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devilmouse posted:It'd be my full-time job if I were to respond to people with why I didn't like their resumes pre-screen. However, if you've gotten yourself a phone-call/interview, and been turned down I realize that, but I haven't even gotten coding tests from many places. Rockstar, Trion, SCEA, complete silence. @Jaytan: My resume: http://vinoisnotouzo.com/resume It lacks studio experience since I've been doing the indie thing for so long, which I think is my biggest drawback. PS: I think Amazon is running this one-year-free for their micro instance. They still charge you for bandwidth and disk access but this amounts to I think less than a dollar a month for low traffic sites.
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Aug 4, 2011 20:31
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Windows Azure has a 90 day free trial, and various payment plans afterwards 
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Aug 4, 2011 21:00
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Just had a great interview at Sleepy Giant, restored my faith in interviews at game companies after the last couple had been really poor and disjointed.
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Aug 4, 2011 21:40
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Vino posted:I realize that, but I haven't even gotten coding tests from many places. Rockstar, Trion, SCEA, complete silence. A few things that struck me: * Describing yourself as "A programmer at heart" really makes it sound like you're something else. * Your resume reads like half designer and half programmer. Try to focus more on the latter, if that's what you're applying for. * Mention more specifics about what technologies you used for the various entries in your list. People tend to get hired as primarily C++ coders, or C# coders, or Python coders, etc. It's not very obvious how much experience you have with which; the list of languages at the end doesn't cut it (and is something most people ignore). * No mention of any education. * The "Matreya Studios" section doesn't mention which game you're talking about. That makes me assume it's something which fell apart. Not necessarily a big deal, but if it's something which got released in some form, you should maybe give some more details. Vinterstum fucked around with this message at 02:13 on Aug 5, 2011 |
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Aug 5, 2011 02:07
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Personally I'd put the profile first, and rewrite it. You have to assume that a recruiter will just be scanning through CVs and not reading them properly, so you really want the first thing they read to explain succinctly why you're awesome and they should want to hire you. I'd probably ditch the objective section and just make the last sentence of your profile be whatever your objective is. For example, if you've got X years of game development experience, you want to draw attention to that straight away, and not expect a recruiter to read all the way through your previous experience to work it out. (Because unless you catch their interest early, they probably won't). The profile on my CV is pretty much just a bullet point list of all the main points I want a recruiter to take away from my CV. I'd probably also put the skills part of your resume above the experience part, because again, it's easier for a recruiter to skim for keywords that might interest them. That's my advice anyway, learned the hard way after many, many ignored applications trying to get my first programming job. My current CV pretty much always gets me to at least the phone interview stage now. The Oid fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Aug 5, 2011 |
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Aug 5, 2011 03:04
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NextTime000 posted:Well this sure looks like the announcement my Riot contact gave me the heads-up about Yep, we're working hard on this 
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Aug 5, 2011 06:45
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Our current CEO, who used to work for Codemasters and a bunch of other places, always says that some kind of profile or personal statement and things like that in a CV are fairly useless, because everybody's going to say the same thing (they're a team player but can work on their own, etc.) and they're not really verifiable. His advice is just to stick to the facts.
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Aug 5, 2011 07:24
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Vino posted:I realize that, but I haven't even gotten coding tests from many places. Rockstar, Trion, SCEA, complete silence. Your goal with the resume is to get someone from the place you are applying to call you back at which point you will knock them out with your incredible phone interview skills. Ideally, someone who is not reading things particularly carefully will be able to pick out what makes you awesome in 15 seconds or less. From looking at your stuff I think you should reorganize the whole thing. Here is what I'd change along with an explanation of why: 0. What are you applying for? It looks like you've got experience in design and programming. 1. Cut profile section. I don't think this adds anything meaningful. 2. Remove objective, or retool it. You mentioned applying at rockstar, but all your experience looks like it is indie leaning. Given the number of people moving the other way, why do you want to make the transition to AAA games? If you have something compelling here you might be able to get a useful objective, but otherwise I'd kill it. 3. Move your skill list to after your name/address. Also, make sure to list anything relevant that is listed in the job posting. I've seen recruiters throw things out because they don't know enough about what you write elsewhere to figure out that you've got the relevant skills. Be explicit with them. I've seen people split this up into programming disciplines as well listing relevant things they've done in that area. 4. Put your game projects after the skill list. It looks like you have some pretty cool experience, but it is kind of lost in your job section. Make sure you list specific things you did, as much as possible this should back up things that you listed in your skill list. "Built the game engine from scratch: physics, scene management, rendering, UI, networking." is good, but did you implement all that by yourself? "Managed design, development, Linux builds, packaging and release of two major versions (2.1, 3.0)." is less good. Managed design? What exactly did you do? 5. Reorganize your job list to put things in chronological order. What you've got right now is confusing (I missed your note about how they were organized on my first pass), and confusing often means your resume gets binned. From my reading, you were working four jobs at one point? I'd probably keep the jobs section to things you were paid (or self funded for) just to reduce confusion. Jaytan fucked around with this message at 09:15 on Aug 5, 2011 |
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Aug 5, 2011 09:13
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Got the job, starting on monday, no appartment yet. poo poo is going to be crazy.
