X employee is leaving, were doomed!
As I said in a recent post, turnover sucks
but its a constant in this or pretty much any other industry. The sky is not falling. From the inside, its always interesting to see how the world reacts. Because it comes off as so specific the guys who decide to let you know theyre leaving like Travis or Eric are the heart and the soul of the game
because you know them above anything else. In the past two years, weve had some amazing talent that has moved on for plenty of reasons (other opportunities, personal issues, etc.) and its always sort of a shame to see theyre never appreciated. Ill also say that the averages work out pretty well: we are hiring extremely talented people many times faster than we lose them.
I also believe theres some confusion as to just what a producer does. Its nowhere near as glamorous as it sounds: they arent designing the game or telling anyone how its going to work
theyre responsible for very methodical processes. A producer is essentially a scheduler, someone who works with giant spreadsheets and charts to make sure the components needed to realize Chris vision can happen and that personnel are tasked with individual processes. And then theyre responsible for holding the whip: you said the Freelancer rework would take seven days and youre on day eight, whats going on and how do we fix it? and so on.
To speak personally: Im very sorry to see Travis go, he was a friend and I will miss his company (we actually first met when we were teenagers, when his dad was a producer for Chris!) I didnt know Alex very well, but I certainly have a high degree of respect for him. And for my honest money, the biggest loss was Chelsea. She really helped set the kind and dedicated tone for the CS department early on, and were going to be extra careful to make sure the care she put into helping backers carries over as we get bigger.
And let me end this one by adding: if theres anything that genuinely makes me unhappy, its the speculation about actual people and their lives. Its almost always bizarrely wrong and its just so stupid. Did anyone see the Reddit thread about how Chelseas body language during her goodbye on RtV proved there was something sinister going on? I mean
seriously? The drama folks are imagining doesnt exist. Like most people, were more like a family than a TV soap opera; theres certainly tense moments on occasion while were arguing about big things (I will confess being ready to murder Travis once or twice
twice), but at the end of the day we truly all get along. The reaction on RtV was real because were all genuinely sorry to lose the friends wed see every day, nothing more.