• Team Member Guidelines

    Last Updated: 6/3/2023 at 11:29 AM CST

     

    This page outlines a series of guidelines that apply to any and all team members working on one or more of our games, or game-related projects. It does NOT, however, apply to those working on the following projects, and team members working on these projects are subject to their own, separate guidelines:

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    INTERNAL CONTENT AND NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT

    We don't want our internal content being discussed or leaked. Most of our game content is generally considered confidential. However, we don't think it's fair to permanently prohibit discussion or showcase of this content forever, either. Some folks often really get excited to see what our games look like during the development process, and like seeing the game transition into what they ultimately get their hands on. In a lot of cases, we'll make much of this public to begin with - however, in rare cases that we don't, the following guidelines cover how that content is to be handled - along with general information for how content is handled overall:

     

    1. All content not visible on the public end of the website should be treated as if it were under Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Posting images, descriptions, videos, or any other content revealing the content under implied or true NDA will result in termination from the team, and in some cases, could result in legal action being taken
    2. All modifications of official source code, game assets, textures, sound effects, and any other content used within Elaztek's website, games, software, or any other product/service should be documented and approved by each project's respective leader
    3. Any and all source code within private Elaztek repositories, on either our own Gitlab, Github, or any other service or site where our source code is stored, is under a non-disclosure agreement. Releasing any part of this source code in the form of text, screenshots, videos, audio, or any other means will be seen as a violation of the NDA and will result in your immediate termination from the team and potential legal action
    4. Certain aspects of projects may be freely discussed and considered to no longer be under an NDA, under the following circumstances:
      • Screenshots, videos, audio, and other content that does NOT include game assets or source code, may be revealed and game details may be freely discussed by FORMER TEAM MEMBERS if one of the following criteria are met:
        • The project has been unannounced to the public for more than 5 years from the time of the project's inception
        • The project has had no future communications, blog posts, or other information for more than 5 years from the last communication about the project
        • The project has been formally announced as cancelled, and is marked as "Cancelled" in the Project History page within the About Us section (this does NOT apply to projects marked as on "Indefinite Hold")
        • The project has been formally sunset and is no longer receiving future updates
          The content is already included in a publicly-accessible alpha, beta, or other pre-release build
        • Express, written permission has been obtained to discuss the content in question from the company owner or project lead
      • Screenshots, videos, audio, and other content that does NOT include game assets or source code, may be revealed and game details may be freely discussed by CURRENT TEAM MEMBERS if one of the following criteria are met:
        • The project has had no internal development for more than 3 years, and there are no active plans to continue development
        • The project has been formally announced as cancelled, and is marked as "Cancelled" in the Project History page within the About Us section (this does NOT apply to projects marked as on "Indefinite Hold")
        • The project has been formally sunset and is no longer receiving future updates
        • The content is specifically part of alpha, beta, or other pre-release content and all content shown is either:
          • Already included in its final form within the final game
          • Is not intended to be reused in future updates or DLC
        • The content is already included in a publicly-accessible alpha, beta, or other pre-release build
        • Express, written permission has been obtained to discuss the content in question from the company owner or project lead
    5. Game content, including source code, assets, and other content may be freely released and discussed ONLY if the following criteria are met:
      • The project is formally cancelled
      • The project's source code and assets are not being reused in other projects (ex, the Blamite Game Engine's source code would not be able to be released to the public, however game scripts that are only applicable to a specific project would likely be allowed to be released)
      • There are no significant security risks that would be opened up as a result of content being released to the public
      • There are no personal details or other sensitive information included within the content
      • Express, written permission from the company owner is given

     

    PUBLIC RELATIONS

    We want to encourage open and free discussion between both members of the community, as well as between the community and our team. In order to help maintain this communication and avoid things breaking down into angry shouting matches, we've got a few guidelines on how community communications are to be handled:

     

    1. All interactions with the community should be handled with care and a basic level of maturity should be demonstrated. Acting in an immature manner could result in you being terminated from the team
    2. In the case of a large amount of community backlash or outrage, the following actions should be taken:
      • Contact an administrator or the company Owner immediately
      • Do what you can to keep discussion calm, though we recognize that in some cases this may not be effective or possible
      • Do your best to maintain communication, though we understand that in the case of large events, this may not be feasible
      • If discussion reaches a point where it becomes hostile and overly heated, and users refuse to disengage and/or behave more respectfully, temporary muting of hostile users is considered appropriate
      • Avoid flaming, insulting, attacking, or harassing users during such an event. If you feel that you yourself are too stressed to deal with the situation, it is best to take a step back and disengage at that time
    3. All other community guidelines should be followed at all times

     

    BEHAVIOR INSIDE & OUTSIDE OF ELAZTEK STUDIOS

    For the most part, we only really care about users behavior inside Elaztek Studios. Unless you're going out of your way to be a horrible person - we don't care one way or the other what you post in your free time. We believe that our team members should have the right to post what they choose on social media, and not have to worry about censoring themselves in order to "represent the business better" or anything like that. However, we do have a few guidelines on how you should behave inside Elaztek Studios, and things that we consider severe enough to take action on if it happens outside of Elaztek Studios, all of which are outlined below:

     

    1. The following behaviors inside OR outside of Elaztek Studios are considered a violation and may result in termination:
      • Performing or encouraging any illegal activities
      • Cyberbullying, harassement, flaming, or otherwise attacking one or more people
      • Doxing or otherwise leaking personal information of one or more people
      • Threatening violence against one or more people in a manner that is clearly not intended as a joke or sarcasm
      • Repeated instances of clear and obvious racist or sexist behavior that is clearly not intended as a joke or sarcasm
    2. The following are examples of content that would NOT be considered a violation:
      • Strong controversial political opinions, regardless of political leaning
      • Controversial posts or "hot takes"
      • Controversial posts that are accused of inciting violence, but that we deem are not doing so
      • Posting negative opinions on any of Elaztek Studios' projects, provided that no content or personal details are being leaked

     

    MONETIZATION

    Most games developed under Elaztek Studios will have some form of monetization - after all, the bills don't pay themselves. That being said, we do strive to ensure that monetization within our games is as far from predatory and exploitative as possible. We don't like FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) tactics, we don't like forcing players to spend money as the only way to get that cool helmet, and we especially don't like retroactively taking stuff people paid for out and making it impossible to use or obtain in the future. As such, the following guidelines describe how monetization may be implemented into any game developed by Elaztek Studios:

     

    1. Game design and monetization should, generally, not seek to exploit the consumer or player (certain exceptions can be made in special circumstances, see below). Examples of what we consider to be exploitative monetization include, but are not limited to:
      • Gameplay altering microtransactions in a non-free game or product, where certain aspects of gameplay are locked behind a paywall
      • Pay-to-Win mechanics in a non-free game or product, where a player is encouraged or pressured into paying for additional benefits in order to gain a competitive advantage
      • Lootboxes or other related RNG-driven reward systems, when combined with the ability to purchase lootboxes either directly or indirectly
      • Any other similar tactics that are used as part of generating revenue and are not part of the genuine creative vision of Elaztek Studios
    2. Microtransactions are generally permitted (provided they do not violate any other guidelines in this section), however there are several additional guidelines that apply to all types of microtransactions, cosmetic or otherwise:
      • Individual microtransactions (single items, not a group of items) should not exceed $10 USD in any circumstance, and "bundles" of multiple items should not exceed $20 USD
      • All microtransactions should have some mechanism for obtaining without requiring that the player spends real-world money. This can be achieved by having specific unlock criteria on a per-item basis, or by having microtransactions be purchasable using an in-game currency
    3. An in-game virtual currency system is permitted, however it must also meet the following guidelines:
      •  In-game currency packs can be sold at any amount, including discount bundles
      • All items which can be obtained with a virtual currency must also be able to purchased directly, without requiring the use of the virtual currency
        • In the case of a technical reason why items could not be easily purchased directly, then an option to purchase an exact amount of in-game currency in order to obtain the item should be made available
      • Players must not be forced, under any circumstance, to purchase an excess of virtual currency in order to obtain an item
    4. Microtransactions that are described as "exploitative" (see point 1) may be permitted ONLY under the following circumstances, as long as they meet all other criteria described in this section:
      • The game or product that they are implemented in is a free-to-play title, with no other financially feasible means of generating revenue
      • The specific implementation is approved in writing by the company owner
    5. Expansions, DLC (Downloadable Content), and other forms of paid addon content (referred to henceforth as simply 'DLC') is permitted, as long as the following criteria are met:
      • The DLC is not retroactively prepared prior to launch and composed of already completed content previously intended to be part of the base game
      • Assets that are used purely for DLC content must not be included in the base title, and should be included as part of the DLC package instead. In other words, players disk space should not be consumed with content that they have not purchased
        • This rule can be waived by the company owner in special circumstances where technical limitations may require this, however this should be a last-resort, and this should be remedied in a future title or through an update
        • This rule does not apply to cases where base assets that are present within the base game are reused within DLC, and only applies to newly introduced assets that are only used within the specific DLC in question
      • DLC content should not at any point be removed from the game, and should remain purchasable and playable indefinitely
        • If keeping a DLC item purchasable were to ever become infeasible for any reason, the DLC should be fully included in the base game or otherwise made available free of charge to all players
    6. The Battle Pass monetization model or other similar microtransaction models are permitted as long as the following criteria are met:
      • Previous seasons must remain purchasable and must be able to be completed at any point in the future, even after the release of newer seasons. This applies to both paid and free items within a season
      • Paid seasonal content (often referred to as a "Premium" Battle Pass) should have a mechanism of unlock that does not require the use of real-world money
      • All other guidelines within this section are met, as applicable
    7. Existing projects which were compliant with these guidelines at the time of release, but became non-compliant through a future revision of the guidelines, are not obligated to adhere to the new guidelines UNLESS one of the following criteria are met:
      • The game is a "live-service" title and/or is intended to receive future updates for more than 1 year after the point where these guidelines were revised
      • The company owner makes an explicit order for a project to be updated to become compliant
      • Projects will have 6 months from the time of the guidelines being revised to become compliant, however time extensions may be given as necessary
    8. Projects may have one or more of the above guidelines waived only with written and express permission from the company owner