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Aug 5, 2011 18:50
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Wow, a lot of great advice. Thank you guys.The Oid posted:My current CV pretty much always gets me to at least the phone interview stage now. Can I see it, please? An example would be great. For example, I think my current "Objective" section is great, which is probably because I've never seen a good one to realize how much it really actually sucks.
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Aug 5, 2011 19:04
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Shalinor posted:EDIT: Ok, Patcher really does make a lot of good points here, but does anyone honestly believe that you're going to make $500k+ for a couple of years of work as a rank-and-file developer on a big project? Does that happen? Ever? Even on the big name titles, even for Valve employees? If anyone from there is in here, I hope you land on your feet. Australia's industry is having a really, really bad run of luck.
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Aug 5, 2011 19:10
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Shalinor posted:This just got richer. Apparently, Team Bondi is looking at bankruptcy. Ah yes, I'm sure they all got $500k in royalties, clearly it's just a mutual agreement to go bankrupt despite. It's been my passing and completely unbacked observation that Pachter is almost always completely wrong.
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Aug 5, 2011 19:18
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Welp, let me just say that a company that I have been affiliated with (as a volunteer, staffer, and eventually represented) just ended up on my shitlist - I won't say who (and those of you who can guess from my social networking, don't advertise it please) since I haven't made up my mind whether to sue. Here's an example of why I left. quote:Hi team, That is directed at their own video directors, btw. Also the fact that their CEO gives out  copies of pirated software and encourages videos to be made using them, also encourages videos to be taken of torrented games, including leaked versions that have noticeable give-aways that they are not legit.
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Aug 5, 2011 20:50
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^^^That's pretty shitastic.Odddzy posted:Got the job, starting on monday, no appartment yet. poo poo is going to be crazy. Congrats. Enjoy the madness.
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Aug 6, 2011 06:08
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aas Bandit posted:^^^That's pretty shitastic. Thanks, I hope I'll be up to it
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Aug 6, 2011 06:18
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Odddzy posted:Got the job, starting on monday, no appartment yet. poo poo is going to be crazy. Bioware or EA Montreal?
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Aug 6, 2011 06:21
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Right, now that I'm done with SA GameDev: VI and made an embarrassing unfinished game, I want to focus on revamping my Level Designer portfolio. I'm thinking of doing a few new projects using newer technology to hopefully stay ahead of the game. I want to properly finish off my Team Fortress 2 map first, and then make one or two things using some of the following: - UDK, Which seems to be very high in demand, especially for scripting using Kismet - 3DSMax, Some places seem to demand level/environment design using a 3D modelling package - Cryengine3, Quite new and very sexy Or possibly the alternate path: - Join a Modteam, I'm interested in doing this again but it seems a bit of a gamble. I've been burned twice now for wasting my time; the first team I joined the talent up and disbanded leaving nothing but time wasters, and the GameDev competition where my team members promised work but suddenly up and vanished halfway through the project. Could anyone recommend the most appealing tools to use from a recruiter perspective? Also what would be a decent standard screenshot size to use, I'm leaning more toward 1024x600 since its big enough to fill a Netbook screen and look respectable on larger monitors.
