The Witness is a game about perseverance.
A buddy raised the banner to the old QA squad from a game that's server died a long time ago. Turns out we were all working in the same area at different places. So we set a date and met up at some sushi joint in a strip mall.
It's amazing how you can not see certain people in a very long time, but the moment you find yourselves in the same place you become those people from so long ago once again.
The guy across from me who worked on art still talked with passion about how cell shading deserved another chance. The platform guy to the right of him complained about TRC issues and the person that they sat next to that flirted with his last nerve. The design guy talked about box placement. I bored everyone about timelines and devtrack. That sort of thing.
After ordering it hit me like a ton of bricks just how long it had been since we all got together. The last time we had all physically been in the same place was the day we were let go. Months and months of hard work all culminating in a moment days after launch where we were brought into a large conference room, handed a manila envelope, thanked for your contributions, and told they would do everything in their power to help us land on our feet.
After we were escorted out of the building by security we stood in a circle in the parking lot near our cars and talked. We talked in casual pain, like people talk when they have no where else to go, or the place they are going to will change the moment they get there, so no rush. At home there would be significant others to disappoint, unemployment to apply for, decisions to stay in an industry that consistently hurts you, but you keep believing, and trying, and trying, because you love it and can't help that, to be made.
So for that moment in that parking lot in between worlds we decided to just say fuck it and laugh, because we had all been here before, even at that time every one in that parking lot had six years in, minimum. We weren't going anywhere, and somehow, someway we would persist. The game wasn't over.
Months after that layoff the art guy called me, said there was an opening at a hardware company that he could help me get in. The design guy had a line on that big MMO company starting up a cattle call for a new title. He was there and dropped all our names in the bucket. The platform guy went back to one of the big three, he could get us in. Except for me, he said they didn't like me so much anymore for some reason.
I looked up at these guys and realized we started this journey together with hundreds of other people and a solid decade plus later the handful of survivors are still around only by the grace of us. Our love for games kept us surviving but our love for each other keeps us sane(ish). I ordered the volcano roll, it was ok. So is The Witness.
I'm sorry for what is happening, Arcen folks. I hope information gives me a ring, we will figure something out. Also, keep making fun of my wireframe steez and i'm handing out fades. That shit right there! Also JERBZ.
The Protocutlure Mixtape : Issue : People : Build
