CUEmu - Thread Posts

Phazorn

Mon May 24, 2004 4:46 pm

#40

missle command was my fav Atari game EVAR!

Spuds McKenzie
"Barking around a golf course near you"
woot kitties!

p4Samwise

Mon May 24, 2004 4:54 pm

#41

Thunderheart wrote:

Just about everyone I've met got their start in QA.

/agree

And if you hang out on the forums posting bug reports and whatnot, you've got a leg up. The players around here do more/better QA work than many professionals do, if you ask me.

"Prettiest shim on Bria!" - Sev
Certified "cool" by the Darth Vader of Bria
Blue glowie.

Thunderheart

Mon May 24, 2004 5:02 pm

#42

Monthigos wrote:

Thunderheart wrote:

Monthigos wrote:

I swear I've read this before . . .

I re-used parts of 2 paragraphs from my original intro post, but I punched it up

Oh okay, that's it then. Great story btw, gives hope to people like me who would like to work in the industry but in the meantime is doing something else.

Hang in there

Whatever you do, just keep making games. Make them in visual basic, make them using existing MUD engines, make them in Flash. Whatever you do, find a discipline that you love and keep doing it. Then go to all the big game development conferences - - thats big. Get out and network.

Another thing thats not obvious from the outside that is a good tip is to rembember the basic disciplines and what they do. Pick ONE discipline and focus on it.Work at it until you are really excellent and then get out and do that networking part I told you about. First are the producers. Producers know how to bring all the pieces together and manage the details. As a producer, you have to know a bunch about all the different disciplines and how all the pieces fit and most importantly, how to bring all those pieces together and make themwork...and get them published. Next are the programmers. These are the guys that code the raw engines. These guys and gals do all the low level nitty-gritty. They might also be database guys, UI guys orsome other specialty, but whatever they do, they code code code.Then there are are the artists. Artists have to be able to render the images, the animations and handle all the different graphics apps. If you want to break into the art side of things, make sure you have an extensive portfolio. That way, when a team gives you an interview, you have a big selection of work that they can see samples of.Then there are the designers. They are the world builders. Designers are the guys and gals that write scripts that tie all of these piecestogether and then script in the game mechanics. They do a lot of coding, but rather than code raw, low level stuff, they write scripts and thenhook them into the raw coded engine thatthe programmers build. Theytie everything together and layer on the game mechanics. Lastly, there are us community guys. For that, I would suggest making a fan site, putting up forums and waiting for the right opportunity

This is a pretty simple description, but knowing the different disciplines will help you discover which part of making games really appeals to you. Pick that ONE thing that you love to do and keep doing it. Keep doing it because its what you love to do and then get out there and network (did I mention that part? /smirk) .

Kurt "Thunderheart" Stangl
Community Relations Manager

Thunderheart

Mon May 24, 2004 5:21 pm

#43

I'm not going to comment on anything like that, but I can tell you that people in this industry get hired for doing. If going to a school like that teaches you what you need to know to do what you love, then so be it. Everyone I've met though has been hired by working up through QA, CS, orhad agame theymade (whether its published or not), their art, their abilities and what they can do; not what any piece of paper says. Interviews in this industry tend to be very gruelling and at the end of an interview, you will have answered enough questions and taken enough competency tests to the point where you'll know if you are ready.

Kurt "Thunderheart" Stangl
Community Relations Manager

PlayeroftheDay

Mon May 24, 2004 5:42 pm

#44

Thunderheart wrote:

I'm not going to comment on anything like that, but I can tell you that people in this industry get hired for doing. If going to a school like that teaches you what you need to know to do what you love, then so be it. Everyone I've met though has been hired by working up through QA, CS, orhad agame theymade (whether its published or not), their art, their abilities and what they can do; not what any piece of paper says. Interviews in this industry tend to be very gruelling and at the end of an interview, you will have answered enough questions and taken enough competency tests to the point where you'll know if you are ready.

Personally I was was developing a game I'd agree with this 90%, except for my progammers... thems best be coming out of some institution with some serious programming degrees.

Ackis

Mon May 24, 2004 5:44 pm

#45

Thunderheart wrote:

I'm not going to comment on anything like that, but I can tell you that people in this industry get hired for doing. If going to a school like that teaches you what you need to know to do what you love, then so be it. Everyone I've met though has been hired by working up through QA, CS, orhad agame theymade (whether its published or not), their art, their abilities and what they can do; not what any piece of paper says. Interviews in this industry tend to be very gruelling and at the end of an interview, you will have answered enough questions and taken enough competency tests to the point where you'll know if you are ready.

Exactly TH.

Right now, at the job I do I started as an intern. Now I'm affecting IT security for the entire health sector where I live. They say I could do, and got the picture so they kept me on.

Imperial Captain Ackis Losackego - Über f335h

TheLateAnakinSolo

Mon May 24, 2004 5:48 pm

#46

Hey, TH, I know it's a little off subject, but...

When can we expect TC2 to go up? You say that want our input, but we are kept in the dark about things... I think that it would be better for everyone if you would turn the light on. You would get our input (we don't want another crafting change) and it would make everything go over MUCH better. Well, in my view, it's just wasting everyone's time... what's the use in making a system that will be rejected? I think that you would know this best, as you were one of us once.

Anyways, back on the subject...

I've was here during beta, and still remember your end of beta presentation-slide show. (nice job by the way) It was great to see you get accepted as a new DEV...

- I support keeping & balancing the current combat system
Face Loran (2 unlocks), Rostek Horn (Jedi Knight), Corbantis
*April 17th, 2004* to *Sept 13th, 2004.* *Dec 20th, 2004* to *Unknown*
*****Non-Geo Cave Jedi*****
JEDI KNIGHT waiting for a FRS fix
Dont ask me why I'm going for 2 Jedi, because I don't know myself.
Do or Do not, there is no try.

