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Even the holidays can't put a halt on the job hunt for some of us. Anyone here ever worked for/with Sleepy Giant? Just interviewed with them.
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Dec 24, 2011 02:46
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While people are asking, anyone know anyone or are working at Mediatonic (labs) in London? Merry christmas folks, I actually have time off to recuperate! And I might write documents if I'm feeling particularly frisky.
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Dec 24, 2011 07:24
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GetWellGamers posted:Even the holidays can't put a halt on the job hunt for some of us. Anyone here ever worked for/with Sleepy Giant? Just interviewed with them. Went through a couple rounds with them for ops mgr/live producer right after they moved but dropped out due to distance, great team that had great referrals from everyone I spoke too.
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Dec 24, 2011 08:18
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Not to be a bother, but I'm kind of discouraged by the lack of feedback, did I do something wrong?
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Dec 24, 2011 19:52
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Merry Christmas thread!
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Dec 24, 2011 20:06
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nibe posted:I'm a recently-graduated programmer with what I consider to be a decent portfolio and website for my level of experience, but I could be wrong. I'm open to criticism and suggestions. I'm also trying to think of a new solo project, would an iPhone game be a good idea even if I'm really trying to get into full-size/AAA development? I generally don't comment on portfolios, as I'm not involved in hiring people, but one thing I will say is that it's not entirely clear what kind of job you're aiming for. In other fields, "Developer" might be synonymous with programmer outside of the games industry, but "Game Developer" is a very ambiguous term. Even if you go to your resume, it's still not entirely clear. Obviously one can infer that you want to be a programmer by the nature of your portfolio, but you don't want someone looking at your portfolio to have to infer anything. Recruiters have so many resumes and portfolios to go through, that they'll reject one in a few seconds if it doesn't immediately get to the point. When selling yourself, always ask "will this tell someone why I'm awesome in less than 5 seconds?". You need to grab a recruiter's interest within a few seconds if you don't want to go straight onto the "no" pile. With that in mind, I'd probably put your portfolio right after your Welcome section on the first page. The post-mortem is great, but I'd assume that a recruiter that's pushed for time isn't likely to read it. The portfolio on the other hand is much stronger, and leaves a much better first impression. I could be wrong here, but if you're going for a programming job in AAA, I probably wouldn't bother listing things like HTML, 3D modelling, Photoshop, etc, as they're not really relevant. As far as I'm aware, an iPhone game should be fine for a portfolio, regardless of whether or not you're going into AAA. The only downside I can think of is that it might be more difficult for someone to download and play your game if they're not registered as an iPhone developer, or they don't have an iPhone. I don't think that'll be a problem though, as my understanding is that most places won't actually download and play portfolio games, for security reasons. If you're going to be trying to network with developers in person (local IGDA, GDC, etc), then an iPhone game is a pretty good demonstration of skill if it's polished, as you can easily get it into someone's hands, which would be impossible otherwise. No one is going to look down on an iPhone game in a portfolio, even in AAA, as it'd be impossible to create a AAA game for a portfolio piece (unless you have access to millions of dollars). If anything, working within the limitations of a fixed platform would be a good thing, I think. The Oid fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Dec 24, 2011 |
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Dec 24, 2011 22:43
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nibe posted:I sent you an email, I wanted to clean up a few things and post some more writing before I put my portfolio on here, but that's taking too long. I spent a few moments looking over your sketchpad piece and while some of it is very nitpicky, it makes for a poor showing of a portfolio. For me your portfolio is literally the first impression I have of you, and when I open the zip file the first thing I see is a folder full of object files. Make clean and delete the Debug dirs before zipping up! Likewise I see some machine specific files left around eh 'rowen@rowen-eee' and 'The Champ@The Champ-PC'? Opening up the first source file main.cpp, I see whole functions commented out, and random function calls commented out without a clear reason why. If someone checked in code to source control that was commented out and it was commented as to why it's commented out I'd go over and yell at them. Next in the keyPress loop I see about 200 magic numbers. I'd go through the entire code base and 'demagic' it. For instance I have no idea what this means: code:code:code:I'll also just close it with your selection code... code:
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Dec 24, 2011 23:07