     

    TITLE UPDATES/LIVE SERVICE TITLES

    In some cases, we'll release updates and patches for our games after their initial launch. Sometimes, these are nothing more than some bugfixes. Other times, however, updates may be used to introduce new content. These are commonly known as "live service" titles. However, in order to avoid some of the pitfalls and negative associations that come with live service games, we have some guidelines in place for how these updates are to be handled.

     

    1. Updates generally should not remove or permanently lock content from the base game. This may be permitted in rare circumstances, with approval from studio administration
    2. Updates may not be used as a means to complete base game features. If a title is likely to not have sufficient content by its release date, then the title should be delayed - as while delays are not ideal and can lead to disappointment, releasing a half-baked experience is often significantly worse
    3. Features that are finalized or nearly finalized prior to release cannot be retroactively removed and locked behind a future game update

     

    TEAM SIDE PROJECTS

    In some instances, team members are permitted to initiate development of side projects under the Elaztek Studios name. Generally, these take the form as side projects that either a single or a small group of people. Note that these side projects are projects that are worked on during "company time", and take the place of a small period of time that would have otherwise been allocated to other official projects. They do NOT refer to projects that team members develop outside of work hours. If these projects are seen as having a good potential for success, they may be granted further attention and resources from Elaztek Studios. No matter the case, all of these side projects are subject to the following guidelines:

     

    1. All side projects (including the content created for them, such as source code, game assets, etc) are recognized as being property of Elaztek Studios, and not under the ownership of the team members who create them, unless otherwise stated by the company owner
    2. Elaztek Studios reserves the right to continue development of previously cancelled side projects at any point in the future
    3. All side projects must be stored within the Elaztek Gitlab or another Elaztek-operated service
    4. Team members working on side projects, unless otherwise specified, are not entitled to any permanent/ongoing royalties from the side project should be completed and released
    5. All side projects are to be released under the Elaztek Studios name, and treated as a standard Elaztek Studios project

     

    TERMINATION

    It sucks, but sometimes we have to let people go from our team. While we generally try to avoid this as much as possible, there are certain scenarios where we have no choice. Note that the following section applies ONLY to volunteer team members, and may not necessarily apply to paid employees. The common conditions for this, as well as the protections for team members are described below:

     

    1. Elaztek Studios reserves the right to remove any team member, for any reason. The most common reasons include, but are not limited to:
      • Failure to abide by the guidelines outlined in this document
      • Being inactive (ie, not communicating with team members and/or not making any contributions to projects) for an extended period of time, without prior notice
      • Any other reason deemed severe enough to warrant a removal from the team
    2. Conspiring to get another team member terminated without valid reason may result in your termination from the team
    3. Upon termination, you will lose the following:
      • Immediate removal of website rank and Discord role
      • Immediate removal of access to internal systems (Jenkins, private Gitlab repositories, Stratagem, Team Hub, Ivory Tower, Sentry)
      • Immediate removal of access to internal communication channels (Nextcloud, Mattermost, staff-only Discord channels, staff-only subforums)
    4. If you commute on-location, you will have 14 days to collect any personal belongings. This may be extended at a manager's discretion. After this time, your keycard will no longer be valid and you will no longer be able to enter the building. If you have forgotten or lost any personal belongings, please contact a manager or other member of the team
    5. Elaztek is not required to disclose the reasoning for any termination (but we usually will, and usually you will know in the first place)
    6. You may not be terminated for race, religion, personal beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, or other discriminatory reason
    7. Except in extreme cases (such as clear threats of violence or otherwise), team members may not be terminated for any content made on personal social media profiles
      • Some things that we DO consider significant enough for termination:
        • Continued, repeated harassment of one or more individuals
        • Threats of violence in a manner that is clearly not intended to be a joke of some sort
        • Repeated instances of clear and obvious racist or sexist behavior
      • Some things that we DO NOT consider significant enough for termination:
        • Strong controversial political opinions, regardless of political leaning
        • Controversial posts or "hot takes"
        • Controversial posts that are accused of inciting violence, but that we deem are not doing so
        • Posting negative opinions on any of Elaztek Studios' projects, provided that no content is being leaked

     

    RESERVATION OF RIGHTS

    Elaztek Studios reserves the right to modify, add to, remove from, or otherwise alter these terms, with sufficient notice. If you disagree with any changes made to these terms, you may contact a manager for questions or concerns. If you ultimately do not agree to the terms, you may no longer be permitted to continue working on Elaztek Studios projects.

     

    QUESTIONS

    If you have any questions on any of the above guidelines and/or feel that you need additional clarification, feel free to reach out to a manager or the Owner.


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