career-chat

[round radish]

I wonder..

[wary idol]

I could do ot if I wanted to but I don't generally

https://tenor.com/view/hmm-suspect-gif-22611582

And also nope, even tho it would be a really good idea tbh

Do we? 😅

[round radish]

Probably not

[wary idol]

I would probably know since it's small ish team

[round radish]

Lol.

I would think so.

[wary idol]

Lol yeah

[round radish]

I think our company employs like 40-50 people?

Idk if you'd consider that small.

[mossy flame]

Thank you guys for helping me get a sense of the industry

[wary idol]

We are around 20 on the project and not sure about the external services stuff

[round radish]

Ah. Definitely different then!

[wary idol]

Yeah 😅

[full frost]

Position: I require 2 years professional experience as an Unreal developer
Applicant: So, I just graduated Uni with a degree in basket weaving....

[woeful iron]

you miss 100% of the shots you don't shoot I guess

[rotund nymph]

Hi! I'm interested in getting into graphics programming (ideally applied to Unreal, but not necessarily so), and at work I'm given certain objectives/time to pursue this kind of interests, so I wanted to take a course on the subject. Does anoybody know if this is any good, or has different recommendations?: https://www.udemy.com/course/graphics-with-modern-opengl/?LSNPUBID=s8waqo9RNjU&ranEAID=s8waqo9RNjU&ranMID=39197&ranSiteID=s8waqo9RNjU-Q4GI5sJ8Mc7uO8icg53tNg&utm_medium=udemyads&utm_source=aff-campaign

I've also seen online:
https://www.udacity.com/course/interactive-3d-graphics--cs291
https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:UCSanDiegoX+CSE167x+3T2017/information/

[woeful iron]

only course I did was at college, but was accompanied by this book, which was quite interesting https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-3D-Game-Programming-DirectX/dp/1936420228

of course there's dx12 version as well

can't speak for online video courses on this

[rotund nymph]

looks very interesting, thank you!!

[mint skiff]

https://webglfundamentals.org/
I've worked through this, which is webgl and JS (ew), but does let you get into a lot of the meat of talking to the GPU fairly quickly

[rotund nymph]

also nice, do you find it very. webgl specific?

[mint skiff]

I'll be honest I've not done anything in OGL/DX to compare to

But I think a lot of the fundamentals are similar to OpenGL

[rotund nymph]

I see, thanks a lot for the recommendatiion then 🙂

[round radish]

Just think of all the baskets you could get, though!

[woeful iron]

if you think about it, basket weaving and blueprint have a lot in common

[brave forge]

Basket weaving is generally neater though

[strong mauve]

Good day people, i need an advice. So i am working with UE for about 2 years now. I was learning Blueprint and creating my own game project for all this time just for the fun and enjoyment from the process. I stopped when there was pretty much nothing to improve, and now i'm wondering what to do next. I never really did anything with that game, even though it's completely finished. I truly love what i do and really want to improve my skills, but i don't know how. Any ideas? I consider myself around 5/10 on Bluepring programming, and that's about it

[woeful iron]

release game and make a new one?

you want to improve in bp specifically?

or game dev as a whole?

or like a specific part of gamedev?

[strong mauve]

Well, i always thought of myself just as a programmer, so i want to get better at that. Blueprint, C++ particularly

Making games is fun but may get a little boring if you do it alone. Is there a community of some newbies like myself to do stuff for no exact reason or goal?

[woeful iron]

I guess get start learning some c++ then? Since you only mention bp up to now

you can join game jams if you want some short stuff with other people. or you can see the job board chats for even rev share projects

[strong mauve]

I know the basics of Cpp, enough to pass school exams, but i have no idea how it works with big programs such as UE. Hope there are some good tutorials to that

I used it like 2 times to overload a few AI functions that weren't working as i want them to, and god it was hell, and that's all i did

Can i ask. What is a Game Jam?

[brave forge]

Community organised events that last 48 hours to a month. They typically reveal a theme and you make a game, solo or in teams formed around the event. Great way to meet people and explore new ideas and tech

Some of the bigger ones are the Global Game Jam that runs yearly in Jan or Feb, or ludum dare which runs every few months iirc. Itch.io also organises some

[strong mauve]

Sounds fun, even though i may not be good at speed-programming. I'll look into that

Thank you

[rotund nymph]

probably you need way more than that, C++ is a difficult language. I'd suggest to learn proper C++ vanilla, before applying it to Unreal. As you have experience making a blueprint game, coming back later will be easier

try learncpp.com

it's a good resource

don't need to do everything, but need to be strong in pointers, references, and the common C++ language features

[woeful iron]

https://tackytortoise.github.io/2022/06/24/common-slacker-issues.html#learning-resources

[strong mauve]

Releasing game and learning C++ then. One more question. Where do people even release games? I suppose that would be Steam as a biggest selling place, but is there any other good options? And how does it work in the first place? Do i need to pay taxes, or Epic Games for UE usage or...? God i don't know a thing about this

[woeful iron]

ue takes 5% royalty over 1M revenue

you can put it on steam, I think you need to pay like a 100 dollar fee to become approved developer or something

you can release on other platforms as well

unreal only chooses what is on their store atm, so you'd need to contact them

and of course you need to pay taxes, it's income like anything else

except if you country has any specific rules for that

[brave forge]

You can release on itchio for no fee, and set your price as you wish with a store percentage for paid games. Nowhere near the traffic of steam though.

[strong mauve]

And will people really buy things i make? I mean, i don't consider my game as complete trash, and these 1$ hentai puzzles must be selling pretty good, but still

[brave forge]

Depends on the game and how well you market it.

[strong mauve]

All of this sounds so fascinating. Guess i'll have to try

Thank you for sharing your wisdom with me, all of you.
You guys are truly great

[chilly sundial]

no one's gonna buy it if they don't know about it.
you need to put serious leg work into getting people interested.

[woeful iron]

if you actually want to actively sell it of course

[round radish]

The marketing should really start before you even start coding

[woeful iron]

not everything has to be a commercial success though

luckily

unless of course this is your only source of income

[round radish]

It's nice, though. 😛

[woeful iron]

good luck then

yeah but proper marketing also has a cost

[round radish]

Truth!

[teal spoke]

https://youtu.be/HG5KH72FnFs
I want to use this to showcase the things I learned. What do you think? I plan to put the code on github. The assets are all from epic so that shouldn't be a problem, right? Also, should I clean the project as much as possible or keep some of the debug messages?
I plan to write a few paragraphs to talk about what exactly I learned.

[teal spoke]

It's that bad, huh?

[plucky hatch]

You posted it less than an hour ago chill. Why are you showcasing this though, to what end, why are you planning to put the code on GitHub, for who?

[teal spoke]

Wasn't meant to be too serious

For my portfolio. I don't have anything else for now (studied something way different)

[plucky hatch]

Don't rush to make a portfolio for the sake of it, you should work on general improvement first before putting anything on your name.

[mint skiff]

There's nothing particularly wrong with putting up anything you've worked on, but as you improve you should be cleaning out old projects that aren't up to scratch.

You should make an effort to make it polished, presentable and documented.

[teal spoke]

I will remove it as soon as I have some more interesting stuff.
I explained the things I did in the description but I guess the video gives a bad impression because most of the stuff can be done in a very dumbed down version in BP.
I want to apply as a Junior unreal programmer and because of the fact that I want to upload it on github didn't want to include anything from the marketplace or other sources. But flashy stuff will probably get more attention. So go with flashy stuff, don't upload on github and just put the important things as screenshots in a gallery?

[plucky hatch]

I dont think 'flashy' stuff is an issue here, as others have said, if you plan to use this then you need to work harder on making a polished and presentable experience. This is far away from what you would need to apply for as a junior.

Here is a showreel from 2021 from the school I lecture at. This is from the programming course, these graduates are applying for intern and junior positions, this is your competition level: https://youtu.be/YWibffV9H7c

[teal spoke]

Could you give me some pointers? I do understand that the I will have to improve the animations (anim_BP because the kalari anim_BP isn't really tailored to the setup and the new thread safe updating is ncie) but I can't really tell what someone hiring a programmer in Unreal would look for

[plucky hatch]

If design is not your strongpoint then leverage the countless free assets available in the marketplace and elsewhere. Presentation is important, your competition is stiff so use all and everything at your disposal.

[mint skiff]

They will be looking for technical ability, ability to organise a project, ability to use version control, clean code style and sensible design.

Same as any other programming position

[plucky hatch]

And attention to detail, why do some animations have sounds and some do not, why have you picked such detailed characters in strange poses and then such a barren and sterile world, it looks very odd.

