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Just set up a new blog for my projects, I just made my first post about using Hammer and making a Portal 2 map. Would like to know if it's too wordy, if I shouldn't be talking about aborted ideas, anything really. I'm a bit concerned about what I should and shouldn't assume a reader knows about the mechanics of Portal. I'll pick out a theme and hussy it all up in a week or so. http://www.escapefromthewatertemple.com That just redirects to the frontpage at the .wordpress address, so if anyone knows how to fix it that NameCheap will redirect links to subdomains please let me know, I've not seen the option that the help pages talks about. Edit: And I still have the IRC channel on autojoin, and I've not been seeing anyone else in there for a bit, that should change.
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Jun 1, 2011 00:47
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concerned mom posted:All work aside, I love your banner. What is it? The generic Wordpress one I haven't replaced yet. :|
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Jun 2, 2011 10:42
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Ah, new thread title. I was going to suggest "Game Jobs Megathread #3: You need a portfolio! You have one? Get rid of it!"
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Jun 23, 2011 01:08
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FreakyZoid posted:Eurgh. I am not a fan of that article. Working in a big studio won't give you the time to learn, but working in an indie will? Eh? Indies have just as much pressure to perform, moreso if it's one that you set up and borrowed the money for yourself. Yeeeeah, not sure what I should say here due to lack of objectivity. I worked with Simon and was actually his housemate for six months or so. I also know how much more money he got than me, so there's a certain feeling of "you don't know you're born" in there. His experience is, as far as I know, 2 companies, one of which was more a middleware place and the other which I agree is pretty bad, and I think he might be projecting his experience there on the industry at large. He says there's no security in mainstream studios besides for "the people that are the problem", but how secure are you at a small studio, especially if they are paying better wages? What if the "casual" bubble bursts? And what if you want to work on the next GTA or Fable? And the matter of wanting to work as a "generalist" sounds like him wanting to be a special case. No company is going to look for a programmer/artist, they will look for a programmer and/or an artist. That one can't spread his unique butterfly wings into another area isn't the failing of production, it's just impractical in a large team to divide work like that. Yes you can do more diverse work and carve a more distinct niche in a smaller company , but that's not a failing of the big ones, and who is this effecting anyway? Pretty sure he won't read this, I'm saying it here so I don't want to say it anywhere else. He's a friend but he doesn't half talk bollocks sometimes.
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Jun 24, 2011 17:51
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Got a content editor interview tomorrow with EA Criterion. Got a good feeling for it, though I'm not the biggest gearhead. I like Burnout much more than other racing games though, and have testing experience on one of the previous games. When talking about the company's history, should I avoid things like Black, since the team for that is now doing Bodycount for Codemasters? Or does this sort of thing not matter to the sort of people I'm likely to talk to?
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Jun 27, 2011 16:43
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Andio posted:Out of interest, what company in Leamington Spa? Interested to see what games companies are located there. Codemaster's main place, Blitz, I thin Freestyle may still be open, Full Fat used to be there but moved to Coventry, but agencies still seem to list them there. I've been talking to a Senior Technical Artist who thinks my background makes me suitable to be a TA, does anyone here have experience of that and what it involves?
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Jun 29, 2011 15:02
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Fishbus posted:Oh god, right now I'm here to pimp some UK Jobs we have in London, Good place to work, pretty chill peeps. Looking for eager starters (like env artists) as well as grizzled juggernauts. Technical Artist entry 404ed on me. The blog entry there is a couple of weeks old, is it gone? Guy who interviewed me at Criterion (a Technical Artist himself) thought that I'm well positioned with my experience for that sort of work, which surprised me since I didn't think I was really qualified to do anything with "artist" in it professionally. Makes me optimistic that I might do well with my application there but I'd like to see what would be expected of me in the same role elsewhere.
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Jun 30, 2011 00:44
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Wanted to take a look at learning MEL for Maya or MAXscript. Do I have options besides doing so in 30 days on a trial or stealing them? Has MAXscript changed substantially since Gmax, which I think I have somewhere? Maybe it's enough to rely on my existing programming and scripting background but I should probably take a look. Suppose C# scripting in XSI might do. Pretty crazy all three of these distinct products are Autodesk though.
