Alina B
@froshadowing.bsky.social
420 followers 250 following 290 posts
Production & Narrative Director in Games, writers guild. Worked on X-Files, Biped, Pathfinder 2, Simpsons. Links: https://ln.ki/froshadowing Co-founder at Chosen Bun, making stealth adventure Project KVASIR, co-host at BORZOI Cast. 4d workweek ❤️
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froshadowing.bsky.social
A one-year journey came to an end.
My book 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘊𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳? is out today! (THREAD)

𝗘-𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸: shorturl.at/fVvOA
𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: shorturl.at/EBIwF (available on all other regional amazons too)
froshadowing.bsky.social
Damn, that is so depressing
froshadowing.bsky.social
These past few years, browsing game industry news feels like flipping through a scrapbook of near-misses - each headline is another quiet “thank god I wasn’t hired there” or "phew, dodged that bullet" 😑😣
gameworkers.co.uk
We stand in solidarity with employees and ex-employees at Build a Rocket Boy as they file legal claims through our union and publish an open letter, condemning the way in which they’ve been mistreated and discarded by the studio’s millionaire executives.

www.gameworkers.co.uk/barb-open-le...
Open Letter to the Executive Leadership at Build A Rocket Boy
Reposted by Alina B
froshadowing.bsky.social
Perfect example how a THEME elevates your story:

- Manhunter '86
- Red Dragon '02

Same story, same cinematographer, completely different movies. Only one has a theme.

In Manhunter, the investigation of the killings is what the characters DO.

[THREAD]
froshadowing.bsky.social
Had a fantastic time speaking about the culture of curiosity and learning at a private knowledge-sharing event organized by my friends - @devgamm.bsky.social.

PS another reminder that I am helping teams build the right product, culture & processes (and I like speaking at events). My DMs are open
froshadowing.bsky.social
A year passed, yet still relevant.
OG tweet: Prior to my talk @ Dice Como on how creativity is not "efficient" if you measure efficiency by business, there was an industry report by venture capital group.

There,abandoning startup mentality in favor of "good culture" (crunch-free and 4dww) was marked as A PROBLEM.

Quote retweet:

There are also a lot of talks about how industry is in the Dark Ages right now. It's a shame they don't mention how venture and equity funds had a major influence on how things ended up this way.
froshadowing.bsky.social
Played some good demos last week!
- Dispatch
- Switchboard
- Goodnight Universe
- Regions of Ruin

Any recommendations?
#indiedev #indigames #gamedev #steam
froshadowing.bsky.social
Just found out that Netflix has pulled out of the deal earlier this year - after almost 2 years of project development! Dodged the bullet twice 😂
froshadowing.bsky.social
I was just thinking recently, that moral choices would be so much easier to make if you 'just' had enough money:

- Standing up against corruption would be easier if your livelihood didn’t depend on silence.

- Telling the truth at work would be easier if you didn’t fear losing your job.

Etc
Reposted by Alina B
projectkvasir.bsky.social
Testing the new cover system
#gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday #stealth
froshadowing.bsky.social
"Too ambitious"?
In WRITING?
What the hell does it even mean? 🤣🤣🤣
froshadowing.bsky.social
My ex bosses however shot themselves in the knee with this and lost a good deal over petty revenge.

Meanwhile they’ve been bleeding projects and laying people off ever since. RIP
froshadowing.bsky.social
My job offer got killed. Which was big luck for me actually!

I didn't like the vibes of "being late even before the project starts", dodged a bullet there turns out.

And just in a month I landed on a much better offer in another company.

>>
froshadowing.bsky.social
Few years back got an offer on a new Netflix project in a non-Netflix studio. Wanted to bring my ex-studio as co-dev.

Leadership there was toxic, but the devs were top-tier and I trusted them.

Buuut my ex-bosses were so bitter about me quitting that they sabotaged my reference >>
froshadowing.bsky.social
Another AAA company dragged me through 5 hours of interviews with their leadership team only to tell me they don't really know which project to assign this lead position to.

Which suddenly made them realize they "don't need a lead producer". As if they just stumbled on this thought lol.
froshadowing.bsky.social
Experiences like that taught me one thing: whenever a company brags about “having money,” it usually means they have no idea how to spend it.

Which inevitably leads to a sudden downfall of "no more money left". Also known as "Penny smart, dollar stupid".
froshadowing.bsky.social
Once I interviewed at a AAA studio. They sneered at my “smaller team Agile” background, & when I said I knew my way around budgets, they laughed: “We don’t need that -we have money.” Their processes were pure chaos btw.

6 months later, the layoffs began bc the money *suddenly* dried up.

>> thread
aftermath.site
Trying to find a job in video games right now is like crawling through hell:

aftermath.site/video-game-rec...
froshadowing.bsky.social
If someone was writing satire on gaming industry - I bet all of this would’ve been considered too absurd and unrealistic.

And yet…

www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...
PC Gamer's definitive (but by no means exhaustive) list of ways to lose your job in the videogame industry
Reposted by Alina B
arvy.bsky.social
CASTLE EISENSTEIN is now on Behance
www.behance.net/gallery/2355...

My new art direction exercise, this time a riff on classic Castle Wolfenstein from 1981.

What if in several decades we'll be able to take the brutality, idiocy and injustice of the present moment and turn them into entertainment?
Reposted by Alina B
nicboone.bsky.social
Freedom is when chinese companies arent allowed to own businesses but saudi companies can
froshadowing.bsky.social
I watched Makoto Shinkai's Suzume and greatly enjoyed it.

Unlike Pixar which is trying to squeeze a teardrop out by all means necessary, I did find it very satisfying how Suzume operates through context. It does get a tear out of you when you read between the lines, but you have to be an adult.
Suzume (2022) by Makoto Shinkai