Introduction
“Risk something or forever sit with your dreams.” — Herb Brooks.
Thank you for visiting the developmental website for Little Sim World. We usually share this web page for informational purposes to help with the interview process. This domain also holds full documentation for Little Sim World but only concurrent internal developers have permissions to view the rest of the website. Guests should be able to view the interview process along with some workflow documentation.
If you have any questions, contact us directly at:
Discord: Jin#0001
Email: info@gravity.blue
Blue Gravity Studios began the development of Little Sim World in March 2019 and is based in London, United Kingdom. The team were finishing their PhDs at the time and had a concept to create a 'PhD Simulator' of sorts that was similar to their everyday life. As development progressed there was a growing concern that such a title may have somewhat of a niche market and the game evolved from a PhD Simulator into something broader, dubbed Project S (S for Simulator). From Project S, the game expanded into Little Sim World was over time.
The vision of the Studio as well as Little Sim World is very important to us. Who are we, and why do we make games? We will attempt to address these questions in this article. For more information, please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions section for additional questions not addressed here.
The current climate for gaming is very competitive - we all know this. Sadly, the majority of mobile games today are reskinned of existing IPs without the introduction of meaningful gameplay mechanics. Rather, they focus on immediate gratification in hopes of success with minimal effort. Little Sim World takes a slightly different approach that focuses on gameplay and the player experience. I want to take after inspiring indie titles before us, such as Stardew Valley, Don’t Starve and the likes of Minecraft.
If you have passed the interview stage and are currently a part of the team, please make sure to read all documentation under the 'Workflow' section of the navigation bar at the top of the Wiki very carefully. It is of paramount importance that they are read in full, and expectations are fully understood. I really do put significant emphasis on workflow and teamwork as I believe this is what makes a successful team.
Once you have read the workflow documentation in its entirety, all sections from Introduction to IP, please message Terry on Discord or email and state explicitly that you have read and understood all the requirements to the best of your ability.
The Interview
Most candidates that are interested in working with us will be invited to an interview task. It will take a few hours to finish, so please inform us if you are happy to try this. We usually expect a 48-96 hour turnaround time such that it reflects what real working conditions will be like (depending on the interview type). When you are ready, let us know, and we will send you the interview task.
The Internship Period
New members that pass the interview stage start as interns and will be invited into either our interview Discord or our main Team LSW Discord. All work beyond the interview task will be paid in full. In general, we do not accept free work, even from volunteers. We believe that good work should be compensated for, and it is unfair to take advantage of people’s hard work regardless of their good intention.
The internship period will last anywhere between 1-3 months. This usually depends on the work that is being produced and is a case-by-case scenario.
Since payment is due on the first of each month, this means that you will be converted into a full member when payment is to be sent. As you may expect, this means that your intern period may end on non-integer months based on when the payment is.
Working Hours
All work in LSW is tracked remotely. All members who are working on LSW are expected to participate in the Discord chat. When the member is tagged, or a question is directed at them, they are expected to reply within a reasonable time frame. This is integral to remote work and should be followed whenever possible.
Working hours are tracked via the software Timedoctor. Please see the Timedoctor section for more information.
If you are to be absent for holidays or unexpected reasons, please let the appropriate person know in advance. At least one day beforehand is to be expected. Payment may be reduced if hours at work are missed, and this decision will be decided by the individual in charge of releasing payment. If you forget to track time for any reason, please let the appropriate admin know as soon as possible.
Software Requirements
Explanation of each requirement will be elaborated in subsequent sections. Please read this article Software Requirements as it is very important. Below are the immediate requirements:
- A scan of your ID, passport or driver license.
Proof of address with your name (a bill, or bank statement).
Email to: id@gravity.blue - Unity (Programmers & Animators only).
https://unity.com/ - Discord (Live chat with the team).
https://discord.com/login - Asana (Todo List).
https://app.asana.com/ - pCloud (File Storage). → Please sign up in the European region. We cannot share files to other regions!
https://www.pcloud.com/eu - Insightful (Time Tracking).
https://www.insightful.io/
You do not need to pay for any of the above. Terry will be able to invite you to the appropriate team. The only thing you need to do is supply your email address for application invitations. Please make sure you will always have access to this email.
For development, the latest beta version of Unity is used (please ask a developer for the current build). You must have access to a Directx 11 machine to play LSW.
Payment Schedule
Payment will usually be sent monthly on the first of each month to all members rounded up to the closest Monday. For newer members, it may be the case that payment is sent after a week of work, for the first few weeks (depending on the individual circumstance).
Payment is calculated using 4.35 weeks per month. It is a common misconception that each month has 4 weeks (this is incorrect). This means that instead, the payment is calculated for the available number of working hours available that month.
Payment is calculated this way to maintain a consistent salary per month. This means that effectively, the average number of working hours per month is not 160 for someone full-time, but rather, 174 despite the official hours being 40 hours a week. We never advertise 4 weeks a month or payment for 4 weeks a month, this is a common misunderstanding for some that payment is every 4 weeks but in reality, it is 4.35 weeks. This effectively means the hourly pay is slightly different every month.
To be more 'exact':
Payment = (Hours worked / (Available working days of the month * Hours Expected Per day)) * Salary
Payment Methods
Payment is typically sent via one of the following methods depending on the developer's preference:
International Transfer (average fixed fee $10-30, takes an additional 24-48 hours)
Paypal Transfer (average fee 10% of payment including currency conversion, instant)
All fees incurred during transactions are the responsibility of the developer and not Blue Gravity Studios. All quoted salaries are the total outbound payment amount.