Any game programmers at Anand?

[Anomaly1964]

Any of the members here ever worked on a game before, just curious...?

 

[KaOTiK]

I have, worked for EA for little over a year. Got out of the industry and went to military simulation side of things.

I still have some friends that work in the industry, but are leaving or looking to leave as well. Most people I know that did work in the industry left it.

I was an texture/environment artist.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I suspect Whippersnapper is the lead programmer for sins of a solar empire : p If you consider configuration management software to be a game then I am >.> <.<

 

[Soundmanred]

I worked at a company in the mid to late 90s.
We made one good game with an expansion, one great game and the rest were crap to be honest. Once the focus of the company shifted into online/casual gaming I left. They still make "regular" PC games (some very popular), but the politics overcame the desire to create and the fun of it when I was there. The last exciting moment I can remember was when we were building the rotoscoping studio. Sadly I never got to see it in action.
I had no interest in game development anymore and thanks to good investments and saving instead of spending the money I made, don't need to go back. The environment of game development is different now, and it's not a life I desire. I think there's maybe one guy that worked there when I did that is still there.
There were a bunch of 18-22 year olds there that basically slept in their areas and didn't leave much. They were just happy to be there and they worked cheap, so it worked out.

 

[Aikouka]

I have, worked for EA for little over a year. Got out of the industry and went to military simulation side of things.

That's kind of the interesting thing... the geekier people all dream of being game programmers, but the pay and (possibly) hours are better in the defense world by a decent-sized margin.

 

[KaOTiK]

That's kind of the interesting thing... the geekier people all dream of being game programmers, but the pay and (possibly) hours are better in the defense world by a decent-sized margin.

It isn't even a contest really.

I do the same exact work now (plus some additional things now but get paid basically very well for it) as I did in the game industry. But now, my work days are 8 hours max and usually shorter and only mon-fri no crunch times, our deadlines are not insane and we are rewarded for meeting the goals of the deadline ahead of time. It's a steady secure job, we aren't afraid of being let go after our project is done. Pay is much better. One of the best things from doing sim work is knowing it is helping save soldiers lives. There are other perks as well. On the game side, the only things I miss are seeing upcoming projects and getting to play alpha/betas for games, heck getting to see some games that were scraped for whatever reason (many of which the public was never even told about).

My experiences mirror everyone else I know that has worked in the game industry as well. The industry has a very very high turn over rate, but that is fine cause tons of young people get into it each year and are just in awe that they are working on a game. Very are very few vets, the ratio of vets to new people most be ridiculous,

 

[pw38]

Govt work is more times than not always preferable. I've worked in the defense field doing the same things I did in telecom and I wouldn't go back. Not for a healthy increase in salary. It's just not worth it to me.

 

[coloumb]

Myself - quake/quake 2 mod/map pack and an unreleased top down game using the unreal engine [map design].

Friend [co-worker] who was a software programmer/developer in the semi-conductor industry who grew tired of the b.s. and went to work for Crystal Dynamics on various projects - since he was low on the totem pole, his job was mainly to debug and fix code [which he said was extremely poor and crappy by design]. He's moved onto different jobs every year or so [maybe that's the nature of the business?] and is currently a Senior Lead Developer at Microsoft

 

[Markbnj]

That's kind of the interesting thing... the geekier people all dream of being game programmers, but the pay and (possibly) hours are better in the defense world by a decent-sized margin.

Because games sound fun to program, and in general they are. But game companies hire young programmers and treat them like crap. I was working for a bank in Boston doing C++ back in the early nineties, and got an offer to come out and interview for a position at an early online game company that wanted to move to C++ and needed an expert. I did well in the interview, and they made me an offer of $35k! I told the guy it was half what I was currently making and he just shrugged.

 

[skulkingghost]

Yes, I worked for a small company called Artificial Studios before we got bought up by EPIC Games. We were working on a small game called Helix Core (later released as CellFactor: Psychokinetic Wars.)

I am out of the console / pc game industry now, but I work for a app development company that does apps and games.

 

[Merad]

I've worked on some games as a hobby (open source projects and the like). Zero interest in the industry.

 

[Aikouka]

Govt work is more times than not always preferable. I've worked in the defense field doing the same things I did in telecom and I wouldn't go back. Not for a healthy increase in salary. It's just not worth it to me.

I know what you mean... I've joked before that the reason they pay you well in defense is so you'll put up with the bullshit . There's a guy at work that used to do telecom work, and he had high praises for the job as well.

 

[invidia]

Heard nothing but terrible things about working as a programmer in the game industry. I did some indie/hobby game development, some with those already in the industry. It takes an extraordinary level of devotion and interest to be able to work as a game programmer.

 

[Anomaly1964]

I guess I ask because I see SO MUCH COMPLAINING in here about PC Gaming lately...

I guess I just don't know what you guys expect any more...?

I HATE console gaming but guess what? That is where the money is today. If you are trying to believe that these companies are PLATFORM loyalist and want to keep the minority of gamers happy though you are dreaming...

Do you think they write games for consoles PURELY because they hate PC Gamers and want to F&#37;*K with us? No, they do it because that is where the MONEY is...

How much EASIER must it be to write games for units that have the same processor, video card, and sound outputs VS. different processors, video cards, sound cards, memory, etc. ?

So I will ask, WHAT is the solution to better PC games and HOW DOES A COMPANY IMPLEMENT THESE CHANGES AND STILL MAKE A PROFIT, cause guess what, no one is going to do it for the LOVE of PC Gaming...?

