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So I took an engineering/programming test for some entry level c++ game programming jobs I applied for, and my programs worked and my resume is pretty good (for an entry level position at least), and I've even tested for the company and have a good reference from my test lead there, so I had high hopes- I wasn't expecting to get the job or anything, but I figured I'd at least get to an interview. Want to know whats worse than being rejected for an interview for a job you thought you had a shot at? Having those same jobs re-posted on gamasutra.com the same morning. Sigh, time to figure out what's wrong with my code.
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Jun 4, 2011 22:43
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19orFewer posted:Sites like to have a rolling set of ads, give ads as packages and autorefresh stuff randomly to get new eyes - I'd be willing to bet they had those ads ordered weeks ago (and no solace admittedly) may have filled the post weeks ago too. This makes sense, and lord knows I haven't been programming c++ itself for LONG, but the coincidence is heart-breaking 
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Jun 5, 2011 01:12
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Starting a new QA contract for Microsoft next month in the building Bungie used to be at. Which is going to be WEIRD coming out of 1.5 years of testing Halo for Bungie themselves in the same building. Should be good times though.
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Aug 29, 2011 20:48
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Jaytan posted:They are in downtown Bellevue now. Yep, and Microsoft uses the 434 building now. I presume the 343 Industries group uses it but my interviewer was hush-hush on the project itself so I'll see for myself.
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Aug 30, 2011 02:30
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Hi gamejobs thread, I'm a (contract) QA tester at 343 Industries doing tools testing and build verification. Let me tell you why my job is awesome: As part of my job I had to learn how to use the content creation tools the designers use. On slow days I get to poke around the documentation and tutorials for these tools, and now I have the knowledge to create Halo levels from scratch, including scripting. Watching enemies spawn and move into position in a level you created is an amazing feeling. D1Sergo fucked around with this message at 00:56 on Nov 9, 2012 |
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Dec 4, 2011 05:46
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I could use some advice on Design portfolios- After years and dozens of mod projects abandoned, I'm finally nearing a totally playable state on a Starcraft 2 mod that I've managed to put a significant amount of dedicated effort on. For an amateur its pretty neat, and I intend to do a lot of public testing and revision on it, but I'm terrified of the thought of trying to showcase it on a possible design portfolio (a theoretical portfolio I'd put together when a get a couple decent mods under my belt). Does anyone have any advice on what developers and designer looks at when they're looking at someone's portfolio? Is there a standard of quality I should be attempting to be meeting? Am I screwed unless I get a team of people together to super-polish the hell out of whatever I'm working on? Am I dumb for thinking that good Starcraft 2 mods could get me noticed for a level/mission design position? (I'm not doing SC2 exclusively though, I'm developing other skills as well). D1Sergo fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Feb 16, 2012 |
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Feb 16, 2012 21:47
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Archetype posted:I contribute to entry-level hiring (QA) and boy do I get peeved at resumes bigger than one page. If the resume contents are good it's not going to cause me to not vote for you, but I will think you didn't do any research into best practices and are bad at consolidating information (qualities I want in QA). And people who don't have a cover letter are almost always instant "nos" from me. I send my "cover letter" as the body of the email with my resume attached to it, is that kosher as long as I'm not going "here's my resume read it without context"?
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Apr 4, 2012 17:42
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Archetype posted:Oh, I'm fine with that. As long as it's not TOO long (I've seen 2-page cover letters...) and make sure it's personalized (I love <your company's name> because of <X> — X being a researched and true reason). In my opinion, if your cover page isn't a 1/2 - 3/4 page newly written and somewhat personalized then its just not right.
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Apr 4, 2012 21:18
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Pixelboy posted:The studios are great. Just a huge raise in it for me... Welcome to Redmond: Boring as hell but within a 15 minute drive of EVERYTHING, including 90% of Washington's game industry.
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May 28, 2012 16:08
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Is the Neverwinter Nights engine too out of date for me to start working with it for experience? Is there a newer RPG game with an editor I should start looking at? I guess I could look at Skyrim but.... blech.
