career-chat

[crude bolt]

i agree that employers will look for that minimum but idk abt if that makes sense from employer side

[woeful iron]

but if you're already thinking of quiting in HS, I don't think you're the kind of person to spend enough serious time educating themselves outside of the school system

I could be wrong of course

to reiterate what I said yesterday, high school is pretty much the easy part of life

[wary idol]

My advice would be finish highschool, take a break, try see how game dev stuff is going for you, if it doesn't work out how you thought continue with your education

[crude bolt]

youre partially wrong.
me wanting to quit hs is due to lack of interest, im actually quite curious but nothing in school atm really interests me.
I do educate myself on my interests outside school, but nothing that i dont like or find useful

[woeful iron]

you say you are interested in game dev

what have you educated yourself on in those regards

since you're asking in this server I guess this is one of your dreams

[crude bolt]

ive tried learning c#, java and blender i would assume ive spend 150-200 hrs on it which isnt much but a start ig

[woeful iron]

do you have it in you to learn the necessary skills on your own after high school though

[crude bolt]

i would tend to no, but if id really try i believe i could. ive had a hard time learning coding on my own, it was much easier which a teacher that leads me to think that ;_;

[deep mural]

Kinda related and sorry for interrupting but what if I genuinely do get the education (from my free time) and somehow cannot get a job?

[woeful iron]

not much options other than try to keep improving and keep applying

[deep mural]

Have you tried reading, video tutorials on coding are hard

[woeful iron]

or get an eduction if you really see it going nowhere

[crude bolt]

i have no idea but id think build a strong portfolio from free work and similar

[pastel estuary]

to quote myself from half a year ago (in this channel)

"its also learning how to finish things, how to deal with critique, how to work with people from different walks of life, and different interests and trades, how to cope with deadlines, boring tasks, networking."

Gamedev involves a LOT of boring tasks, over and over and over again. Accepting this and just doing them is a big part of gamedev as well.

consider it practice.

[deep mural]

There's like only 1 or 2 good videos for c++

[crude bolt]

ive only watched tutorials or few websites

[woeful iron]

this is pretty much what I mean yesterday with higher education is more than the "education" part

[crude bolt]

fair enough

[deep mural]

I'm ready for this tbh

[woeful iron]

thinking you are doesn't mean you are

not saying that's your case idk you

[crude bolt]

its just tiring if i did those things i listed for 150 hrs and just kept as much knowledge as i could learn in 5-10

[woeful iron]

but end of high school is peak dunning-kruger time

[crude bolt]

i dont even know that guy ;_;

me stoopid

[woeful iron]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect

[woeful iron]

so coding is hard without a teacher, but you want to make a carreer out of coding without guidance?

[crude bolt]

im low performance low estimate :,)

[deep mural]

Well you haven't actually did anything so

How would you know that

[crude bolt]

thats the question, either learn by myself meaning for my i need a new method bc i cant keep going with that slow learning
or get into a university and learn faster there but takes long asf

[woeful iron]

I was saying that more to regards to Soldier saying he has all those extra things you learn in uni down

again not that I know their situation

but I know Soldier is (close to) finishing high school as well

[woeful iron]

how does learning faster take longer 🤔

[crude bolt]

i did "some", not enough but some
id believe 150 hrs of learning would give me a SLIGHT idea

[woeful iron]

also side note, don't feel like you need to rush to having a job. You'll have to work for the coming 40+ years, no need to rush into it

[crude bolt]

my bad, ive phrased wrong. i would be pretty much obligated to stay in uni and id learn much i need. with learning by myself id be lucky if i learned at the same pace, its risky due to me maybe leaving out stuff or learning slower ;_;

[crude bolt]

i wanna make my own money >:o (but yes)

[woeful iron]

plenty of time to do that

[teal spoke]

btw, 150 hrs means nothing. I fooled myself into "more hours = more skill" but that's only the case if you actually achieve something in that time. It's better to set a goal instead of a time frame

[woeful iron]

you can take student jobs while studying for money if that's what you want

[crude bolt]

makes sense, for that you need a plan tho

[woeful iron]

no one is holding you back from dropping out of uni either though tbh

[crude bolt]

which would take me abt 2 more years to get 18

[woeful iron]

to get 18 what

[crude bolt]

yes, im just trying to get a sweetspot where i can get as much as i can tho

[woeful iron]

do what you think is the best way for you to reach the needed skills for what you want to do

[crude bolt]

nvm, 18 or 19 im done with hs (years old)

[woeful iron]

but having a job would not make you age slower right?

[crude bolt]

id agree if i knew what is

[woeful iron]

so I'm confused about this

[teal spoke]

I am looking for a job as well and on indeed there are a lot of working student jobs

it's much easier to get into the industry while you study

[woeful iron]

no one can tell you this except yourself

[crude bolt]

yh bc my english is dumb asf, sorry

[teal spoke]

probably because companies can give you, for them, a much better contract

[crude bolt]

so as i see it right now.
i have time in highschool to experiment if learning on my own will be fast enough and give me enough skills

[woeful iron]

jup, in belgium company pays no taxes pretty much on student employees

but you're limited to 500 hours per year tax free I think

[teal spoke]

yeah, you can only work a certain amount of hours

[woeful iron]

well we already established staying in HS is definitely the first step

so take that time to do things and see what you want

[crude bolt]

450 in germany too :o

[crude bolt]

ok lets set aside the academical stuff and talk about what i would be supposed to do now

[woeful iron]

you're not "supposed" to do anything

no one forces you into anything

[crude bolt]

;_;

indeed

[woeful iron]

my advice, enjoy your life while you have it easy

if you want to learn game dev

do it

but don't feel like you need to

[crude bolt]

2 problems, 1st even if its fun as said without results after a certain time id get kinda annoyed because even if its fun it feels like time wasted (similar to playing games) 2nd doing nothing makes me feel kinda useless ngl

[woeful iron]

if you do want to be in game dev, and not solo dev, first important thing is to decide whether you want to be more technical, or more artistic, or a mix of both

[crude bolt]

mix

[woeful iron]

so you feel useless either way, might as well be productive 😛

[pure kettle]

If you have the skill, you can use it once you get the chance.

[woeful iron]

how is developing a game or skills in general time wasted lol

[deep mural]

Is that just a calm down tactic? Because from what I've heard (in my life & area) is that it's just extremely hard to get housing because prices and also everything is more expensive here except gas lmao

[pure kettle]

Except gas?

[deep mural]

Replying to this

[woeful iron]

how is that related

I'm not saying be unemployed for the rest of your life lol

I'm saying high school is high school, don't burn yourself out trying to get ahead

do them because you want

[deep mural]

Working retail would be painful 😂

Oh yeah ic

[crude bolt]

nono, definetly not wasted time. its about not seeing results...ive seen SOME results in blender, which is why i spent some more time there too

but with coding and unity im having a hard time understanding and coding which would make me annoyed after a certain time as said.

[deep mural]

Unity is annoying tbh

[woeful iron]

lower your expectations

start small

[crude bolt]

if i spend 30 hrs and get a first person controller after that im like, wtf was that for? i dont even know how to do it now even though i have it, thats 30 hrs gone

[woeful iron]

moving a character in one direction is a big accomplishment if you come from nothing

[crude bolt]

extreme example

[woeful iron]

wdym what was thatt for

you can now move around in your game world

how is that not cool

[pure kettle]

I would agree but my local dev space would said otherwise lol

[deep mural]

Then follow YouTube tutorials then, actually get hands deep and read documents

[crude bolt]

it was rather copying and understanding code partially while writing

[woeful iron]

yeah don't do that

don't copy paste things just like that

you can look at other code, but learn from it

don't copy anything you don't understand

[crude bolt]

i mean that cool but my goal wasnt a game but the learning ive had from making it. the game afterwards is a bonus for me at the start

[woeful iron]

and while learning, even if you copy-paste things you understand, I would advise typing them out yourself instead of copying, it will help retain and train

[crude bolt]

or thx

[deep mural]

I don't know how anyone else does it but I rarely ever watch tutorials except for the pure basics, then I just figure everything else out by asking questions, reading docs, etc

[crude bolt]

yh ive had a hard time too

[woeful iron]

and you learned how to move a character

[pure kettle]

At least from my local game dev discord server, I'm part of 14% that uses Unreal Engine.

[deep mural]

It's also important how you're having a hard time

[crude bolt]

that is my exact problem. ive got the controller but dont know how to write it again though

[deep mural]

Just lack of attention? Motivation? Are you unable to think because of your surroundings? Stress?

[crude bolt]

motivation and surroundings

[woeful iron]

then you didn't learn it

that's what you get by copy pasting

[crude bolt]

even if id understand it doesnt ensure id remember

[woeful iron]

this is like if you put together a puzzle and expect to learn how to paint from it

[pure kettle]

Probably because local game dev space are dead set towards mobile gaming and monetization, and Unreal Engine isn't exactly a friendly figure in that regard (Fortnite won't even run on average low end phones).

