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Does anyone have a good example of a programmer's resume that I can look at. I feel like mine is especially weak since it's all business apps. Not feeling confident enough to send it out at the moment but I need to start sending it out ASAP.
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May 23, 2012 04:11
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Tuesdays is always game dev night at Mister Tramps in Austin, and I went to talk to my own coworkers at BioWare about the layoffs. It was incredibly tragic, so many people there, and a few of them looking like they were gonna break down.  They cut a ton of extremely valuable staff there, including someone who had apparently just started yesterday. And apparently Greg Zeschuk is going back to Edmonton, still with the company. How that is I just don't know.
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May 23, 2012 04:16
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miscellaneous14 posted:Tuesdays is always game dev night at Mister Tramps in Austin, and I went to talk to my own coworkers at BioWare about the layoffs. It was incredibly tragic, so many people there, and a few of them looking like they were gonna break down. He's not exactly a regular employee, and he did an exellent job getting that game out the door at all.
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May 23, 2012 04:21
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So, I just finished my freshman year as a CS major at a school with a recently (not sure if they still are) top 10 nationally ranked Engineering and Computer Science department. I'm thinking I'd like to go into programming for video games. Can any programmers in the thread tell me what I should expect, whether or not I'll be loving miserable if I can't do more general game-design jobs as well, how programming for Games compares to other jobs a good CS degree could get me, things to look out for/want to nail in interviews, etc?
Spiritus Nox fucked around with this message at 04:36 on May 23, 2012 |
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May 23, 2012 04:31
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You will make a lot more money and probably work less in almost any other software engineering job. Programming games is fun and challenging. It's very unlikely that you will be bored doing it, unless you really just don't like programming at all. I think I could be happy working on games in a programming/management capacity without ever holding a "designer" title as long as I at least got to tell the designers what I thought and had at least a little bit of autonomy to make good stuff. In order to actually get a job you'll need the same skills you'd need to pass another CS-related interview, plus a small portfolio of games you've built or co-built. Most likely you will need a fairly strong grasp of linear algebra, trig, and other spatial mathematics as well, but occasionally you can sneak in without that. The more money thing is no joke. You will make a lot more money doing something else. :\
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May 23, 2012 05:16
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DancingMachine posted:The more money thing is no joke. You will make a lot more money doing something else. :\ Of course, you'd probably have to go to court to get paid.
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May 23, 2012 06:58
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Juc66 posted:He's not exactly a regular employee, and he did an exellent job getting that game out the door at all. Any word on how many people were let go? I wasn't able to make it to Tramps, but I heard the turn out was over 100 people. With the enormous size of the studio I can't say I'm surprised they had layoffs after the game was done. Anyone know if this in addition to peoples' contracts expiring?
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May 23, 2012 15:12
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DancingMachine posted:Programming games is fun and challenging. It's very unlikely that you will be bored doing it, unless you really just don't like programming at all. I think I could be happy working on games in a programming/management capacity without ever holding a "designer" title as long as I at least got to tell the designers what I thought and had at least a little bit of autonomy to make good stuff. ... and then I saw the work they generally have to do, the tools they're given to do it, and saw the salary surveys of what they're paid. Now I'm perfectly happy to stay a programmer  But. Programmers at small studios do get to have a bit more fun - they act as technical designers, more or less, and get to do a lot of the stuff you might normally associate with game design. If that's your goal, you may want to look less at AAA big studios, and more at mobile/casual/etc studios (and there is a lot of cool stuff going on in mobile right now, core gaming included). Also, portfolio advice. I still recommend showing you can work up from bare metal as a programmer, so do have at least one straight up OpenGL or DirectX demo. A lit spinning cube, some waves, a raytracer, something. You'll also want an example of being able to work with an existing engine... and normally I'd recommend OGRE, and making a game around that, but at this point I wonder if skipping OGRE and just working with Unity would make sense. Programmers? What's the read on that at this point? My inner grumpy nerd says that working with a lower-level C++ engine is important, so OGRE or equivalent is still important, but that may just be my inner grumpy nerd being an inner grumpy nerd. Either way, do show some Unity experience, especially if you want to go mobile. It's a good base for the (at least one) complete game you'll want to show in your portfolio, and besides, it's fun. Do your work in C#, though, not JavaScript, aside from stuff like level event scripting. Shalinor fucked around with this message at 16:22 on May 23, 2012 |
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May 23, 2012 16:16
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Shalinor posted:Programmers? What's the read on that at this point? My inner grumpy nerd says that working with a lower-level C++ engine is important, so OGRE or equivalent is still important, but that may just be my inner grumpy nerd being an inner grumpy nerd. My opinion is screw Unity, especially in the case of AAA studios. The goal as a programmer looking to get hired is not to show some cool demo with awesome gameplay but very little programming substance. At least OGRE will still have you dealing with fundamental engine design logic, but even that is a bit high level with regards to rendering. All the actual rendering and scene management is neatly hidden away, and although one can argue that the source is there for you to look at... Who will seriously look at OGRE's source when it already does everything you need and does it pretty drat well? The best learning experience, I would say, is to just try and throw something together with XNA. It removes a lot of the PC-specific hassle of dealing with drivers, nicely wraps low-level API calls while still leaving it up to you to use these APIs well, doesn't have all the fickle details that C++ has (which eventually need to be learned anyway, but can be a nuisance). And, most importantly, it doesn't dictate a certain engine design, which in my opinion is a very important thing to learn -- start at the very bottom. But I have confirmation bias.
