21st November

The 'I'll write more tomorrow' strategy is failing badly. Tonight I got carried away painting Kali in photoshop - Hindu deities look really fantastic. I hope when this is finished it does her justice, she's such an awesome character.

Still a work in progress!

Today at the studio was full of meetings about LODs and the new online system for setting weekly sprints and deadlines for FPP, so I didn't get much work done. The founder of SquareSoft, Yasuhiro Fukushima was at the studio today but I didn't get a chance to meet him because of all the meetings. Damn.

I came back at 5pm and made some masala chai - I'm getting pretty good at making it and somehow it makes my headache go away instantly! Maybe I'm just addicted... I'll cut down...

Pauline, the studio head, doesn't like it when people leave the studio at 5pm sharp, she says we should have more dedication to the projects and stay overtime to make sure our work is the best quality possible. This doesn't usually apply to me as I almost always stay until 6pm, but I think her mentality is very important to what makes a games studio a great place to work. I know recently there has been many problems with games companies pushing their employees too hard to work free overtime, but this reminds me of something I learned in the presentation I had on my first day of university - you need passion for your work in order to be successful.

There's no obligatory system which pressures you to work yourself to death - no evil glares from anyone if you come in a bit late or leave a little early. There are a lot of myths about games studios been very stressful places to work, but there's no chance of any lawsuits in Pune like there was for Team Bondi. I hope all studios are this relaxed and friendly, but after discussing with Pauline how different this studio is in terms of pipelines and team structure, I'm prepared for something entirely different if I eventually get a job in the west.

What I think we need more of in this studio is motivation and passion for the projects we're working on. There is a pinboard for the game we are making which is looking empty at the moment - it just has our logo, but I'm making it my mission in my free time next week to fill it with motivational stuff. Most importantly I'd like to begin bridging the gap between the art and programming teams. Communication is key. The group projects at university really helped me to understand how important it is.