your networks to give praise and support to this team, to publicize their plight before it’s too late. Don’t rely on the press to do it, they don’t get it. You do.
It's your future. Be heard.
Please read the entire write up at Dan's blog from the following link...
Krome is making the right
Krome is making the right decision to shut down (potentially) adelaide. Its a smaller studio and during hard economic times some hard decisions have to be made. They haven't been able to keep the paid products as much as other studios have been able to.
That being said there are some amazingly talented people who have worked at Krome Adelaide over the years, and hopefully some startups can be made to take the slack.
I know Dan works (or has worked) for the local funding bureau in the past. I know in the past the funding has required too many hoops to get funding, requiring quite a lot of your time/effort/funding to go into getting mentors/marketing etc. Also the projects have been too based on cultural diversity etc. I think the time has come to look at other states funding models (particular VicFilm) and look at perhaps opening up funding to help make a vibrant start up community in Adelaide. The hope being those startups will become one day the Ratbag's of the future.
It's not about Krome.
Walshy stepped up when Midway pulled out, and gave me a another chance to work with these guys. He works tirelessly to support every studio under his banner. I greatly respect the unwavering drive he has to keep this country in the industry, and keep his company going. If you don't, then you haven't worked for him. He's a force of nature, and I think can speak for himself if he cares to.
It's about Adelaide, and how hard it is to win and retain this kind of business. Without federal and local support, the film industry would likely have been wiped out due to the same market conditions hitting games. As you say, funding for games is there in some measure, but hard to access and not as visible as interstate.
And yes, there are good people out there running seminars and managing funding resources, but they can't be expected to resolve a crisis like this. There just isn't enough of a framework for game developers in amongst the policies and funding streams to let them respond in time.
From first-hand knowledge, working in the film industry in Adelaide is a very different experience than working in the games industry. Local government respects film as an art and an industry, and they support it with a festival and the SAFC. Games is just off their radar, from my perspective.
It's up to us as a community to help ourselves, and get games on the radar so this won't happen again.
-Dan Thorsland
FIlm Vic? Haven't they
FIlm Vic? Haven't they dropped all funding for games now?
No I don't think Film Vic
No I don't think Film Vic have dropped all games funding. They did decrease their total budget for games though.
Even with the reduction in funding, Victoria is still WAY ahead of SA in terms of support.
It's currently under review
"The digital media suite of programmes is currently under review. Further information about these programmes will be available in October 2010."
I wouldn't be wanting to emulate the situation in Victoria...
Film Victoria's Digital Media fund was HALVED this year.. so much for supporting the local games industry!
http://blogs.theage.com.au/digital-life/screenplay/2010/05/06/victorian…
When Bridgestone in Adelaide
When Bridgestone in Adelaide announced it would close and put 600 people out of work the SA govt pledged to support those workers with millions of dollars in help so they could get re-employed.
Would only be fair if they offered something similar but on a smaller scale to the staff at Krome Adelaide.
There is more votes in
There is more votes in helping laid off manufacturing workers.
Only one way to change that
As Pee Wee Herman would say, "scream real loud".
Games industry workers can't
Games industry workers can't hope to match union muscle of manufacturing workers, so doubt it would happen. But SA does have major defense industry presence, so there is other options for the programmers at least.
Defeatist atitude
You miss the point entirely.
These guys make games. Many people in Adelaide want to make games. If either party gives up, the community dies, and kids coming out of uni have no place to train, to collaborate, to get exposure to the trade.
Is it an option
Is it an option for the remaining Krome Adelaide staff to form a new studio?
Yeah if they could find a
Yeah if they could find a publisher or investor in the next 2 weeks that is willing to provide roughly $2m AUD over the next 12 months.
Union Muscle
Krome makes you sign a contract at the start weavering your rights to join unions.
Serious? That's
Serious? That's disgusting
Unions are the only way the people in this industry will get a fair go. The bosses have had enough time to get their crap together, but workers are still grossly underpaid and overworked.
