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The Cheshire Cat posted:I think an interesting approach to difficulty settings would be to break out of the "easy/medium/hard" mold and instead allow the player to set individual features. Dungeon Hack is a great example of this, where it had presets for easy, medium, and hard, but then you could go in and set a whole bunch of different custom options like "food rarity" or "underwater level" or "enable undead enemies". The Civilization games have a similar setup with custom games. I think part of the problem is that while designers recognize the problem (that being that there is no one difficulty balance that will appeal to everyone), they end up deciding to just cater to one specific crowd rather than allowing players to customize their preferences according to how masochistic they are. Even something as simple as New Vegas' "Hardcore" mode, that enables certain features independent of the actual difficulty setting can work. Completely agree that this should be an option, although a lot of designers tend to get uppity about overloading the user with options and blowing out the QA workload exponentially for every new option, which is fair enough. AntiPseudonym fucked around with this message at 08:08 on Aug 17, 2011 |
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Aug 17, 2011 08:06
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Vino posted:I don't think those are niche roles. They maybe don't have to be full time but I would definitely want someone who's highly skilled in each of those things. A team of artist needs a strong direction and an art style goal, and unless you have the next Minecraft you're going to need some good PR. The thing is, there is a difference between good PR and great PR. Great PR is extremely hard to find, and is generally (in my opinion) beyond the reach of most two-three person studios, especially if the founder/head is a technical type and lacks experience in marketing or management (because most people don't realize that proper management IS part of your PR). Good PR can get your message across to game journos. Great PR can get your message across to EVERYONE. As an aside, this is why I contract as PR counsel in addition to legal/bizdev. Tricky Ed posted:Seconding this. Too many game companies fail before they get started because the founders' first order of business is getting company credit cards and buying themselves the best dev machines/office space/car service. If you don't have someone with good business sense before you obtain funding, you will most likely have some catastrophic holes in your business plan/production schedule. Don't sign a 7-year unbreakable lease ever. I'd be disbarred if I advised a client to sign a long-term lease without some provision for getting out of it, even at a penalty; doubly so if it were a startup. Black Eagle posted:I agree. Marketing is like a performance art. There shouldn't be any narration. However, the dancers should know the steps, the musicians should know the notes, and the actors should know the lines. Once you make that leap from consumer to producer, you need to adopt a different perspective on the product. At the risk of mixing metaphors, you need to know how your engine works, not merely that yours does. This is a great metaphor. If you are marketing, you are a stage manager in so many ways. You are putting on a public performance -- you are interpreting the director's intent and message for the story. A good stage manager in theatre can take a average-written play, and turn it into a fantastic performance. In that regard, you have to know EVERYTHING. You have to know what your audience is looking for in trends. You have to be brutally honest as to whether what you are doing is furthering the director's vision. You have to know how to coordinate between the orchestra pit and the stage actors and the crew; you have to make them all move together at once, and if you don't do your job well, the overall result will begin to drift from the director's vision. In other words, it's not just about going through the motions, you have to satisfy the substance underlying your product. Exiting the metaphor a second, don't just send a press release; analyze WHY you are sending a press release, who ought to be reading it, what you want them to do with your message, what that message is in the first place, what end state you want to see, and is a presser really the most effective way to go about it? In my opinion, the best PR people are not the "stars" that everyone sees; they are the "chief of staff" behind the scenes.
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Aug 17, 2011 08:34
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AntiPseudonym posted:Completely agree that this should be an option, although a lot of designers tend to get uppity about overloading the user with options and blowing out the QA workload exponentially for every new option, which is fair enough. Well, with this sort of design I think part of it would be admitting that the game just won't be balanced with every possible permutation of options, so trying to QA test it all (beyond basic bug checking) is just a way to drive yourself mad. If someone was going to give the player these options, it would be best to just try to balance the game for the middle of the road settings, and then just let users tweak to their preference. The issue of game difficulty is actually kind of interesting to think about with regard to how the industry has evolved over time. The real shift happened when gaming shifted from arcades to home consoles - games became less about providing a challenge and more about providing an experience. In an arcade, you HAVE to make the games hard, because if players don't die, they don't spend more money on the game. It was a sort of balancing act between providing a difficult enough game to make money for the arcade owner, but not so difficult to drive players off in frustration. You had to make the game JUST hard enough that it felt challenging without feeling impossible. With home consoles though, the arcade owners no longer factor into the equation, and thus the only person you have to please is the player, which led to a trend of games getting easier to actually finish since there was no longer any reason NOT to let players be able to finish in one go.