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That reminds me of a general point for graduate programmers trying to get jobs, aside from the actual cleanliness of code, it's generally a good idea to organise your project files in a clean manner as well. The default organisation that Visual Studio will give you is gash. This is more of an issue for C++ than C#, but it still applies to C# to some extent. One suggested way to organise your project: Binaries/ <- .EXE and .DLL files go here. Game data may be nested in here too in a Data subdirectory, or potentially as a Data/ directory in the project root Intermediate <- Intermediate files (.obj files and the like) go here. If I want to do a full-rebuild from scratch I should be able to achieve that by deleting this directory and building the project again. Source/ <- Game source code, and only game source code/scripts go here. Solution file (Visual Studio .sln) goes here, and possibly any script files used to create a build. Each Visual Studio project has a subdirectory in this folder, rather than just being thrown in the Source directory. For each sub-project (C++) Source/ProjectName/Include Source/ProjectName/Source I've been told that this is one of the things that hiring managers will look at when judging graduate portfolio projects, so it's worth looking at, and not just a nit-picky thing. You don't have to use this exact organisation scheme. Any tidy and well thought-out organisation of project files will do. By the way, Game Coding Complete by Mike McShaffry http://www.amazon.ca/Game-Coding-Complete-Mike-McShaffry/dp/1932111751 is an excellent resource for this all this kind of good practice stuff that you pick up with experience, but that no one really tells you as a student. Definitely one of the best books in my collection, I can't recommend it highly enough. I'd take some of the "this is how to code this type of system" parts with a pinch of salt, some if it's useful, some of it, not so much, but the insight on topics like debugging, project management, good practices, is very worthwhile. The Oid fucked around with this message at 23:36 on Dec 24, 2011 |
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Dec 24, 2011 23:23
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nibe posted:Not to be a bother, but I'm kind of discouraged by the lack of feedback, did I do something wrong? Sooo... nibe posted:I'm a recently-graduated programmer with what I consider to be a decent portfolio and website for my level of experience, but I could be wrong. I'm open to criticism and suggestions. I'm also trying to think of a new solo project, would an iPhone game be a good idea even if I'm really trying to get into full-size/AAA development? I'd also drop the website entirely. Focus your portfolio down toward the sorts of jobs you're applying for. A few games + a tool shows well for a jr games programmer, since tools work will doubtless come up. That aside, looks fine to me.
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Dec 24, 2011 23:56
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Shalinor posted:I'd also drop the website entirely. Focus your portfolio down toward the sorts of jobs you're applying for. A few games + a tool shows well for a jr games programmer, since tools work will doubtless come up. Hate to jump on the tail end of portfolio critique, but does this mean that I, as a person probably applying to content design/technical design jobs, should I try to turn my portfolio into a zipped up file of deliverables versus having a full website? Right now I have something up at a website as well and I'm just pointing people there from my resume. It's organized as a short youtube video and some text but I can do something else if that's not effective. Also, and this is a weird question, but is the writing and everything too, uh, enthusiastic? Should the language be more up front about what I'm doing, or does it work as it is? Posting this on Christmas Eve's Eve is probably the worst possible time to ask, but it would be great to figure out if I should have this up before I start the application gauntlet early January.
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Dec 25, 2011 00:04
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RoboCicero posted:Hate to jump on the tail end of portfolio critique, but does this mean that I, as a person probably applying to content design/technical design jobs, should I try to turn my portfolio into a zipped up file of deliverables versus having a full website?
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Dec 25, 2011 00:06
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Haha, okay, my bad. It's a vague concern that I'm accidentally doing something incredibly gauche, but I haven't met anyone who cares enough to tell me 
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Dec 25, 2011 04:29
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Merry Xmas thread, hopefully by next year, things will go as I want. 
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Dec 25, 2011 04:36
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I know the OP basically stated that trying to get into writing is futile (currently a college psych sophomore exploring my options), but what sorts of things do people in the industry look for in a writing portfolio? Games in particular just seem like they have so much potential to be more than what they currently are, writing-wise, but reading this thread is  as all hell.
Androc fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Dec 26, 2011 |
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Dec 26, 2011 20:52
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It's possible, and if you really really really want to be a writer I'd encourage you to pursue it, but just go into it knowing it's going to be a long hard road and you'll spend a hell of a lot of time scraping by on little freelance gigs before you make anything resembling a stable career.