At least try and make everything look consistent.

[teal spoke]

Ok, some of the attacks did not hit from me (because the daggers are really small and thus the line trace is really finicky) but I do get your point. And there is really no tell what's happening. Totally my fault. Putting some effort into the visuals will catch more attention

[plucky hatch]

I was talking about the silent gun that is attacking you on the left, but yes sound design all over needs work. Why just one single sound for every type of attack? It's clear you are able to add in sounds, so why only a single one rather than multiple then randomise them?

The point I'm making is that you need some really good stuff to apply for a junior position as its very competitive, and while this is a good start there is a long way to go. Generally I see that people need to work for at least a year or two on the portfolio to get to that level (more so for a designer than can be 3-4 years).

This demo above looks like it could have been made over a weekend, and while thats also fine, there is much that can be improved without too much effort using freely available resources.

[teal spoke]

Thank you 🙇‍♂️ . I will put in some effort to make it presentable.

[plucky hatch]

But all good, just needs a lot of polish and have more attention to detail, choose less flamboyant characters for example.

[teal spoke]

What's the best way to show that someone is comfortable to use version control and what does sensible design mean? ability to organize a project is about organizing files and sensible design is more about the actual organization of code? Like using inheritance, correct visibility, using interfaces in the correct places and move code into functions to avoid repetition?

[mint skiff]

Yep

Best way to show you use version control is to use version control

Github project with commits over time, sensible commit descriptions, branching + merges

Successful PRs for any community projects

[teal spoke]

I suspect everyone does some wacky stuff on personal projects while using git? 😅 Well, will start a new project for the portfolio. Thanks again guys 🙇‍♂️

[mint skiff]

Yeah my stuff isn't perfect lol but I try

Don't really branch things since they don't get big enough to make it necessary

[teal spoke]

Yeah, I was thinking about how I would show branching and merging.

[mint skiff]

In theory if you're doing a rewrite or adding a new feature you should put that in a new branch

And merge it back when it's finished

Often not much point for a one man project though

Useful if you're doing any exploratory programming however

[teal spoke]

Oh. Rewriting in a new branch 😮, never thought of that but it makes a lot of sense.

[wintry forum]

Is it okay for a CV to have 2 pages

[fresh idol]

Its ok to have as many pages as you want as long as it is full of usefull information

that will show the employer your skills and talents

[wintry forum]

Thank you 🙂

[fresh idol]

but in general it should be 2-3 pages

[wintry forum]

Will do

[chilly sundial]

Do try to compress it though. The people reading it only have a limited time to get through a massive stack, so if it doesn't impress at a glance, you're already at a disadvantage

[woeful iron]

in my experience one page should be sufficient

you can add a second one with detail, but you should have all important info on the one

[round radish]

Some employers just look at 3 pages and go, "nope."

[fresh idol]

well thats true but thats what i mean as in 3 at the very most

[wintry forum]

I have confidence in my graphic design skills 😎

@woeful iron Can I tell you one fun easter egg that you won't be able to find in A Way Out

[woeful iron]

I guess

Already completed it once

[wintry forum]

Oof

[wintry forum]

If you play as Leo and sleep on the couch at the hospital while Vincent is away, you can go to the Moon

[woeful iron]

I think I did that on last playthrough lol

Wait why is this in career chat

I thought it was lounge when I read it lol

[wintry forum]

Haha

[thick forum]

I would say 1-2 page is optimal. Remember the objective of the CV is to get you an interview. You want to provide enough information but leave enough out to get you in for interview.

[wintry forum]

Thanks 🙂

[deep mural]

How expensive is multiplayer freelancing?

I'm interested in becoming a freelancer since I'm so young but I still need to find out what I want to do

[shut token]

As usual, it depends™️

But being so young, you'd be hard pressed to get any decent paying contracts without something to at least back it up. Can't really just operate off "trust me bro" mentality. If you don't have a portfolio at minimum, good luck.

[deep mural]

alright

[deep mural]

What's your advice?

[spice dagger]

Build up your skills first before trying to approach people/studios for paid work.

You need to prove yourself.

You do that by building a body of work that you can present as evidence for your competence in the field you are attempting to enter professionally.

Participate in GameJams, create your own projects/demos that showcase your skills.

Do unpaid work to build your skills and portfolio. Unpaid work can also get you used to (to some degree) expectations of others on your work.

[deep mural]

Alright thanks

[weary finch]

Hello there! Does anyone know of any UE junior position (first UE related job) ?

[plucky hatch]

Are you able to travel anywhere on the planet to take this role?

[weary finch]

@plucky hatch Hello! i'm able to travel freely but visa may be required

Hopely this year I'm getting EU passport

I'm currently located in South America, Argentina.

[near whale]

Hello I've made 90% of a fps/tps hybrid zombie game. I'm at the point where I want to start a studio. All I have is 100$ for each position, but I know people thing rev share is a rip off and I want to do things right. How to you find a team when you do want to pay them, you just can't pay them a lot.

[fresh idol]

Rev share is probably the best but you need to show then you are serious and that the game has potential to make money.

[near whale]

All those things are something I can very easily do. But how to get that evidence to interested people. I have a film background so I know the show and tell trail. I have a game that can e in publishers hands tomorrow, But I'm stuck on a few health blueprints. I'm just overwhelmed when all I really want to do is form a team. Thank you for your wise words so far.

[fresh idol]

Maybe do a gamplay trailer and share that around as much as you can. The comments people leave on it will be a good indication of the potential.

[near whale]

Thank you it's a first step!

[fresh idol]

It does get overwhelming starting your own studio but you just need to keep it simple. Think what you would want to see or know from the head of the studio

Step into others shoes and try see what would really sell it for them to start working for you

But of course there are lots of ways to go about it but start small and build it up 😄

[near whale]

Man I with there was a road map lol

[plucky hatch]

I mean in reality, if you were making a real studio you would need to get either investment or a loan (or both) and use that to pay your staff.
You will need to get very lucky to somehow get good people to work for 100 USD and rev share.

[compact solstice]

Hi im new to unreal, greener than grass honestly and I wanted to ask what was the motivation or creative spark that made you want a career in games? mine personally was my simple love for video games and skill it takes to create one.

[pastel estuary]

got an atari when I was really young, wanted to make games ever since.
always loved the pew pew pews in games like megaman/metroid/etc, ended up making vfx. went rather well.

[compact solstice]

thats really dope man! the games i loved were stealth games like splintercell, assassins creed, and dishonored but my first game was zelda on the gameboy color.

[pastel estuary]

anyways, wanting to make games, and making games are two totally different things. Main thing is to just have fun learning and eventually you find the thing you either excel at, or find really fun to do. keep at it until you get good at it.

[compact solstice]

thanks man I really appreciate it, my end goal is to just make people happy with my creations nothing more nothing less ive been having quite a bit of fun myself but ill keep that in mind !

[shut token]

#instructions

[spice dagger]

@odd yarrow This is not the channel for recruiting. Please read #instructions channel.

[chilly sundial]

Yep as others have said. You don't.

Best doing that solo and putting that money somewhere else in the game.

For that money you won't get people that you want working on such a project

[round radish]

Save $100 for the steam registration and do the other 10% yourself.

[chilly sundial]

^

Spend a bit on a decent music pack or something too

[odd yarrow]

My bad! Good catch, and apologies. I see the appropriate section.

[near whale]

Already did that part :)! Thank you, it is good advice

[woeful iron]

if you say you have a game ready to go to publisher, what do you need the team for?

[fluid heath]

Heya! New here 🙂 Are there any articles or posts about what projects should I consider doing before trying applying for jobs in the industry? Thanks!

[spice dagger]

@mighty heath This is not the channel to post Job Listings, read the #rules, #more-resources and #instructions channels please.

[solar wharf]

Hey all! I am hoping to get some guidance by those who have walked the path I have been working hard to follow.

I have 4 years of environment art experience in the industry, and 1 year of technical art experience on an AAA project with respective studio size (too big).
I am a tinkerer at heart and flourish most in tight teams and small scale projects. Where I get to stretch myself over several chairs. The dream scenario for me is that indie studio with 5-20 people that manage to crank out great experiences. A tight family of professionals that know what they are doing and have a lot of fun while doing it. I want to have a share of the profits as well. I know its ambitious.

As far as I understand it, there are three paths that lead to this fantasy land:

1. I become a godlike technical artist, cross paths with a other godlike titans of their respective fields. We acknowledge each other's titanic abilities and as such are happy to form a covenant of excellent game development. We make the next (pick your favorite name from the list of indie heavy hitters) and shower in glory.