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Jun 26, 2012 02:19
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I'm pretty waist deep in Starcraft 2 right now, I should probably focus on that for a while but I was kind of poking around to see what's available. I actually have been getting bunch of experience using the game tools at my work (I'm a tools/BVT tester)- it's actually been REALLY amazing and fun, I've made a full (short/crude) working level with scripting and encounters in our game's engine, although its kind of rough that I won't be able to put anything in a portfolio or even really talk about it due to the NDA.
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Jun 26, 2012 02:46
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djkillingspree posted:Don't bother with the SC2 editor unless you want to go make SC2 maps or you want to drive yourself batshit insane IMO (mostly kidding, it is a really great editor but it is only slight less complicated than visual studio. not a great starter tool) Thankfully, despite never actually FINISHING anything I've dabbled in SC and WC2/3 (as well as NWN2) mapmaking for years so I'm way beyond the starter stage. Hearing this actually gives me some hope, since I've got done pretty well learning the intricacies of the SC2 editor, so I guess the rest is just effort. I hate effort 
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Jun 27, 2012 19:15
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Shalinor posted:
This is my exact job and I love it, every day I get to create simple objects and levels in Maya and make sure they can get loaded into the design tools and the game itself. I finally got UDK running on my computer at home, and its amazing to realize how much I've already learned about putting maps together from doing my job. edit: But I guess that doesn't help the original point of making the tools team invested in Maya to begin with. D1Sergo fucked around with this message at 08:27 on Jul 23, 2012 |
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Jul 23, 2012 08:23
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I was about to make a post about how I have 4 years of Photoshop experience in college that doesn't really feel like any experience at all, but I started thinking about it and realizing that I was selling my own abilities short. I dabbled on and off over those 4 years so I wouldn't really feel comfortable outright saying I have 4 years experience, it "feels" more like 1 or 2. Soooo that's kind of tricky.
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Nov 1, 2012 19:23
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So I've got this Starcraft 2 mod/map I've been tinkering with for a while that I want to use to start a design portfolio with, any advice on how I should present it? I guess I've never really thought about it, should I spring for a website like the cool kids? Are links to youtube videos unprofessional, or are there people who actually want to see specific files?
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Nov 5, 2012 21:56
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Revitalized posted:Entry Level QA question: Not to belabor the other points given here, in my experience its sometimes best not to overthink it- if an issue has a clear cause, write out the cause step by step and don't sweat describing every detail of your game state unless it seems relevant. On the other hand, when an issue DOESN'T have a clear cause then any detail might be important.
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Nov 8, 2012 03:52
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Adraeus posted:In 2005, the path to lead at SCEA was 3-5 years and you'd get your own closed-door office, but you might end up comanaging a team with another lead. That seems pretty swanky (where's my office )
D1Sergo fucked around with this message at 12:29 on Nov 8, 2012 |
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Nov 8, 2012 12:26
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At least with homework you have a deadline that forces your lazy rear end to finish it, my files are a graveyard of unfinished ideas.
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Nov 9, 2012 00:52
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Adraeus posted:Unfortunately, the bar really is that low. Elaborating on this, getting lost in a level would probably be filed as a Severity 4/suggestion bug (unless there's something explicitly missing, like an objective waypoint). I don't generally recommend inserting your own ideas into suggestions but if you can describe how the gameplay sucks in some tangible manner then someone will want to know that information. Unfortunately, that doesn't really help Revitalized I don't think. At any rate, hopefully you hear back or do well on the next one. D1Sergo fucked around with this message at 14:06 on Nov 9, 2012 |
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Nov 9, 2012 13:57
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There's no way in my lifetime that I'm ever going to trade in the precision and home-based-ness of my PC for a mobile device. I know game and tech industry people are motivated and always on the go and need their handheld whatevers but that's not the rest of us, the people who have a home computer, maybe a work computer, and focus on their driving in between. People who would get a mobile device are not thinking about the games they want to play, they they don't have the time. That's why small apps work on tablets: because I don't sit down for hours to strain my neck looking down at a tablet (or my arms holding it up), I play 2 minutes of angry birds while I'm on the shitter.
D1Sergo fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Nov 24, 2012 |
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Nov 24, 2012 21:25
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concerned mom posted:Hmm I think I've finally worked-out the problem with finishing (the end of the beginning) my portfolio. Turns out I procrastinate a lot and don't really want to do it. Who knew? ^^^^^ <<<<< Welcome to the pre-motivation creative journey!
