Re: OT: Demo suggestions

I have to agree with Stephen mainly.  A complete game is *many orders*
harder to write than a flashy demo.
A demo also won't require anything *near* an art production pipeline either.
Probably though, flashiness will help, especially I would think in the
shallower console market.


----- Original Message ----- 
To: "Multiple recipients of list OPENGL-GAMEDEV-L"
<[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2005 9:46 PM


> Stephen J Baker wrote:
> >
> > Personally (and I'm not in the games industry - just an
> > amateur tinkerer
> > with games) - a flashy demo doesn't impress me much.
>
> Gee, that's such a ringing endorsement of what matters to game
> developers.  Free clue: flash will help your cause with game developers,
> no matter what aesthetically unaware non-game-developers may say.
>
> > The thing about writing a demo is that you get to put in the
> > things that are flashy and easy -
>
> Who the @!#$#@!!#@$ believes that it's easy to be flashy??!?  Do you
> know anything about getting an art production pipeline done?
>
> > but anything that's actually difficult can just be
> > left out - you aren't forced into making these flashy effects
> > work with the rest of a large and complex system.
>
> Let's translate Stephen's words for the home audience.  "I'm a
> Simulations guy.  I work at L3Com/Link Simulation & Training.  I'm
> impressed by the kinds of things I do at my job, and am not terribly
> aware of the difficulties of things outside the scope of my job.  I
> expect everyone to do what I do, if they want me to be impressed."
>
> > IMHO, a complete, playable game would be more impressive than
> > a demo of a few very fancy-looking canned effects.
>
> Sure it would be.  But the issue is what's needed to get a job, not
> promising people the moon.  Substantive demos can certainly convince
> employers to hire.  It shows you can get something done, and that you
> have talents.
>
> > If you are looking for a way to stand out in the crowd, I
> > would concentrate
> > on being really good at Physics, Networking and Shaders
> > because those are the hard parts right now.
>
> Assuming your ambitions in game development are programmer-centric.
> Don't forget about art, audio, game design, and all the tools and
> technologies that go into supporting those efforts.  The important thing
> is not doing Physics, Network, or Shaders because some guy like Stephen
> said so.  The important thing is to do *something* well.  And while
> we're throwing around programmer-centric areas one could concentrate on,
> I'll toss in AI.
>

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