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May 23, 2012 16:53
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DancingMachine posted:The more money thing is no joke. You will make a lot more money doing something else. :\ I hope this isn't rude to ask, but what kind of ballpark salary would I be looking at for an entry level gaming programming job? I've heard entry level programming in general tends to be around 50k or so, just how much less would gaming net me? I'd like to do gaming if there's fun to be had and a good living to be made, but if there's any danger of having trouble putting food on the table I might consider looking elsewhere.
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May 23, 2012 16:57
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Spiritus Nox posted:I hope this isn't rude to ask, but what kind of ballpark salary would I be looking at for an entry level gaming programming job? I've heard entry level programming in general tends to be around 50k or so, just how much less would gaming net me? I'd like to do gaming if there's fun to be had and a good living to be made, but if there's any danger of having trouble putting food on the table I might consider looking elsewhere.
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May 23, 2012 17:02
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Shalinor posted:The Game Developer Salary Survey is your best reference for that. Googling around, you can probably find the results from at least previous years. Hm. Interesting. Thanks a lot for all the feedback, everyone. This gives me that much more to go on for when I start hunting for internships and jobs, much appreciated!
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May 23, 2012 17:05
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Spiritus Nox posted:Hm. Interesting. It may also be worth checking https://www.glassdoor.com for general ballpark salaries and employee reviews of different companies. Don't know how accurate all the info is on it since I think you can submit anonymously.
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May 23, 2012 18:30
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Jan posted:My opinion is screw Unity, especially in the case of AAA studios. The goal as a programmer looking to get hired is not to show some cool demo with awesome gameplay but very little programming substance. At least OGRE will still have you dealing with fundamental engine design logic, but even that is a bit high level with regards to rendering. All the actual rendering and scene management is neatly hidden away, and although one can argue that the source is there for you to look at... Who will seriously look at OGRE's source when it already does everything you need and does it pretty drat well? It's worth noting that OGRE is built to be super modular and nice with regards to scene managers and renderers, so building and plugging in your own module is pretty straightforward. I mean the path of least resistance is to just use the built-in stuff, but there's nothing stopping you (and the OGRE docs even encourage it IIRC) to build your own scene managers since the built-in is super generic and not optimized for specific cases.
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May 23, 2012 19:05
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octoroon posted:It's worth noting that OGRE is built to be super modular and nice with regards to scene managers and renderers, so building and plugging in your own module is pretty straightforward. I mean the path of least resistance is to just use the built-in stuff, but there's nothing stopping you (and the OGRE docs even encourage it IIRC) to build your own scene managers since the built-in is super generic and not optimized for specific cases. If you're bucking for a graphics programmer position? Absolutely, build it up from nothing. Gameplay programmers, network programmers, and everything else though? Something like OGRE seems a fine compromise between wasting one's time building every system up from bare metal, just to make a small demo.