2. I find others on the same stage of development as mine, we form a team and try our hands at small gameplay demos to see if we are cut out for any bright future.

3. I join an indie studio that's on a bigger side (15-30 people). Perhaps the easiest option, I don't get revenue share, but at least the atmosphere is tight knit, and the game is likely a blast to work on.

In your experience, what kind of underwater rocks are there on these paths? Have you found that one approach works better than another? the second option I have written out is of course the most romanticized, the holy grail. Do you think its possible? Should I be participating in game jams left and right searching for my perfect team mates? Should I recruit programmers at gunpoint? I'd love to hear any input, thank you!

[faint hemlock]

Hello

[jolly charm]

Is there any kind of definitive guide/resource to getting started with building a portfolio and job seeking?
I really want the hyper dedicated streamline version of transitioning from Enterprise engineering to game programming career with a professional studio.

[shut token]

because i have no doubt given the opportunity, id wreck any competition in the industry..
Well for starters, you could start with being humble. That'd help.

It's a team, not a competition.

[plucky hatch]

If I want to make a mission based level. How can I do it without having a game? Do I have to script the AI myself?

[steady pewter]

r/lostslackers

[blazing nest]

Hello, another wannabe gamedeveloper with a bunch of questions here)

How hard is to get first job in gamedev? What skills expected from candidates?

If i get only "not shortlisted for the next steps" so far, means that is something especially wrong with my resume, or its just didnt stand out enough? It would be great if someone can look through it in dm

And last, i made a simple game, whats best way to include it in resume? Link to google drive with zip archive doesn’t seems to be a good one

[woeful iron]

show screenshots + video on your portfolio and have a download link

having some coding skills + some example projects so that you can show knowledge of game engines on your portfolio is the most important I guess

[blazing nest]

ok, ty

[blazing nest]

well, i have some, so i should be good then, but still... it's sad that HRs write zero feedback about what they didn't like

[woeful iron]

ask them about it?

also, having some may or may not be enough, but they need to know what you can do

so if you're the best engineer ever but it's not on your cv or anything on portfolio how would anyone know

[blazing nest]

that's right, but always thought that for junior you should show that you worth investments

[woeful iron]

well but are you

and do you show that

[blazing nest]

looks like not enough)

[woeful iron]

do you have a portfolio/resume?

[plucky hatch]

Well impossible to say without showing your work to evaluate it.

[blazing nest]

resume in short describing experience in other spheres, and for portfolio as i said for now its just link to archive, i can send it in dm

[woeful iron]

just a zip file?

you expect recruites to download some random zip file, extract it and boot up an executable inside of it?

that would be a security concern at their company probably

[plucky hatch]

Yes, thats a big no-no. Always good to just show your work visually and most importantly easily when trying to get hired.

[blazing nest]

yeah, i guess no one doing that)

so, is there good site for portfolio?

[oblique ice]

yes

[granite solar]

If you're willing to do some legwork for a free solution, you can use GitHub Pages to serve as your portfolio site.

[blazing nest]

interesting, but looks like overkill for now

found portfolio builder site with free plan

[spice dagger]

@daring pasture Read the #rules please, this is offtopic.

[upper sable]

Making a indie game, alone, takes an infinite amount of time.
Do you think it is interesting to create a Patreon to accompany the creation.
Subscribers have access to the game as soon as they sign up, follow the evolution, and receive new stable versions.
Premium subscribers can perhaps give their preferences, and they have access to the current wip versions.
What do you think about that way?

[woeful iron]

it's been done before

you just need enough incentive for people to pay up

[naive copper]

why there isnt that much of VFX artist ? not on upwork or freelancers or even here like i got in one month 10 requests only while other fields 30+ in couple days

do they charge more then any other field or there are no focus on it or its hard

[plucky hatch]

It's an in-demand field, and it's harder than most areas. Many areas are also underpaid because they are saturated (3D artist for example).
There are many if you look in the right places, but they generally don't need to demean themselves on places like upwork and fiver.

[pastel estuary]

yea, loads of demand for vfx artists, and barely enough to fill all the roles.
And, we get paid decently well.

[deep mural]

How good is a job for unreal engine 3D modeling? An irl seemed interested the other day

[woeful iron]

wdym how good

[round radish]

How much you get paid vs stress, I guess?

[green oyster]

If it's specific 3d modeling for UE with nanite and all it's a joy lol

[deep mural]

@woeful iron @green oyster Specifically just making blender models, how much it pays, what it looks like etc

Didn't mean to reply aswell

[shut token]

It varies quite wildly

From what I've seen of others - it is quite difficult to even get noticed.

[green oyster]

I don't think that's very viable (other than hobby level) unless you're a star, like lonewolf3d for example

[deep mural]

What about just selling stuff on epic games marketplace? They aren't expecting to get rich over night but just an income source as a soon to be adult

Or just as a startup to something bigger idk

[shut token]

Probably more of a hassle.

Here's a hard dose of reality. You are more than likely, going to end up needing to get one of those boring/shitty jobs in order to make ends meet. It is exceptionally rare that kids come out of high school and do exactly what they want.

[deep mural]

Hmm

Guess my freelance thing isn't very realistic either then?

I've been learning mp and was planning to start doing more stuff on unreal and probably get noticed by someone or a small team

@shut token

[granite solar]

You have to convince people to hire you over others who may have years more experience and a portfolio to showcase that. I wouldn't say getting freelance work is unrealistic, but getting enough freelance work, fresh out of high school, to make ends meet and support yourself? That's a bit unrealistic imo.

[shut token]

To be able to sustain yourself right out of high school, with having no real experience; yeah, not realistic. Not impossible - just not realistic.

[green oyster]

Selling art on the marketplace is golden, but you have to be an established artist already

Same for freelance work, I think it's a late career move not something you do starting out...you have to grind it out at studios for a few years

[plucky hatch]

Why not just become a 3D artist/3D modeller, make models for lots of places, no reason to limit yourself to Unreal since its ingesting standard formats anyway.

[deep mural]

They said they were interested 3D modeling so I was trying to see what their options were

[plucky hatch]

As others have said, starting out as a freelancer is incredibly tough and not normal, you need to work your way to that point with experience and networking. I was not able to freelance until I had about 6 years of experience.

[deep mural]

So what would be a good idea (for me as a programmer)?

[plucky hatch]

To get a job in a studio or company. get experience to a Senior level, make good contacts, then start freelancing.

Usually have a rule in most places I work that we wont hire or work with any freelancers who are below Senior Level, too many hassles to bother if its a junior or mid who are easy to find anyway. VFX might be the odd one out they are always hard to find at any level.

Dont confuse working remote with freelancing too, you can still work full time remote, freelancing is another thing.

[naive copper]

Why many send fake portfolio or someone else work ?? like most of us know artstation , yesterday someone came to submit for freelancer job and sent his portfolio one of the videos got my attention but thank god did not feel good with him today while roaming around artstation i found the same video of someone from EU and who talked to me was from another place ( wont mention since some are good and dont deserve it ) this is not the first and its painful

[woeful iron]

cause they're too incompetent to get a job themselves

[naive copper]

what should i do to avoid this in the future ? or know that this is stolen or someone else work

[woeful iron]

I don't think you can do much about it tbh

you can let the original artist know that their work is being used

but again not much to do with that

[naive copper]

was thinking about artstation or linkden profile link idk if they can copy someone else from the same website or not without getting into trouble

[naive copper]

oh it will take a lot of time because too many showed some work using 100% marketplace assets as there own work and from artstation and youtube , bilibili etc

hope they stop doing that

Have some dignity and respect to others hard work

[lapis pond]

Ask an artist you trust and knows his stuff if there are questions / ways you can sus out plagiarists.

[plucky hatch]

You can quite quickly reverse image search/video content to see what comes up. i have done this before when ive sensed something was not quite right.
One telltale thing is when you see a very inconsistent portfolio. You might see one or two projects that are lightyears ahead of the others, I find many times these are 'altered' tutorials for example.

[pure bobcat]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/773568063554846753/900090297135030312/Animation.gif

Hire me, I did this once(Not even kidding, something fucked up badly) 😂

[chilly sundial]

he be groovin

[naive copper]

😂 pipe is missing thats funny

but everyone start at some point

[plucky hatch]

Did this happen in real life?

[brave forge]

that's raw mocap data. The performer was terribly uncomfortable

[modern relic]

id be uncomfortable too if my pelvis turned into a mobius strip

[pure bobcat]

Yeah, the simulation had a mishap and all the laws of physics as we know them stopped working for a moment

[chilly sundial]

I've secured a video interview with a company for a placement.
The problem is they want a video interview, which I can't do due to a noisy household, and no webcam.