ARC_Casper

Mon May 24, 2004 6:07 pm

#47

Alot of great info TH. And you are right WHO you know is a big part of it too, i met some great guys in the xbox live beta and they work at activision now, and they told me to start as a QA and i can move up if i stick with it.

Your awnsers just pushed me over the top to go back and turn in the application =) thanks again.

Casper Idej ~ Eclipse ~ Mos Quito Hills Alliance ~ Cazperz Trippin'
Gunit ~ Test Center ~ Unity

Former Correspondent.

~ Homer Simpson: Holocron Grinder

Gaenjin

Mon May 24, 2004 6:20 pm

#48

Thunderheart wrote:

Interviews in this industry tend to be very gruelling and at the end of an interview, you will have answered enough questions and taken enough competency tests to the point where you'll know if you are ready.

I worked as a QA analystat Microsoft for a few years in the late 90's. early 2000's. The Microsoft interviewswere all day long and will send you home to gibber and droolon the couch for a few days.

I've been in love withMMO games since 1991, designed MUDs, played many graphical MMO Betas and releases, and probably been plugged into the overall genre more than most. Working at a dev shop would be nifty, but I'd worry that it would limit me at this point.

Masen

Mon May 24, 2004 6:39 pm

#49

Atari, and I think he said it was Space Invaders. Or was that the Arcades?

BTW, I got my Atari too, and I played it right up till the joysticks wore out. LOL.

No I don't have a freakin sig. Just make something up and pretend it's here man. woman. umm...Whatever.

Metroid

Mon May 24, 2004 6:51 pm

#50

Hey TH, what about people who live in places that aren't popular centers for gaming companies?
What I mean is, I live in Las Vegas myself. Westwood studio's used to be here, and I actually got interviewed/offered a job.... then they shut down like a week later. (can you call that luck or what?)

I've applied at other companies out of state, with the expressed, WRITTEN OUT saying that I would relocate for the job, fly for interview, whatever, and NEVER hear anything back. Even if its a job I MORE then fit the qualifications for. Do you have any experience with company policies about this sort of thing?

I'm getting close to graduating from college and it's making me nervous.

(ggggggggggggggggggxnnntnnnntnnnxgggggggggggggggggg)
- Zorlon Starwind - Leader of Imperial Special Tactics Strike Force Darkfalls -
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Masen

Mon May 24, 2004 6:55 pm

#51

All you PS and Nintendo boys can kiss my backside, lol. Without Atari and Colecovision, none of them would even exist, PCs as a home gaming system might not even exist. Those systems were the first that gave people the ideas to 'take the Arcade Hom1' I still remember the commercials, lol. It's like saying Nickelback is better than Kiss, or Black Sabbath, or the Eagles. You might prefer it (and I'd tend to agree, I'm not THAT old, just turned 30 yesterday), but without the other bands, Nickelback wouldn't be around now. It's not that they ripped them off line for line, alot of new bands got their own unique sounds. But, they had their music in school, as kids, and that inspired them to become rock stars.

As for the Atari/Coleco debate- If you were a real gamer you had both! (lol. I didn't, I had an Atari and went without snacks for 3 months to get one!)

And TH, Congrats on making it to the bigtime. I remember your Beta posts, lol. I wasn't in beta, but I been following this game for years myself (I still mourn the announcement of the races- they left out every single one of my favorites, and I got the sinking feeling they still will) I remember some of your harshest flames fondly, Because if you really care about something, that's when you get mad about 'mistakes' in your view. I been guilty a few times myself (ok..a LOT of times, but I TRY to remember you're all human, hehe). Sometiems it works better than others... The item decay, and lifting it for pvp, were two of my most irate moments. It hit us casual players REALLY hard, and hasn't done a thing to the folks with the big cash, But I remember how scripted your post was, and I still get the feeling you were as against it as everyone else, but, the execs have spoken, and we've all gotten over it. You got a set of brass cahoneys the size of New York state man, jumping out and taking the flamethrowers full bore, and loving it because you're doing the dream job most of us would kill to do (watch your back, I'd love to get paid to slug it out with trolls! hehe). That takes some serious guts, and you were doing it free of charge before most of us knew Galaxies existed. I might flame some of your posts now and then, But if I agree with something, I'm just as vocal, I wish more people would do the same.

Just remember dude, we might bash you now and then, But we do it (mostly) because we love this game as much as any of you guys, and we want to see it be the best game it can.

No I don't have a freakin sig. Just make something up and pretend it's here man. woman. umm...Whatever.

Masen

Mon May 24, 2004 7:11 pm

#52

I agree with TH here, including programmers. Many of the best programmers/3D artists/etc I know of, are all self taught. Schools tend to teach people how to do what's already been done, which is helpful to a point, but if you don't have the creativity to think up new ways to do things all the time, you got no business being a game programmer. You need to be making NEW games, not rehashing old ones. I'm a firm beleiver that half the problem of the 'sequelmania' and 'remake craze' in games now, is simply that many of the programmers lack innovation, the other half of course is that the Producers and Publishers are in the same mindset- If it worked before, why can't it work now? I'm frankly glad that Galaxies seems to go for the originality over education bit- You think there'd be Entertainers? Droid Engineers? Armorsmiths otherwise? Nope. We'd all be wearing looted junk, and the whole social aspect would be just like it was in horizons.. a ton of people all shouting wares around the clone center or starport.

No I don't have a freakin sig. Just make something up and pretend it's here man. woman. umm...Whatever.

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Thread: Team Comments Kurt Stangl