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Jul 2, 2011 23:44
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What sort of thing would be desirable for a Technical Artist portfolio? I'm probably going to keep on with the UDK work and maybe do an entry for the game dev contest, but the stuff I've sounds online seems quite general or learning more heavily on the 3D asset creation side. Perhaps material and shader work in UDK? Maybe make some simple assets like a gun(or something less obvious) maybe a really basic character model and get them working in the engine? If only I could download worth a poo poo where I am to get the tools, regular large downloads tend to stall and become unrecoverable at night, and my torrent for the current build of UDK is just crawling. Wish I'd got it before uninstalling my outdated version 
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Jul 4, 2011 20:27
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Sigma-X posted:techartist.org is a pretty good place for techartists. I think this sort of thing has to be more along the lines of what the Criterion guy had in mind for me, more to do with the pipeline than asset creation. An exporter for XSI to UDK sounds doable, maybe even for rigging. As for the download, I'll take a look at that though I'm used to doing it all through Firefox. For whatever reason when Demon Broadband decide they don't want to bother providing internet at 1am every night downloads stop and are marked as finished, so there's no .part file for it to resume from any more. Will look at other downloaders, either for here or my phone so I can nab it off the wifi at the pub.
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Jul 4, 2011 21:24
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gently caress all of you with your broadbands and editor tools and youtube tutorials (without a good hour to stream ahead of time) Do PC magazines still put this sort of thing on cover disks?
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Jul 5, 2011 23:45
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Sigma-X posted:I can literally try taking the UDK download and breaking it up into .rar chunks if you can suggest a good place for me to host it. I should have the UDK download finished tomorrow, Sandbox will probably be another two and I doubt breaking it up will help too much. I'm stuck in a village near Chichester where BT just can't be bothered to sort out the exchange, and the area is just generally bad. There are 4 exchanges in the UK not set up for broadband, 3 of them are in West Sussex. Doesn't matter who you buy broadband from, infrastructure isn't there, but they can still charge the "up to 20MB" price. In reality I download at 30k when it's quiet.
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Jul 6, 2011 00:44
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As ever I'm making loads of applications, and a job has just come up on a company website for a design role I thought I might go for, but I applied to them a month ago for a production role, should I acknowledge that in the cover letter or something, or not apply at all?
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Jul 6, 2011 17:57
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I made a thing. I'm trying to get new cards done ahead of Develop, this is sort of a draft of the image/background for it: My website is EscapeFromTheWaterTemple.com in case you don't know what I'm going for. Going to try to add some moss and damp, and change the textures so the guy and the door pop out more. And obviously my name and email address.
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Jul 9, 2011 11:58
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honeymustard posted:Got an interview tomorrow for a QA role at Creative Assembly (Total War), should be fun. You sticking around for develop at all? I have an interview myself with IdeaWorks in London tomorrow but should be at some of the parties and the Expo.
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Jul 18, 2011 11:35
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Say what you want about Train2Game, but the drinks they pay for are just fine. Went to their thing in Brighton by Develop this evening for a bit, caught their presentation. I masked my scorn, others less so. The presentation included two facts that I think were deliberately kept separate; there are 4500 on the program (not sure about that) and they have 50 people at a time on placement. Doesn't sound like great odds, and they made it clear that if an employer didn't like the guy they could be rid of them in no time flat. Also they had slides for each discipline course, each including "career switcher" as an intended target. The design course listed as potential resulting careers as "Entry level designer", "general software designer" and "Quality assurance". I think QA was on every discipline slide. The also do a course for QA. Even 3 ciders in I wasn't convinced.
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Jul 19, 2011 23:56
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It's fake, but has on occasion been reported as being the comments of the real P-Mol (when the account was "petermolyneax2") even though the account blurb has always stated it was fake.FreakyZoid posted:There's an interview somewhere with the guy who does that, it's a really interesting read. Can someone post this? Rumour has it that it was a guy at a place I was working. Edit: a game played in pairs where one partner plays an action game and wins furniture/pet/clothing rewards for the other might have something to it. BizarroAzrael fucked around with this message at 18:34 on Jul 27, 2011 |
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Jul 27, 2011 18:31
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jBusy posted:We also have several full time writers at Riot. These positions are out there, but far more rare than others. Place I worked at had a bunch of writers, though they were also subsequently laid off when the project got put on indefinite hold (but it wasn't canned! nosir!)