 

[KaOTiK]

The majority of complaints can be nullified by simply do a proper port.

Plenty of options in the graphics tab, not having such a low FOV, not having an FPS cap on and auto aim, remap keys, not saying press start/x whatever when a controller is not plugged in and instead the actual key, mod tools, dedicated servers.

Those items above would quiet things a lot, and none of it is difficult outside of providing mod tools. Not having most of that stuff in a port is downright lazy and/or greed by not doing a bit more then the extreme bare minimum.

How the games play is a whole other can of worms now a days and I wont get into that.

 

[LumbergTech]

I guess I ask because I see SO MUCH COMPLAINING in here about PC Gaming lately...

I guess I just don't know what you guys expect any more...?

I HATE console gaming but guess what? That is where the money is today. If you are trying to believe that these companies are PLATFORM loyalist and want to keep the minority of gamers happy though you are dreaming...

Do you think they write games for consoles PURELY because they hate PC Gamers and want to F%*K with us? No, they do it because that is where the MONEY is...

How much EASIER must it be to write games for units that have the same processor, video card, and sound outputs VS. different processors, video cards, sound cards, memory, etc. ?

So I will ask, WHAT is the solution to better PC games and HOW DOES A COMPANY IMPLEMENT THESE CHANGES AND STILL MAKE A PROFIT, cause guess what, no one is going to do it for the LOVE of PC Gaming...?

There are some companies that have been incredibly profitable on the PC platform. I think that things are changing and that PC gaming is slowly becoming more popular. What is your gripe? There are people who truly CARE about their platform of choice and then there are people who just use platforms to make money and they really don't care. It is like the difference between art for the love and art for cash. Sometimes it can go hand in hand, but often it doesn't. What is wrong with some people not feeling that they must maximize their returns on everything they do? It depends on what resources they already have and what they are trying to accomplish. I agree that sitting around and bitching about it doesn't do much good, but I still agree with the premise that some things are just worth doing even if you don't make a bazillion dollars as a reward.

 

[Markbnj]

I guess I ask because I see SO MUCH COMPLAINING in here about PC Gaming lately...

I guess I just don't know what you guys expect any more...?

I HATE console gaming but guess what? That is where the money is today. If you are trying to believe that these companies are PLATFORM loyalist and want to keep the minority of gamers happy though you are dreaming...

The whole nature of "computer" gaming is changing, and changing rapidly. Games are not the only application vertical where traditional desktop and laptop platform architectures are becoming less relevant, not by a long shot. There's still big money in big PC titles, but every single major release is now cross platform, and every major gaming house is working on other architectures, i.e. console and mobile platforms. What we thought of as "PC" gaming just a few years ago is a heck of a lot less relevant now, and will be even less relevant in the future.

 

[CuriousMike]

There are some companies that have been incredibly profitable on the PC platform.

Yes, everyone can name all three of them.


That's the point.

 

[Aikouka]

The whole nature of "computer" gaming is changing, and changing rapidly. Games are not the only application vertical where traditional desktop and laptop platform architectures are becoming less relevant, not by a long shot. There's still big money in big PC titles, but every single major release is now cross platform, and every major gaming house is working on other architectures, i.e. console and mobile platforms. What we thought of as "PC" gaming just a few years ago is a heck of a lot less relevant now, and will be even less relevant in the future.

It definitely helps that licensing a single engine provides capabilities for multiple platforms. UE3 has support for PC, PS3, 360 and iOS. Of course, the developers still have to do a bit of extra work (especially in regard to iOS), but it would certainly make it a bit easier.

I commented in some other thread, but I don't really see a downside to separating engine development from actual game development. Unless the engines created are all junk .

 

[badb0y]

Yes, everyone can name all three of them.


That's the point.

I can only think of 1, Blizzard. Who's the other 2?

 

[Rhoxed]

Valve has to be one of the 3, im sorta drunk or I would probably know the 3rd also.

 

[wuliheron]

Video games are going Hollywood and, as everybody knows, its a rough business that will chew you up and spit you out. We've even got the rise of big studios like EA trying to dominate the market like Universal Studios did for movies. With the next generation consoles being capable of truly cinematic quality graphics I expect things will get even rougher for awhile and we'll see Hollywood and video games merge like never before.

Should make for an interesting fight and some day I'm sure they'll make a movie and video game based on the story.

 

[Markbnj]

It definitely helps that licensing a single engine provides capabilities for multiple platforms. UE3 has support for PC, PS3, 360 and iOS. Of course, the developers still have to do a bit of extra work (especially in regard to iOS), but it would certainly make it a bit easier.

I commented in some other thread, but I don't really see a downside to separating engine development from actual game development. Unless the engines created are all junk .

Agreed, and that trend is inevitable as well, imo. What will suffer will be the ability to utilize higher end hardware to produce truly outstanding environments, visually and otherwise. That kind of work will go on in the commercial simulation world, but not as much for games. It's pretty amazing/saddening when you think that the primary platform competitor for the gaming PC now is really considered to be the XBox, which is what? Six years old now? Six year-old graphics hardware.

 

[Wyndru]

If modding counts, I've created a few addons for WoW.

I was in a group that designed and coded a MUD back in college.

 

[CU]

I worked for a company that made slots machine games for while. Pretty fun to do. You can make a new game in a few weeks. The turn around and hours are not as bad as real game programming either. As for defense work, I looked at getting into that but the company I was looking at decided to hire all their interns instead. I guess they work cheaper than I do. I also heard from someone inside the military that with all the budget cuts that it is not as stable as it once was. Although still better than working for a gaming company.