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May 23, 2012 20:01
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Resource posted:Any word on how many people were let go? I wasn't able to make it to Tramps, but I heard the turn out was over 100 people. With the enormous size of the studio I can't say I'm surprised they had layoffs after the game was done. Anyone know if this in addition to peoples' contracts expiring? I'm actually not sure, I'm in Edmonton so my exposure to the folks in Austin is limited. Almost everybody I know that went down there are either coming back to Edmonton, or still employed in Austin. If history is any indication they wouldn't count people's contracts expiring, just premature contract endings or layoffs of permanent employees.
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May 23, 2012 20:15
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octoroon posted:It's worth noting that OGRE is built to be super modular and nice with regards to scene managers and renderers, so building and plugging in your own module is pretty straightforward. I mean the path of least resistance is to just use the built-in stuff, but there's nothing stopping you (and the OGRE docs even encourage it IIRC) to build your own scene managers since the built-in is super generic and not optimized for specific cases. How has OGRE come since 2006, or so? I haven't touched it since my Gamedev.net days.
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May 23, 2012 20:41
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NINbuntu 64 posted:How has OGRE come since 2006, or so? I haven't touched it since my Gamedev.net days. It's been well-maintained. It gets a lot of love from stuff like Google Summer of Code, too. It's an extremely well-trodden path for a free open source library, to say the very least. Even a few big-name guys use it -- off the top of my head, Torchlight is all built from the ground up in OGRE.
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May 23, 2012 22:40
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At the risk of cross-posting (from the warhammer40k thread), I'd love to get a gut-check from you guys about a concept that we're kicking around. Does this thing sound like it would have legs?OldMold posted:Heya, I make browser games with a couple of friends, and we've had this idea kicking around for an online tactical game, since there aren't many of them. Hoping to get some feedback from you guys.
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May 24, 2012 05:33
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I'd point out that Games Workshop is ULTRA litigious, and you need to be quite careful about how close you push the line towards copying 40K's concepts. As in, have an attorney on retainer for consultation, careful. (Thankfully, there's one in this very post!)
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May 24, 2012 06:36
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Jan posted:Screw Unity, look at OGRE Or you could just be a REAL programmer and do everything from scratch.  (I'm never going to finish a project  )
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May 24, 2012 09:25
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38 Studios and Big Huge Games are closing down. This is sad for me since I interned at BHG and got my start there, and our pool of succeeding Maryland studios just got a little smaller. I'm hoping that these folks find good homes; they're super talented and a good crew. There's around 90 people at BHG and I'm not sure if the local industry can support all of them.
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May 24, 2012 17:16
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Frown Town posted:38 Studios and Big Huge Games are closing down. drat. Edited to add: Has this hit the news yet?
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May 24, 2012 17:48
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Frown Town posted:38 Studios and Big Huge Games are closing down. You had better be hiring most of the BHG folks down there! I'm fielding a bunch of resumes from guys down there AND from the 38 crew and Turbine did a big recruiting event for 38 last week too.
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May 24, 2012 18:36
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That's a major bummer. I really wish Big Huge could have survived. They seemed to have some good talent and were building the kind of games I want to play. :\ I never could quite put my finger on why Kingdoms didn't do that well. It was a really solid game. The only real criticism I have of it is that it could have had a quarter of the content, polished to a higher level, and still felt like a plenty big game.
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May 24, 2012 18:58
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It was a fantasy-based original IP that came out while everyone was still playing Skyrim. I feel like those things were probably their biggest issues. It's also interesting that they released some Copernicus footage to try and salvage that project, but again it's on the heels of a bunch of Elder Scrolls Online media being released. If I worked at 38 Studios, all of my bitterness would probably point straight to Bethesda.
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May 24, 2012 19:11
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Kingdoms was crazy generic fantasy. It never felt like anything special, and in the wake of Skyrim, felt like a cheap imitation of an Elder Scrolls game.
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May 24, 2012 19:18
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One of their writer-designer dudes gushing about the incredible new concept of respeccing on the Amalur Bombcast didn't really help me get in the right mindset for it, and I'd guess I wasn't alone in that. Edit: I literally implemented respeccing into our action RPG today, haha.
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May 24, 2012 20:59
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Amalur was a really generic fantasy game with combat that got insanely repetitive a few hours in. There were also camera issues that were supposedly going to be fixed during the beta that never were and there was little that positively set it apart from TES: Skyrim.