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Aug 6, 2011 15:41
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Vino posted:@Jaytan: My resume: http://vinoisnotouzo.com/resume It lacks studio experience since I've been doing the indie thing for so long, which I think is my biggest drawback. Out of interest, what sort of positions are you going for? One of the big drawbacks I can see for big studios is you don't have any console experience listed which is a requirement for any position above junior in most cases (even for junior positions in some of the big ones). If you could get yourself some level of experience, even coding for small hand held devices for example then you'd become a lot more attractive. I know my studio isn't particularly interested in anyone who only does PC coding as they never have the same understanding of developing for limited hardware
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Aug 6, 2011 18:05
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Clonkers posted:If you could get yourself some level of experience, even coding for small hand held devices for example then you'd become a lot more attractive. I know my studio isn't particularly interested in anyone who only does PC coding as they never have the same understanding of developing for limited hardware I WISH I had the memory / processor / graphics you guys have (or the finite hardware set to optimize toward) :P
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Aug 6, 2011 18:10
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Jan posted:Bioware or EA Montreal? Neither 
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Aug 6, 2011 18:53
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Super Slash posted:Right, now that I'm done with SA GameDev: VI and made an embarrassing unfinished game, I want to focus on revamping my Level Designer portfolio. Our UDK mod team (I guess using UDK doesn't make us a mod team though since we can distribute and sell standalone?) is looking for another level designer Does anyone know of any games/movies with minimalist digital art styles like Tron and Darwinia/Multiwinia? Strong Female fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Aug 6, 2011 |
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Aug 6, 2011 18:57
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Clonkers posted:Out of interest, what sort of positions are you going for? One of the big drawbacks I can see for big studios is you don't have any console experience listed which is a requirement for any position above junior in most cases (even for junior positions in some of the big ones). I've worked in plenty of limited-hardware situations, including min-spec for PC and lots of embedded poo poo while doing contracting. When I was in school I used to program my TI-86 in its assembler language. Is that what they're looking for when they talk about "platform experience?" I always figured it was more knowing specific optimization techniques or the platform's API for PS3, or whatever. Would it help if I made an iPhone game? Anyway I would be quite happy with a junior level position at a AAA company. I'm aiming towards game programming but I would also love to do tools or engine or networking. I realize that despite having the technical proficiency to do the tasks and manage the people, lack of experience hurts me and I'll probably have to accept a junior role if it's at a company like Rockstar. I redid my resume and I think it's a lot better now: http://vinoisnotouzo.com/resume/ Thanks for everybody's help. I feel like re-submitting it to some of the companies that I applied to before, but I suppose I should wait a week or two so they don't think I'm spamming them.
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Aug 6, 2011 19:02
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The world always needs more tools programmers that also distribute their awesome tools to us artists
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Aug 6, 2011 20:04
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Vino posted:I realize that, but I haven't even gotten coding tests from many places. Rockstar, Trion, SCEA, complete silence. I don't know if you have yet, or not, but you should apply at Obsidian. We're hiring a lot of programmers of various experience levels. You can send me a PM if you have any further questions. http://www.obsidianent.com/jobs/programming/jobs-engineprogrammer-20110603.html http://www.obsidianent.com/jobs/programming/jobs-toolsprogrammer-20110603.html http://www.obsidianent.com/jobs/programming/jobs-gameplayprogrammer-20110603.html http://www.obsidianent.com/jobs/programming/jobs-networkprogrammer-20110603.html We're in Irvine, which is a little far from San Diego but not too bad. EDIT: Oh also I played the poo poo out of the specialists back in the day ^__________^ gj on that! djkillingspree fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Aug 6, 2011 |
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Aug 6, 2011 20:18
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Vino posted:I've worked in plenty of limited-hardware situations, including min-spec for PC and lots of embedded poo poo while doing contracting. Bear in mind that I don't hire programmers as part of my job, so I'm not exactly sure which criteria they use, but I'd be surprised if lack of console experience would hold you back too much, if you have enough low-level engine/networking knowledge. If you're going for more senior engine roles, maybe, but I don't think it would hold you back too much from going into networking or gameplay.
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Aug 6, 2011 20:39
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Amrosorma posted:Our UDK mod team (I guess using UDK doesn't make us a mod team though since we can distribute and sell standalone?) is looking for another level designer You don't say, got an E-mail address I can use? 