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Nov 26, 2012 23:10
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mutata posted:Most people laugh at me when they see Dolphin on my dashboard. Apparently most everyone at my place has deleted it long ago, but I still believe. Hahaha, I still see people running it every once in a while, I hate that thing.
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Dec 5, 2012 01:48
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I had some bad opinions about game design.
D1Sergo fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Jul 9, 2018 |
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Feb 14, 2013 20:19
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....and I learned some important terminology today, thanks!
D1Sergo fucked around with this message at 00:02 on Feb 15, 2013 |
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Feb 14, 2013 23:58
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One of my QA contracts I was replacing someone who had been hired as a level designer out of that position, and we were testing one of his levels. I was so insanely jealous.
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Feb 20, 2013 19:53
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Sion posted:Well, I just escaped test. I'm now a CM and Writer. Hooray! Nooooooo stop giving the rest of us hope  But seriously, congratulations! D1Sergo fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Feb 22, 2013 |
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Feb 21, 2013 23:49
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Paniolo posted:the space where LoL champions and TF2 weapons live. I love the systems in League of Legends and Planetside 2 and I'm usually the cheapest cheap rear end when it comes to games. If you design around the premise that purchasable weapons and characters are balanced against each other (which they're not usually, but that's a problem with the game's balance and not the monetary system), what you're buying becomes a "way to play" instead of a "way to win". Buying an extra life in a puzzle game is terrible because you're not buying a new way to play, you're buying to compensate for skill. Buying potions or stat increases is terrible because you're paying to do the same thing you've been doing in the same way for longer. But when you buy a new character in LoL, you get to learn that character's abilities and how it functions on a team. When you buy a new gun in P2, you're buying the ability to be more-or-less specialized and change the way you shoot at things. Hell, even when you buy a cosmetic item you're still gaining "benefit" from that item for every moment you or someone else is looking at it. I'm sure I've just reiterated other peoples' points, but in my mind buying the ability to change your game is good, buying the ability to keep doing the same thing is bad.
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Mar 2, 2013 01:13
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FreakyZoid posted:Could you explain why less skilled people should inherently get less far in the games they have paid the same amount for as people who spend a lot of time playing? In my example, the less skilled person is paying MORE money for the same content since they are unable to unlock the content through skill. However, in my own personal philosophy I find there is a certain amount of pleasure to be gained in having content forcefully withheld until it has been earned through skill, especially if the challenges presented are in ascending order of difficulty. D1Sergo fucked around with this message at 13:16 on Mar 2, 2013 |
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Mar 2, 2013 13:06
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Casinos make money because they study use human psychology to draw in gamblers and keep them playing their games using the same kinds of metrics that are used for arcade games and mobile games and any game for that matter (or really, most measurable things in general). So I ask myself: what really is the difference between an arcade game and a casino game? Then, what's the difference between those games and the game I want to make? What I'm saying in a very roundabout way is: there are certain fine lines where gaming turns into gambling and certain lines where the allure of gaming becomes destructive, and I think we owe it to ourselves to consider whether we contribute anything with our games other than a dopamine fix. D1Sergo fucked around with this message at 19:16 on Mar 14, 2013 |
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Mar 14, 2013 19:14
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I didn't say that F2P is gambling, I'm saying that there are situations that warrant consideration above "how much money can we get people to spend?" Some F2P titles like to place people into losing situations to force them to spend money to keep playing, much like arcade games and gambling. I don't agree with using metrics to find the place where the user is most likely to want to continue spending money and forcing them into a losing situation at that point so that they will spend that money. There are many great F2P and monetization models, I don't agree with any that uses the player's success or failure as a monetized event.