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May 24, 2012 21:07
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devilmouse posted:You had better be hiring most of the BHG folks down there! I'm fielding a bunch of resumes from guys down there AND from the 38 crew and Turbine did a big recruiting event for 38 last week too. I think we're trying to find them homes as best we can but I'm not sure what our studio can support. I don't know if this is in the news yet, but it seems like public knowledge in Baltimore. Wanted to broadcast that there's a batch of solid devs looking for new homes. e: On the off chance that they are somehow saved from shutting down though, I'm sure many will still be looking for a new studio.
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May 24, 2012 21:07
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NINbuntu 64 posted:Amalur was a really generic fantasy game with combat that got insanely repetitive a few hours in. There were also camera issues that were supposedly going to be fixed during the beta that never were and there was little that positively set it apart from TES: Skyrim. It is worth noting (from a game development perspective) that the game was well put together. It was boring and repetitive, yes, but the visuals were decent, no game breaking bugs (although there was one serious storyline progression issue), and it ran well/smooth.
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May 24, 2012 22:13
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nessin posted:It is worth noting (from a game development perspective) that the game was well put together. It was boring and repetitive, yes, but the visuals were decent, no game breaking bugs (although there was one serious storyline progression issue), and it ran well/smooth. Yeah, for anyone not on the gameplay team, if I had things like money and a reason to hire them? I would in a heartbeat. Aside from one bug, that game had a launch like butter and didn't even have the standard "for some reason this runs like crap on my new computer" issue so many cross-platform games have for me.
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May 24, 2012 22:17
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Even the gameplay was good in my opinion. Not revolutionary, certainly. But it had one of the best combat implementaitons I've seen in an RPG, and all the other obligatory mechanics (powers, character progression, loot, crafting) had at least above-average implementations. The world, while pretty, just failed to have much of an emotional impact for whatever reason. And the characters were almost non-existant. Like I said I think those things might have been possible to address by just dramatically scoping the amount of content in the game. Edit: It sounds like these studios being shut down is not a done deal? The employees seem to be convinced it's dead, but they haven't actually gotten any official confirmation?
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May 24, 2012 22:43
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DancingMachine posted:Even the gameplay was good in my opinion. Not revolutionary, certainly. But it had one of the best combat implementaitons I've seen in an RPG, and all the other obligatory mechanics (powers, character progression, loot, crafting) had at least above-average implementations. The world, while pretty, just failed to have much of an emotional impact for whatever reason. And the characters were almost non-existant. Like I said I think those things might have been possible to address by just dramatically scoping the amount of content in the game. Instead, we got a sea of exclamation points and more text popup spew than you could shake a stick at 
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May 24, 2012 22:53
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Gamasutra has an article up on 38/Big Huge http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/171015/38_Studios_Big_Huge_Games_lay_off_their_entire_staff.php
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May 24, 2012 22:53
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DancingMachine posted:Even the gameplay was good in my opinion. Not revolutionary, certainly. But it had one of the best combat implementaitons I've seen in an RPG, and all the other obligatory mechanics (powers, character progression, loot, crafting) had at least above-average implementations. The world, while pretty, just failed to have much of an emotional impact for whatever reason. And the characters were almost non-existant. Like I said I think those things might have been possible to address by just dramatically scoping the amount of content in the game. There's confirmation here of both studios laying everyone off: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/24/38-studios-and-big-huge-games-lay-off-entire-staffs/
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May 24, 2012 22:54
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38 laid off its entire staff today. If the studio isn't officially shut down, they're certainly not going to be producing anything with no employees. e:f;b squared
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May 24, 2012 22:54
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They were needing to hit 3 million sales? That was ... ambitious to say the least.
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May 25, 2012 00:25
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The entire 38 Studios thing is a huge mess, and the more that comes out, the more it makes Schilling look like a tremendous scumbag. Not telling your employees of layoffs or the fact that insurance ends tonight? Classy as hell, Curt. I really, really feel bad for the Big Huge guys, though. They tied their cart to Schilling's horse with promises that they'd survive and get to work on other stuff, and instead they get shut down without ceremony. I can't even imagine Brian Reynolds' fury right about now.
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May 25, 2012 00:37
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I think it's interesting to see SOE switching to more action - oriented games. Is the age of the MMO over? Is there any new MMO that's doing really well anymore? I wonder how Titan will adapt to what's happened to the MMO scene since WoW came out.
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May 25, 2012 00:39
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