[woeful iron]

repeat and train, remake it without looking at sources at some point

[crude bolt]

ok lets make a deal, after this convo ima spend 50 more hours with coding and blender then im coming back

;_;

nvm you said no time goal

[deep mural]

Nothing much you can do about motivation unless you know some people irl that also have similar goals to you / uses unity, I'd advise trying to start some convos, also for sorroundings it wouldn't hurt to read in your free time (maybe on a school bus) and recap when you start to work again

[deep mural]

No point in logging

https://tenor.com/view/just-do-it-shia-la-beouf-do-it-gif-4531935

I couldn't even say how much hours I have in unreal

I just know I've been doing it since June

[crude bolt]

whats a simple game to code except pong

[woeful iron]

go ahead and make a simple game, just walk around collect things and go to a point to finish the level, but don't copy paste anything and try to really understand everything you do

[deep mural]

I always like to do a simple fps game

[woeful iron]

that will teach you a lot of the basics

be it in unity or unreal

[crude bolt]

kinda hard as 1st game tho :o

[woeful iron]

first "game" I made for real in c++ was console text games

[crude bolt]

ok, so no copy paste and im gonna try to rewrite same code 1 hour after without reference

[woeful iron]

first real graphics game was a flappy bird knockoff

[deep mural]

The hardest part about actually coding is the framework of the engines, if you know where the functions are you are just going to be able to do it

[woeful iron]

after that I made a cookie clicker knockoff

just start with simple things you know

[deep mural]

Imo

[crude bolt]

ok

[deep mural]

In 1943? /J

[woeful iron]

weird response but ok

starting with basics is always a good idea

[deep mural]

Common Soldier W

[pure kettle]

I probably had around 35K hours, and it wasn't until recently that I'm really getting the hang of it

[woeful iron]

no matter what age it is or what technology is capable of

[deep mural]

Design wise, unreal is pain

I hope I never have to configure a rig 😭

[crude bolt]

btw, is it that im getting stupid or am i having kinda a phase? learning last 1-2 yrs got kinda harder

[deep mural]

Hard to say, we aren't you

[pure kettle]

Depends, lack of free time to learn new things are rather common though

[crude bolt]

i doubt id be able to tell that i am stupid if i were

[pure kettle]

At least you aren't in Asia region where 12 hour work per day is more expected

[crude bolt]

true

[pure kettle]

Unlike me

Anyway

[muted gyro]

Remembering is largely repetition have to put in the work. if you copy and paste some complex thing like a character controller and you are new to game dev it would actually be shocking if you remembered how to do it from scratch

I would start with something simple and don't be afraid to mess around in code - personally I find the best way to learn something like that is to change parts of the code until I understand what it all does

[pure kettle]

Can't agree more with this.
Experimenting and changing things up will be much better than blindly copy pasting whatever the tutorial/Stack Overflow told you

[muted gyro]

If you just screw around there's a very low ceiling on what you can break assuming you're not in the middle of real professional game production (and in that case you have source control so whatever)

[deep mural]

Anyone here got a job out of high school and wants to chip in some advice?

[wary idol]

I started selling stuff on the MP and got a bunch of people contacting me with job offers so 🤷‍♂️
That's also how I got my current position

[deep mural]

Interesting

[floral island]

Hello! I have a ue project and a concept video for a game. Is it possible to offer for a company to develop the game or movie? Any idea of how to start?

[modern relic]

how much money do you have?

[floral island]

not much. i would like to know if its possible to sell my project for a developer or something like that

for example, if a make a presentation to a company and they like the idea and the concept, is it possible to sell the project?

[pure kettle]

If anything you give them the money to go ahead and develop it

Unless it's an existing IP with existing value

The idea alone isn't worth much, the execution would be worth more

[brave forge]

There's no shortage of ideas. From what i understand, you need a lot more than a concept and an idea pitch. Publishers look for a few different things: the potential for that to turn into a longer IP (sequels etc), the track record of the team behind the pitch, where there current pitch is at, and what's the likelihood the team pitching can deliver it. It's rather rare to buy a concept alone.

[pure kettle]

You'd lose zero money if you give pitch to higher ups as an employee though, worst case scenario they'll just reject it and not even shelving it for future projects.

Pitching just the concept to developer is like hiring them for contractual work - commission, if you will

[floral island]

makes sense, but I would like to try because I believe in this idea. I don't have a team or money, in fact I'm looking for a company to sponsor me. All I have is a video made in unreal and the idea for the game.

[floral island]

yes, I think it's worth a try at least

[pure kettle]

You could look for indie studio investment firms and hope for the best, and if you calculate it well, you might secure some funding under their terms, and use that to hire developers on board to assemble a team.

[floral island]

for example, a company interested in develop a small project

[pure kettle]

Companies like Kowloon Nights exists (Square Enix Collective might still doing it, but there's not much releases these days)

[floral island]

yes, that's totally what i'm looking for. Do you know some of this studios to indicate?

[floral island]

great! i will look for it

the project is for a horror game, so I think it's ideal to look for studios in this segment

[pure kettle]

You might as well look for publishers as well. Companies like Annapurna focuses on story driven games.

Not to mention horror game genre has been done to death, no pun intended. So you gotta have something that makes your project stand out.

[floral island]

yeah, there's too much o them hahaha

but I see it as a good time to launch an idea in this genre

there are many being developed but many follow the same line of PT

I'm suspicious to say, because I like allreleases nowadays, especially the indies

[amber root]

I'm starting a new gaming agency in the UAE and I'm looking for unreal engine artists/blueprint/coding talentes. To be relocated here.

[modern relic]

try #instructions for how to make job posts. this is not the place for them

[amber root]

@modern relic thanks

[sage ember]

Say you have an art budget of $100k for a RTS game. what percent would you commit to environment , sound, character models/animations, vfx, and anything else?

[round radish]

Just for me, I'd definitely use 75k$ on cinematics lol

[steady pewter]

90% marketing, 9% management, 1% game dev.

[modern relic]

what is this star citizen?

i mean no mans sky

[sage ember]

https://tenor.com/view/draco-malfoy-seemslegit-legit-okay-sure-gif-4000861

[green oyster]

I'd hire a good art director with a unique style so you can make trending gifs on twitter

[sage ember]

https://tenor.com/view/i-see-no-problem-here-crazy-eyes-gif-12788383

[pure kettle]

Hot take: No Man's Sky was a victim of executive meddling

[pure kettle]

You can spend that on marketing alone and still not enough

[modern relic]

Ye definitely. Sucks to see

That's actually a cold take

[round radish]

No Man's Sky: executive meddling. Star Citizen: fan made dream - same outcome

[woeful iron]

there's also #hire-a-studio once you find the money

[modern relic]

I think there's no inherent problem with fan made projects, but the scope of star citizen is so big and Robert space industries really dropped the ball on the development

Also the acronym for Robert space industries is RSI which is pretty funny

[round radish]

I didn't say there was a problem with it. Just that overreaching can come from any angle!

And bad design decisions etc

Star Citizen is just a big bad design decision

[modern relic]

Same

[round radish]

You can play it and go, "yup, I know what they did here, it's so terrible" when you know a bit about game dev.

[modern relic]

I don't think I'm leet enough to figure out a lot of how stuff is done but when I play games, a lot of the time I'm wondering about how they did stuff instead of playing the game

[round radish]

I don't think any leetness is required to know how they fucked up most of it.

Especfially the inventory system.

Bad coding and bad design.

[modern relic]

So you are saying you could make a better star citizen 🤔?

[round radish]

Given enough time and manpower, absolutely I could improve 99% of hteir systems.

The only thing I don't know much about is their world system (how they do large environments) and the rendering optimisations.

Not that there are many optimisations...

[modern relic]

Well lucky for you if you had 500 million dollars that wouldn't be your problem

[pure kettle]

Unreal Engine now supports LWC, so that's an option

[modern relic]

I also just realised how much money 500M is. You could afford to pay 100 people 100k/year for 40 years and still have money for operational costs

[wary idol]

As soon as I played it I instantly went "yep, this is a spaghetti mess" lol

No wonder it takes them ages to add literally anything

[round radish]

Hehe

The fact they've probably changed engine's like 3 times doesn't help.

To be fair to them, though, I'm not sure how a game I designed would fair after over 10 years.

Probably worse. 😄

[modern relic]

i think its different when your game is alpha for 10 years vs released for 10 years

[round radish]

True true.

Thing is about SC, it's never going to come out of alpha. They can't keep pace with technology and feature creep.

Well, that is, while they're developing their spin off. Maybe thr mmo version will get some love now squadron 42 is out or whatever.

[wary idol]

The thing is they got all the money they wanted, pretty sure they don't care that their game is in a barely playable state

[modern relic]

i can guarantee if my game funded 500M id probably dip and be living my best life

[round radish]

Not only did they get the money, they keep getting money.

I swear they put more effort into cosmetics and new ships than fixing the issues.

[wary idol]

Yeah

Some issues have been there for like 6 years lol

There is still a high chance your own ship will attempt to murder you by just climbing into it

[round radish]

Hehe.

I can forgive physics bugs. I know that shit is hard.

But inventory and ui is easy.

And that's still bad.

[wary idol]

Yeah I don't understand what they are doing with the game, cool concept, awful execution

[round radish]

Yeah.

[round radish]

Yes but they tend to work. And aren't alphas.

This is true.

Hehe. Probably.

It might hurt future sales, though.

[sage ember]

The nominal value doesn’t matter. I was more interested in the percent breakouts.

[crimson gull]

Hey is it possible to find someone to work for in game dev for few extra bucks, have no experience, but wiling to learn, a bit short with time cuz have full-time and extra job so have just up to few hours in evening

[brave forge]

#instructions for the job board

[plucky hatch]

Is learning Houdini a good application to learn for environment artists or its not related?

[plucky hatch]

Yes its very related and a very good skill to have in your portfolio as an artist. The majority of the environments I work with in Unreal have come from Houdini in part or full.

[pastel estuary]

And if you excel at houdini, you could be considered tech artist. big bucks there.

[plucky hatch]

Can I learn houdini on my own? Online tutorials?

[pure kettle]

Yes.

[pastel estuary]

they do offer tutorials themselves, and there is a lot to find on the web

[pure kettle]

It won't be done in one night, but doable within months

[plucky hatch]

https://www.uqat.ca/etudes/creation-et-nouveaux-medias/dec-bac-en-creation-de-jeux-video-profil-integration/

I can do this in 2 years

you can change the language to english on the site to read if you dont know french. What do you guys think?

https://www.uqat.ca/etudes/creation-et-nouveaux-medias/dec-bac-en-creation-de-jeux-video-profil-art/

there's also this

This will take me 3 years and leans more on the art side

[plucky hatch]

Is it free?

idk but I know that I have 9k off the whole program

in Canada, Bachelor degree cost anywhere between 10-15k but no sure

its not like in the US , where you have to pay 50-60k

Well if you think it will give you a good ROI. Its good to go to school if you think you will need a Visa, or you want a study something that is quite technical and has benifit or hands on instruction (VFX and film for example), as well as if the course can provide excellent networking and placement opportunities. Otherwise it can be a good idea to just do shorter and cheaper courses to learn the same material.

