|
private:wayforward
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=134826
|
Apr 28th, 2021 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WayForward Technologies
|
Game Programmer
|
Santa Clarita, CA
|
|
Lovely People!
|
|
They make awesome old-school-style games!
They're warm and caring people!
I only crunched once and it was only a couple of extra hours! Easy!
|
No annual reviews at this time, but they are adding them soon ... or so I hear! Exciting!
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
0.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
4.0
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
5.0
|
|
134826
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
WayForward
|
Technology
|
|
|
private:wayforward
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=134826
|
Apr 19th, 2021 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WayForward Technologies
|
Computer Programmer
|
|
|
Good Work Environment and Culture
|
|
Fun projects
Smart, motivated coworkers
Well-equipped to work from home (may change after quarantine, not sure)
Minimal crunch
|
Compensation is a little under industry standard
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
0.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
4.0
|
3.0
|
4.0
|
|
134826
|
Open
|
Work culture is really good, keep doing what you're doing
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
WayForward
|
Technology
|
|
|
private:wayforward
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=134826
|
Apr 3rd, 2021 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WayForward Technologies
|
Artist
|
|
|
Zero Artistic Growth
|
|
Genuinely nice people working here, very inclusive of lgbtq and people of any race/background.
CEO Voldi Way is genuinely nice, very interested in making good games, quite nice to speak to informally.
Quite easy to just come in, do work, and go home, as long as you aren't invested in how the project does.
|
Low pay, and management seems to not understand why they can't hire many talented people. Only desperate people (As I was) say yes to these low wages.
Due to lack of talent, not a lot of growth opportunities. If you can't learn from skilled artists, you are just doing whatever your un-skilled lead is trying to do, and no real direction from the art directors.
Art directors seem to be just promoted from within senior artists, but many I've worked with can't make decisions and have a hard time giving any kind of feedback. Lots of "oh yeah, ok, cool" for the entire length of the project.
No benefits except helping you with health insurance. You have to pay for your own dental, vision, etc.
Constant grind, I've heard so many times people say "oh we don't crunch here" but then every project the producer or art manager will tell the artists that "This is a great opportunity to get some overtime pay!" and then pressure the entire team to stay late every day. Mostly with coming to your desk and asking "What kind of pizza do you want? Oh, you aren't staying? Well let me know if you change your mind" Every. Single. Day. Doesn't matter if your team is ahead of schedule.
Many old veterans here, and it doesn't seem to be by choice. Lots of guys from bygone days of game development, most don't seem very well paid and are seemingly just plodding along in a stable job.
Some of the senior staff don't seem to know how games are made in current engines? They want things to be done 'next gen' but then ask for the most random things and tech, and then won't assign enough artists to make a full pbr pipeline work. You can't make an entire AAA game with 2 or 3 artists in a year. Somehow they also never learn and expect it to work with the next project too.
Many people slide their responsibilities off onto others, especially the Sr staff.
So. Many. Licensed. Games. All said yes to by management, all for super low prices, and with crazy tight time frames. With the low budget you can't hire on more artists, and you can't get outsourcing help, so how will your team accomplish this? They don't know and don't care, that's for the ground-level grunts to figure out.
Pretty much zero studio culture. If you're cool with hanging with your 3-4 friends and playing some super smash on the back couch, then cool. But otherwise everyone stays head down and just works. No real studio-sponsored events or encouragement to interact with anyone outside of your team.
A severe lack of any kind of reward. If you work hard to get a game out the door, there isn't a break, or celebration. The management will literally get onto your leads to get you working on a different project immediately. If you work here, don't expect a break or even a pause, just a constant list of revolving projects.
Senior management also seem to be just good old game devs that are now trying to run a company. It's quite obvious in the lack of good management going on.
No HR. If you have a complaint or if you have issues with your job/coworkers, there is no HR department. All hiring and disputes are just handled by the managers. The managers are mostly just promoted developers so they have no clue how to do conflict resolution or help someone work better inside their role within the team.
The absolute biggest thing is the lack of growth. Without time to develop ideas and experiment with different looks/ideas on a project, the artists, designers, and programmers all seem to be stuck doing the same type of thing for years. There's always a rush to get things done, and no real time to improve/work on skills.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
0.0
|
NO_OPINION
|
4.0
|
1.0
|
3.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
|
134826
|
Open
|
Send your higher management to management classes. Also have them learn and understand how games are made in their entirety with current workflows. Too many times are your workers asked to do unrealistic things in unrealistic time frames.
Evaluate your art directors and producers. Many of these don't really do much for your studio, either just not doing their job and shifting all of their responsibilities onto those around them, or not being able to their job with much effect.
Hire an HR team. This is so important to a large company, I do not know how you've managed without one.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
4.0
|
|
|
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
WayForward
|
Technology
|
|
|
private:wayforward
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=134826
|
Feb 9th, 2021 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WayForward Technologies
|
Project Manager
|
|
|
Fun and Flexible
|
|
Flexible work environment.
Wide variety of projects and different kinds of games.
Varied, interesting, and talented people. I made great friends there.
Fun and light-hearted environment.
|
Pay can stagnate.
There can be a lack of mentorship or an unclear path to career advancement.
Projects can sometimes be chaotic.