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Aug 17, 2011 09:41
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Check out this preview of my game, you nerds!
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Aug 17, 2011 10:37
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Akuma posted:Check out this preview of my game, you nerds! Part of me says "awesome, I love DJ Hero 2" but part of me also says "Eh, I wouldn't care nearly as much without a fake turntable and crossfader."
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Aug 17, 2011 12:07
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Yes, now I am Lead Spaz let's get this goon project started  I propose a time travel steampunk RPG. This is gonna be the best game.
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Aug 17, 2011 13:00
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Fishbus posted:Yes, now I am Lead Spaz let's get this goon project started Imagine four goons on the edge of a cliff... they're more likely to fall off than make a game.
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Aug 17, 2011 13:09
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The FULL CryEngine 3 SDK is out now and it's FREE. http://crytek.com/news/crytek-releases-cryengine-3-sdk-free-of-charge
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Aug 17, 2011 13:37
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Monster w21 Faces posted:The FULL CryEngine 3 SDK is out now and it's FREE. Oh noooo, all of my times!!
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Aug 17, 2011 13:54
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Maide posted:Imagine four goons on the edge of a cliff... they're more likely to fall off than make a game. Imagine four goons falling off a cliff. I can make that a reality
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Aug 17, 2011 13:57
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Maide posted:Imagine four goons on the edge of a cliff... they're more likely to fall off than make a game. The gaming industry works the same way. Monster w21 Faces posted:The FULL CryEngine 3 SDK is out now and it's FREE. Maybe that means they'll properly document their stuff? (not a chance.)
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Aug 17, 2011 14:58
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Jan posted:Maybe that means they'll properly document their stuff? Still, I am beginning to think this is just part of learning a new major engine. There's a baptism of fire: a period of screaming, and then a period of claiming that your old engine is far better because the new engine is missing huge features, then growing acceptance of the charred skin and nerves - and then a moment of enlightenment, after which you at those who don't understand the obvious power of the engine you've accepted as your own.If they actually documented their stuff, that would all be ruined. Shalinor fucked around with this message at 15:31 on Aug 17, 2011 |
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Aug 17, 2011 15:29
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Got part one of a potentially two-part interview at 1 PM. Keeping the nerves at bay by reminding myself that I got this far for all the right reasons. Question for y'all: Standard stuff (research, cramming, portfolio review) aside, how do you guys mentally prepare for an interview? And how do you "switch on" for on-the-spot creative exercises? I imagine we all have our methods, but I'm curious what works for you guys.
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Aug 17, 2011 17:06
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Monster w21 Faces posted:The FULL CryEngine 3 SDK is out now and it's FREE. TIME TO REVERSE ENGINEER SOME GAMES Be back in three months.
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Aug 17, 2011 17:09
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typhus posted:Got part one of a potentially two-part interview at 1 PM. Keeping the nerves at bay by reminding myself that I got this far for all the right reasons.
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Aug 17, 2011 17:12
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What classes should I be supplementing my Comp Sci degree with? All of the core courses are either "overviews" of (presumably various) languages or done in Java (is this bad? I am worried). I have everything from C# to XML to UNIX to C++ at my disposal, but none of the specialized classes are required for my degree. edit: I am interested in making a start with single-person simple game projects, like the GameDev entries submitted this month (though probably lower quality at first), and not specializing in anything in particular to begin with. I would eventually be interested in AI programming, but that's a long way away. Save Russian Jews fucked around with this message at 00:21 on Aug 18, 2011 |
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Aug 18, 2011 00:18
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I was totally stressing out over the Rockstar test. It was a very challenging test but it didn't involve any subjective "style" stuff like the previous programming tests I've taken. It was mostly technical with some advanced topics near the end. I think I did very well.
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Aug 18, 2011 00:19
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He hasn't posted it here but ceebee just got his first industry job being a character artist at Trion, the guys who make Rift. ceebee is Super Groovy and I wanted to brag for him!