However if you just want to learn environment art, I don't think you need 2-3 years of a degree.

[plucky hatch]

thats what im thinking

I dont think employers really look at your degree

They look at your portfolio the most

As a designer it's only your work that matters, there are plenty of bad graduates from good schools 🤷‍♂️

exactly

and I stress too much at school

I only do the minium to get a passing grade

thats about it

but I gotta say the last game we made this semester is my best project I did in a team of 3 people

[plucky hatch]

do you work in the game industry?

(You dont have to say if you dont want to) I understand it could be too personal

[plucky hatch]

Well I don't mind, I have my portfolio in my bio 🤷‍♂️ . I work with Epic/Unreal on non-games, automotive, product, CGI, architecture, fashion, virtual production. I am about 90% automotive however.

[plucky hatch]

oh nice

I wanted to apply for the qa test enginner position at Epic

They are asking for 3 years experience but I have 2 years of experience in game testing

if I cant get into game dev

at least I have a QA tester background that I can use to my advantage

[plucky hatch]

Well just so you know most times those '3 years' are just there for HR filtering, nobody is going to turn down a good portfolio if it fits the job.

[plucky hatch]

I am graduating in ** ***** at *******. I am pleased to apply for an internship in level design.
Since my childhood I have been passionate about video games and especially those with immersive worlds like GTA and Uncharted. I was also a game tester for two years before my studies, which pushed me to pursue a more advanced career in video games.
Through my 3-year in *****, I developed several skills in level design. We learned about Maya, Unreal Engine, Unity, Substance Designer, and core game design fundamentals.
There I discovered a passion for designing levels, creating situations to challenge the player and keep them engaged.
For our graduation project of the Agile Project course, we are creating a video game. My role is to help my teammates with level sketches, do team level design, create VFX, sound integration, and programming for certain features.
In a team, I am versatile. I like to share my point of view and create ideas with my team. I like to pay close attention to detail, I am proactive and I am always looking for ways to improve my working methods.
It would be my pleasure to discuss with you. I am available for an interview.
Thank you

This is my cover letter. What do you guys think?

[pure kettle]

If they actually gated you away from that, then you should find another company that value portfolio more.

[haughty umbra]

Hi everyone how are you ?
sorry I have a question (I think here is the space that i can ask question about my issue but if it's not , I really apologize about it...)
I'm new artist and due to some limitations , unfortunately I'm just able to make profits via cryptos and selling...you know ! nfts...
I just want to be sure , Do I have permission to use UE5 , twinmotion (and it's assets and textures) to visualize my arts and selling them as nfts ? I mean can i use these softwares to sell my arts (more as nft) with free license ?

[frosty cobalt]

Trying to gauge if Unreal Engine is the right program for this project. I'm trying to simulate a Hydraulic Shovel (big ass excavator) digging up some earth, and then dumping said earth elsewhere. Realism of the digging and physics of the rocks being dug up is a priority for me. How easy is this to learn in UE5 (I'm a blender/c4d user), and is UE5 the right program for accurate physics based simulations? Appreciate the help 🙂

[granite fossil]

@frosty cobaltit is definitely possible to create a very realistic simulation of an excavator with Unreal but you will have to write quite some code, plus the new Chaos Physics still has few quirks. This said, you could look into AGX Dynamics. They have a custom simulation system which fully integrates with Unreal and that is particularly dedicated to this kind of machines (excavators etc.)

It's a paid add on though.

[chilly sundial]

It will not be easy for and for accurate physics simulations ue5 probably won't be the best without a lot of self made code or paid extensions. It is not an option you can just enable by default

[neat hare]

Hey guys, I have to make an important decision. I dont know if I can make a living by being an Indie Game Dev. I would love to do it but there is an incredible OP AI tool already today that lets everyone make games by just asking the AI to write some code for them. I think it wont take long till an AI will be making a full game with models, animation and sound included, which would result in way to many games on the market. I dont know how I am supposed to make a living out of this if the speed at which games are published increases by 500% in one year already. Even if it boosts me too, I will earn less money bc the chances will be high that my game idea has already been done 10 times in a similar way.
So far I dont see a single game that is like what I want to make but I dont know about tomorrow or how its gonna be in 10 years.
Also, the prices are likely gonna decrease because it will be so easy to make games in a few days, which will also result in less money for me cause I cant sell a game for 10$ if all others are out there for 3$.

So what I want to ask is, should I risk losing basically my whole life foundation because I havent learned any other job than Game Dev or should I work a boring 8h job for a "meh" amount of money and be kinda save?
And how can I succeed in a world where there are 1000 games per gamer? (Sorry for the long message, I hope it suits the channel)

[pure kettle]

I wouldn't even consider that a legitimate concern, if anything it's comical. AI isn't a perfect divine religious entity that can make a universe in a whim, no matter your belief.

[neat hare]

I know its not perfect but I didnt think this would exist in the next 5 years and its been here for weeks

Also I am 18, I have a lot of time to see this distopie :((

[shut token]

If you don't think the future bolds well for it, then don't do it. Simple as that.

[pure kettle]

Yeah, ignoring the fact that there were failed kickstarter project with the premise of AI gen games.

[shut token]

Also ignoring the fact that the AI generates incorrect code fairly often.

[pure kettle]

People still buy PS4/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch even when those scrappy AI gen consoles were up on Indiegogo

[neat hare]

Yeah that may be true but thats just the first level of this AI

[pure kettle]

On paper, it sounds scary, but in practice, the novelty will worn out quicker.

[pure kettle]

Here's my suggestion:

Use that scary thought of yours into writing a sci-fi game/story.

[neat hare]

I dont think you can deny that this tool can speed up the process by a multiple if it is a bit more polished

You can literally tell it to fix its code

[pure kettle]

You're the one who want to believe that way, not me.

[shut token]

Again - if you're so scared of it, then just don't enter the field.

If what others say don't help sway your opinion, you already made your mind up.

[neat hare]

Its a fact that AI is developing (too) quickly, but I dont know if I could also live with it

[pure kettle]

There are few artist quitting because of those kind of thought, but who are to blame? The quitter artists themselves.

Giving up before even attempting to stay preservere and open minded.

If you're that scared then you are not willing to enter the industry.

[neat hare]

I have to know if its possible to live with that, otherwise I am wasting years, I also want to quit smth I am doing at the moment which would allow me to get into other "normal" jobs but that would be nonsense if I cant make a living out of this

I am just concerned

[shut token]

I'm not.

[neat hare]

Do you wanna make games too?

[pure kettle]

You can say the same with every other kind of workers, wasting years of life for their craft.

I'm not concerned at all about it. If anything I can genuinely laugh at ChatGPT making sus decisions

[shut token]

Already am.

[neat hare]

Nicee

[pure kettle]

Already am, and no way in hell I trust sussy wussy decision ChatGPT takes

[neat hare]

I honestly dont have much knowledge about what decisions they make and what they are working on, I just know that researches have surprised me often enough xD

[pure kettle]

Stay presevere to your craft, that's my rationale.

[neat hare]

Okay I am gonna do that, thanks man

[pure kettle]

If a company overrelying on AI, you can always look others that don't.

[neat hare]

xD cute emote

[pure kettle]

Ganbatte emotes to make your day

[neat hare]

xD

Thanks for the talk and good luck to you ^^

[plucky hatch]

I would not really worry about this, if AI is making full end to end games we have other things to worry about in society.
I make these things because I love doing it and enjoy it. If AI somehow replaced it all (it wont) then I would still do it anyway. If it causes you such stress to contemplate another profession is likely in order.
I really would not worry about it, I see these posts a lot but generally it''s only really people who are not working (students, kids etc).

[plucky hatch]

Do you guys think its possible to self-learn game art to become a 3D environment artist? Did anyone here self-learn and got a job in the game industry?

Im currently about to finish my 3 year program in graphic/web/game design

but Im not getting lucky with internships lately and im trying to get a level designer position

[pure kettle]

Level designer would deal different task than environment artist.

[plucky hatch]

Which one is easier to get in too

[pure kettle]

This has been linked twice at #level-design for a reason:
https://youtu.be/IcCFto0u_g4

[teal spoke]

I got myself a domain and wordpress in order to write a blog and put up my CV. The site is on strato for now and I am trying to do the wordpress setup. I dabbled a little with HTML, CSS and JS but only locally so yeah.
Do you guys have any tips? Any recommendations for wordpress themes or some layout basics? Common mistakes?

[plucky hatch]

Keep it simple, don't over design it, make all the relevant information easy to access in a few seconds.

[plucky hatch]

What are you applying for

[teal spoke]

Gameplay programmer

[serene crystal]

Check out other unreal programmer portfolio pages for examples

[plucky hatch]

did you self learn?

or go to school

[teal spoke]

self learn

[plucky hatch]

nice

[teal spoke]

But I am not that experienced

[plucky hatch]

Im planning to self learn environnement art for games

I already have medium experience with Maya

and substance designer

and all that material logic

I just need to get to a point where I can do stuff without tutorials

rn the new softwares I need to learn from scratch are Z Brush and Substance Painter

Also heard that many job posts ask for Marmoset

I might do like a short 1 year program on game art or something

dont know yet

cause like I can get in Uni with my college degree I got cuz I got all the credits and all

but like its a 3 year program

Im in my late 20s so like Idk what to do lol

I dont wanna live with parents until 35 you know what Im saying

oh nice lol

I studied IT

and I wasnt feeling it

lol

I wanted to create stuff

not repair

[teal spoke]

Yeah, had the same feeling

[plucky hatch]

Ive seen so many people on linkden with bachelor degrees in law

and politics

and then they get into game design lol

ya im 27

Im about to finish college in may 2023

Im doing this graphic/web/game design program

and im looking for an internship in level design but its not looking too good

[teal spoke]

Do you have an artstation?