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Dec 26, 2011 21:30
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Bioware Austin is hiring a writing position right now, if you are familiar/can be familiar with the NWN toolset. You'll have to find the link yourself, don't have it on hand. e: nevermind: https://jobs.ea.com/search/view.do?id=a0z50000000snDI Leif. fucked around with this message at 22:56 on Dec 26, 2011 |
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Dec 26, 2011 21:39
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Thanks guys, I appreciate the responses.The Oid posted:I generally don't comment on portfolios, as I'm not involved in hiring people, but one thing I will say is that it's not entirely clear what kind of job you're aiming for. The Oid posted:The post-mortem is great, but I'd assume that a recruiter that's pushed for time isn't likely to read it. The portfolio on the other hand is much stronger, and leaves a much better first impression. Hughlander posted:Again I did say it was being very nit-picky, but as someone who handled first pass resume screens and programming tests for a AAA studio, I'd pass on someone who presented SketchPad as an example of the best code they could write. The Oid posted:I could be wrong here, but if you're going for a programming job in AAA, I probably wouldn't bother listing things like HTML, 3D modelling, Photoshop, etc, as they're not really relevant. Shalinor posted:I'd also drop the website entirely. Focus your portfolio down toward the sorts of jobs you're applying for. A few games + a tool shows well for a jr games programmer, since tools work will doubtless come up. I'm also kind of conflicted about web development. I'll be doing more web work (with a partner) while I'm job hunting, and even though it's not my first choice I would take a job for it. Would it look better if I linked to a website for our "web design studio" instead of the individual project? If only to show initiative and that I'm not just sitting around in the meantime. Shalinor, if screenshots aren't very flattering, how am I going to work around that with videos? I actually have a gameplay video put together, but it exposes more flaws than the screenshots (i.e. audio, minor glitches). I keep gravitating towards writing as the best way to explain the stuff I'm proud of. One last thing - GDC, is it worth the time and expense for someone in my position? I'm going to apply to be a volunteer first. nibe fucked around with this message at 06:15 on Dec 27, 2011 |
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Dec 27, 2011 06:09
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Shalinor posted:Oh man, don't worry, we've got this. I have had this told to me in professional environments both ironically and unironically. God damned heart breaking.
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Dec 27, 2011 06:17
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nibe posted:Shalinor, if screenshots aren't very flattering, how am I going to work around that with videos? I actually have a gameplay video put together, but it exposes more flaws than the screenshots (i.e. audio, minor glitches). I keep gravitating towards writing as the best way to explain the stuff I'm proud of. Videos are almost always more important than screenshots on a programmer's portfolio, simply because programmers make systems, and systems really don't show in freeze frames. All that shows is art... which is only good if you have an artist.
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Dec 27, 2011 06:27
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nibe posted:One last thing - GDC, is it worth the time and expense for someone in my position? I'm going to apply to be a volunteer first. Yes, so long as you go into it smart. Your first GDC is almost always worthless or nearly so unless you're really lucky. Mainly your first GDC is so you can have a good second GDC- you start introducing yourself around, collect cards, make contacts, and then the second year, after you've maintained the good relationships, you start getting meetings, let's meet for lunch, what parties are you going to, and then you're in business, because most of the best networking at the show happens outside the show.
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Dec 27, 2011 06:45
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Shindragon posted:hopefully by next year, things will go as I want.
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Dec 27, 2011 12:12
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GetWellGamers posted:Yes, so long as you go into it smart. Your first GDC is almost always worthless or nearly so unless you're really lucky. Mainly your first GDC is so you can have a good second GDC- you start introducing yourself around, collect cards, make contacts, and then the second year, after you've maintained the good relationships, you start getting meetings, let's meet for lunch, what parties are you going to, and then you're in business, because most of the best networking at the show happens outside the show. So the extension to this is, yes. Go as a volunteer if you can, meet people (being a volunteer is a good way to do this, especially if you get assigned to one of the panel/session rooms, because you can chat up people in between sessions) hand out cards, etc. Go around the expo floor and chat up people at booths that are relevant to your career path, network, try to meet them at parties. Don't be aggressive about it, you're laying the ground work now. Then, if you can come back next year (ideally not as a volunteer), as long as you've maintained those relationships, and remember who people were, you've got a good foundation for some great networking opportunities. It's not that your first GDC is that much different than your second, other than that you don't know people there. It's mostly that it will be a foreign environment to you, and you'll be overwhelmed.
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Dec 27, 2011 13:36
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New Years resolution #1: Have a job by the summer, work like a crazy fucker on my art. Happy new years GJM! It's drinkin time!
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Dec 31, 2011 19:57
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My grandma is driving me insane. Only here one more day. Fun to spend time with my dad, though. But seriously, grandma, please, no more Fox news. Actually getting some real work done on my laptop though, which is pretty neat. Finally getting back into the groove on our casual game. (yay for working through New Years )
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Jan 1, 2012 04:15
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I'm tired of explaining to old people what a game designer is and does. Next year I'll just say I'm an artist or programmer. Happy new year!
