That said I've been thinking a lot about what I, as a designer lose out on by working from home and what I gain.
As a designer, losing daily interactions is a heavy blow. I still have meetings, I still get time for talking to people about specific things, but it's the loss of other interactions that massively lowers the quality of work. The conversations that happen when someone sees something you're working on and comments about it, or when you're walking through the studio and you see something on someone's screen that inspires you.
The best example of this I can think of is before lockdown, back a thousand years ago when I was working on a twin-stick shooter prototype. We had a fairly solid conception of what it was supposed to be, but it wasn't feeling amazing. Then a friend, another designer walked by and commented that it reminded her of Dynasty Warriors and suddenly the ideas exploded, the feel of the game was improved tenfold. since I've been in lock down nobody has walked passed my desk and so nobody has been able to inspire me to take things in a new direction, and for Design that is brutal.
On the other hand I get to skip my 3 hours of commuting every day so maybe becoming worse at my job is worth it?
With those extra 3 hours I have been completing games!
Not so many since the last time I posted compared to the previous jump I think. I'm up to 16 games in the 12 weeks since I locked down. The 4 new ones are;
Uncharted
Outer Worlds
Dishonoured 2 (as Emily)
and Life Is Strange 2
I'm currently playing through Hitman 2 from 2018, which is probably the first hitman game I've played since Hitman 2 from 2002.
One last thing;
I hope everyone is surviving through these insane times, and while I don't think I have anything to say that hasn't been said better or by more worthwhile people, I stand with the Black Lives Matter movement.
- James