[plucky hatch]

ya but its an old version I have on there , I did my portfolio on adobe portfolio for now

cause artstation has too many limitations

https://giphy.com/gifs/augmented-simulations-m83t7i4TEoZE8xNv5g?utm_source=iframe&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=Embeds&utm_term=https%3A%2F%2Faugmentedforensics.com%2F

that's forensics?

augmented forensics

[teal spoke]

yeah

but the Hololens is pretty limited

[plucky hatch]

that's cool

[teal spoke]

it scans the environment and creates a mesh for it

so you could scan an apartment with it but it's way less accurate than actual 3D-scanners

I did something with pose-estimation

but the processing had to be done on a desktop

[plucky hatch]

that sounds cool

I heard that there's this thing that can scan an object and transfer it as a 3D model in a game

[round radish]

It kinda feels odd that you spawn it at the front of the vehicle instead of the middle.

Cool though.

[deep mural]

What happened here 😅

[plucky hatch]

I fond that gif online

not mine lol

but ya its AR

looks cool

[deep mural]

I figured but yeah according to my forscenic knowledge that car is not very functional

How would a multi development game look on a portfolio?

As an a few other people worked on the project

[brave forge]

As long as you made contributions of substance and can demonstrate or highlight those, it's good. Shows you can work in a team.

That set of skills (collaboration, communication, working to agreed specs/design) is essential

[plucky hatch]

https://www.lasallecollege.com/vfx-game-design/aec-3d-modeling-online-courses

What do you guys think about this?

Its onlline and in the evening

so perfect after work

and its only 2 years

[wary idol]

I know this is an old convo by now but I'm giving it another 15-20 years before AI is able to fully make a game on its own, and by "game" I mean anything that remotely resembles modern games
Generating a game would be so much more complex than generating 2d images or simple code snippets.

Neither the tech is anywhere close to being able to do that and neither is the hardware, and hardware is currently advancing slower than ever.

So I'm not worried even a little

[deep mural]

Realistically programming would be the last thing taken over by ai

[neat hare]

True, I am doing an internship atm and am still young

[neat hare]

I am happy to hear that, I would definetely prefer to just learn Unreal 5 than having to put together code snippets by an AI

[chilly sundial]

Hell I would give it longer than that. There are so many things that go into games that aren't algorithmic, and can only be done with a human touch, because they require feeling and intuition.
Things like level design isn't algorithmic, its all about the "feel" of a level, and thats not something i believe can be programmed.

[round radish]

You just need a better algorithm.

Maybe you can't program it straight off, but an AI could definitely learn how to do it.

[loud prairie]

Hi everyone, im new here, and I wanted to get feedback on my personal project. I am developing a video game all on my own and will release it by the end of this month. I wanted to ask how much you guys think this will help me out with showing others what I can bring to a team when applying for jobs.

[plucky hatch]

https://dontasktoask.com/

[solid lance]

yeah

the human brain and AI are really not that different

the AI can simply scan all the level designs of popular well liked games and make level that takes ideas from all of them in little bits so that it doesn't feel direvative

And if you think that's theft, sorry, that's literally how the human brain works too

[round radish]

It's not a matter of being thta different, they are exactly the same.

The only difference is scale. 🙂

[green oyster]

Not theft but it sounds like a fever dream because there's no "why" there

[woeful iron]

I think you're all overestimating AI lol

even if AI advances tremendously, as it probably will, game dev is not on top of the todo list I think

[green oyster]

Reminds me of that AI trained on kim jung gi... only looked similar but was a disjointed mess - the original artist had a very sharp concise style and line work and the AI made stuff was a disaster

[round radish]

Probably the limited source set.

You need a lot of input to train an AI.

[ashen lynx]

You are very wrong. Will be amongst first areas.

[deep mural]

And you think that why? Programming is one of the most complex things out there

[green oyster]

maybe in industries like engineering or industrial design, AI designed parts

[mighty yoke]

Its been a long time and we just barely.. kinda.. have self driving cars.

I feel the canary in the mine would be having big studios actually generating their assets with AI consistently.

[chilly sundial]

i think a lot of the above overestimates it too.
We'll probably have SkyNet before 100% AI made games. Too much stuff you can't train AI to do. As i said, AI's don't have intuition or the concept of fun. They won't be able to do things like level design for a long long long while

[vagrant bramble]

:coin: Heads

[pure kettle]

Even human made games can still be questionable on how they are fun.

Let alone AI.

[brave forge]

That was my takeaway hahaha

[stable anvil]

hey ya'll. I'm currently planning a game design portfolio website. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share theirs as a guide/reference?

Thanks in advance :))

[inner timber]

AI - Made by Humans

[granite thistle]

Have you guys seen the protest by artists on ArtStation against AI generated images? I suggest you take a look at their frontpage. It's very interesting. I'm certain the time for developers will come too. The only question is when, not if.

[versed moon]

I have an endless dilemma which is the simple should I switch to Unreal, right now I work as a C# dev.
I've done a bunch of projects with both Unity and Flutter Fire all 2d like card games and roguelike.
I would love to move towards game dev industry and get hired eventually and Unreal seems like the best bet, but is it good even though I like more lightweight games that have the "indie" feeling? Thank you

[pure kettle]

Lots of "indie feel" game made with UE, especially on itch.io.

[pure kettle]

However I'll warn you that you're barely going to use C# in Unreal. There are Build.cs files for your modules but that behaves more like config file for Unreal Build Tool.

[versed moon]

Having to tackle stuff like blueprints or a bit of cpp I think is intimidating but it's alright could be good to get of c# after a day of work

[plush oasis]

https://twitter.com/ChimpSquared/status/1603169908740698112

Gsep (@ChimpSquared)

@joysilvart i didn't do a no ai image or participate there, but i did spend the day talking to various people about what exactly the problem here is -- its not ai. its companies making commercial software with assets they don't have licenses for. an hour ago tim sweeney joined the debate

Twitter · Dec 14, 2022, 11:27 PM

[plush oasis]

https://twitter.com/ChimpSquared/status/1603242017705844744

Gsep (@ChimpSquared)

@wickedinsignia in my reply to tim's comment, i spoke about how they could have started smaller with for-purpose generators for specific tasks, such that the datasets required would be much smaller and could be obtained legally.

Twitter · Dec 15, 2022, 4:14 AM

i think its worth talking about this on twitter around these conversations happening as artists in the protest have knee jerked ludditely, but the real problem seems to be that these companies think they can get away with making commercial software services using assets they did not get license for. tim sweeney explains why it should not be viable for business. companies like stabilityAI and midjourney don't respect that you need to legally acquire the data to make these systems

tonight stability announced that artists should opt-out.

cos you know, businesses that want to use existing intellectual property to build a commercial software product, usually have to go license that ip first..............

except ai companies. apparently.

because its woo vague might be magic, might be like a human -- well it's not magic, the conversation around it drew tim sweeney to comment on how and what these use and why that makes them a problem for commercial use.

that second tweet though, its clear that they could have, and other businesses could do it 'right' if they didn't try to do it all at once

a smaller scope for what any given generator can do, means that a smaller dataset is required (as opposed to the whole internet's IP). small enough that a company like stabilityai could afford get it licensed from an entity that make it, or make it themselves. but they want it all and now, for your dollars and are willing to ruin intellectual property rights and abuse the internet's populations to get it.

like artstation artists.

gonna tweet on it

[granite thistle]

Honestly I don't think that's the real problem. Sure, what they're doing regarding intellectual property is shady at best. But ultimately even if they did it like you suggest, slowly, by carefully grooming the dataset, making sure everything is licensed. Eventually we would reach the same point where we are at now. And that point is that artists are getting replaced. I would say that is the main issue. Everything else is an attempt to stop the AI from doing this. Intellectual property argument is one of the ways to try and slow them down.

[chilly sundial]

Artists aren't getting replaced. There will always be a market for human made stuff. Will artists have to adapt a bit? Yes, but that's to be expected anyway

[wary idol]

I still don't see the issue of training ai on images of art

If ai is not allowed to be trained on them then neither are artists allowed to take inspiration from other images, the learning process is pretty similar, both will reuse patterns they learned

This whole debate on Twitter is so stupid

[round radish]

It's not like it's taking the image and wholesale re-using it.

[woeful iron]

I think a lot comes from people mis understanding how the ai generator works

and others just being pissed that AI is close to as good as them with low effort

[round radish]

I feel some shitty legal stuff coming.

Like when the UK tried to ban the mp3 file format because of piracy.

[wary idol]

Artstation doubled down and is allowing ai art lol

Which is what I was expecting

[woeful iron]

for something like ArtStation I could get not wanting AI art though

[wary idol]

True

[woeful iron]

but like in general, nothing wrong with AI stuff imo

[round radish]

It's gonna get spammed with ai art.

[wary idol]

Or a separate section

For ai

[round radish]

Yeah a separate section would be good.

[steady pewter]

I think AI art just should be labeled as such. Have an easy way to be separated.

[wary idol]

Yep, that's how I see it too

[steady pewter]

Btw I heard China issued it as a law or something.

[round radish]

That AI art has to be labelled as AI art?

[steady pewter]

yea

[green oyster]

A good example is Sam Yang and AI pouring replicas of his style. Without consent, and anybody can do it. If you're not familiar you wouldn't know they were not his artworks. If another artist would have done it, wouldn't it have been a blatant copy?

A human artist takes inspiration but comes up with his/her own ideas

[woeful iron]

so does AI

[round radish]

To be fair, you can't copyright a style.

[steady pewter]

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/12/china-bans-ai-generated-media-without-watermarks/

[woeful iron]

it's only a copy if it pretty much exactly the same

[wary idol]

The funny thing is artists copy eachother all the time and yet everyone is fine with that

Jesus mobile discord sucks

[woeful iron]

if I make some weird black and white painting in geometric sections, is it a copy of guernica by picasso?

[green oyster]

I don't think they do, and if it happens no one is fine with it

[woeful iron]

but not illegal

you can shit on people that copy others' style

you can also shit on AI that copies others' style just as well

[wary idol]

It's very very common for artists to take inspiration from other, the exact same thing with AI

There is no difference

[pure kettle]

Artist copy each other all the time and iterating from it. There's no denying in that.