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Jan 1, 2012 17:10
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I found "I work out what the rules of the game are, what happens when you press the buttons, and where the baddies are" is always close enough and relatable.
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Jan 1, 2012 17:28
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My answer is usually a variation of: "Programmers are the ones who write the code to make the game function but I am responsible for putting everything together to make the game fun." Usually the question that prompts it is something like "so you write computer programs?", which is sort of why I have to clarify that.
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Jan 1, 2012 19:04
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Just say 'I'm the idea guy'
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Jan 1, 2012 19:09
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I sort of became the family celebrity when I mentioned I work on games, as just about everyone related to me under seventeen and over ten wants to be a game designer I play a drat good Cool Uncle. :U
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Jan 1, 2012 19:57
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"You know like... a blueprint for a building... well I make those... sort of"
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Jan 1, 2012 19:59
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Aliginge posted:I sort of became the family celebrity when I mentioned I work on games, as just about everyone related to me under seventeen and over ten wants to be a game designer ... now, though, I doubt he'll care. Kinda hoping I can turn him on to (my) indie games as he gets older, if he still digs games in general  For everyone else in my family, they're just happy for me. They care way more when I get a poem or article published. They are all authors  EDIT: oh man, IGF main competition finalists are being announced January 10th! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7FKaLYLOug Shalinor fucked around with this message at 05:17 on Jan 2, 2012 |
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Jan 1, 2012 20:19
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Orzo posted:Just say 'I'm the idea guy' I detail the minutiae of game development so everyone falls asleep and I get more chocolate chip cookies.
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Jan 1, 2012 20:27
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Aliginge posted:I sort of became the family celebrity when I mentioned I work on games, as just about everyone related to me under seventeen and over ten wants to be a game designer  I need to become a Something Director. Maybe when we expand again. Hmmmm.Still cooler with the nephews, though, but lately mainly just because I can bring iPads from the office with me on holidays. My daughter plays games but since she's 2 she doesn't quite grasp the concept that people actually make them. Edit: My dad loves Naked Gun and my mum loves Merlin so writing those should have impressed them but I don't think it did.
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Jan 1, 2012 21:30
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x
anime was right fucked around with this message at 07:04 on Apr 18, 2017 |
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Jan 2, 2012 22:50
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You know, that sounds pithy and all but it's so true. It's like, "No" is an acceptable answer, just tell me so I know for sure.
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Jan 3, 2012 00:40
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I feel like some mod is trolling me with the thread titles. Can I not post in this thread without the title getting changed? Edit: Looks like it changed again Orzo fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Jan 3, 2012 |
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Jan 3, 2012 17:28
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First day back in the office after the jollies, and a dog-tired Aliginge churned out some loving awesome artworks in no time flat. It turns out he does his best work when he's exhausted. Tell me thread, should I exploit this?
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Jan 3, 2012 21:48
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Orzo posted:I feel like some mod is trolling me with the thread titles. Can I not post in this thread without the title getting changed?
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Jan 3, 2012 22:13
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Yeah, I figured so much when it changed yet again like 5 minutes after I posted.
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Jan 3, 2012 22:39
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So I'm currently taking a game design course at Norton College (This course), I'm in my second year after a train wreck of a first year, we spent half the year when we were supposed to be learning how to use software without the software installed due to numerous bullshit reasons from the IT guys. Just before Christmas our graphics design teacher left and was replaced by some guy who has the people/teaching skills of a particularly retarded rock and then later in the year our main tutor left for personal reasons (Got a much better job). I managed to get through the first year with pretty decent grades but feel like I haven't really learnt anything from it other than dealing with a train wreck. In the second year we're finally learning how to use Maya (which only just got installed 2 months after the second year started and were supposed to learn it in our first year) and actually working on skills which will be useful. However due to not really being taught (or even shown) much of anything during my first year I don't really know what parts of game design/development I'm good at or even like. Thanks to being so unsure at this I can't decide what University course to take or what skill set to specialize in and due to that I'm taking a gap year to work poo poo out. So I was wondering if you could give me any advice on what the hell to do and how to work this poo poo out? My final major project is coming up and we're supposed to do something to tie in with what we want to specialize in. As an addendum to all this I'm also mildly autistic and have ADHD which makes focusing on things I dislike or just aren't interested in complete hell. Fake edit: Actually I do really enjoy working out game mechanics but don't really know what job that entails or how to even pursue it.
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Jan 3, 2012 22:58
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