{"id":59800,"date":"2019-02-04T03:05:50","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T10:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/game-development-the-musical-is-an-entertaining-take-on-the-realities-of-working-in-video-games\/"},"modified":"2019-02-04T03:05:50","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T10:05:50","slug":"game-development-the-musical-is-an-entertaining-take-on-the-realities-of-working-in-video-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/game-development-the-musical-is-an-entertaining-take-on-the-realities-of-working-in-video-games\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Game Development the Musical\u2019 is an entertaining take on the realities of working in video games"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Working in the video game industry can be glorified by those who don\u2019t understand the ins and outs of game development. Specifically, many people who play games still think\u00a0a job as a game developer\u00a0involves lots of playing games all day. (Sorry, that\u2019s not the case.) And while it can be fun to work in the industry, it\u2019s not free of problems. Many people who work in games still deal with insane hours, the gap between full-time and contract positions, and cyclical layoffs after projects are finished.<\/p>\n

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Andrew Lum. (LinkedIn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sounds like the perfect subject for a musical!<\/p>\n

OK, maybe it\u2019s not an obvious leap, but it is a natural one for game developer Andrew Lum, a 15-year veteran\u00a0of the industry who has developed a stage show called \u201cGame Development the Musical<\/a>\u201d as a side project. Lum and others from the production will be performing staged readings<\/a> of the show (acting and singing without sets or choreography) at the Glenn Hughes Penthouse Theatre in Seattle at 7 p.m. this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 8 and 9.<\/p>\n

The story of \u201cGame Development the Musical\u201d follows a small team of developers who work at a company called Future Games. The employees there hope to eventually land gigs at major studios, working on AAA games, but first, they have to start by developing \u201clicensed shovelware games.\u201d It\u2019s a situation most game developers have experienced at one point in their careers, making the show easily relatable to those in the field.<\/p>\n

You can check out the opening number below.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Lum knows the industry well based on his experience making games for companies including Big Fish Games and Glu Mobile. He was also previously founder and creative director at Fugazo, a game development startup in Seattle, and he\u2019s currently director of gaming at The Pok\u00e9mon Company.<\/p>\n

But he\u00a0believes the show will also resonate with people who don\u2019t make games.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019ve ever had a bad job, bad boss, or bad client then you\u2019ll instantly relate to the story even if you\u2019ve never worked at a tech company. Most every working adult has that moment where they realize their dream job isn\u2019t as glamorous as they thought,\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, there are a lot of jokes and materials for the typical gamer and geek audience, but you don\u2019t need to be a gamer or geek to enjoy this show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGame Development the Musical\u201d started off as a web series, but while creating that content, Lum realized it could turn into something more.<\/p>\n

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Still from \u201cGame Development the Musical\u201d (Andrew Lum, Creator)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOne of the episodes was focused on layoffs and I wanted to have a big dance spectacle to convey how crazy layoffs can feel,\u201d he said. \u201cI ended up writing a song called \u2018Everyone is Replaceable.\u2019 That\u2019s when I realized that the over-the-top format of musical theatre was perfect for the crazy but totally true stories about working in the game industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the show is still in its very early stages, Lum has high hopes for its future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it sounds crazy, but my long term goal is to take \u2018Game Development the Musical\u2019 to Broadway,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve got a long way to go,\u00a0though. A\u00a0\u00a0staged reading is just the first step in the long road to Broadway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Working in the video game industry can be glorified by those who don\u2019t understand the ins and outs of game development. Specifically, many people who play games still think\u00a0a job as a game developer\u00a0involves lots of playing games all day. (Sorry, that\u2019s not the case.) And while it can be fun to work in the… Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":59801,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[174,377],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-games-media","category-gaming"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t