Crunch

Another week, another battle to try to make sure I only have to crunch if the logic behind it is valid...which almost never works.

  For the uninitiated, Crunch is what the producers call it when they want you to work 60+ hours a week to hit a milestone.  Its something that is very rarely mentioned when people talk about how cool working in the video game industry is.  I've been on crunch for 3 out of 4 weeks for the past year.  Its rough.  

  The last batch of games I crunched on were the Popcap seek and finds on the Nintendo DS, Amazing Adventures and Mystery PI; both of which can be found at reputable retailers worldwide.  They turned out pretty swank and for them being my first and second credits as Lead artist, I have little complaint over the final product.

  In theory the current titles I am working on should be ready to have their release candidates sent to Nintendo by the end of the month.  I'm lead artist on all three of these puppies as well.  I assume I did well enough handling two concurrent titles with Popcap that they choose me to be art lead on three concurrent titles this time.  But, with that said, I hope that my next lead credit is on a single game.  Managing a dozen artists and making sure that they are each sticking to the completely different style of each sku means I don't get to produce very much art myself, and I kinda miss it.