Need Female Developers for Indie Studio Thread

Masondogg Studios, LLC is looking to develop for the female demographic visit www.masondoggstudios.com and go to the jobs link. You can apply from there we already have two teams filled and projects being worked currently. Mason Gunner and another IP Code named Project Orion an open ended brawler type game.

If you have questions please reply using the contact page and submit the form I may not check this post in a while. Thanks

Also guys don't worry we have a few more positions for you as well looking for more talent all welcome just view the jobs page and the positions that are open and are listed use the apply link to send your info and also your resume thanks.

Edited by: masondoggstudios

Recruitment forum maybe?

You are going to have a hard time finding talented people with the right skills without any information of what they're making. Also a "top secret" project for females only also sounds a bit odd and creepy.

I didn't see anything on the jobs page explaining why female developers in particular were needed...

Wow. I've seen some naive developers around here - but your company profile is something else.

I won't mix my words here because if you want to make games (and, critically, employ other people), you need to get real. You're going to receive hard criticism one day, I may as well help prepare you.

I genuinely feel sorry for anyone who tries to find a route into games through you. Your website is a strange mixture of a 14-year old's MySpace page, AAA dev studio's structure, and a cowboy's marketing. It's a bit scary.

I mean just look your application form - it's hideously over-organised, a poor mix of amateurism and beaurocracy. It'll take someone twenty minutes to fill that out! Text inputs limited to one line; favourite colour, really? And all this for a revenue share in an unproven company, or an internship in an environment which presumably works remotely and seems to contain no real experience. Most indie studios just have a jobs@studio.com email address and it works out better for everyone.

You need to improve your value proposition and credibility if you want to attract talent for your team. At the very least, you need to:

* Be more professional, efficient and accurate on your website
* Reduce spelling and grammatical errors in your copy
* Restrict your focus and be clear about what you want
* Focus on one game at a time
* Be up-front and realistic about your experience and funding. Silent investors, really?
* Be honest about the roles you offer: you're looking for volunteers. Revenue share is not a realistic proposition.

As far as this post is concerned, recruiting female-only developers does come across as a little strange - especially given that you appear to be an all-male team. If you want to champion female devs then that's great: but go about it professionally and sensibly. Say that you "prefer female candidates", maybe even offer some kind of incentive. Attend and support female development groups. Explain why you want to support female developers, or you motives might be presumed to be cynical. What about other minorities in games, do you support them too?

Just calm it down a bit, yeah? Keep it simple, do the basics well, and maybe one day you'll have a studio with a portfolio, assets and payroll.

Hi, This is the CEO of Masondogg Studios, LLC I do apologize for any alarm and the false claims that have been brought before this Atlanta, GA based company. We are a licensed and registered Company in the state of Ga and have complied with all local and state laws.

As for the female team we feel that it would have been a great idea to create a majority female team as we feel the gaming industry is biased more towards Males. Females are gamers as well and we would like a Mixed Male/Female gaming team to create some great and wonderful original IP's within the country and abroad.

Again if anyone still has concerns or would like to confirm our entity please visit the Georgia of Secretary website and search the business name yourself.

I would be willing to speak with anyone publicly or privately to resolve this issue.

I can be contacted with the following information listed below thank you also if you are great at web-design we are looking for a Web Developer and are willing to pay up to 500.00 or more to have a more professional looking website. Thank you CEO/Studio Head Mitchell E. Faulkner II

Thank you

MASONDOGG STUDIOS, LLC
CEO MITCHELL E FAULKNER II
HQ- Atlanta, Ga USA Time Zone: Est
contact@masondoggstudios.com
www.masondoggstudios.com
Tele# 678-775-8067
Skype: Mason00g

Edited by: masondoggstudios

I agree with jjc_uk - I can't say I get a very positive first impression from the website.

1) Why are you discriminating? "Need female developers" - that is just... Ok, let's put it this way: change the word "female" for "white", "black" or maybe "straight" and you will see how awfully bad this sounds! What precisely differentiates female developers from male ones? I'm perplexed really! I work for a company that takes diversity and discrimination very seriously, and this type of BS seriously makes me pissed! You can't do marketing or recruitment like this - you are basically digging your own grave!

2) I admit I didn't read everything on your website so I'll ask about this here instead:
Are you covering expenses for staffing and software licenses? If not, are the people you work for supposed to cover licensing costs themselves?
If you are a very rich entrepreneur who is totally green when it comes to game dev then I can somewhat understand your staffing frenzy and the scope of your development (having 4 separate teams - as is claimed on the jobs page) - but if that is not the case then you need to explain how you expect people to work for you for free.