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Aug 18, 2011 00:40
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Vino posted:I was totally stressing out over the Rockstar test. It was a very challenging test but it didn't involve any subjective "style" stuff like the previous programming tests I've taken. It was mostly technical with some advanced topics near the end. I think I did very well. Any chance you can talk about what was covered? EDIT: not necessarily answers or anything, I'd just like to measure my knowledge. Save Russian Jews posted:What classes should I be supplementing my Comp Sci degree with? All of the core courses are either "overviews" of (presumably various) languages or done in Java (is this bad? I am worried). I have everything from C# to XML to UNIX to C++ at my disposal, but none of the specialized classes are required for my degree. Java isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as it doesn't emphasize some mundane point of the Java VM unless it's a class about it. My program only focused on language and OS during the first few classes, after which they don't mind what you use (though UNIX and C was preferred). Stuff like that doesn't really matter as after the first few classes, you're experienced enough to pick up technical things relatively quickly. You can post a catalog and I (and others if they feel like it) can comment what courses would be alright. ShinAli fucked around with this message at 01:03 on Aug 18, 2011 |
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Aug 18, 2011 00:58
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ShinAli posted:Any chance you can talk about what was covered? I really don't want to, I can imagine that recruiters hate test questions reposted on the nets. There were some simple questions that you'll know if you have a solid grasp of the language and then a few advanced questions that you'd have to have a lot of experience to answer. Things like optimization, pathfinding, and hardware shaders, game development specific things. I actually didn't write all that much code.
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Aug 18, 2011 01:17
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ShinAli posted:You can post a catalog and I (and others if they feel like it) can comment what courses would be alright. I just switched from traditional private university to UMUC (I live in Maryland so it works out nicely). On the following links, click the "CMSC" or "CMIS" links following the words "400-level supplemental major courses" under Degree Requirements-- can't directly link to it I guess: The Comp Sci Catalog The Comp/Info Sci Catalog
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Aug 18, 2011 01:21
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Not to derail, but does anyone else here (PR) use PitchEngine?
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Aug 18, 2011 01:22
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MustardFacial posted:[edit] Also, I think it's necessary for players to die a number of times in a row in order to feel a challenge. IMHO death in games is a slap in the face of "you're doing something wrong. I'd argue that a game should minimize or simply remove the possibility of doing it "wrong." You either allow the player to progress poorly or well, but to gate off progress until they start listening to designer yelling, "No! Do it this way not that way!" seems to be needlessly frustrating.
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Aug 18, 2011 01:28
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Shalinor posted:Why should they? Unreal/UDK doesn't either It's good job security (or at least, keeps demand high). I'm worth a lot more as an Unreal 3 expert because I know all its secret places you have to caress gently to make it not throw a fit and ruin certification, and those people aren't super commonplace because of the learning curve.
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Aug 18, 2011 01:42
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icking fudiot posted:It's good job security (or at least, keeps demand high). I'm worth a lot more as an Unreal 3 expert because I know all its secret places you have to caress gently to make it not throw a fit and ruin certification, and those people aren't super commonplace because of the learning curve. Still, you learn fast as you go. I now know, for instance, that a PlayerController's Pawn doesn't seem to exist if you try and reference it during its PostBeginPlay() - which caused all manner of hilarity. Hopefully, the UDK knowledge will translate across as UE3 knowledge, though I have to assume some things change when you cross the "native" line. CryEngine3 does have that going for it, though. If they're actually giving the full engine? Not just script-level access? That's a heck of a lot more potential power, without any of the hoop jumping that UDK sometimes requires.
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Aug 18, 2011 02:02
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Sigma-X posted:He hasn't posted it here but ceebee just got his first industry job being a character artist at Trion, the guys who make Rift. ceebee is Super Groovy and I wanted to brag for him! Came in here to post this. But you beat me to it. Huge congrats to Ceebee! Been working his rear end off and he earned it!
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Aug 18, 2011 02:08
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Vino posted:I really don't want to, I can imagine that recruiters hate test questions reposted on the nets. There were some simple questions that you'll know if you have a solid grasp of the language and then a few advanced questions that you'd have to have a lot of experience to answer. Things like optimization, pathfinding, and hardware shaders, game development specific things. I actually didn't write all that much code. It's cool, any bit of info helps. I don't want you to post anything that you feel would be inappropriate. Save Russian Jews posted:course catalog blah blah Are these courses considered "supplemental"? Those look a lot like courses that were required for my degree. EDIT: Shalinor posted:CryEngine3 does have that going for it, though. If they're actually giving the full engine? Not just script-level access? That's a heck of a lot more potential power, without any of the hoop jumping that UDK sometimes requires. From my brief look at the package while I was at work, it seemed like all the lower-level engine stuff wasn't provided, only interfaces via header files. Still seems to be more open than UDK. I maybe completely retarded, though. ShinAli fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Aug 18, 2011 |
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Aug 18, 2011 02:10
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ShinAli posted:From my brief look at the package while I was at work, it seemed like all the lower-level engine stuff wasn't provided, only interfaces via header files. Still seems to be more open than UDK.
