Pros
- The company is owned and operated by a very lovely, intelligent, and engaging couple that has been in the industry longer than most of their employees have been alive. They are a wealth of knowledge and support if you manage to engage them. - A lot of fresh talent comes through the office, eager to be the next big thing. If you do not compile your own indie creative team after a month of work here, you’re doing it wrong. - A lot of very artistic and like-minded individuals with varying levels of experience. It’s very refreshing to hear stories and aspirations from old-hats and newbies alike. The breakroom banter can be very educational. Many employees would get together outside of work for lunches or drink & draw events. - Some big name clients and projects that are genuinely exciting to contribute to. Even if your project only lasts a couple of weeks, you’ll be networking with professionals and companies around the world. Take note of the development processes each client uses and what kind of culture their companies maintain. It’ll serve you well in life outside of the Forge. - Exposure to testing procedure and the development cycle for products ranging from social media ventures to much-loved console titles to that thing you funded on kickstarter. I often felt a swell of pride when someone would casually ask about something I was secretly working on. Meeting milestones and watching companies roll out information about projects while you’re actively working on them is it’s own brand of magic. - Company Game Jams (console and tabletop!) are small, intimate, challenging, and genuinely rewarding. Organizers make a solid attempt to include everyone and accommodate individual needs. - Community outreach. The owners are really good about networking. They’ll occasionally bring clients in from game companies to meet the team, organize educational events with local comic shops and libraries, or host playtest sessions for other companies. These are a great way to remind yourself why you’re in the industry. And the owners are always eager to hear about suggestions individual employees have to add to improvement and outreach. - Competitive health insurance. I did not expect health insurance benefits, let alone good ones. It was nice. - Celebrations. You will not get paid time off for holidays but the owners make a solid attempt to make it count. While I was working at the Forge, we were served Thanksgiving dinner (on the clock….shhhh!), had an amazing costume contest for Halloween, and hosted the best Secret Santa I have ever participated in. I honestly miss these little community events and often suggest them to new employers.
Cons
- Management. I cannot stress this enough. First impressions last a lifetime and my manager was an hour late to my first day on the job. He proceeded to berate me for being unprepared with documentation I had not been asked for, and then begrudgingly offered minimal training where was treated as an insolent child every time I asked a question. Thank God for Alan. If he hadn’t have stepped in, I wouldn’t have lasted a week. - Management enforces conflicting policies, making it impossible to judge performance and compliance depending on who is reviewing your work. This is often frustrating and attempting to call out said behavior is slapped down as insubordination. - Little to no training or standardization. Bug tracking requirements will understandably vary by client but the Forge upholds their own standards, which vary from teacher to teacher and are penalized by management. Standards should be enforced across all teams and the company would benefit from one full-time trainer rather than depending on busy team leads to train fresh-faced employees. - The pay is a fraction of the industry standard due to location and demand. Arizona has very few opportunities for aspiring game designers and you're reminded about that every time you receive a paycheck. This is occasionally relieved by the aforementioned benefits. - No PTO. Employees often come to work sick because they cannot afford to stay home. Said illnesses are then spread around the office due to proximity and shared mobile devices, despite best efforts. Please stop asking employees to bleach their desks and start offering paid sick days. - Frat boy culture. Nevermind the pizza boxes and console wars, the derogatory gay jokes, “playful” rape jokes, and anti-trans commentary that went ignored by management was terrifying. The Forge prides itself on being an open and accepting environment but said behavior is only enforced when the owners are in the building. Management should be trained to step in and stop hateful commentary on company grounds.