[wary idol]

Anyone familiar with machine learning will understand that

[pure kettle]

Hard pill to swallow I know

[green oyster]

The difference is you can tell this piece is made by the OG artist X, this is made by artist Y who was influenced by it (like Frazetta inspired by Sargent). They're distinct....with AI you can't, there's the OG style and a thousand copies in the exact same style

Nothing unique comes up, it's the same style reused

[round radish]

DIdn't they invent a 3d printer algorithm that literally produces actual paintings that are indistinguishable from the originals? (Other than through chemical analysis). I'd think that would be a bigger deal than AI spitting out digital pictures.

[pure kettle]

How about this, using AI as reference for your artwork?

No? Okay then.

[wary idol]

Not really tho, at least MJ is always adding it's own style to images

While it might be inspired by an artist it will absolutely never copy the style exactly

[woeful iron]

even if it does, still not illegal afaik

[round radish]

If it becomes illegal to copy an art style, the human art world is fucked too.

[woeful iron]

immoral you could argue I guess

[deep mural]

Tbf selling ai art is unethical atleast imo

[green oyster]

Using AI as a refernece tool? Hell yeah. Or thumbnail generator to paintover. Double yeah

[wary idol]

And not to mention MJ devs are taking overfit images and exact copies very seriously

[woeful iron]

why

[round radish]

Not at all. You took time to produce it. Use the correct inputs. Iterate on it. Selling it for the same price as if you'd drawn it by hand? That's questionable.

[wary idol]

We for example have been giving it our existing concept art to generate new one and it's awesome

[deep mural]

Everything besides actual real life art is pretty weird

[round radish]

Real life art is the weirdest.

[woeful iron]

so putting models on the marketplace is unethical?

[pure kettle]

Screw it, ban all form of art

[deep mural]

Can you directly download a model from just looking at it?

[woeful iron]

what

[pure kettle]

Everyone must go back to cavemen era way before the era of scribbling on cave wall.

[woeful iron]

what does that have to do with selling ai art?

[brave forge]

I understand the fears. We don't know the limits of what AI can do, where it will end up and just how much it will shake the industry, but there's lots of fear mongering happening. It feels very much like the fear mongering around the printing press and industrial revolution. I have a feeling it'll work and out become just another tool in the arsenal

[woeful iron]

you also don't buy it by looking at it?

unless you have some weird bionic eyes maybe

[deep mural]

You can just directly download it 😂

[woeful iron]

you're just talking next to your own point

then it's not about the selling

[deep mural]

Yes?

What did you expect

[green oyster]

That's the way it should be, a tool. But right now it's very easy to use it questionably

[deep mural]

I have my own thoughts

[pure kettle]

That's not how it works, chief.

[round radish]

They are right to be very afraid. It's going to make a lot of artists very poor. (Well, even poorer.)

[wary idol]

This whole thing feels exactly like when digital art became a thing "oh it's cheating, it's not real art"

[woeful iron]

you say, selling ai art bad, and then start talking about downloading

[pure kettle]

Then promote it as a tool.
BE BETTER

[woeful iron]

that's a completely different point

this is not about thoughts, it's about starting a conversation and talking about something else completely

[green oyster]

Im not a 2D artist sorry 😅

[pure kettle]

I know it's hard for someone to be better, though

[granite thistle]

Do you think the truck drivers are fear mongering when they think self-driving cars will replace them? I think not. It's going to put them directly out of a job. Same will happen for many artists.

[pure kettle]

I befriended lots of 2D artist and worked with them.

[deep mural]

It's not different, I'm saying you can directly download it instead of buying it. You gonna pay someone to view it aswell? Because that's the only way people won't download your paid art for free

[pure kettle]

Not this shit again

[brave forge]

I mean, I agree, but I also do see that this is several orders of magnitude more disruptive

[woeful iron]

you literally opened by saying selling AI art is unethical

[pure kettle]

Then what? Genocide all AI researchers to solve the problems and send the message?

[deep mural]

Then restated and said all forms of digital art

[woeful iron]

even then it's not weird, e.g. working on commision

you sell the creation of the digital art

not the result

[granite thistle]

I'm not against AI. I'm just saying that the fears people feel in the art community right now are well founded.

[woeful iron]

but is fear a reason to reject and hate something

[wary idol]

Many good artists instead of crying on twitter are already using ai in their workflows, it's a tool

Yeah less skilled artists might lose their job but is that a reason to stop the tech from advancing

[granite thistle]

And while I support AI progress, it doesn't mean I can't have compassion for those people. As I myself will likely get replaced one day in my own profession.

[deep mural]

How come my opinion is wrong but yours is a fact?

[woeful iron]

I'm not stating anything is fact

smh

[pure kettle]

If you can't keep up and taking advantage of tech advancements, be prepared to left behind.

[deep mural]

You are literally talking like what you are saying is a fact

[brave forge]

Sure. It's going to shake things up in big ways, but human artists will remain. It's yet to be proven that ai can create new styles, and without humans creating new styles then everything just stagnates. Also I'm preparing for this for programming too. I'm looking at how this can filter into my day job and how I can stay on top of the curve. There's things people can do to prepare

[deep mural]

@wary idol @pure kettle Not sure who this is for, but I'm not an artist

[woeful iron]

have you ever talked to a person before lol

[round radish]

Absolutely. This is the primary reason to reject and hate something.

[wary idol]

I'm going to bed, keep the convo civil please 👌

[deep mural]

#career-chat message

[steady pewter]

🍿

[brave forge]

Haha true. But is it a good reason?

[green oyster]

Calling dibs on bespoke artist

[round radish]

Well, no. You can preview art in low resolutions for free and pay to download the high res versions. That's how it normally works?

[woeful iron]

unfortunately "sandwich artist" is already taken

[round radish]

Absolutely. Fear keeps you alive.

[deep mural]

Then it'd be fair

[woeful iron]

is this a fact or an opinion 🤔

[deep mural]

An opinion

Stfu

[round radish]

Is this a troll or comment? 😂

[woeful iron]

just doing what you do lol

[deep mural]

The definitions don't change, you shouldn't even need to ask

[pure kettle]

I'm sorry, but if you're quitting because of this ordeal instead of staying presevere to your craft and taking advantage of the new tech, it's entirely on you.

Hard not to give sarcastic condolesences to quitter artists.

[pure kettle]

For quitter artists.

[steady pewter]

quieter or quitter?

[granite thistle]

We're in the same boat then. I'm also a programmer in my profession. And that's part of the reason why this whole thing with AI art is so interesting to me. Because I feel like it's a preview of what is to come for us later down the line.

[round radish]

For some reason this reminded me of the wedding photographer who applied for COVID benefit in the UK without even trying to find alternative work. "Nobody is getting married, I can't work!!" Just get a fucking job mate.

[pure kettle]

Dieter

[wary idol]

No insults, name calling or stuff like "stfu" please

[deep mural]

#career-chat message

[wary idol]

Same goes for both of you

[steady pewter]

Go to bed man, we call other mods if needed.

Bed man 🤔 That rhymes.

[woeful iron]

this is just me not understanding how you do not see the difference between a fact and opinion in a normal conversation

but ok

[pure kettle]

https://youtu.be/KxGRhd_iWuE

Posting this again due to the circumstances

[brave forge]

Absolutely. It's a time to keep on your toes, but I kind of also feel my whole career has been keeping on top of new languages and trends. It's not really the industry to sit back and chill in

[green oyster]

You always have to learn and adapt. Some former colleagues were in their 50s and changed jobs to 3D...basically went through all the workflows and managed to adapt

[granite thistle]

I think it comes down to magnitude. Some tools come out and let's say they cause 10% of your skills to have to be recycled. Basically 10% of what you've learned is no longer relevant and not even needed. The new tool will do it way better and faster. You adapt. But the potential magnitude of AI art is much greater. It can take a person who spent 30 years studying his craft and make 90% of that obsolete. To the point where you would probably have to change the name of their profession, cause it wouldn't be recognizable anymore.

[round radish]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj1MCjeFxrM

Related

[green oyster]

I think calling artists poor is also kind of offensive and an unfounded generalization

[steel creek]

unfounded? lol

[pure kettle]

Don't worry, it's part of the natural selection.

[tall pawn]

Hello would any 3D game artist be open to da a portfolio review, would love some feedback.

[woeful iron]

you can post your link here if you want

[frigid oasis]

Hi!

I've just finished an interview and they have told me about "Data driven development", and I have no idea about what it is. What is Data Driven Development in Unreal?

Thanks!

[plucky hatch]

I come from a 2D background and have seen several big changes in my career so far, I used to work with paper magazines, remember those 👀 . Part of being a designer is knowing how to adapt, and when to pivot to new areas. Many don't make it or give up, but thats just the natural progression of design. AI is just a tool, however you feel about it, it's not going away. So you can either embrace it to help with the workflow, or ignore it, but I have no sympathy for people who are quitting.

[chilly sundial]

I imagine it's a lot similar to Data Oriented Design/ Data Driven Design.
It has many names, and is a common optimization method. Different code architecture to Oop that takes advantage of how the CPU works.

Instead of having an array of objects that all have transforms for example, you have one object with an aligned array of transforms

Also probably heard it referred to as ECS

In UE5 it's called Mass. Mass makes use of data driven design

[shut token]

Data Driven Development is more like Data Tables/Data Assets I believe. Not so much like DoD.

[chilly sundial]

Oh really?

[shut token]

I believe so.

[chilly sundial]

That seems odd that they would have two completely different things so similarly named

Well if it is I stand corrected

[frigid oasis]

No, it's what @chilly sundial has said.

[shut token]

It's just one of those quirks I believe.

[chilly sundial]

It really sucks no one can just agree on a naming convention lmao

[shut token]

Ah - must've mastered it in half an hour I guess. I stand corrected.

[frigid oasis]

I'm going to search on the internet to know more about this. Thanks, @chilly sundial

[chilly sundial]

No problem!