It's time to sign up. And if Krome or any other don't like it... tough. It's their fault after all for agreeing to impossible schedules for ridiculous budgets.
Not just disgusting, also illegal.
All Australian employees have a right to join a union. You can't be discriminated against based on union membership. Refusing to employ someone because of union membership is equivalent to discriminating based on race, gender, religion etc.
From memory, the penalty for this is about $60,000 per offense...just in case other employers are thinking of trying this.
Being a union member does not make you anti employer, it makes you pro employee.
Don't tolerate abuse. Stand together.
I completely agree. I have
I completely agree. I have seen some pretty unbelievable stuff pulled by bosses in my time in the industry. However with multiple large games devs in serious trouble or doing it tough, this would raise the overheads and be the final nail in the coffin. As why would an overseas Publisher place a project in Australia when you can do for half the cost overseas in Places like China or Brazil.
And as for indie devs these guys love what they do and basically are in it to make games no matter what they get paid. Why would they join a union.
It doesn't follow.
Unions do not nrcessarily equate to higher overheads or jobs going overseas.
They defend workers rights. Without them all power rests with employers.
I've heard of one CEO in the games industry commenting: " I love this industry, I can get rid of one employee and there are ten applicants prepared to work for less". With union representation this won't happen.
Remember, the union does what the employee asks it to do, they don't strong-arm for the sake of it.
There is a lot of misinformation being spread about unions. Think about this, many of the most profitable industries are unionized. Some of the most successful economies are heavily unionized.
If you feel powerless about your conditions, you probably are. As an organized group, you have the ability to seriously negotiate.
Good unions work with employers, they don't try to bankrupt them.
also illegal, eh
Refusing to pay severance is illegal in some cases as well, but that's not stopping them ;/
Not true
I worked at Krome, and never signed any such waiver of my rights. Where do you get your information from?
Same here, I worked there for
Same here, I worked there for a long time and never signed any anti-union stuff.
Exaggerated?
Yeah, IIRC, my contract has the usual clauses about not using work's time/resources for union activities - but that's been in all my work contracts.
Much respect to the Ratbag Legacy but
But you lost me when you said 'without having to relocate interstate'.
I was working successfully in Melbourne where several (most) of the devs in the AU industry are located and I’ve still had to relocate internationally in order to continue working in this industry, as have most of the experienced Australian born industry vets. Students studying to be game developers need to wise up and understand that this is a nomads business: you've got to be 100% prepared to get out of your comfort zone, you've got to be prepared to move to another country for work if need be.
In the current climate relocating interstate is just as sketchy and unlikely as attempting to get work in your own state. Interstate would be a lucky break.
Some people (myself included)
Some people (myself included) value family over work within the games industry. Relocating just yourself is an upheaval in itself, but consider moving yourself, your wife, a couple of kids, a dog, selling your house and then reestablishing yourself in another state for another studio where there is no real guarantee of security. Selling and buying a property is a hefty investment of time and money, not to mention finding a new school for your kids, and possibly a job for your wife. Sure, people do it, and do it from the other side of the world to here - and they have my respect. I've considered it, I've even moved my family interstate to continue work within the games industry when Ratbag folded, but I've moved back to Adelaide - primarily for my family.
If you are young, single, have no mortgage and no real ties, I would advise getting out and seeing the world - work where ever you can, build up your experience and make yourself valuable to the industry. But, once you hit a certain age - and a lot of the guys at Krome Adelaide are around the same age as me - you have commitments outside of your job that require honouring.
Its fair enough putting yourself outside your comfort zone - but are you willing to put your children and SO in the same situation?
-Tony Albrecht
You need a springboard
Many good developers (Tony included) may not have entered the industry at all if Adelaide didn't have a local stepping stone to other work. If you are in Uni, and want work study to complete a degree, heading interstate isn't really an option.