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Aug 6, 2011 20:45
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Super Slash posted:You don't say, got an E-mail address I can use? You crazy kids and your lack of platinum  amrosorma at gmail dot com Strong Female fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Dec 29, 2011 |
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Aug 6, 2011 20:52
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Amrosorma posted:Our UDK mod team (I guess using UDK doesn't make us a mod team though since we can distribute and sell standalone?) is looking for another level designer As for minimalist styles, there's a ton of Flash games, but for bigger, check out Subversion (the next one from Introversion, the people that did Darwinia/Multiwinia), and also look at Monaco, and Dyad. Plenty of others, but those leap to mind.
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Aug 6, 2011 20:53
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Shalinor posted:Kind of like in regular work, claim the highest title that is reasonable. Don't downgrade yourselves to "mod" if it isn't one - you're making an indie game on UDK with a small team, so, advertise yourself as such. Thanks; I just don't want to people to get confused and think by "indie", we mean Minecraft or Angry Birds. quote:As for minimalist styles, there's a ton of Flash games, but for bigger, check out Subversion (the next one from Introversion, the people that did Darwinia/Multiwinia), and also look at Monaco, and Dyad. Plenty of others, but those leap to mind. Thank you! Yeah, we actually showed off our game to some Epic guys and while they really liked it, one of the big criticisms is that it just looks too similar to the glut of FPS games out right now. I figure going for something carefully minimalist would help with differentiation (and asset production).
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Aug 6, 2011 21:10
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Amrosorma posted:Thanks; I just don't want to people to get confused and think by "indie", we mean Minecraft or Angry Birds. If you're not comfortable with the "indie" label, at least go with "independent game" or just "game" instead of "mod". But yes, differentiating yourself visually will be key. That's a big part of why indies can succeed - you don't do it by trying to beat the big studios at their own game, you do it by taking risks (visual and design-wise) that they simply can't afford to take themselves. (EDIT: and ideally, you take risks that are both stylish and cost cutting - like procedurally generated visuals, or torn paper'y tiling akin to And Yet It Moves, or akin to Antichamber, etc) EDIT: Oh, yeah, Antichamber is yet another game with stylish visuals. Then there's Substream, Planck, Proun, etc. Really, indie anything will lean that route. Also, I spent 5 minutes googling all these damned things... people, when you make an indie game, come up with a distinct name that sticks in memories. It took me ages to find these, blah. Shalinor fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Aug 6, 2011 |
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Aug 6, 2011 21:42
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[First, let me explain why I'm not at a big school: I have 36 months of benefits for the (Post-9/11) GI Bill, which pays me ~$2000 a month on top of covering my tuition. I am a stay-at-home dad for right now because my wife has a degree and a decent-paying job. However, I've whittled away at my months of benefits and have about a year and a half left.] Now, I just switched from a small private school getting a "CIS - Software Design" degree, to an online college (UMUC, if you're curious) with an actual Computer Science degree. It fits better with my needs for stay-at-home-dadding or whatever, so I made the switch. My wife keeps reassuring me that where you get your degree from doesn't matter 9 times out of 10, as long as you know your stuff. What I'm wondering is: 1. Has anyone in the business dealt with UMUC personally, or have any anecdotal evidence that would reinforce my thoughts that I should be drilling myself on various programming-and-design concepts while I undertake this degree (if so, what would you suggest boning up on)? 2. How much of being a junior programmer is feeling out/OJT regarding the programming or development suite you're working with? I pick things up really quickly, but should I expect to be immediately at the level of my peers, or will there be a period where I'll be helped to that level? I didn't want to write this much but oh well.
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Aug 6, 2011 22:02
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Amrosorma posted:Yeah, we actually showed off our game to some Epic guys and while they really liked it, one of the big criticisms is that it just looks too similar to the glut of FPS games out right now. Are you only looking for just the one level editor? I'm interested depending on the outcome of some interviews.
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Aug 6, 2011 22:07
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Anyone heard of this press release site before? The membership fee thing raises an eyebrow. I'm not sure I see anything here that http://www.gamespress.com/ doesn't already offer for free. EDIT: Oh, hey, the $15 per month until you've paid $180 total then lifetime from then on really isn't bad. Shalinor fucked around with this message at 23:30 on Aug 6, 2011 |
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Aug 6, 2011 22:27
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Shalinor posted:Indie means... a lot of things. I'm actually thinking of doing an "Indie Is Not" blog series to just try and at least nail down what we DON'T think of as indie, to maybe bracket it in slightly more usefully. Thanks so much! This is a huge help. BizarroAzrael posted:Are you only looking for just the one level editor? I'm interested depending on the outcome of some interviews. Send me an email whenever you want. Good luck with your interviews!
