Re: OT: Demo suggestions

> 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.

Errr, working in both a Govt organisation & owning a private
games development company, I get both worlds -- and I have to
agree with Steve on this one more than not.

The first thing I look for is shipped products. If you don't
have one, then something like a working game is next. It doesn't
worry me if it's not that flashy, as long as the person
demonstrates the skills they want to do. ie: if they want to
work on physics, write a cool physics engine, etc

  > Who the @!#$#@!!#@$ believes that it's easy to be flashy??!?  Do you
> know anything about getting an art production pipeline done?

 From a programmer point of view, Art means squat. :) That's why
we have graphics artists. They do a much better job then
someone who is talented at writing neural network software.

If the person is applying for an artist position, I want
flashy, otherwise I don't really care about that. If the person
writes something 'flashy' using a displacement mapping routine
they coded up themselves, then that's nice too, the artwork is
not the thing I am looking for in a programmer...

> 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."

Lighten up would ya... Steve has been around quite a number
of years, and does know what he is talking about... and he
does have several games under his belt... :)

>>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 I have the choice between someone who presents a running
(canned) demo, or a game where they have shown graphics, sound,
input, basic physics, etc - the game will win every time if
it's stable and indicative of skills.

Sorry mate, but demo's are quite easy to get finalised (to
debug etc) whereas games are easier to break, and will give
me a better idea of coding solidity when hiring a programmer...

>>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.

Uh, the exact quote from the original email was:
"I'm interested in joining the gaming industry as a programmer."

> 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.

art = get an artist.
audio = use direct sound
game design = game designer

shader = ? Need to generally write these and test them with 3rd
party tools

physics = possibly use something like granny, etc, but can require
a lot of effort to integrate into custom engines

Don't get me wrong, I understand your point of view, but I think
you were a bit harsh in the reply... :)

Leathal.
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