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Mar 14, 2013 20:06
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FreakyZoid posted:I always find it weird that people talk about the psychological tricks of f2p as if games haven't been using this stuff for decades already. "Gotta catch 'em all" - oh Nintendo you evil villains playing mind games on children. "Click here to pay 300 PokeBux to progress to the next gym!" "Looks like your battle isn't going very well, have you thought about buying a Max Revive for 50 PokeBux?" D1Sergo fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Mar 14, 2013 |
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Mar 14, 2013 20:37
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concerned mom posted:I had an idea a couple of years ago called Millionaire Leaderboard where you pay 69p to get your name with a link in it to the top. If you pay more it stays up for longer. You could have some publicity stunts like someone proposing with a link to a picture of a ring or Coca Cola paying to get their website to the top or something. If anyone uses this idea please send me some free coke or propose to me thanks. Hmmm... make an app with an associated TV Station for kind of a free-market/crowdsourced/Commie channel where people bid for time slots to run their own programming/advertising. I'm not sure WHY, but it could actually be fun.
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Mar 14, 2013 22:01
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j4on posted:Let's use the psychology of the All-bid auctions and fee-bid auction sites to create a game where everyone has to use IAP just to bid for a chance at winning the game. It would work like this: there's a "race" every X hours to win a giant prize. Entering the race costs a certain amount of currency / IAP, and you have to spend consumables to have a reasonable chance at winning. You an redo any section of the race as many times as you want to improve your chance of winning.. so if you do a pretty good run at first, there's a high incentive to spend a lot to fix the one section you did bad on. That's some mad-scientist level genius right there.
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Mar 14, 2013 22:09
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ceebee posted:Real motherfuckin' talk. I love making art for games as much as the next kid but that's no reason for a company to literally abuse your enthusiasm or guilt trip you into staying late. Working in QA, it's really frustrating when 2 guys on your team are taking the maximum overtime every week for 60 hours a week compared to my 45 average, and those guys become the rock stars that the manager and all the devs go to for projects because they're ALWAYS THERE.
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Mar 18, 2013 20:59
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I didn't REALLY want to continue Diablochat in this thread buuuut I'll give in for one post, let's try to be civil though? The way I see it, in a very simplified manner, there are some players who want to kill monsters as a way to get stats (as a way to kill monsters), and there are some players want to gain stats as a way to kill monsters (as a way to gain stats). Think "killing" focused versus "progression" focused: action versus status. Diablo 3's problem is that the first group has had its game experience cheapened by the presence of the RMAH (which allows players to skip the "killing" phase to a certain degree), while the second group is forced to pay extra money to continue enjoying the game with further stat progression- bait and switch. Blizzard tried to make a different game for different demographics and ended up pissing both groups off, leaving only the players dedicated enough to continue spending money. Which was the point, as the only people using server space will be people who spend extra money. However, its arguable whether pissing people off for money is smart in the long run. D1Sergo fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Mar 21, 2013 |
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Mar 21, 2013 00:37
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edit: Nevermind, started as an anecdote and ending up as whining. There is no whining in the Thunderdome!
D1Sergo fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Apr 2, 2013 |
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Apr 2, 2013 00:20
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Irish Taxi Driver posted:Socially Awkward Networking I appreciate the comments! I think part of why I feel down about networking is that I'm in Publisher QA 70% of the time and it's hard from that position (since you don't really actually get to MEET any devs). When I worked at Bungie, I got to chat with the Senior Test Lead and play arcade games with artists and designers, it was fantastic. I kind of squandered it through naivety though, but live and learn. D1Sergo fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Apr 2, 2013 |
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Apr 2, 2013 01:39
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Maugrim posted:
This part worries me because I'm on year 6 of QA. Essentially it took until I was 20 to get out of a toxic home life and since then I've been learning to focus and deal with the leftover anxiety, but that's pretty personal and I really hate whining about personal issues. I prefer to deal with them, but dealing with them has taken time. D1Sergo fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Apr 15, 2013 |
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Apr 15, 2013 19:00
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GeauxSteve posted:I don't think so. The big differences are just the platforms, testing tools, and knowledge of compliance issues/guidelines. I agree with this, my experience with testing mobile Apps is very similar to my experience testing online downloadable/playable games. Knowledge of computer networking and backend/server stuff can help, as well as knowing how your particular environment works in general, but otherwise it's a lot of the same stuff.
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Apr 19, 2013 01:12
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Hire too many testers for a DLC pack, give them a daily quota then bitch when they try to test AI spawning and pathfinding in the co-op levels instead of dogpiling onto a limited number of easy environment bugs. Hrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnng.
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Apr 23, 2013 01:17
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