Individuals may feel a disconnect from other parts of the company.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
0.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
|
134826
|
Open
|
Formalize mentorship and career advancement processes.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
WayForward
|
Technology
|
|
|
private:wayforward
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=134826
|
Dec 16th, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WayForward Technologies
|
Technical Artist
|
Valencia, CA
|
|
Great place to work for family oriented folks
|
|
The work environment is very chill and the people are all super fun to work with
|
There is some mismanagement due to growing pains
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
0.0
|
4.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
4.0
|
3.0
|
4.0
|
|
134826
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
WayForward
|
Technology
|
|
|
private:wayforward
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=134826
|
Aug 14th, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WayForward Technologies
|
Project Manager
|
Santa Clarita, CA
|
|
No middle management, no feedback, no resources
|
|
Stepping stone in career for some disciplines
|
I feel a responsibility to talk about the very real problem areas, but having worked here for such a short time, I really want to do it in a constructive ‘big picture’ way.
Treat employees with respect and help each other to succeed.
When it was made clear to me that my team members had been complaining about my work style, instead of coming to me to ask what I was doing, or how we can fix it, the manager let these complaints build up until I couldn’t bounce back from it. If he knew I was having issues why did he wait so long to bring it to my attention, and then not offer a solution, but a demotion? Management acknowledged my “effort and desire to succeed”, so why wasn’t I given the chance to grow professionally?
There were several times when I came to my manager with explanations for his concerns about the project, only for that explanation to be looked over or ignored. When my male coworker would repeat what I said, only then did the manager understand the issue and how we were going to solve it.
Be aware that putting someone more qualified than the position you chose to place them in leads to discontented workers.
I was told that it was “clear that lack of domain knowledge of different disciplines was impacting my job on this project.” However upon starting my new position in which I have little experience in, I noticed there was a profound lack of leadership and knowledge from the lead. I can’t help but think that this department is a repository for unwanted employees. Having been in a Project Management position for close to 9 months, learning and experiencing the flow, how is it beneficial to the company to remove me from something they’ve already invested time and money in?
After making the best of what I could with the materials (no employee handbook, no guidance) and philosophies for project management, I was told I was “exacerbating the (scheduling) issue” and “creating more work” for my team members. In truth, I was not asking more of them than what had been laid out for me to achieve.
My responsibilities included:
Keeping the development schedule updated as far as programmers are concerned; making sure tasks are marked in the correct status and updating the estimated days to reflect the actual or new estimates
Ensuring designers have access to builds and are able to review
Being the POC for programming across external studios including the publisher
Fully describing tasks before disciplines are given to resource
If no info, make sure they can talk to someone who can
Taking the design from the task sheet and add it to the tasks
Understanding if the task is finished
Making sure to know what the end result is will help me anticipate other questions for similar tasks
Utilizing my Japanese for translation and interpretation for other projects not just the one I’m currently on
As I see it, if I was creating work for anyone, it was because they had not done what was required for the project.
Transparency is the key to communication
Upon being told of my demotion into another department and that I should “take your time and it's not urgent” my access rights to all project documents, project channels on the company group chat, and group Skype chats was revoked without any notice. It was never explicitly stated that this would happen so I was understandably confused. It also caused me embarrassment as project members were asking me directly what had happened. Since I was cut off from communicating with the team about the project and had no access to the development schedule, I effectively had no work to do. I immediately told my manager that I can start the position in the new department because I was in fear of losing my job.
This has been an underhanded and inefficient approach to a simple problem.
I feel that I was given tasks with no resources and a position with little or no possibility of success. Receiving no feedback along the way has led to an unmanageable situation.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
DISAPPROVE
|
4.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
3.0
|
1.0
|
|
134826
|
Open
|
Hire a proper HR team and someone with business sense to keep talent in-house.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
1.0
|
|
|
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
WayForward
|
Technology
|
|
|
private:wayforward
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=134826
|
Mar 5th, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WayForward Technologies
|
3D Artist
|
Valencia, CA
|
|
Good company, low pay
|
|
They always have projects starting. This can be really exciting as you'll always be working on new things.
|
Very low pay. They actually have some amazing and talented artists and engineers. But they pay so low that anyone skilled enough ends up leaving.
On top of that they have very unqualified people running projects. They often insist on doing things in an old way that doesn't mesh with what they're actually looking for.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
0.0
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
2.0
|
5.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
|
134826
|
Open
|
Take care of your employees better. Let the talented folks working there take charge of their areas of expertise.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
WayForward
|
Technology
|
|
|
private:wayforward
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=134826
|
Jan 30th, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WayForward Technologies
|
Programmer
|
Valencia, CA
|
|
Good to learn
|
|
Good if you're self starter.
|
Bad if you want mentorship, worklife balance
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
0.0
|
NEUTRAL
|
0.0
|
NO_OPINION
|
0.0
|
2.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
2.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
|
134826
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
6.0
|
|
|
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
WayForward
|
Technology
|
|
|
private:wayforward
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=134826
|
Jan 17th, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WayForward Technologies
|
3D Character Animator
|
Valencia, CA
|
|
great people, great gig
|
|
very understanding upper management i always felt heard even when i wasn't, lovely family atmosphere
|
no cons, honestly, i enjoyed every minute of working there, even on the bad days
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
0.0
|
3.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
5.0
|
|
134826
|
Open
|
keep up the good work!
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
1.0
|
|
|
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
WayForward
|
Technology
|
|
|
private:wayforward
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=134826
|
Jan 10th, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
WayForward Technologies
|
Programmer
|
|
|
Great people
|
|
Great area and people. Hours are good for a Healthy work life balance.
|
Low pay, general happiness varies by project.
|
|
|
|
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
0.0
|
3.0
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
0.0
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
|
134826
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
May 10th, 2021 11:11PM
|
WayForward
|
Technology
|
|