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Aug 6, 2011 22:30
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Super Slash posted:Right, now that I'm done with SA GameDev: VI and made an embarrassing unfinished game, I want to focus on revamping my Level Designer portfolio.  I learned something new (XNA), time to look for work. I start talking to recruiters Monday.
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Aug 7, 2011 02:43
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djkillingspree posted:I don't know if you have yet, or not, but you should apply at Obsidian. We're hiring a lot of programmers of various experience levels. You can send me a PM if you have any further questions. You guys hiring any artists any time soon? I grew up in Orange County and have some friends at Blizzard and Carbine, so I wouldn't mind getting back there... Just wondering. https://instagram.com/mutatedjellyfish/
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Aug 7, 2011 05:10
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aas Bandit posted:Congrats. Enjoy the madness. Hey! I started today. I'm over by the QA people.
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Aug 8, 2011 18:31
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BovineFury posted:Sup from the reviled Life, Taxes & Death guy. Would it be a bad idea to use too much from Caravan in a 2D Game Artist portfolio? (In case you haven't been checking out the SA Game Dev VI thread, here's a Photobucket album of pieces from Caravan I'd consider putting in my portfolio.) Caravan being the only game I've ever done suggests to me that work from it ought to be the bulk of my portfolio, but it is very stylistic, and not an obvious representation of my usual work, though I certainly wouldn't mind getting more work in a similar vein. Working on these was really fun (though constantly challenging due to the limited color pallet and giant pixel size, but easy work is boring work)! I'm also a bit uncertain what job openings I should be concentrating on. I believe Junior 2D Game Artist is the position that makes the most sense for me to aim for based on my skills. I've a BFA in illustration and cartooning from SVA, with my in school studies primarily centered on character design, linework, and storytelling using sequential art (not animation mind you), and post-school I've been working on digital painting in Photoshop and wrangling vector art in Illustrator as well. Flash and 3D texturing or modeling are things I'm willing to learn, but have no idea where to start. (My sum experience in them both are animating a shifty blinking eye and copying and pasting textures around on a handful of hairstyles for The Sim 2 fan content.  ) Graphic Design is not a strong suit of mine, so I imagine UI Artist would be a poor choice. I'm under the impression that Concept Artist is a highly sought after position and that the competition is incredibly stiff. Though I had a great deal of fun designing the towns in Caravan (I was pretty surprised with exactly how much fun I was having and so have put Environment Artist back on the table) and I love character design, my design tastes run rather cartoony, probably too much so for studios that put out more realistic games. What other game art positions have I missed? I'm lucky enough to be located in San Francisco now, but that means that many of the companies in the area are Facebook or iPhone/Android app game devs, which is why I've been trying to get the hang of Illustrator and vector art, even though ~Photoshop is my one true love~. They'd probably be more receptive to cartoony, outlined art as well. I'll also be making a proper portfolio website in the coming week. Does anyone have any advice on layouts for it (and annoying design choices to avoid)? Should I link to a copy of Caravan as well, even though it's very buggy, crashy, and feature bare? (My programmer partner lost all of the code the night before the last day, so he had to rush together what he could remember in pretty much 24 hours. I'm really impressed he managed to even get it halfway working again in that timespan, but I'm not sure giving potential employers a buggy, crashy game to judge my art is putting my best foot forward.) How would I list Caravan and the SA Game Dev Challenge on a resume, under a "Projects" or "Activities" heading?
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Aug 8, 2011 23:52
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Detective, that art looks great as long as you explain in your portfolio why it looks oldschool, and as long as you don't try to apply for a position that your art doesn't exhibit skills for. You'd be fine applying to a casual game studio looking for a 2D artist. And yeah, let people see Caravan, even if it is buggy, just to show that you've made a game with someone. M4rk fucked around with this message at 02:10 on Aug 9, 2011 |
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Aug 9, 2011 01:05
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I didn't get the job at Irrational  They did say that they were impressed with me though. Oh well. Anyone else hiring experienced QA?
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Aug 9, 2011 03:28
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