[shut token]

https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en-US/InteractiveExperiences/DataDriven/
https://benui.ca/unreal/data-driven-design/

Guess they're wrong too

¯_(ツ)_/¯

[round radish]

In my experience, data driven design resolves around implement features at a base level and then using/setting stuff via external data (such as data tables)

The starcraft 2 map editor was a very good example of that.

[frigid oasis]

In the interview they talked about how the CPU works. Probably, the name Data Driven Development is wrong, but the explanation is OK.

[shut token]

They they should be asking about data-oriented design aka - DoD

[chilly sundial]

^^

It doesn't help that I've heard all those terms used so interchangably

Really makes things confusing

[frigid oasis]

I have found this about data-oriented design: https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/data-oriented-design-what-is-it/652950/3?u=viacognita

[shut token]

Yeah - that is DoD, not DDD. Which is something different. UE's DoD stuff is #mass.

[frigid oasis]

Another thing to learn, hahahaha.

[chilly sundial]

Same here. Heard them used in place of each other so often I didn't realise there was a difference!

[violet glacier]

I think this is an amazing primer on Data DRIVEN stuff in unreal, basically just "we put out gameplay data in another asset" but fancier
https://benui.ca/unreal/data-driven-design/

Data ORIENTED is all about memory optimization, both of them are about splitting data from code in some way though in a vague sense

not again 😔

lol

[chilly sundial]

Ben already linked that one

:P

[potent sedge]

Is it a better idea to use typed programming instead of visual programming languages? Since that might offer more programming experience in more areas than game development?

visual programming looks easier, but I'll struggle either way -- might aswell just do the one that gives the most bang for the buck?

[brave forge]

In the context of UE, your only choices really are C++ or BP. Some consider C++ to be a bad starting language as there's loads of complexity around syntax and memory.

#cpp generally recommends learning raw C++ first before using C++ in unreal as unreal adds a lot of stuff on top of C++ to make it work nicely in unreal.

In terms of just learning programming, BP is one of the better visual languages I've seen and includes loads of typical language features. You can still learn class design, and program flow control and the basics of programming through it.

Fixed really bad typo*

[potent sedge]

I already have some experience in programming, but I think there's a little bit of a gap in my knowledge from high level languages to lower

do you recommend BP over C++?

I'm thinking if I just struggle it out and learn with c++ it would be more beneficial to a career in programming than spending all that time in BP

[brave forge]

No. They complement each other. There's clear situations where you would use one over the other. Unfortunately there's no single "best learning path". The best path for you would depend on prior experience and also what you want to accomplish/ focus on. Where's your interest leading you most in unreal?

[brave forge]

C++ is definitely a more widely used/applicable language in terms of future career. But in that case I'd recommend spending some time learning just C++ first, before then learning unreals flavour of C++

[potent sedge]

unfortunately I have no idea where I'm heading towards, game development would be an interesting career choice, but I only see it as a hobby right now -- especially being brand new to it

Software development is where I want to go, so C++ sounds like a good path for that

[brave forge]

Yeah I'd spend a few weeks with C++ and then look at moving to unreal C++. Unfortunately I also don't think you can just learn unreal C++ and ignore blueprints as you will have a bad time. But fortunately you'll probably pick up bp very quickly once you are familiar with C++

[potent sedge]

sounds good, I will probably just end up dabbling in them both after making things

thanks ! ^

[pure kettle]

Just so you know, some things are actually better in BP instead of hard coding it in C++, like asset referencing.

Due to how asset references work in Unreal, moving, renaming, and removing assets is best done inside the editor's Content Browser. Meanwhile you need to close the editor to compile C++ code (there is Live Coding, but it's still quite limited)

[worldly heath]

@charred sentinel so like i learn simple c++ then start ue c++ or first learn all about c++ then come to ue4
And like what things to study in c++ like data structure , data base management or something else

[round radish]

I'm not sure why you'd learn database management in c++ before coming to UE c++.

You need to learn the language concepts.

https://www.learncpp.com/

https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aVX1Bzv_460s.jpg relevant.

The "how to convert blueprints to c++" tutorials will be super useful too, so you can learn the engine in simple bp terms and then convert that knowledge directly to cpp. If your end goal is cpp in UE, that is.

[pure kettle]

That's quite a retro-suicide paradox

[worldly heath]

And data structure and algorithm because in every job interview they ask dsa only

[pure kettle]

If you're applying for general software engineering, probably.
I doubt that's commonplace on gamedev though 🤔

[round radish]

Was for me.

My last game dev interview was about coming up with a method (in the interview) to sort an array of strings into anagrams. Using correct data structures and algorithms etc.

I had to relearn STL mid-interview lol

[plucky hatch]

how much impact can twitter have on getting a job?

[shut token]

It is a form of networking, so it can help.

[round radish]

You can use it to showcase your work and stuff too.

[plucky hatch]

I created a twitter account to publish my lvl design and wiki

there are some bot accounts that are retweeting my posts for free

[pure kettle]

Those are as useless as a dud. Not many people actually following those RT bots

Sure, good intention on paper, but since not many people follow them, it doesn't give much exposure in practice

[plucky hatch]

I'm following two env anrtists

and one is following me

[green oyster]

Make sure you use the right hashtags, interact with others in the industry and you'll have a following in time

[pastel estuary]

follow the #unrealengine #gamedev and other related tags. that way you'll get to see fellow devs posting their work.

[plucky hatch]

one tweet with #gamedev got attention from one bot acc

[round radish]

Also remember that Twitter is a hive of scum and villainy.

[plucky hatch]

such as racist tweets?

[round radish]

Just the general attitude of everyone on twitter.

"we are right, you are wrong, here, have some death threats, woke, sjw"

[pure kettle]

Depending on who you want to follow

Twitter algo is quite malleable.

My twitter feed is mostly anime stuff from Japanese accounts and tech art showcases

[plucky hatch]

I took a screenshot of some opinions from discord and tweeted those.

[pure kettle]

Though your acquaintance might slip up and go for western twitter tweets

Again, Twitter algo is (surprisingly to some) quite malleable, interact with tweets you really like, dismiss those that don't.

[plucky hatch]

twitter is asking me to switch to PRO

[pure kettle]

If you want a dud blue check, then go ahead

[plucky hatch]

twitter is bombarding me with useless stuff. Displaying tweets related to jokes, accidents, food, ...

[green oyster]

And #screenshotsaturday, I think the official UE account is asking for submissions to retweet each week

[pure kettle]

If it's your first few days, then that's kinda expected. Again, do as I say above about manipulating Twitter algo and you'll see the changes in a fortnite fortnight

[plucky hatch]

first two weeks in twitter

I'm following unrealengine, mark rosewater, john romero, another guy from wizards of the coast and two env artists

[round radish]

Follow John Carmack. Just because. He's a hero.

[plucky hatch]

if I don't want / not skilled in env art, can I make a portfolio with blockouts and little env art?

[pastel estuary]

just start somewhere and keep doing what you like. keep updating portfolio every time you think you are halfway done with the project, and when you finish it. can be small env art pieces, can be whole levels, whatever you like. just keep having fun and your portfolio will improve.

[plucky hatch]

My exp dates back to 2000 tech, so low poly that art at that time was very low res and not time consuming as in 4k textures and complex shaders. I think that my current level is about CSGO tech more or less

I look at doom 2016 and the blockout of each level seems feasible for me, but the photorrealism of the textures is out of reach for me

[chilly sundial]

you arent allowed to advertise here

post on the job board, but remove the discord link too

[pure kettle]

<@&213101288538374145> job post & discord link

[north narwhal]

got it

[strange plank]

Hello everyone, I've already earned a bachelor's degree in 3D animation and game design. Can anyone recommend any decent universities for game developers?

[plucky hatch]

In the world?

[strange plank]

yes anywhere

[plucky hatch]

I would suggest to look here https://discover.therookies.co/rankings/

[strange plank]

ok thankyou

[loud prairie]

Hi everyone, I just published a game that I developed in Unity am I allowed to post a link to the game in one of these chats?

[woeful iron]

in #lounge you can post whatever you want if it doesn't break the rules

[round radish]

Against the rules includes posting resumés.

[chilly sundial]

not really. self promotion goes in the sharing category, and thats restricted to unreal engine stuff

[pure kettle]

Besides, if it's a Unity project, might as well share it at the Unity Discord server

[winged dragon]

Where would be the best place to find high position people for unreal project like "Head of Pipeline" , "Executive" , "Art director " ... etc >

[plucky hatch]

Hello guys

During an interview, can I say that Im nervous?

lol

cause like its sucks when you know you are qualified for the job, but your so stressed that you mess up the interview

fk man

Ill stutter if I get nervous and my throat will get super dry

I feel like if I get to know the person before the interview and I talk to the person that will make it a bit better

the interview will be remote

[modern relic]

how do you know if an interview/interviewer is bad though?i havent had a ton of interviews at all so i dont have much experience with it

[brave forge]

You'll just know. Sometimes you'll have an interviewer who is a jerk. Sometimes you'll bomb a few questions and walk out and 2 mins later be like "fuck, I absolutely know that answer why did I blank?". Sometimes you'll just pick up on the vibe of the questions that they've kind of lost interest in the potential

But then again, especially if you are a nervous type, you can walk out like an exam and think "omfg, I bombed that!" And you get a call in a day or 2

[modern relic]

ye thats not me. i applied for a frontend web position which admittedly i was not qualified for but was actively learning. they openly told me that the position wasnt for me but they might have a support position i would be better suited for. i just though if i wanted a support position i probably would have applied for one

[plucky hatch]

@charred sentinel

The interview is thursday

fk

so nervous lol

[deep mural]

Don't be

[plucky hatch]

but I just dont get it like they could make it non stressful

Im sure like if they wanted too at the start of the interview

[oblique ice]

just answer they question only, and if you have question later , ask

[plucky hatch]

they could say , listen I know you are stressed

but relax

just that

will make a huge difference

[deep mural]

Tell yourself that then

[plucky hatch]

71 people applied to the job

what are the chance they choose me lol

fk

I have a feeling if I was standing up i could express myself better

but I 100% need to open my webcam lol

LOL

[brave forge]

Get a friend to run a mock interview or 2 with you

through the webcam

standing, sitting, try both

see what's comfortable

[plucky hatch]

this 100 times better if it was simply on the phone

so I could pace around

helps so much

[brave forge]

write some notes on some common questions and remember them:

• big personal achievements
• latest project
• hardest problem you've had to solve and how you approached it
• your strengths and weaknesses (as corny as the question is, it comes up, try and have a reasonably insightful answer not "my biggest weakness is i'm too honest")
• what do you enjoy about these kinds of roles
• What you'd like out of your next role
  etc etc etc

preparedness can give you a feeling of calmness

[brave forge]

I personally stress until the interview starts and then i just click into "well. i'm here. it's happening. lets get moving" and the fear fades.