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Jul 28, 2011 21:12
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Anyone here work or know someone who works at Rocksteady? I've been looking at their website for years and there's just been the same one job advertised on there the whole time. Would be interested to know if they hire through an agency or something.
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Jul 28, 2011 21:19
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FreakyZoid posted:The idea is that without the money recovered from trading in their last purchase, people wouldn't be able to afford to buy as many brand new games on day 1. I say carrot over stick, promising DLC can encourage retention and get money from second-hand buyers. And I liked what Mass Effect 2 did with the the optional extra content for people who bought new. Beyond that if you want second hand eliminated I think you need to drop prices, because I think a lot of people simply won't pay £35-45 for a game, especially if they can't trade it in once they are done. Another good suggestion: don't make games people will want to trade in within days of release. I actually saw two copies of TNA Impact for the PS2 on sale second hand in Game something like a week before it was released, I don't know how that happened beside it being that bad.
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Jul 29, 2011 11:08
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I can tell you a place I worked at had substantially more than that, and now has substantially less.
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Jul 30, 2011 23:00
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What is deemed acceptable interview attire? I'm getting a few now. Was going to go with a pair of nice jeans and nicer chucks, and a long sleeve shirt. Not super formal but a bit smarter than I would dress for work.
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Aug 2, 2011 21:24
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mutata posted:Jumpin' in on the fashion talk, you can get some really nice, classy-looking jeans, as long as they are the proper fit for you, they can look nicer than any stupid dockers khakis. I have a pair that I wear to interviews. Generally, I wear whatever I'm most comfortable in that is a step up in classiness from what I usually wear. I think the jeans are pretty nice and classy, will maybe wear my black shoes. I think I have an abnormal neck that prohibits ties on any shirt that fits me right, which normally rules out ties anyway. Will have a lot of time ahead of the interview to investigate alternative trousers. I have it on Edit: what about short-sleeved buttoned shirts? Or should I go with polo+jeans or a long-sleeve shirt and jeans/any alternative I find tomorrow? Dad just got made unemployed again and Mum really need something positive now. BizarroAzrael fucked around with this message at 23:13 on Aug 2, 2011 |
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Aug 2, 2011 22:57
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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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Akuma posted:So there's no FlashGoons looking for work in the UK? What level is needed? I've used it here and there, serviceable ActionScript ability and have used the similar C# a lot. What is the focus of the role?
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Aug 9, 2011 18:34
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Akuma posted:Bringing an existing product (game) up to a higher standard. Basically, finishing it off. Do you have any examples of work I could see? I don't know, I've not finished any Flash game projects for some time, mostly prototypes since uni. Probably not for me if there's no time to come back up to speed. Got a rejection from my interview with Blitz, and things are getting really dispiriting, unable to move upwards and forever marked "overqualified" for QA, and it's hard not to feel bitterness towards people who used to be my peers, no better than I, doing so much better, afforded opportunities I never had. When I took the last job I thought I was getting out of QA, but I was put on QA money whilst people in QA got made associate producers, instead of redundant for the sake of inept management keeping their BMWs. Honestly this industry has treated me appallingly and I'd give up on it if I thought I could go anywhere else. As it is other employers only see six months not working after only working in games, and think (correctly) that I don't want to be elsewhere.
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Aug 9, 2011 21:39
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Shalinor posted:This is complete horse pockey. If you want to change industries, you can - just start applying, and keep applying, until you find something. I've been firing applications, with non-games focused CVs for months, no interviews, barely any replies. Think I had a couple of phone calls where I get to say I want to be paid something like a living wage, but that in my last job I was paid practically gently caress all.
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Aug 9, 2011 21:51
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Solus posted:Blitz Research or Blitz Games? Games, design on some new project for a big publisher. Said I had good initiative and technical ability, but that the role needed "a greater level of creativity than was evidenced", which didn't seem to match what was said on the day.
