There's something I've struggled with for most of my career, but never could properly put into words – until now.

Thanks to @LauraKBuzz and her wonderful metaphor, it'll likely be much easier in the future to help colleagues and employers understand this issue.

"In regards to multitasking, many autistic individuals struggle with processing multiple tasks at once, or being expected to unexpectedly and rapidly drop one task and move to another. The way I try to explain this is that, for me, it feels like when I get deep into a particular task or activity wires start connecting between my brain and the task. Switching tasks or doing something else at the same time means taking a moment to safely disconnect those cables so they can pause data transfer, or free up bandwidth to try and process something in parallel. It’s not as easy as yanking a handful of cords out, they need unplugging carefully which can take a moment."

https://youtu.be/c-a2bEuAETs?si=8sFA6LDbvAQM8uZc

Companies think that free and open source licences aren't viable for commercialization when that could be furthest from the truth. Here's one example where a company can make a game that is free and open source while still being as profitable if it were proprietary.

1. Have the source code be publicly available under a free and open source licence.
2. Have the source code of the game be compiled into a version that will prompt users to purchase the game or donate at first boot which can be accessed from the main menu.
3. Provide official pre-built binaries for the game through e-commerce retailers such as Steam, Epic, Gog and etc. This version will have the functionality of asking for donations or to purchase the game removed as the game will have already been validated with a registration key.
4. Adopt the strategy used by Linux distributions through copyrighting the name and logo of the game and enforcing the copyright of it. Make it clear that while forks of the game is fine in of itself, that any derivatives must use a different name or design philosophy to avoid running afoul of the studio's copyright of it.

By following these four steps, you can have any games you create under a free and open source licence be just as profitable as if it were proprietary while still respecting the rights given by a GPL or similiar copyleft licences.

#foss, #floss, #freesoftware, #opensource, #games, #gamesindustry, #licences.

@zozo@dice.camp

The Indie Videogames space is a flaming trash fire right now.

Imagine how bad the internal business culture must be to have the ~Entire Freaking company just up and Quit~

"The entire staff of beloved game publisher Annapurna Interactive has reportedly resigned / The staff reportedly tried to spin out the company into an independent entity, but negotiations broke down." - The Verge

https://www.theverge.com/games/2024/9/12/24243317/annapurna-interactive-staff-reportedly-resigns

Another week with yet more layoffs and studio closures. I heard RaD were one of the good ones too, im so sorry to see the studio close. To everyone affected I can only hope you're able to find more work during this really shity time.
https://www.eurogamer.net/lone-echo-and-the-order-1886-developer-ready-at-dawn-reportedly-shut-down-by-meta
#GamesIndustry #GameDev #GamesNews

Oh damn! That's awful news!

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/humble-games-devs-told-company-is-shutting-down

As always, I hope all staff affected will find new opportunities soon.

Congratulations to the workers at #Bethesda who have successfully #unionize.d
An amazing success and a signal to all of the #GamesIndustry

https://dotesports.com/business/news/bethesda-game-studios-workers-form-union-of-over-200-devs-already-recognized-by-microsoft

Axis Animation, a studio that did both game cinematics and animation works has gone into administration. To everyone who lost their jobs, I'm so so sorry. This is a huge blow for the Scottish games and animation industry.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv2gvqlezn1o
(Sorry for BBC link I know they are shite)
#GamesIndustry #gameDev #AnimationNews #GamesNews #ScottishGamesIndustry #AxisAnimation

"Video Game Execs Are Ruining Video Games": https://jacobin.com/2024/05/video-games-union-zenimax-exploitation

"If we accept precarity in the video game industry, or any other industry, as immutable or just a quirk of the 'culture,' we all lose. Game development does not have a culture of instability. It has a culture of exploitation."

Make bad game: get laid off
Make good game: get laid off

It's almost as if all these big mergers and acquisitions aren't for the benefit of anybody and only prolong the production of the same old slop that's broken on release

Microsoft really on their way to become another EA

https://www.theverge.com/24151047/xbox-shuts-down-arkane-austin-tango-gameworks-microsoft