And honestly, worst case: you don't get the job. As laura said, interviewing is a skill. It's worth going for jobs you don't want and are over/underqualified for just to get the experience for those jobs you DO want

but bombing an interview isn't the end of the world. There'll be plenty more in the future

[plucky hatch]

this is true

as some point it just goes away cause you start getting confortable

[oblique ice]

i had situation when they actually forget that had interview with me 2 times, waited and inform twice, never happen, so i off after 10 minutes

[plucky hatch]

lol the last 2 jobs I got did not require an interview

so that says alot of my skill to interview lol

[plucky hatch]

damn

well in that case I start to stress less for the next interview (If there is one) because I cannot take the company seriously anymore

[brave forge]

it's a necessary evil unfortunately. Best start looking at strategies to handle it. Preparation and practice

[plucky hatch]

ya

[oblique ice]

it's rare that can happen, because that time, it was online interview so not as annoying
just need worry about your internet, answer question then ask question later
and if they got test for you, accept/reject is your choice

[plucky hatch]

Is it professional to say in an email that I am willing to work for free when im applying for an internship?

[chilly sundial]

personally i would say that makes you sound desperate

not coming from the pov of a recruiter or anything, as i dont have it

but going to a company and saying "please just hire me, you don't even have to pay me" shows me you don't value your own work, and you are desperate

imo

currently applying for internships myself... well, placements, but same difference, and i wouldnt do that personally

[plucky hatch]

In what role are you applying in?

[chilly sundial]

Computer scientist

Anything programming related actually

Don't care where it is or what it's doing

[plucky hatch]

nice

Im looking for level design

Im either getting refused or ignored

[brave forge]

don't say that. Say you are looking for an internship. The internship will either be paid or it won't be. Companies that offer paid internships probably won't take unpaid interns regardless. But also, screw unpaid internships

[plucky hatch]

3 people in my class got an internship at the same place I applied too and the guy ignored 2 of my emails and I see that he opened my email cause I have a plugin

[brave forge]

As someone who has handled emails like that before, that can get your application binned. It's invasive. Uninstall that

[plucky hatch]

There's no way of knowing

the person cant know

[plucky hatch]

why do you think he's ignoring my emails

not too professional on his part

[brave forge]

unfortunately it's common to not hear back during job applications. Companies can get inundated with applications so it becomes a reality that they only reply to ones that are offered an interview

if you had an interview and didn't hear back afterwards, that's a bit more unprofessional. You'll typically here "we've decided to go with another applicant. Thank you for your interest. We'll keep your resume on file"

Also, I don't know the facts, this is just a comment in general from some of the stuff you've said. You have an email tracker and have sent multiple emails. Be careful you don't tread the line of badgering

[plucky hatch]

I waited a week to send the next email

[brave forge]

that's fine, i don't know the facts. It's just general advice.

[plucky hatch]

also I got angry cuz I heard this guy got the internship a couple of days after he ignored my email

all I want is a reply

takes 10 seconds to say no or yes

[brave forge]

it becomes a matter of policy, because if they reply to you, they have to reply to the other 200 applicants that weren't selected. suddenly 10 seconds becomes multiple days

again, it's different if you get to the interview stage

job hunting is unfortunately a soul crushing experience, and you have to roll with these punches 😦

stick it out and you'll find your groove

[chilly sundial]

There is a way of knowing. Iirc they embed an invisible image. I've even heard of the automatic filters automatically rejecting any application with those on them. It's not professional on your part to track your interviewer.

You may find you aren't getting responses due to that tracker.

[plucky hatch]

yes but you cant see any traces of the tracker externally

[chilly sundial]

I mean you can though

[plucky hatch]

how

[chilly sundial]

The content has to be there for the tracker to work

Like I said normally it's an invisible image

That's embedded, hosted on a website somewhere, and it tracks when that embed is loaded

I've heard of a lot of companies having auto filters to insta bin the ones that have it.

Even if they magically don't know it's still extremely weird to track someone like that

They aren't your child

[plucky hatch]

lolll

that's kinda ironic

[chilly sundial]

The image is in the email, it can be easily detected

[brave forge]

It's true. I've heard the same stuff. It's considered unprofessional and invasive

[plucky hatch]

there's nothing

on my second gmail account

[brave forge]

An email is just html. Read the source

[chilly sundial]

Yes. It's invisible. It is still a html element. Something that an auto filters can resd

[brave forge]

Companies do have email scanning setup.

[chilly sundial]

Even if someone in my personal life sent me tracked emails I'd block em. Couldn't imagine doing it in a professional setting

You don't track me without my permission, end of.

Even less so if you want me to hire you

[plucky hatch]

damn

[brave forge]

If you do that as an external entity, can I trust you to act professionally and ethically in my company?

[plucky hatch]

I only started using it when I realised that I was getting 0 replies for months

[chilly sundial]

Tracking nameless faceless people you are applying to isn't too far removed from being careless with client info

[chilly sundial]

Are you tailoring your CV and cover letter or just using a generic stamped out template? Does your cover letter show you have gone into some effort to find out about the company and likely who is receiving that email?

[plucky hatch]

always

My CV is easy to read and professional

[chilly sundial]

Are you clearly showing you meet the job description? Listing key skills by name

[plucky hatch]

yep

[chilly sundial]

Then just keep trying, and for the love of god don't be that creepy applicant that embeds trackers

[plucky hatch]

ya some compagnies might know that im tracking

[oblique ice]

yes CV should easy to read, even my resume is just black and white and letters only
but mine was artist so i sometime have link to artstation and reel

[plucky hatch]

Art for games?

[oblique ice]

yesh

[plucky hatch]

nice

Can I see your portfolio?

That would be cool seeing other people's work

Don't worry I wont put a tracker on it 😂

[woeful iron]

if you're not getting any replies at all, maybe time to change some things though

your CV might not be clear enough, not convincing enough, or just not strong enough

or your portfolio is not good enough or bad to look at

could be anything, but like 0 replies for months on end is giving a message imo

[pure kettle]

I had this happen to me long ago, lol, granted I was less skilled in UE, but still, it happens.

[pure kettle]

...but why though?
You're not running a mail list, why bother trying to track the HR of the company you're trying to apply for?

That's not how you game the system

[woeful iron]

either you got turned down because of the tracking, or just because you're not as good as your friends

[pure kettle]

And congratulations, you're creating trust issues before you even proving yourself

I know, getting ghosted sucks, but for initial application, it tend to happen anyway.

[round radish]

He needs to track down the issue!

[plucky hatch]

gained a new follower in twitter out of nowhere, but the woman didn't answer my private msg

and some 3D artist from geermany retweeted one of my tweets

[craggy nacelle]

Ah yes, I always DM women who follow me on twitter

[frozen crag]

ahah 😄

[plucky hatch]

whats the best way to find developers to do a revenue share contract for start up?

[woeful iron]

#rev-share-jobs sounds suspiciously accurate, see #instructions

[plucky hatch]

is there any other ways?

not alot of people look at that channel

[woeful iron]

Not on this server

[pure kettle]

Good luck trying to convince rev-share

[brave forge]

It's a very difficult proposition, as I'm sure you can understand, especially if it's early stages. Your best bet is probably to get cracking on building it and start demo'ing and promoting it online and gathering interest in it.

[plucky hatch]

Id like to see a recorded interview to see if im the only one like stressing the fuck out of my mind

[brave forge]

theres heaps of mock interviews on youtube that walk you through the kind of questions, the kind of responses they are looking for etc to get familiar with the process

[modern relic]

A big question to think about is would you hire you? If the answer is no how can you expect someone else to do it? Make sure your portfolio and experience are solid and the rest will basically fall in place. With experience comes confidence

I also don't mean interview experience, I mean experience in the field you are applying in

[prisma snow]

Hi

[plucky hatch]

A* big question to think about is would you hire you?* - Isn't this a biased take?

lol

[chilly sundial]

You shouldn't be biased in your assessment of that. Take your current skills into account and ask if you would hire someone for your project that is identical in skill.

You can be your own best critic

[shut token]

I've fired myself before. Honesty is key.

[chilly sundial]

If you are gonna lie about your own skills to even yourself, you probably aren't ready to join the workforce

[shut token]

I wouldn't approve my time off. So I took it off anyway. I had to let me go though because it was on important work.

I did hire myself again later though.

[woeful iron]

you should see a psychiatrist

but true though, if you can't reflect enough on yourself regarding skills to not think that you are an almighty god that can do everything, you're not ready for being hired

[tall pawn]

Hey, This is my portfolio any feedback would be much appreciated. Thank you
https://www.abhisheknambi.com/

[pure kettle]

First huge red flag:
Environment art is NOT level design.

[tall pawn]

Makes sense. Yeah will change that. Thank you.

I'm still relatively new, so anything is appreciated!

Should be updated now.