3) On the page it says that the company was founded in 2012 - yet you have nothing to showcase on your company website. What have you been up with during the last four years?

4) You are not looking for any Art Directors, Producers or Technical Artists so I guess you have these bases covered?

5) Why are you talking a lot about other companies games and your CEO, but nothing about your tech or what you do?

Also, your website is not mobile-friendly: text appears outside of the screen if the width of the window is small.

Edited by: Nightshade

Niteshade wrote:

I agree with jjc_uk - I can't say I get a very positive first impression from the website.

1) Why are you discriminating? "Need female developers" - that is just... Ok, let's put it this way: change the word "female" for "white", "black" or maybe "straight" and you will see how awfully bad this sounds! What precisely differentiates female developers from male ones? I'm perplexed really! I work for a company that takes diversity and discrimination very seriously, and this type of BS seriously makes me pissed! You can't do marketing or recruitment like this - you are basically digging your own grave!

It's certainly awkwardly done. Especially if the female team is supposed to be "poodle". *eyeroll* Something like Saluki, Beagle, Labrador, or Spaniel would be less ridiculous. Or something like Kitsune, while not a dog, might get the most enthusiastic response. But, just for the sake of argument, as a female designer myself I have observed that if you take a group of female gamers and ask what their favorite game genres and themes are, you will get a somewhat different answer than if you asked a group of make gamers. One of my thoughts when reading the first page of this thread was, well no wonder there aren't already any females on the team if the existing projects are such "boy" genres, since the project concepts would be the main selling point for a volunteer to join this type of group.

But yeah, the application is not worth filling out and what on earth is this job title "Graphics/Programming/AI/Physics Engineer"??? And where is Technical Director/Lead Programmer or something like that?

Edited by: wickeddelight

masondoggstudios wrote:

Hi, This is the CEO of Masondogg Studios, LLC I do apologize for any alarm and the false claims that have been brought before this Atlanta, GA based company.

Yeah, it's not really a question of authenticity so much as credibility, strategy and attitude. I am quite confident that you have filled out the paperwork and registered as a company.

What I don't believe is that you have the talent, finance and experience to develop one - let alone several - games from your studio. And what I'm saying is that you need to learn to better present yourself and your credentials if you want to attract talent and be taken seriously.

Thank you so much for your opinions I think the best course of action would be to allow the company time to prove itself in the market before you make assumptions. Again we appreciate your opinions but the company has Male and Female developers we are looking for an opportunity to create a game tailored to the female demographic and what logically better way to do this then to have female developers. I think you guys are jumping the gun without doing research and taking a practical approach.

As for the website we totally agree everything doesn't just happen over night Rome was not built in a day. I think you should all just relax and calm down sit back and watch follow us if you want, try being supportive for a change instead of throwing Meme's at a company who is trying to support the gaming community.

Have you ever thought to think that perhaps maybe a lot of females don't get an opportunity because companies may just prefer males over females? Who then would be sexist?

I am not saying that is the case but what I'm saying is either way Masondogg Studios, supports everyone and is a positive company. Thank you for your concerns and I wish yall the best of luck in your life and businesses if you have any. Good bye

Edited by: masondoggstudios

No-one's throwing memes around and no-one's making assumptions. We're making judgements based on your company's presentation, and offering feedback to you based on what we see. We're actually trying to offer constructive criticism here. And I think based on the tone of the comments so far, everyone's pretty relaxed about what's going on.

Paying up cash to overhaul the website is fine, but the problems in the website aren't really in the structure or presentation (although both are weak). The problem is in the amateurish content - I'm afraid it reads like a boys club taking itself a bit too seriously. It doesn't take $500 to fix that - it takes a bit of perspective, a strict edit, and maybe some good advice. Look at what other (successful) indie studios are doing - what information is on their website, and what kind of tone they set.

Sexism is a problem endemic in the games industry, its causes are many, subtle and complex. Encouraging women into games is laudable - but it's equally important to provide safe, comfortable spaces for women to work. I'm not saying you're not providing a good environment - but I am saying it looks like you're not providing a good environment.

Anyway, I think "goodbye" is probably right.

Didn't quite expect such an arrogant and defensive answer. You need to learn humility and respect - start from there if you want to be a game developer.