I really don't want to squander this opportunity, so need advice on what to do. Should I try and book a conference room? Should I inform them of the circumstances and be transparent? I'm really anxious about screwing it up

[woeful iron]

well you can try to find/buy a webcam and a quiet place to do it, but if not try to explain to them, they'll understand probably

just tell your household to be quiet lol

are there no quiet places in your neighbourhood?

maybe a library

or even just outside if not too windy lol

[chilly sundial]

not really anywhere suitable for an interview. and not anywhere i could bring a computer, since i don't own a laptop.
is it unprofessional to do it on a phone? I imagine it would be

There are definitely things I can do, but not sure if they're the right ones if you get me

[woeful iron]

depends what kind of interview it is

if it's just like talking, no one is gonna notice you're on a phone if you turn it sideways and put it somewhere steady lol

of course if you need to do some coding interview or something for example, that's gonna be a challenge

but you could also use your phone as camera for pc btw

[chilly sundial]

how?

[woeful iron]

you can do camera over ip stuff

[chilly sundial]

oh sweet

it's not a coding interview, its the first stage interview, so just going over my application, and relevant questions

[woeful iron]

like DroidCam is an app I used to use for android to pc camera

just make sure to put your phone on something solid though, shaky cam is annoying in serious video chat

[chilly sundial]

I'd imagine that would be frustrating.
I think imma try and get a uni conference room booked in their library as they seem ideal, but if push comes to shove im sure i can make something work.

Its just the anxiety about all of this lol.

[woeful iron]

don't overstress

it's just a conversation

they realize most people they interview are nervous

just be confident but honest

if you don't get the job at least you get some interview experience

[chilly sundial]

gotcha, thank you.
I guess as well for a placement they probably expect it even more, since no one will have been in the industry before.

[chilly sundial]

true, that will be very valuable

[cyan comet]

Hi all!

I am looking for a specialist for a very promising project.
Unreal Engine Programmer
Need your very good knowledge of UE 5.1 ​​and Blueprints. Add me as a friend.
A game of the Mmorpg genre. Not yet announced project

[chilly sundial]

#instructions if you wanna hire someone

[cyan comet]

Thank you 🙏🏻

[brave forge]

General advice is: don't continue working if the pay has stopped. Many people have been burned in games because of this. Months of missed pay. Payment errors happen, but if it isn't resolved in few days, stop working. As for breach of contract: see a lawyer. Ways to go about verifying and chasing this varies by state and country. You might get lucky and after meeting with the lawyer once, they draft a letter of demand, and that may prompt the company to pay. Otherwise it can be a long process. Again, talk to a lawyer as it varies.

Ofcourse, talking to the company first is preferable, my advice applies once talking has proved fruitless

Yeah thats all you can do. Unfortunately there are too many stories of people working their guts out for a failing studio, it still hits the wall, and shuts shop and people don't get paid

Also: never threaten involving a lawyer when talking to a company. It sours the conversation and also if they are smart, it means they will just stop talking. Talk to them in good faith, but then approach the lawyer separately

Yeah I think that's a reasonable path. Work in good faith to let them resolve it, but dont let it drag on indefinitely

And get everything in writing obviously

[oblique ice]

not surprise, this case happens also in past years many times

[plucky hatch]

Is it for a remote position, because if so then it will be a given you need to have a webcam setup as how will you work if you get the job. If not and it's just talking a phone is fine, it's also not a requirement to be on 'video' in these situations. Do you have a car? Drive somewhere and take it on your phone no problem.

[chilly sundial]

It's not a remote position, it's an in office position quite close by. I don't have a car, but have managed to get a conference room booked now anyway

[woeful iron]

good luck

[round radish]

Good luck!

[chilly sundial]

Thank you!

[round radish]

I have a remote position with no webcam. 😛

[lilac walrus]

I also never use a webcam, heh

[woeful iron]

read #instructions please @wooden hazel

this is not the chat for recruiting

[round radish]

If the company can't pay its employees, is there really a point suing them for your wages? They probably couldn't afford to pay it in the first place.

[woeful iron]

there is still a point tbh

either you get it if there is some

[round radish]

Or they sell off assets to pay you

[woeful iron]

if not it will be proven that they are in debt and if they can't pay it might need to declare bankruptcy at which point you can register as debtor and after liquidation you could still get money

depending on local laws of course

[round radish]

Depends how much your lawyer will cost vs what wages you are owed.

And how many lawyers they will hire to stop you.

Like my neighbour broke my fence while paving part of his garden. But he's not gonna pay for it. It'll cost me time and effort to take him to court. I'd rather just not have the hassle and repair it myself.

[woeful iron]

of course

[fluid heath]

Hey all, I am looking for tips on how to get my first programming gig in a gaming studio.
I do have a Bachelor's in CS and have 2 years of experience working as a programmer but not in gaming, primarily working with Python and Data.
I taught myself UE and general game design plus have a lot of knowledge in (and a lot of love for) C++.

What should I do before I start applying for job listings? How to separate myself from others?
All tips would be greatly appreciated!

[round radish]

If you want to get a job in a UE game studio, then show off your UE c++ skills.

[half tree]

@cyan comet
I can help with that🤓

[fluid heath]

But what should I do? What are they looking to see? Github repos? And in that the spectrum is so huge.
Maybe there are many common functionalities in games that I can implement in UE and share in Github? If so, any ideas on what those system might be? something manageable and not too huge.

[woeful iron]

making small games is always interesting, or if you like a certain mechanic of a game you can recreate it in a tech demo like fashion

[tame dune]

if they have money, interviews will focus on Cracking the Code style-questions answered in C++

in my experience, the more money they have, the more you'll be asked a lot of C++ micro-optimization related trivia

[spiral badge]

honestly, get some ships out there

most discouraging advice is

you gotta spend money to make money

or you gotta sacrifice money to do so

free gigs, build ur portfolio, gain contacts

check ur dms

[steel creek]

They are looking to see that you have any ability that you say you have.

It just needs to be code that is viewable so someone can get an idea of how you write code and if you're able.

[fickle pelican]

Hi. I'm getting into 3D (coming from Nuke 2D compositing). Just wondering what people are mainly using Unreal Engine for.. Seems it's mainly being used for lighting/rendering. Is it good to know something like C4D/Maya as well as Unreal Engine? I do want to do some modeling... Also, I'm in the film industry, not so much game indsutry.

[mint skiff]

Definitely. There are modelling tools in unreal but they're a bit immature still. I only use unreal for final rendering.

I typically keep a fairly close double of my scene in my modelling package. Stuff like materials, particles, etc obviously can't be replicated.

[royal lintel]

If you're asking about the film industry specifically you might want to hop into #virtual-production - which isn't the only thing it's used for, but it's one of the main reasons to use game tech in film.

[obtuse haven]

This is specifically why I'm learning Unreal, personally.

[hot spear]

Recruiting is one of the jobs that GPT- is poised to take over. Would recommend upskilling in a different field?

[pastel estuary]

@long island #looking-for-work

[chrome citrus]

I'm looking for advice on becoming 3d environment artist, actually learning UE5 and Blender, as other software when needed. If any of you works on the field i would really like to talk to you 🙂

[green oyster]

Hello I'm in the field

[chrome citrus]

Hi! Is it ok for you if i send you PM?

[green oyster]

For sure

[chrome citrus]

Nice, i've talked to you already 😄

[rigid bluff]

@balmy hazel Visit #instructions in order to figure out how to post job ads

[white shadow]

I have a question to ask about salary ranges for technical designer in Berlin. Is this the right channel?

[chilly sundial]

It would be, yes

[white shadow]

Thanks!
I wanna know if a salary range of 67k-70k EUR (pre-tax) is good for a technical designer (intermediate level) in Berlin? It's at a AAA studio, if that's relevant.

An earlier quote of around 80k was deemed non-standard.

[muted barn]

Technically not bad at all but Berlin is expensive so expect to pay a lot in rent lol.

I'd say intermediate developer in EU should expect 40-60k on average maybe?

Definitely not like in the US where you can easily make 100k+ : (

[chilly sundial]

But then again in the US, 2k of that is gone on rent per month, and if you live in SoCal, you're even more screwed with groceries lol

[muted barn]

Well it's not much different in major EU cities now.

Berlin you can expect to pay 1.5-2k quite quickly if you want something more than a studio in a good location.

[chilly sundial]

Really?

Can't say I've seen prices that steep over here outside of maybe London

That's madness

[muted barn]

I'm in Rotterdam and here it's at least 1.5k for something with two rooms close to the center.