[woeful iron]

I have a feeling something is missing here 🇹

also sentence after that starts with lower case letter

and a few lines down sentence starts with a space

I feel like there's a lot of text, which can be helpful, but maybe a shorter summary on top of what it is, what you did and what you learned from it would be nice to have as well

recruiters don't like reading essays

also, why does everything fade out again if you scroll past it, then it has the fade in effect if you go back up, really annoying

either drop the fade entirely, or at least once it's faded in, leave it be

the lighting on the beauty shot of the Audi R8 makes it kinda look bad imo

it really emphasises the low poly-ness

also, really annoying that to check other 3 models, I have to go back to home and click on 3d models again

[steady pewter]

This should be enough.

[woeful iron]

the bike has the same beauty shot twice?

on your environment art page, you have a small youtube button, while on the games page you have the video embedded, at least make it consistent

wait, the other env art vid is embedded again

in general navigation is annoying, fade is annoying, and there's a lot of text, not easy to digest

pure content wise, I think you can improve on the beauty shots a lot. Presentation is everything

also, not clear at all that you can scroll down on the home page btw

other than that, I'm not an artist so idk

[tall pawn]

Awesome thank you so much. I can believe I messed up on so many spelling errors and such. I'll get all of them fixed. And regarding the embedded video are they considered bad?

Also one last question do you guys know if recruits prefer artstation or website portfolios?

[tall pawn]

If you could elaborate that would be much appreciated.

[woeful iron]

The bike page has a row of 3 screenshots

2 of them are the same

[woeful iron]

No, but having it embedded on one page and the other lage having a button to open it in another tab is strange, it’s inconsistent

[woeful iron]

I think in general most artists use just ArtStation

[tall pawn]

Got it! Thank you for your time and feedback!

[green oyster]

What is your career goal though? If you're thinking of 3D artist, models need a ton more work, especially higher polycounts to bring them to current-gen levels and you need to show expertise in high-to-low workflow and baking and optimized topology for the in-game models

[fallen onyx]

Hello everyone! I'm Panos.
Thanks in advance for reading my post.

So, I've been making games for fun for over a decade. Mostly roleplaying game systems and board games.
I always knew that this is what I wanted to do for a living, but I hadn't really gone for it until recently.
Lately I got into making video games.

I'm looking for a job in the industry.
I'm mostly interested in the higher levels of game design, like writing, storytelling, designing game mechanics and level design. I can also write music for games.
I'm not a programmer though, and that makes things a little more difficult. I am getting familiar with blueprints.
I don't have a good portfolio yet, but I'm working on it, as well as a few projects of my own. I'll probably start a stream in the following weeks where I'll be making a game from scratch.

What I'm missing though, is real experience in working with a proper team. So, even though I really love my own projects, I would really like to join an existing team and work on something that people with more experience than me have organized. My real goal here is to learn, but I would be willing to work really hard on whatever project I get involved in.

I'm hoping to find a job in the industry, so I can work on game design and hone my skills, full time.
I would be willing to go for an internship as well. Even unpaid for a short amount of time, as long as there is a possibility of a normal hire, after a test period.

Do you guys have any advice, or recommendations? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot!

[round radish]

Not sure if asking for help or advertising yourself for a job 👀

[fallen onyx]

man, i don't really have the right skills yet. I'm looking for help honestly

Besides, what's the difference? Someone pointing me towards people who would be willing to discuss an internship IS help, but I do need to say a few things about myself for that to possibly happen.

[round radish]

The difference is that's not what this channel is for. It's for advice and resources, not actually getting jobs and making connections.

For instance, if you're looking for a job, my advice would be to use the proper method on this server. #instructions

Good luck, though.

[broken yacht]

Hey kind of a random question that might not have a answer but what are some small things you can add to your portfolio game that make it stand out. Again I don't know if there are any answer to this but if there was something that you put in your portfolio game that they mentioned that was good it would be great to here that. Hopefully you understand what I'm trying to say and can help me. Thanks!

[pastel estuary]

something that shows great technical knowledge in relation to what your portfolio is about.

[fallen onyx]

Ok. Should I remove the post?

[spice dagger]

@plucky hatch Please use the Job Board to recruit.

#instructions

[cyan pendant]

hi, I just saw a JD about procedural generation engineer, I wonder are there any "must-know" algorithm for this position?

[round radish]

I would absolute say RNG style algorithms.

[round radish]

Wave collapse is fun.

[steel creek]

a base perlin function for a start. Wang tiles is another good one; anything image synthesis

[plucky hatch]

the woman that was following me on twitter is not a person. Turns out that it's a bot. It's asking questions, liking and following people out of random, the interaction is pretty much what a bot does

[pure kettle]

I didn't told you to be a simp...

||this is a joke btw||

[cyan pendant]

thanks, can you recommend some sources about these, are there any "must-learn" courses for this job

thanks @charred sentinel , I'm really interesting with this position, but at my country we don't have a job like that, so I don't know where should I start to learn

yeah, I'm a graduated CS, but my major was about machine learning, deep learning, nothing about game

😦

can you help me to recommend a start point, then I can learn along by myself

[royal lintel]

http://pcg.wikidot.com/ is a good resource to learn basics about the various algorithms.
And then google from there.

[cyan pendant]

thanks, that's what I need

how can I google without a keyword 😅

[royal lintel]

"procedural content generation algorithms"

[cyan pendant]

ohhh when I read that message, I thought "wave function collapse" is sth modern and not beginner-friendly

okay I got it, thank you @charred sentinel . Btw, do we have any discords or channels or anywhere discuss about procedural content generation?

okay

thank you @charred sentinel

[true kettle]

Which is the best channel to use the bots?

[modern relic]

What bots?

[true kettle]

The Job Board Bots

[brave forge]

Anywhere, the slash commands don't show up for others

[true kettle]

Oh ok, I didn't want to bother anyone

[steel creek]

https://cs.nyu.edu/~perlin/
https://www.redblobgames.com/

Read all that, and you will be pretty good to go.

[cyan pendant]

thank you

[quasi yoke]

Hi guys.
Tell me who lives in Europe/Canada/America/Australia, what is your popular job search exchange?

[modern relic]

Australia has seek which afaik is the defacto online job board. I think indeed and LinkedIn are also used

[serene crystal]

I think I just used Indeed

[quasi yoke]

Thanks! Btw, couldn't find Unreal Engine Developer as a position on LinkedIn 🤔

It's weird that they did that.

[spring phoenix]

Do I have to learn how to program an AI from scratch or learning behaviour trees is enough?

[serene crystal]

This might go more in depth than you want but it's a great video

https://youtu.be/G5A0-_4dFLg

[spring phoenix]

It wasn't the answer I was looking for, but I'm really enjoying the theoretical part
I meant if I need to learn to code AIs in C++ for careers or not

[woeful iron]

what kind of careers?

in general? not at all

[plucky hatch]

Question for professional programmers who've worked in Unreal.

What percentage of C++ versus blueprints would you say a AA or AAA game uses?

[royal lintel]

it's not a useful metric to measure

You use each in different situations, and some roles in a studio will heavily prefer one over the other.

At best a measurement like that would tell you how many engineers vs how many artists/designers/TAs you have. Which is heavily project dependent.

[plucky hatch]

For context, I was told that the only reason to learn Unreal is if you make 80% of your game in C++ for collaboration and code refactoring reasons.

Considering how much time Epic spends on making sure blueprints are a stable way to make games on their own, I think there's more balance to it.
Just wanted another opinion from a professional because I don't think they are one.

[royal lintel]

the only reason to learn Unreal is if you make 80% of your game in C++ for collaboration and code refactoring reasons.
I'll be honest, I have no clue what this means.

There is a balance of C++ and blueprints, but there's no set split that you should aim for.

[wary idol]

In general on most bigger projects it's gonna be 60-75% C++

[royal lintel]

Use what makes the most sense in the moment.

And on a AAA project tech art + design will be doing a ton of work in blueprints or other scripting systems.

[steel creek]

as a general thought, when you encounter people who use phrases like "the only reason to learn" when trying to explain (anything) take note of their closed mind and do more research.

[deep mural]

I don't really plan to but wouldn't it be a good idea to lie about experience on an interview if I truly do understand everything? For example lying about how long you've used unreal

[royal lintel]

no, it would not be a good idea to lie in an interview

[wary idol]

Definitely not

[deep mural]

Why

[royal lintel]

because if you don't have experience then you probably can't prove it

[wary idol]

If you don't have that experience it's gonna become obvious real quick

[deep mural]

Time doesn't equal how much you know though

[royal lintel]

They're correlated

[steel creek]

be honest. Tell them exactly what you said: I dont know it from experience, but I understand it from a practical sense.

[wary idol]

That's where you are wrong tho, even if you feel like you know everything you actually know less than you think you do

[royal lintel]

It's worth noting that "must have X years of experience" tends to be a soft requirement.
But if you don't meet that requirement, you need to make it up some other way that you can actually prove.

[steel creek]

I feel this. Learning for 5 decades now, and I truly know less than I did when I knew nothing. 😄

[deep mural]

Alr

[wary idol]

@balmy berry wrong channel, look at our job boards #instructions

[balmy berry]

oops im sorry

not really a job but sure more of a friendly passionate colab but i get it server rules mb

[chilly sundial]

i mean that is a job

you want someone to work for you

thats a job

[cyan pendant]

Hi, can you guys recommend me a learning path to switch from Tech Art to Graphics Programmer?

[ashen lynx]

Yes. Get fluent with coding. Get stable math foundation. And get well familiar with at least one API of your choice. Choose the one you like and get fluent with it. Start a pet project or join a team, maintaining or otherwise participating in such project. When all that is completed, you can start applying and will likely be picked up promptly.

[cyan pendant]

hi, thank you for your answer, can you tell me which kind of projects are best fit for this job

[ashen lynx]

Any project, that makes use of hardware accelerated features. The most common is your own rendering engine.

[cyan pendant]

got it, thank you @ashen lynx

[near bridge]

Does anyone know the job title for someone with experience designing UI in games/apps? Would this be a UI engineer or technical artist? Also how much overlap would this person have with general design in something like figma?

[buoyant nacelle]

UI/UX designer (for concept, art style, icons, experience, etc). UI engineer to implement it (UMG, C++ backend, BP, materials, animation, etc)