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Aug 18, 2011 02:17
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Save Russian Jews posted:What classes should I be supplementing my Comp Sci degree with? All of the core courses are either "overviews" of (presumably various) languages or done in Java (is this bad? I am worried). I have everything from C# to XML to UNIX to C++ at my disposal, but none of the specialized classes are required for my degree. You don't necessarily need to study C++ at university, but if you want to get into game programming, you'll need a strong grasp of C++ and the low-level programming knowledge that comes along with that. My understanding is that a lot of graduates that have only learned languages like Java, are severely lacking in the basic knowledge of low-level programming that you'd expect someone to have at entry level. (A lot of candidates would struggle to write a simple string reverse, or simple linked list or binary tree functions) Shalinor posted:Hopefully, the UDK knowledge will translate across as UE3 knowledge, though I have to assume some things change when you cross the "native" line. I'd say a lot of the knowledge would be useful when transferring over to UE3. Understanding things like the structure of the engine, and how things like replication work, is a good foot in the door for understanding the full engine.
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Aug 18, 2011 02:22
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ShinAli posted:Are these courses considered "supplemental"? Those look a lot like courses that were required for my degree. It was the full catalog of classes for both-- I really wish there was a way to show only classes I didn't need; all of the 400-level classes are going to be the supplemental courses, along with about 2/3 of the 300-level courses in Comp Sci. Sorry for wasting your time with it, though.
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Aug 18, 2011 02:26
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The Oid posted:You don't necessarily need to study C++ at university, but if you want to get into game programming, you'll need a strong grasp of C++ and the low-level programming knowledge that comes along with that. As a current compsci student I can confirm that this is indeed the case. C++ is taught but Java is the core language most courses use. *edit* It might not sound like it in my post but I agree with everything you've said here. Learning individual languages is really easy and not something worth dedicating an entire degree towards - most programming languages are fundamentally similar so once you've learned a few, it's really easy to pick up others (especially considering how many languages are based on C syntax). Much more important is learning how a program actually works - learning about interfaces, efficiency, all that stuff. A good CS degree should teach you how to PROGRAM, not how to CODE. That said, C or C++ should be covered at some point, since pointers are something you just won't get any practice with if all of your courses are taught in Java. VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV The Cheshire Cat fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Aug 18, 2011 |
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Aug 18, 2011 02:29
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A CS degree does not teach you to code. If that's the focus, it's a weak program. Sure, you'll probably learn by virtue of doing countless assignments, but the choice of language is an incidental part of the degree. There will probably be a compiled OOP language, there will probably be an interpreted language, there might even be a functional language, but they'll vary from school to school, from semester to semester, depending on the whims of the professor and teaching staff. What you want out of a CS degree is a fundamental understanding of algorithms, data structures, the theory (and practice!) behind modern operating systems, databases, compilers, AI, NLP, graphics and the like. You'll learn how malloc() works, but I doubt anyone will ever tell you about C++ templating as a part of your coursework. You'll learn about parallelism, but that can happen in any language that supports threads, whether they're POSIX or not. Fundamentals are transferable across languages and hardware and they're more important than being able to remember crazy syntactic sugar. But that's my old man "Boy, our intro classes were taught in OOPascal and then transitioned into Scheme, Java, and C++!" opinion talking.
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Aug 18, 2011 02:58
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devilmouse posted:CS truth Basically this. I think C in the beginning pretty important just to get a handle on pointers and memory management early but there shouldn't be any one focus on a particular language or OS down the line. Save Russian Jews posted:Sorry for wasting your time with it, though. No big, I'll just compare with the reqs before talking about courses. CMSC Advanced Data Structures and Analysis: good idea, I don't think you can know enough about data structures. Theory of Language Translation: potentially useful if you get up to the point of machine code generation. Even if it doesn't you can use knowledge to creating scripting languages and the like, though you'd probably just implement one of the many that already exist. Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms: I wish I can take this class again. It provides you with a mindset that has you think about how you can solve a problem. Image and Signal Processing: never took anything like this but sounds good just for the sake of graphics. Others more experienced than I would need to talk about this. Computer Organization: this seems to be covered in the CMIS 310? Not too sure. Basically low level stuff that everyone should know about. Game Design and Development: WHY NOT! Be warned though it is guaranteed to be filled with CS students that barely scraped by just so they can make dem vidja gaymes. Partner up with people that are not slackers/have an inherent interest in CS, not just games. Computer System Architecture: more low-level stuff! I think it's important as it lets you think about your code beyond the language. It might turn you into a paranoid wreck and make you write code in a way that the compiler would do for you for free, but having a little knowledge what kind of optimizations compilers do might help. Operating Systems: has you thinking more carefully about threading and the like. All the CMIS stuff seems to be just minor technical classes. I find it kind of weird there is a whole class on XML which I don't find to be terribly complicated. Data Communications sounds worthwhile just to know about programming networking things. Most of the courses I commented about (means not image processing, game dev, data comm) were required courses for my degree, which I'm now pretty thankful for. I think they give you a good foundation that lets you tackle almost anything. That's what the purpose of the degree should be, not just the number of languages/technical stuff you know. Oh, math! Math math math math. Linear Algebra, any other Calculus classes after Cal II, etc. Cannot stress that enough. EDIT: just to reiterate I'm not really in the industry (doing some indie thing is all), just a recent graduate that loved every bit of my time at the university. I welcome thoughts/corrections/lynchings from anyone more knowledgeable than I. ShinAli fucked around with this message at 03:55 on Aug 18, 2011 |
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Aug 18, 2011 03:38
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A couple pages ago I asked for a critique of my LinkedIn profile and got some feedback on my personal site. I took it to heart and got straight to improving it. All done! http://markwilhelm.com/ Opinions? Yes, still using Tumblr, it's cheap and safe compared to my personal VPS. By the way, does anyone have tips on writing cover letters? M4rk fucked around with this message at 06:15 on Aug 18, 2011 |
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Aug 18, 2011 06:06
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It says 1/2 and gives me a back arrow, and when I'm on the 2/2 page it gives me a forward arrow; this feels backwards. I think the transition time on the top transition banner is too fast.
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Aug 18, 2011 06:15
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ShinAli posted:whole big thing on courses thanks man, I appreciate anything I can get at this point, and this really gave me a good idea of what to shoot for.
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Aug 18, 2011 06:24
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M4rk posted:A couple pages ago I asked for a critique of my LinkedIn profile and got some feedback on my personal site. I took it to heart and got straight to improving it. "The name's Mark Wilhelm, just in case you were curious." Don't do this. It's obvious given the domain. Also why is the "next page" arrow pointing the wrong way? It says you create great communities but I see nothing of that, just a couple of repeated pictures of ads you made. Where are the communities? "Ask me anything" page -- why is this here? If your page exists to be a portfolio for jobs, will recruiters actually want to ask you anything? I think a more traditional "contact" page would be better, this seems a bit trendy to me with no benefit, especially without first establishing WHY someone should be asking you something (expertise, for instance). Also the "...or whatever you want me to be" part -- that just makes you look desperate and unfocused. What are you best at? Focus on that. Designers and community managers have drastically different responsibilities; your site claims to be equally good at both, without evidencing how or why. And as a personal pet peeve, reword "Feel free to contact...". I'm already "free" to contact you, I don't need permission. "Feel free to do X" is a phrase I use with my subordinates; I wouldn't say that to someone looking to hire me. Moving to your linked in; don't put Examiner.com. It detracts from the overall thing. Also take out Publix -- while I grew up in FL and appreciate the awesomeness that is a Publix Sub, it's incongruous with the image you're trying to portray. -e- tell you what, PM me or email me (swatjester at gmail) and I might be able to give you some ideas on the portfolio/site. Leif. fucked around with this message at 06:41 on Aug 18, 2011 |
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Aug 18, 2011 06:29
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Maide posted:It says 1/2 and gives me a back arrow, and when I'm on the 2/2 page it gives me a forward arrow; this feels backwards. EDIT: Make that like five seconds. Anyhow, slider is now slower. 
M4rk fucked around with this message at 06:48 on Aug 18, 2011 |
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Aug 18, 2011 06:44
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Thanks for the response Diplo. I typed up a long response to your suggestions, but I'll email it to you instead of posting. Ignore the BBcode.
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Aug 18, 2011 07:00
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M4rk posted:A couple pages ago I asked for a critique of my LinkedIn profile and got some feedback on my personal site. I took it to heart and got straight to improving it. Your thumbnails could be improved. You have these great big squares and a tiny image smooshed down at the bottom being cut off. Make the actual image take up the full space of the thumb. The images being linked to kind of suffer from the same thing. Again, it's a big square with a tiny image in the middle that looks like it could be interesting if I could actually see any detail in it. Would be nice if those images actually linked to the websites they are about. Likewise, you should link to a normal image of your game recruiter ad. Is it a good ad? Who knows! You can't see any of the details. If you have to have your twitter feed at the bottom of the page you should be a lot more careful about the things you tweet. I wouldn't want half the crap in your feed to potentially show up on the front page of my website I am sending to potential employers. I do like the clean simplicity of your site's layout
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Aug 18, 2011 07:21
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