There used to be certain countries that we're far and beyond the more expensive ones ie. Switzerland, Norway etc. but now the gap is closing because all the other countries are getting expensive FAST.

Shitty recession 🙂

[chilly sundial]

Cost of living is going insane. Never knew it had gotten to the same point as SoCal though

[muted barn]

Well it probably hasn't 😅

[chilly sundial]

In fairness it doesn't sound that far off lol

Would that be fairness or unfairness 🤔

[muted barn]

But generally the US is more expensive still, I was in Virginia for some months last year and things like groceries we're definitely more expensive.

Same with restaurants etc.

It makes sense that they have to pay more than in the EU that's for sure but the gap is closing.

Albeit I have no idea whats going on with inflation in the US 🤷‍♂️

[chilly sundial]

Not good things from what I have heard

[muted barn]

Not much good things anywhere in the world from what i'v heard 😂

[chilly sundial]

Fair enough 🤣

[white shadow]

yeah that's true

[woeful iron]

seems like the average in berlin for software dev is close to 65k pre-tax

idk how that compares to technical designer

brb moving to berlin

[white shadow]

do you know if this is for entry level or intermediate or senior?

[white shadow]

what's a good monthly post-tax salary you think for Berlin? Like, is 3.5k EUR decent/too much?

[woeful iron]

1-3 years of exp

[woeful iron]

you can't really make a statement about entire EU tbh

[muted barn]

Sure you can't if you include certain countries, but i'm referring to "first world countries" that have very active development industries.

Ie. Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, France, UK (not EU anymore but still).

You are more likely to find a job in these countries vs. lower income countries like Spain, Italy, Poland etc.

At least that's my impression but can ofc vary.

[woeful iron]

even that, afaik France average pay is lower than germany and netherlands for example, same for belgium. It would maybe still fall in 40-70k, but that is like a big range though

just saying it's dangerous to make generic statements

[muted barn]

Just like a different studios will pay differently, there is no set answer and I hope people realize that 😄

[white shadow]

thanks for all your insights! I think i understand better now

[full prawn]

@plucky hatch Im super interested in your BP dev posting but unfortunately your DMS are closed, please reach out to me i sent you a friend request : )

you too @vagrant jolt

[plucky hatch]

US is a lot more expensive that EU too, I live and work in SE, DE, UK and visit US once a month for work and its very noticeable just normal sustenance.
But Senior in DE of 67-70 is good baseline 👍

[rapid iron]

Is it necessary for me to know multiplayer as a game developer? I am fairly decent at Blueprints and C++, know how to use GAS in single player and can write custom plugins extending existing classes with ease.

[modern relic]

No you do not need to know multiplayer to be a game developer. Lots of very good games are single player only. In general though, the more you can learn the better you become as a gamedev. It means there's more options on the table for you especially if you decide to do freelance but also for your personal projects

[modest pecan]

If a programmer wants to do a masters degree and work in the games industry, would you advise them to go for a master in game dev or something more generic like software dev?

or maybe a better question, how beneficial/relevant is a master degree in game dev? not only in the industry but also in other fields like software dev, embedded systems, ...

[mint skiff]

my personal opinion is that 'game dev' degrees are a bit of a scam and you'd be better served with a broader background in software dev. Having skills outside of the walled garden of game development will make you more valuable. That said, I don't know how or if that changes for masters degrees, as they are supposed to be specialist professional qualifications.

[hot spear]

strong math/design skills are important, paper qualifications are MEH but they demonstrate that you've put in the work to complete projects

if you already have experience and made stuff with game engines, that's more useful for gamedev companies than what degree you hold

[modest pecan]

yeah completely agree

[hot spear]

if you're a programmer by nature, and maybe feel that gamedev is more of an experimental direction for you, then I would say focus more on software engineering and dabble in gamedev on the side, maybe try writing your own engine

[modest pecan]

I'm really not sure if a masters degree is worth it? but I feel like if I want to go for a masters degree I should do it straight out of undergrad degree

[hot spear]

Or you can look into being a technical artist, which requires a programmer background but is important in gamedev

[modest pecan]

not sure how I feel abt going for full time and then going back to school later on after like 2 or 3 years

[mint skiff]

there are plenty of people who do it

one of my tutors even recommended it because they had a much better grasp of what they wanted to focus on after being in the industry for a bit

[hot spear]

relatable

[modest pecan]

I think I'm more interested in the gameplay side

[mint skiff]

if you find a really good employer (and you prove to be valuable) they might even pay you for it lol

[hot spear]

yeah my employer offers options to co-pay for upskilling, like course fees

[spice dagger]

You will be better served by getting experience if this is your goal.

A Masters Degree in CS isnt going to teach you how to build good gameplay systems, only how to write them well.

[mint skiff]

I think if you want to go into a degree straight out of undergrad it should be for academic reasons, like you have some thesis/research idea you want to undertake.

[spice dagger]

I spent a number of years building out my skills and working in the industry before I decided to go and get a formal degree.

I dropped out in the first half of the second year.

Total waste of time and money

It was teaching me nothing I hadnt already learnt on my own.

[modest pecan]

yeah, tbh now I'm doindgan undergrad in CS and after the second year, I feel like I'm learning more by just working on side projects that going to classes

[mint skiff]

that's disappointing

i've found my CS/design degree to be incredibly valuable for my work

[modest pecan]

actually, no I still find 1 or 2 classes beneficial out of like 5 or 6 classes that I take

[spice dagger]

Did you do it before or after you were already working in the industry?

[mint skiff]

both lol

i'm in my last year, and i've been in the industry for a year

[spice dagger]

Right so for the most part you were already most of the way through before entering the industry.

In my view I probably would have found some value in the degree had I done that also.

[mint skiff]

well i'd only completed the first year CS units at that point

[spice dagger]

But I didnt. I had already learnt everything myself years prior, for free.

Which meant that it became obvious very quickly that the degree was going to be a waste.

[mint skiff]

yeah this is why I went into a CS degree rather than a game art one, which is my main specialty

[spice dagger]

Im not saying the way I did it is the way to do it. Only that it was my experience.

And I regret taking the degree.

$16k down the drain.

[mint skiff]

yeah that sucks. There's less risk where I am as the government will support your place

[modest pecan]

(I know this was mentioned) so what's the opinion on a master degree straight out of undergrad? 90% of ppl that I ask advise to do it after getting some work exp and then go back for a master (if still interested)

[spice dagger]

I had government assistance, but we have to pay it back.

[modest pecan]

is that more benficial in some way?

[spice dagger]

I would go and experience the world and the industry first IMO.

[mint skiff]

sounds like that's the opinion lol

you just get a feel for what you actually like doing, and so if you need to upskill you can do it with more focus

[spice dagger]

It may change your mind about whether to go with the degree or not.

[modest pecan]

I'll keep this in mind

thanks guys

[oblique ice]

can helpfull if want to teach, University keep asking if have degree 🙂

[hot spear]

yeah you need qualifications to work in academia

[strong prism]

As a college professor with a terminal masters degree, who has also worked in industry. You should only get a masters if the University or your job pays for it. Period

If you apply to programs early, you can get opportunities to be a TA or an RA and have them pay you, and pay for your college. But you should also consider that many leads in industry have master's degrees (but the company pays for your education later on if you are there awhile.). It is 100% not needed for working in industry.

Also, decide if you want a terminal masters (usually something like an MFA) or a non-terminal (MA) which would mean you were going to get a PHD eventually.

[modest pecan]

well I can get one in my current university with my scholarship, but I'm just not interested

most of classes we have are related to data science, block chain fields nothing in low level systems or close to c/c++ that interests me

[mint skiff]

lol i'd be leaving

[modest pecan]

and I think at this point I'm set on either working on games or embedded systems/low level stuff

[mint skiff]

can you do cross-institutional study at all?

at least get your moneys worth for the rest of your undergrad

[oblique ice]

i also head some university put MA or BchDgr or BchDgre with Honours is minimom for teach 🙂

[modest pecan]

what's that

[mint skiff]

take units at a different uni

[strong prism]

At most of the Universities I have worked at, you either need a lot of industry experience and, at least, a BA... or an MFA+. If you ever want to teach. But again, as a college professor... I am not so sure how long that colleges will last (tbh)

[royal lintel]

Just going to second that you shouldn't jump into a masters unless it's something you really want or someone else is paying for it. It's nigh useless in the industry - any pay bump you'd get is something you'd have just by working that time anyway, and it doesn't really count towards anything to get a position in the first place as junior positions don't need it and mid-senior positions require actual experience.
So figure out what you'd want out of a masters degree first - why do you want it? What is the goal?

And yes, you can of course go back and get one if you decide it's worth it for you after being in the industry for a while. Just another reason not to jump straight into it.

