hi.
i want to know all programers modelers and artists in a big AAA studio work like a usual employee in all types o companies? for example: should any employee come in time and go on time or they are just have to perform tasks in right time? do these studios work 24 hour a day or......?
It's an office job, just like any other business.
Just like other businesses, specifics will vary from place to place. Some organisations will have offices, some will have cubicles, some will go for open plan.
Employees will work normal full time or part time hours depending on their role and employment. Standard (9-5) or varied hours will depend on the particular business and employees. Some employees or contractors may work remotely.
Overtime depends on the business. "Crunch" or extreme overtime is unfortunately common in some studios, but thankfully it's becoming less common industry-wide.
Some employees (typically in support rather than development roles) may be on call.
Game development is not typically a 24 hour business, but depending how bad crunch is in a particular organization long hours or even occasional periods of 24 hour operation may occur. Places where this happen are probably not where you want to work.
Occasional overtime can happen in almost any business, but it should ideally be the exception rather than the rule, should not be forced or culturally expected, and should be properly compensated.
It's exactly as @jbadams says.
For example, our studio has offices in Europe and the United States. The offices are a combination of open space, office rooms and even cubicles. In all locations, you "punch in" with a keycard when you come in in the morning and "punch out" when you leave in the evening. During the day, you don't punch in/out (for example for lunch). Most people usually stay for 8 hours anytime between 07:00 and 19:00. On some days, you come later, on some earlier. As long as nobody abuses the hours and is available for all the scheduled meetings (if any), the company is fine and trusts us a lot. We, too, trust our company not to pull any bullshit. At the end of a full month, you should have (number of days times eight) hours on your "punch card", the exact distribution is up to everyone. Most people have a bit more. There's almost no home-office in our company.
There are occasional over times, well communicated, not enforced and paid if it's a lot. On average, developers (coders, artists, testers, etc) won't spend more than 1-4 Saturdays a year, usually 0 Saturdays.
Crunches depend on the production ability to estimate how long the operations will take. Their estimate depends on developers' ability to estimate how long will it take them. Ideally, there's enough buffer and there are no crunches.