Despite the major misfire that was the Carnegie Mellon course, there is a lot of interest from local Uni's to teach games courses. It's these students, and the local cottage industry, that really benefit from having at least one studio in town. When I was at Ratbag, we took on a lot of locals, most of which were snapped up by Krome and Pandemic when Midway walked.
I'll just keep banging the drum here, people -- as much as I would love my former colleagues to have the option to stay in games here in SA, it's the generations of young developers coming out of TAFE and Uni that will really lose. Do you think anyone will sponsor them in LA or Canada with no true studio experience? Or hire them interstate when there are already dozens of local graduates pouring out of AIE?
Think about it.
-Dan Thorsland
I am not sure if the games
I am not sure if the games industry is awesome in that regards for those with families.
It's just become too unstable in general. You may have a job for a couple of years then wham, unemployment.
i.e. Friends with house mortgages are just screwed at the moment.
It's one of the reason why I have my foot half in the games industry doing some indie stuff and half in a more stable job.
I agree in some ways with the original poster, because of the job market in AUSTRALIA as a whole not just SOUTH AUSTRALIA being so bad, overseas is the only option, and those with families need to obviously prioritise those families but I'm not sure if that includes the games industry anymore.
It would be nice to have it
It would be nice to have it both ways. But it sounds to me that the industry is ever more frequently demanding a choice between family and career. It's not a stable job - if you have to worry about kids and spouses and a mortgage, maybe it's time to look beyond games into other careers. I wish it weren't so, but I suspect this is a major reason why so few developers make it into the decade club - eventually priorities shift, and a stable income and personal committments become more important than following your dream career. How many musicians have turned to desk jobs so they can support their kids more reliably? How many actors, and film and tv crew, and writers, and fine artists? It doesn't make the heartache any less, I understand, but the games industry is not alone when it comes to the choice between work and lifestyle. Some developers get lucky, and can make it work - can have their cake and eat it too. The rest of us have to stop and ask ourselves the hard questions at some point. As I imagine a lot of Krome Adelaide is doing right now.
Hopefully, they can sort something out, and not have to ask that question for a few more years yet. Maybe even find a way around it. I'll be cheering them on.
What about those who can't
What about those who can't work interstate or overseas? I'm 37, and unless I'm sponsored, there's no way I'm ever going to get to be able to work overseas.
And in this current climate, who's going to spend money to relocate and sponsor a QA or Assistant Producer or Junior Programmer/Artist?
You're right, it is a nomad's job, but it doesn't have to be.
With stronger government support, with tax breaks for investment, Australia could be as big as Canada for game development.
FunkyJ
Why?
Im not sure what's being asked here. Why should an investor throw down 2Million here? Do they have technology of their own? Tools, a game design a business place, hardware, devkits? Anything? I guess the question is - What can they offer an investor?
What could the government do? Even proven studios with all the above are failing to sign contracts. See Pandemic/Next Best Thing. It seems that the money could be best spent else where.
All of the above
Thank you for at least asking the questions.
As an investor (and there are plenty out there looking at the iOS market), you have a team that knows how to do white-paper designs, then execute the designs to art and code straight through to release and QA. These guys worked on Force Unleashed for PSP -- they are very good at thin platform design and execution. Go talk to them.
Now that Unreal3 is on the iPad/iPhone, you have a dev platform ready to go. Equipment? I'm sure you can make offers on any dev hardware right now and get a very good deal.
And of course they have an office. And odds are the landlord would be happy to do a deal to keep them in it.
As for Government, South Australia has longstanding commitments to the arts, and has the MRC and the SAFC (among others) looking after the film industry with training, office space and equipment. Shouldn't they look after games in the same fashion?
These guys, with little aid, have made their way in the world for over 10 years. They are a resource for this community, and should be protected as such.
Sure, they are my friends. I'm biased. But am I wrong?
-Dan Thorsland