[rapid iron]

I personally prefer to work on single player. It's just most jds seem to want multiplayer. I do keep learning but more towards the single player aspect.

[modern relic]

Unless the jobs are from reputable studios it's probably someone trying to make the next big mmo or minecraft clone, but obviously it's your choice to follow any of these up. If you are interested I would recommend at least reaching out to them and asking about the job. However if your main goal is to stay in single player then a multiplayer job might not be the best for your career

That bring said, tying yourself to single player might also not be the best for your career. It's really up to you to decide what you want to do. Multiplayer also doesn't have to mean super giant big ass mmo, it could mean 2 player coop or something small that uses listen servers

[rapid iron]

I did try my hand at it in VR for medical simulation but it was a nightmare to get working.

I guess I'll study it just in case.

[spiral badge]

hey, does anyone have a cv i can have a look at? i feel my cv kinda sucks

[woeful iron]

isn't it easier to post yours and ask for tips instead of copying from someone?

[spiral badge]

copy is a strong word!

sure, ill take off some personal details and link mine here

[ivory prairie]

Good morning all, I am writing a curriculum for my Game Dev Trade School and I am looking to improve this diagram that I built. If anyone would like to provide any feedback and a discussion, let me know!
I left out the 3D Concept to Modeling Pipeline for now because that is more advanced and I'm looking to help new students get grounded first.

This is like an overhead look of what theyre about to embark on
What sucks is that those of us who went to College for this had to learn each of these in 4 years, which is absolutely nuts.

This diagram is to help entry-level folks understand 2D to 3D to Animation to Engine Pipeline.
The lecture is basically about
'These are all the Job Classes that are available, that you will end up leaning towards, and you will specialize in about 2.
If you have to do more than 2, you will be less-valued over time as a Laborer and more valued over time as a Manager.'

[royal lintel]

I'm honestly not sure the diagram makes sense, concept art doesn't go to engineers. Hell, a lot of art isn't ever going to touch an engineer - tech artist maybe. The term "architect" is also strange, you seem to be using it for environment artists...? I've never heard the term "architect" outside of very high level engineers.

If you have to do more than 2, you will be less-valued over time as a Laborer and more valued over time as a Manager.
This is a pretty bad generalization, lots of tech artists fit into this.

[ivory prairie]

Thank you for asking me for clarification.
This diagram is for artists only; The term 'Engineer' that I am using here is not engineer as in, 'hardware or software engineer.'

What this diagram demonstrates is the mindset and the workflow of the position that future students will end up jumping into.

For example, A 3D Modeling "Engineer" is an artist who has to deal with moving parts. Therefore, they need to plan for proper edgeloops and edgeflow.

A 3D Modeling "Architect," MOST of the time, does not deal with skeletal-mesh moving parts. If trees move, its a script or a material that is driving it.

[royal lintel]

Those aren't really terms used in the industry, if that's the goal.

[ivory prairie]

You are correct about 'a lot of tech artists fit into this.'
But entry level students arent aware of how that fits in, yet. I have to give them a starting point.

[ivory prairie]

You are correct. I had to invent words that help move the curriculum along. 'Its like this'

3D Artists have had terrible education at the collegiate level because most of the Admins creating the curriculum havnt been in the industry, worked on a game, or even shipped a game. And 3D Artists are more like Traditional Product Drafters and Architects than any other career choice.

I have been teaching for 8 years and most folks go down one path or the other. Sure they know HOW to do it, but they end up specializing in one of those blocks.

[hot spear]

I don't think that it's so much the "invention" of words, but rather that they mean different things in the industry

if your students associate these words to certain meanings and try to communicate with them, they may struggle

what's wrong with 2D/3D/TechArt/Programmer?

[ivory prairie]

I am willing to hear different words being offered.

[ivory prairie]

its not specific enough

Look at it like this

[hot spear]

Environment art is a subset of 3D

Animation/Rigging is shared between 2D/3D/TechArt

VFX is tech art

UI is closest to 2D but should go into a Design focused topic

[ivory prairie]

Theres all kinds of doctors... Neuro

"Doctors" is a vague word that needs to be generalized

• Neruo
• Cardiovascular
• Endocrine,
• etc.

Those doctors go to school for General Practice, then they specialize.

The education system for artists is garbage. We are revolutionizing how things are done so students dont have to wait 5 damned years to get a job.

What we are doing, we are getting students work in about 2 years because of how we train.

[hot spear]

Yes, the technical titles are recognized in the medical industry. There are titles that are recognized in gamedev too

"engineers" and "architects" kind of overlap other fields

and vfx is really not that related to animation

[ivory prairie]

yes, im with you. we are on the same page with that.
But when your're teaching a child, you have to give them something to grasp.
Separate the first day of the semester from the last day of the semester

[ivory prairie]

im an animator. VFX are 100% related to animation

its motion

and animators who animate VFX, those VFX come out LIGHTYEARS better than those who simply know the tech

and thats what were doing too. separating the tech from the expectations.
If we dont give our kids a framework, theyll turn out like all my competitors.
And I'll be damned if my kids resumes get thrown in the trash like Art Institute students do

[valid sun]

sorry to bump an older thread just cant express this enough... i was very close to doing my masters.. then I got in the industry and realized a ton of people around me had their masters and were doing the same exact work for the same pay. there's also the fact that the demand in the industry right now isn't for people with more education, it's for people with actual work experience. the more time you spend in school, the less time you have to acquire that

[ivory prairie]

And that right there is what my Game Dev School does. I train and then put them to work on our I.P's or our clients work.

Thats why nailing this curriculum is so important

[mint skiff]

Are you distributing a portfolio with this?

Your introductory paragraph contains syntax errors - "i" should be capitalised, along with other proper nouns like "Substance Painter". "I'm" and "I've" have apostrophes. Some people recommend avoiding those contractions in the first place.

FYI the first thing people read in your resume is not the opening paragraph, they will scan up and down the rest of it (like your education and professional experience). Don't reiterate those things in your opening paragraph, instead use it as an opportunity to demonstrate your character and passion.

[spiral badge]

yeah im gonna cut down on the intro

[spiral badge]

yeah i fixed these too, im not sure why it disnt auto correst

[spiral badge]

yes.m

[mint skiff]

All that said it shows you've worked on stuff, but it doesn't show a lot else. So I guess it really depends on the strength of your portfolio

[spiral badge]

hmmm

https://www.artstation.com/jvae

heres the portfolio

@mint skiff

currently working on a stylized environment

[mint skiff]

http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Portfolio Have you seen this at all? Give some of the discussions/links a read

Particularly "Your portfolio repels jobs" and "Killer Portfolio or Portfolio Killer"

my opinion from what i've seen is you've got far too much on there and too little of it demonstrates serious and committed projects. A piece you 'put together in 2 hours from marketplace and megascans assets' should not be on your portfolio, that would be better served on your other more casual profiles.

generally you want 3 to 5 pieces that are the best of your best work, across the disciplinary specialty you want to target

[spiral badge]

hmmm perhaps you’re right

[mint skiff]

Also hirers are not going to go digging for your good pieces, you need to spoon feed them as much as possible ;)

[brave forge]

Very much this. Put your best foot forward

[spiral badge]

thanks for the feedback!! i’ll revamp it all tomorrow and get back to you :)

[tawny cloak]

I'm having trouble finding freelance work. Would you guys say it's unrealistic to try and live off freelance work from the get go? Is it easier to land a remote studio job for example?
I've been posting almost everywhere I see job postings but no luck recently. What gives?
https://schmidtleo.artstation.com/

That's my portfolio btw

[woeful iron]

freelancing with no prior experience is gonna be hard, unless you have a really really strong portfolio. Which is not really the case here, I mean it's not bad, but it's not wow either, and you only have 3 projects on it. Also what kind of things are you applying for?

[summer frigate]

Can you write me a few easy, medium and hard questions, which could be asked from me on an interview for an Unreal gameplay programmer role? These would be asked from a Lead Gameplay Programmer. I have exp in Unity mainly (2 shipped titles), only have a hobby project from Unreal.

[woeful iron]

#instructions

[summer frigate]

anybody? questions?

[plucky hatch]

how easy is it to get into a game dev career, and how easy to start a game dev business

[woeful iron]

starting a business is easy

making it profitable and not going bankrupt in the meantime is the hard part

getting a game dev carreer I wouldn't say is easy, you have to put in effort and prove yourself that you're not shit

it's not like impossible either though

all depends on what you want and how much work you want to put in

[round radish]

Everyone wants to be a game dev. Lots of them are good coders. You have to be better, prove you we better and also have the charisma to pass an interview.

