Big news for my personal project: Magic: Legends released their first gameplay overview, and it's…very similar to what I had in mind.

Basically, the idea is to play an ARPG like Diablo where you run around smacking things and casting spells. But instead of a traditional skill list, you would collect cards and pile them into a deck then "draw" them for use in battle. The advantage of this system is that your gameplay is always "fresh" because of the sheer number of permutations you can have with a deck. The disadvantage (as some comments on that Youtube video have highlighted) is that gameplay is far more luck-based and if you get a poor draw it just feels bad and unfun.

Of course, I had several additional ideas that make my game different: I had a dark steampunk theme in mind actually, with aesthetics based on Bloodborne and Underworld. I also had a number of other mechanics, e.g. weapon swaps and DOOM-style glory kills. But I am fully aware a majority of people will home in on that one thing that is "a ripoff" rather than consider the game might be different in every other aspect.

This might sound bad on paper, but it's actually a very good thing. If Magic: Legends can just be the game I've been looking to make, it would allow me to have fun while saving me a ton of money and effort to actually make a game. Alternatively, I can just change the project to not resemble that game, which isn't a problem either.

So there's several options for me to consider:

1. Abandon the project entirely.
   As described above, I could save myself a lot of time and effort in to a project that might be headed in a very futile direction.
2. Continue the project in its current trajectory OR delay the project and continue it later.
   Perfect World Entertainment kind of has a bad reputation in the English-speaking market (which makes no fucking sense* but that's how the world is). So the game could end up unpopular, and if it gets shut down in 4 years due to financial constraints then, well, it's time to start building again.
3. Change up the project to no longer resemble Magic: Legends. This is the one I'm leaning towards. My vision doesn't really rely on this deckbuilding system, you see. I just wanted a game that involves fancy footwork while also having a strategic/building aspect. If I could change things up to not involve a deckbuilding system, then there's no problem.

*most of Perfect World's poor Western reputation is solely due to the fact it is Chinese. Having published Neverwinter and Remnant From the Ashes, is limited consistent evidence that tells me they will apply predatory marketing policies in their games outside of China, despite everyone on social media claiming the contrary.

Questionable Practices

Mar 10

Had a job interview. I took a day off work, prepared quite nicely, and…it was for the wrong job.

The short story is this: the position I applied to was titled 'HR Data Analyst' via an external recruiter/headhunter. I submitted and I got a response. The recruiter then tells me that they would also like to consider me for a position they called 'Learning & Development Data Analyst' (which I thought was a bit odd, but hey, if they feel their L&D team needs their own data analyst, who am I to question it?). So, that's more than cool. 2 tries for the effort of one!

Anyhow, I schedule the interview to meet with the managers, and…

• They only invited the L&D manager, not the HR manager. So (at least for this interview) I was only being considered for the L&D position.
• The L&D position is in fact not a data analyst position at all - it's a general admin position!

I did try to show interest but it was clear my career interests and current experience don't match an L&D admin job. So, whatever. Afterwards I made an angry call to the recruiter, who clearly demonstrated she didn't understand the job scope for nuts, and I had to explain to her what L&D executives do (and that it has very little to do with data analytics). Regardless, I asked about the HR Data Analyst position I originally applied to, and she said she would "get back to me in 14 days." Sketchy, if anything. But anyway, now that I have the company’s contact, I sent an email inquiring about the HR Data Analyst position, attaching the job posting and another copy of my resume.

Not that I think I'll get a reply. There's a solid possibility that the data analyst position was already closed, and the headhunter was incompetent enough to not know. Thus, a call for a nonexistent position. Then when the headhunter realized it, she tried to cover it up by substituting another position, lying to me in the process that I'd be considered for both - only to err again as she did not understand the latter position had no relation to the original. At this point, I'm just trying my luck.

Anyway, I'm the angriest that I've been in a while, and definitely the most furious in my short career so far. I would much prefer something like, "We didn't think you were qualified / suitable for this position" "We found someone else already" "We're dumbfucks who made a serious error and we're sorry" or something concrete and vaguely professional, instead of this mistaken roundabout that has caused me to burn a weekend on job assessments and half a day of leave for a pointless interview. I don't think the HR at this company will be particularly stoked when they read my email either.

Mar 12
Took me 2 days but I'm mostly cooled off from that fiasco, namely because one other company has called me to schedule an interview so I don't feel as desperate anymore. I also got a verbal "offer" from the company I currently work at, although it doesn't sound particularly great (1 year contract, no clue about pay, and I may have to write a value proposition explaining what I can bring to the company during this time).

TBH I don't really mind if that miserably incompetent (and possibly sketchy) recruiter doesn't call me again - the client company might not be quite as shady, but it reflects badly on them that they're outsourcing to such headhunters. I also wasn't a fan of the company's recruitment process: inefficient and impersonal compared to what my current workplace is building, and the only reason they revert applications much faster than my company is due to external recruiters (which is more expensive). So, I'm not sure how effective my learning or career advancement would be with them.