I'm Going to Disneyland!
When the layoff on Valentine's Day 2000 happened, I was caught completely off-guard. I'd worked at Singletrac for five-and-a-half years, and had worked on some big hit games like Twisted Metal, Warhawk, and Jet Moto. I'd also worked on some games that... well, weren't such big hits. Like Outwars. We'd already had a couple of layoffs, so the writing was on the wall, I guess. But I didn't realize that Singletrac, now wholey owned by Infogrammes (now "Atari" in the U.S.), was on its last legs.

Five months later, SingleTrac would exist no more, having finished its last contractual obligation and good for nothing more than the hardware and software licenses. But that's a story I'm not involved in.

This was my first time experiencing such a thing - Singletrac had been my first 'real' job after college, and I'd learned not just how to write games, but to a large degree how to engineer software in the real world from that company. So suddenly finding myself without a job after five-and-a-half years of working crazy 90-hour weeks sometimes scared the crud out of me. I had no idea how I was going to support my family and pay for the mortgage (Gee, kinda like I feel right now...)

It turns out that Acclaim Studios Salt Lake was in a completely different bind. The director of software development had been given a mandate to staff up, and needed seven new experienced game programmers in just four weeks. He had no idea where he'd find them. Then he heard about the massive Valentine's Day layoffs at Singletrac. For many of us, Acclaim swooped in like a brilliant white knight to rescue us. By Wednesday, we had a group interview at Acclaim. The offer came in the next day (Thursday), with a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

I was told that they didn't need me for two weeks (March 6th or something), but they'd start paying me from the day I accepted the offer. Wow! I still had four more weeks of severance from Singletrac, so that would mean double pay (more than double, as I got a bit of a pay raise going to Acclaim) for four weeks, plus two of those weeks would be a vacation! We said yes on Friday. Now what do you do when you have two weeks off with double pay? I told my family to set up the trip - we were going to Disneyland! And we did. I'll always be grateful to the folks at Acclaim for making that happen.

While things weren't perfect at Acclaim (they began layoffs of their own within two months of my signing up), it was definitely a great opportunity for me, and a reminder that as one chapter ends - painful as it may be - the next chapters can be full of promise and good experiences.

Anyway, fast-forward six years later. Our youngest daughter is now about to turn eight and can actually fully enjoy (and remember) the trip now. We cemented plans for it in January. I had no idea that history would repeat itself and I'd once again be laid off right before our Disneyland trip. I'm in slightly worse shape this time around, as I've got no firm plans for after I get back. But I'm gonna have fun with the family. And I hope that history will repeat itself, and I will find that new opportunities abound in the next chapter.

One thing that ain't changing, though, is my love of MAKING games. And I'm bringing my laptop with me to do some coding late at night in the hotel room (or lobby). Assuming the hotel has broadband (it is supposed to), I imagine I'll still be posting. But in case not... TTFN!
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 12:06 AM (Permalink)