[shut token]

have the charisma to pass an interview
This is oftentimes the more important of the two.

As long as you're not completely incompetent as a programmer - charisma plays a much bigger factor.

[oblique ice]

first interview -> second interview -> fail/got job

[vocal birch]

does a writer travel more than an environment art?

[woeful iron]

what does a writer travel for?

except maybe between studios?

also environment artists don't travel that much either afaik? except on like really high end realistic suff

why the question @vocal birch

[summer frigate]

Can you write me a few easy, medium and hard questions, which could be asked from me on an interview for an Unreal gameplay programmer role? These would be asked from a Lead Gameplay Programmer. I have exp in Unity mainly (2 shipped titles), only have a hobby project from Unreal.

I don't even know where to ask this

[vocal birch]

just wanted to know, I would think that writers travel because don't they basically make up the environments or create some form of concept for them. Obviously from the vision of a game director

[royal lintel]

That's not really what writers do. Concept artists and art directors might take input from a writer for general ideas for locations, but a writer isn't going to travel for that. Nor is an artist, unless they're collecting photogrammetry data and reference material (which very few will be doing).

[round radish]

Why travel when you can use google maps for inspiration? 😂

[steady pewter]

fly attendants travel a lot

[ivory prairie]

Writers write about what they know about. And what writers typically know about is people. Sure, documentaries are about a building or 'how to make something.' But a writer knows what they are good at and they write about that topic.
Tarantino for example, he's a MASTER at writing conversation.
Spike Lee was a powerhouse for the Black Community in relating actual struggle.
Lucas wrote a space epic. (It's funny that I say, "write what you know about" Jar-jar landed like garbage because no one understood... like REALLY understood that character. He went from an idiot to an ambassador. wot? I jest... mostly)

When a writer comes off "knowing" about a subject they don't know about and then it doesn't land well, cough Jar cough Jar it comes off as non-authentic. That's what the movie Dolemite was about. Write what you know. Its like a commandment or something 😄

.

It is not uncommon for a writer to submit themselves to a mentor; a mentor meaning...
If they are writing for a mob-boss role, they go to an ex-mob boss and explain the situation.
They could hire the boss as a consultant or simply "intern" with them. Its likely it will be done for a favor and unlikely it would ever happen at all - depending on the mob-boss, they could have the writer become made in order to get the information & context correct. This is an example, albeit a bad rabbit trail.

Coming up in the industry, I have heard of writers going to prison to write about it.
(Arrested Development did a parody of that using Steve Buscemi as an example).

Why does a writer travel:
PRIOR TO FUNDING TO GET FUNDED

• Travel is on their own dollar, writing about a subject that interests them in order to produce a script. They have to make a case as to why people would watch this film.
• Travel is on their own dollar, writing about a subject that interests their potential producers or investors in order to produce a script with a producer that they want to work with. If the writer writes for the interests of the producer or investor its because it is likely that there is an established audience for the subject matter being written about.

FUNDED

• once they have a script funded, the writers will travel because they have a budget to do so. It's part of the Discovery process. Even writers have knowledge gaps they need hammered out.
• Keanu had to travel to 8711 to train sure. But if you think that Derek Kolstad was NOT there from time to time, you'd be nuts for thinking that. Part of the reason why those sets in John Wick are so stunning is because of the traveling they DID do. Take a look at the Location Managers list for John Wick; Kolstad and Chad Stahelski both had to travel to each place to know what was going on.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt6146586/fullcredits/location_management

I hope this helps someone. I think it was a fantastic question.

Shalom baruchah.
I also agree, ÆLOHIM HVA TZADIK, Baruch HASHEM.

[round radish]

like REALLY understood that character

That he was a secret sith lord?

THE sith lord!

[ivory prairie]

exactly. No one could be THAT incompetent; he was masking all along. I love your icon btw. Jarjar is wearing the Black Mage attire.

[long zinc]

Anyone here who does voice acting or knows some good guidelines and expectations that UE devs are going to be looking for? Like I have the voice parts themselves at basic competency and audio equipment, but I'm not sure where to start on even trying to organize and tailor an amateur portfolio or where to be sharing that. I'm specifically trying to get into game VA work, but entirely from an outsider perspective I am unsure where to start and what other skills are going to be necessary.

Like I can clean up my recordings on Audacity and that's about it lol

[plucky hatch]

Hi, industry sound designer here.
When we work with voice actors, we look for someone who can cover different areas of one’s voice. If you were to send a portfolio, and you have 3 characters that you can articulate and portray different emotions perfectly, that shows us most of what we look for.
A good idea would be to research some voice actors in games and see what their portfolios look like, how they’re presented, and always remember to put your best up front. I’ve worked with leads that listen to 30 seconds of each portfolio before they trash it or seek further contact.

[tawny cloak]

I'm applying for junior environment art positions pretty much

[green oyster]

environment art or level art? in my years as an enviro artist I never touched terrain or solo worked a more complete scene. usually props/buildings/modular stuff

[woeful iron]

I would guess level art, since a bunch of assets are not self made according to description

[tawny cloak]

Yeah honestly I think what I like most is creating a scene from assets but no necessarily creating the assets. But I didn't know there were so many differences between the Environment Art role. I thought Environment Artist is already a specialization, but it seems material artist or level artist fit in that description as well?

[woeful iron]

I think for actual level art you're gonna need some more impressive stuff though tbh

[green oyster]

at my current job there's the level designer guy who makes blockouts for stuff and tests the map, together with the lead plan all the assets. I get the blockouts, detail and texture them, sent them back and the level artist guys will probably populate the map with them, maybe modify them a bit. but there's a lot of overlap

[tawny cloak]

I have trouble understanding the difference between level art and environment art actually. I also like working with terrain, so is that more level art?

[mint skiff]

Aren't you asking about freelancing?

[woeful iron]

it also depends by studio, but in a lot of cases environment artists make props and assets for the environment, but not the environment itself

although again, it varies

[tawny cloak]

Honestly I think getting a stable job and maybe some occasional freelance work is better for my current situation

[mint skiff]

Yeah I'd say so too

Get some clients to poach lol

[tawny cloak]

Oh yeah I realized level designer is what I had in mind when I read level artist. Okay so maybe I want to be a level artist actually xD

[mint skiff]

Personally I've never heard of 'level art', only environment art

[tawny cloak]

Yeah same, but this thread talks about it. I'm learning something new today.
https://polycount.com/discussion/198806/is-level-artist-the-new-environment-artist-job

[mint skiff]

Hmm

2018

[green oyster]

level designer https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/company/careers/search/743999883934503-level-designer vs level artist https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/company/careers/search/743999889882013-level-artist-star-wars-project-m-nb-w-

[mint skiff]

I frequent polycount and it didn't really seem to enter the vernacular

[tawny cloak]

So apparently level artist is kinda like world builder, and work on terrain, placement, working with design for layout. While environment artist means modeling environment assets basically.

[mint skiff]

I've always thought that was the distinction between Environment Art and Prop Art tbh

[tawny cloak]

Okay I just had the revelation that I am looking for Level Artist work and not Environment Art! And here I've been applying at Environment Artist roles for the last few weeks...

[tawny cloak]

Thanks a lot for this guys! Better late than never I guess xD

[green oyster]

truth be told as an environment artist you need to show you can do asset creation, either prop or building or something else...hard surface modeling, sculpting, texturing, etc

[tawny cloak]

I mean I also have those skills, but it's not what I prefer. Currently I'm working on an interior scene from a Ghost of Tsushima concept that involves trim texturing, material creation, and props modeling. But now I realize maybe it's not the most fit for Level Art, right?

[tawny cloak]

Does that mean that Level Art is harder to find a job for? Should I basically focus on creating environment art pieces in the hopes of one day landing a level art job? Or focus on level art from the get go?

[woeful iron]

I think there is less demand for level artists than environment artists

[tawny cloak]

In the ubisoft level art offer I can see creating materials, so I guess that's a good skill to have anyway

[woeful iron]

doesn't necessarily mean it's harder

but you need to show you what you're capable off

[tawny cloak]

Yeah but since there is more demand maybe there's more chances to land a job is what I was wondering

[woeful iron]

e.g. your second piece is an empty field with a town in the distance, while of course this happens in game levels, it's not something very impressive to show of level art skills imo

[tawny cloak]

Noted. Thanks. So right now I'm wondering if the environment art piece I'm working on (interior japanese room from ghost of tsushima concept) is fit for what I am looking for or not. How can I decide whether I should focus on environment art or level art first?