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Aug 9, 2011 23:33
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Aramis posted:This is 100% correct. What you have to keep in mind is that, in my experience at least, the amount of damage a bad programmer can do is truly astounding. And in my experience, those are the guys that are kept on and get raises because they are the only ones that can maintain their lovely code.
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Aug 16, 2011 10:47
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Akuma posted:So this is my next project. Seems way too premature to announce but I guess that's why they don't pay me the big(gest) bucks. Sounds like a fun project to be a part of. Are you guys recruiting? I've never seen a job posting on any of the places I look and there's no job section on your site, nor what looks like a suitable email address to send a speculative.
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Aug 18, 2011 19:23
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GetWellGamers posted:I thought I had some QA horror stories, but some of the ones collected on the new comic the PA/PVP guy are working on together are horrifying. That one sounds familiar to me actually, think I know the guy who did that. Anyway, here's my current, web-safe CV. Please tell me if there's something I should change, if you know of something suitable for me, something I can do to be more employable, just anything, life is just unbearable for me now.
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Aug 20, 2011 13:50
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Akuma posted:How are your project management skills? Our CEO is keen to find someone tenacious as a project manager who also has the sorts of things you list in your CV (build engineer, a bit of design, etc.) Actually yes, but they were always senior to me. Did a lot of senior/assistant lead stuff in publisher QA, but like my compliance work the didn't want to pay me for it or recognise it in my job title. So it's just my word I did it. As build technician I was basically a team of one, but I was always going to people to fix the poo poo they committed, and getting stuff out of people that allowed me to meet my targets. So yes, reckon I can do it if you think the desciders can be convinced.
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Aug 20, 2011 14:42
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Jagermaestro posted:Also, why are you listing your 70% grades from school? Don't hamstring yourself; no one is going to ask what mark you got on your Flash assignment, so let them assume it was 100% Because they're "A"s. Don't know if it's different in the US, but I didn't think that was "hamstringing".
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Aug 26, 2011 18:32
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Jagermaestro posted:Interesting. If 74% is an A, what's a 99% grade? <80% is A* if I remember right. This is honestly the first I have heard that CVs shouldn't have personal profiles or interests. Including when I asked about this stuff five months ago.
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Aug 26, 2011 20:43
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Shalinor posted:Either you didn't ask this forum, didn't post that resume, you are misremembering, or you got no feedback from any of the people ripping on those details now. Uh-huh. Here's an updated one. I elaborated on a couple of specific, recent projects to use some of the vacated space.
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Aug 26, 2011 22:49
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Shalinor posted:That's a GoogleDoc link, you could have edited it since then Good advice on the heading, I think the formatting is just what GoogleDocs did to it when I copied it over. It keeps numbering my headings for some reason, keep having to fix it by hand when I redact out all the sensitive stuff. Thinking about it, I think I should put my guitar playing back in there somewhere. Think it's worth noting like my familiarity with Mod Tool, doubt I will do much with it professionally but it illustrates understanding of a relevant discipline.
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Aug 27, 2011 01:04
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Has any got any experience of the Brunel University Digital Games: Theory and Design MA or the students coming off of it? I am considering trying to save some money and take it next September (can possibly join the course starting in a couple of weeks but I doubt I could secure funds or move in time) The plan I'm considering is to do UDK and Unity stuff around whatever job I can get this next year and see what seems best next summer. Edit: oh hey it's that game I worked on. BizarroAzrael fucked around with this message at 17:50 on Sep 8, 2011 |
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Sep 8, 2011 17:33
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Vino posted:I'm glad we talked about suitthread. I'd now like to talk about shavethread. It really depends on your gender.
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Sep 11, 2011 02:12
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GetWellGamers posted:Is six weeks still the standard for mailing the master to reaching shelves? My firsthand data on that is fairly out-of-date, I'm realizing... Well I saw articles today that Arkham City just wrapped up and that's out the end of next month, so it sounds about right.
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Sep 14, 2011 11:11
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Abe posted:I've been lurking this thread for a while without introducing myself. The game I'm working recently came out of hiding, so I think I should do the same. That's cool, which country/studio are you in? And is MP3 in Unity, or was that a completely unconnected statement?
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Sep 16, 2011 17:46
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