[woeful iron]

depends what you want

[tawny cloak]

It seems like Level Art is a further specialization that doesn't exist at all studios. So maybe for an entry job it's better to find environment art with a strong environment art portfolio and then transition to level art?

[woeful iron]

Here are some examples of students of the school I went to, can't recall if this was second or third year. But for these even you had to make your own props. This is the level of competition you can already be up against at junior level.
https://www.digitalartsandentertainment.be/dae/files/Image/galerijen/Showcase2018/Showcase2020_27.jpg
https://www.digitalartsandentertainment.be/dae/files/Image/galerijen/Showcase2018/Showcase2020_06.jpg
https://www.digitalartsandentertainment.be/dae/files/Image/galerijen/Showcase2018/Showcase2020_05.jpg
https://www.digitalartsandentertainment.be/dae/files/Image/galerijen/Showcase2018/Showcase2020_08.jpg
https://www.digitalartsandentertainment.be/dae/files/Image/galerijen/Showcase2018/Showcase2020_03.jpg

of course these are a showcase so is more of the "top tier" students, but sill

[tawny cloak]

So I would love doing things like the last image for example. But is that more environment art or level art? Because you mention asset creation was needed, too, and I have the skills to create assets, of course. But I prefer working in-editor with terrain, material blending and lighting.

[woeful iron]

it doesn't matter, you don't have to necessarily create your own, just saying this level of junior people exist, even with having to make own assets

so competition is strong if all you want to do is level composition stuff

[mint skiff]

My personal approach has been to do as much of the scene yourself for portfolio stuff

That way it doesn't matter

[woeful iron]

I think just if you already use other's assets, the bar is even higher on the level skill

[tawny cloak]

Yeah honestly that's what I was thinking. Now I'm just wondering if the scene I'm working on fits what I should look for in a job

[tawny cloak]

Yeah I get that, that makes sense

[mint skiff]

Working from a concept is fine

If you have a learning goal for the project that can help focus you too

[woeful iron]

again, depends what you are looking for

and what you're doing

[tawny cloak]

At the same time it seems bigger studios use less and less enviro artists because of their huge assets libraries and outsourcing, so level art may be more useful, but at the same time the bar for quality is higher basically

[woeful iron]

some more interesting examples:
https://www.digitalartsandentertainment.be/page/101/Environments+1
https://www.digitalartsandentertainment.be/page/111/Environments+2

[tawny cloak]

Honestly I'm confused. I think I need to take some time to reflect on what I really like doing. Because I'm not sure whether it's Environment Art or Level Art.

[green oyster]

I mean you can get a job at an outsourcing studio for enviro art

[tawny cloak]

Yeah of course. But since the opportunities depend so much on the studios I want to choose what I want for myself and then apply depending on what fits.

I just have to find a way to decide what I like creating most.

[oblique canyon]

Hi there #career-chat. Wanted to ask for some advice on portfolio projects.
I'm switching from XR dev to Unreal game dev and if I wanted a gameplay/gameplay systems programmer (C++/BP) role, what sort of personal projects should I make to showcase my skills for the desired job role?
Should I make small complete games or showcase some tech that would be usable in a game, e.g. character movement, AI logic, procedural generation?

My current portfolio has examples of Unreal and Unity professional projects, but doesn't have examples of professional experiences in game dev.
https://www.filip-anicic.com/

Any advice would be appreciated 😃

[round radish]

If you're specifically looking for game dev stuff, you should focus on c++ and probably showing off advanced usage of the common systems, like enhanced input, custom character movement modes or something.

Making a vertical slice of some type of game and then highlighting each part of the code where you've used different systems is probably a good idea.

Though you want to hype up your basic c++ and algorithm knowledge too.

[tame dune]

my experience on both sides of engineering recruitment is people will want to see code. nowadays you should highlight a github link, or be prepared to show something you authored in a phone call

while Cracking the Code is passé you should still expect to do bit fiddling C++ puzzles for engineering positions of any seniority at huge companies. since (1) most games fail (2) junior engineers are the most numerous and least savvy - they will not make up the bulk of your interview loop, but they will exclusively ask the leetcode questions and will be the least likely to "Yes" a candidate who has a flawed puzzle answer (3) big companies have the biggest budgets for hiring, leetcoding remains the highest yield thing you can do

[cerulean musk]

Hi all, thanks for reading. Does anyone know how important is to start learning UNREAL 5, inside an AUTHORIZED Unreal Training Center?
It´s a bit expenssive, but given the conections it can offer and the oficial authorization by unreal, im considering it. Any advice for a newbie that doesnt do very well with self learning procesess?

[hot spear]

in my experience of trainers who put "authorized unreal engine educator" in their linkedin bio, they're walking brochures who will give you a brief overview of basic features in the engine and use custom assets for everything. not sure why it's necessary, when learning UE5 is basically free and there's a wealth of learning material available online (some actually go into detail about why things work a certain way).

you might make connections that way, but I would strongly recommend asking lots of "why" questions during your time there and determining the quality of the answers you get.

[oblique ice]

not sure of "authorized unreal engine educator" but they never teach alot, they only teach beginner, basic, fundamental, no more after that

[hot spear]

yep. nothing about using console commands, profiling performance of certain techniques. it's more "marketing brochure" than "textbook explanation"

you usually get more info from googling your questions or asking them on this forum than you would from asking one of those people

[oblique ice]

yes Fenolis, but abit different situation for me, i didn't learn blueprint from unreal instructor, i got project files and material from the old learn.unreal site, it was really good 😂 👍🏻

[cerulean musk]

Thanks for the answers. I do appreciate them.
I started learning UE5 since 1st June. My problem is I find hard to focus on tutorials and practicing. I do have 3d skills (I'm an architect that uses SketchUp, Revit, and other stuff). When I sit down to practice I get distracted or can't focus 2/3 hours a day to get better.
Maybe this is why I consider the course as viable.
Also, I struggle to understand where is the point to have the necessary knowledge to apply for a job.
Thanks all for the help.

[hot spear]

if you're focusing on using UE as a tool to make art, you can try downloading a bunch of assets from Megascans/Bridge and tossing them around. If you want to work on gamedev it's more involved, you should start a simple project and figure out the basics of navigating the engine/getting things to work

"necessary knowledge to apply for a job" is reliant on having experience. Usually that's in the form of a portfolio, show off things you've made

[vocal birch]

I'm 17, almost an adult, I don't have a job, not much money, I can't drive, I have no skills, and I live with my parents, I don't know if I should go to college because I hardly remembered what I have learned from high school, and my passion is starting a game company and being the creative director of it, by first starting out by having a job in writing or level design or environment art and working my way up, then make a company. But I'm scared of failure, because of my reputation, and that I don't have financial freedom/aka not worrying about money at all. And I am thinking about whether I should do my passion or financial freedom first. In the position that I'm in right now, is it delusional to follow my passion, or is it just the wrong thing to do? I just want to hear other points of view and maybe other pieces of information like alternatives, advice, etc. Thank you

[cobalt valley]

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[mint skiff]

You should go to uni if you can. It doesn't sound like you have much set up. You will learn those soft skills faster and meet people.

[vocal birch]

whats uni?

[mint skiff]

University

Or college

[vocal birch]

oh ok 👍

[mint skiff]

You could do a CS degree and also learn game stuff on the side. That way you have a (very) marketable skill on the other side of your degree and it will help you with the game stuff too.

[restive crest]

im completely new, so forgive my ignorance, but if this is junior level, then how come its rare to see actual games on this level of graphics/looks/design? are these just maps for tech showcase and hard to implement them in actual games, or any other reason?

[royal lintel]

Environment art projects like those screenshots don't have the restrictions that an actual game has - they're not up against performance constraints, don't need to cater to any game design constraints, and they only need to look good from certain angles. I'd also argue that games that look this good, given equivalent settings and a still image, aren't all that rare.

[restive crest]

ohh, so it was enviroment art, and not game level design, my bad

makes sense, but still impressive

[royal lintel]

Those may involve level design as well - I don't know anything about the source of those images, but regardless they're working under very different constraints.

[restive crest]

fair enough

[spice dagger]

This is not the channel to ask for feedback.

Please read the #rules

[plucky hatch]

I submitted an assignment for a company which was the first round. There is a delay for review because the team is abroad for work. I have no info about the later rounds in case I pass the first one. Should I ask recruiter for the info so I could prepare in case I get selected?

[tender ridge]

Hey all I have some years of experience with unreal engine and have a few projects and work experience to back it. But i feel as if my age and little C++ knowledge might not get me a job as a game developer using unreal engine. Is there any tips or what i should do to get into a job. Also is it a must to know c++ to get a job as a Gameplay and systems developer for unreal engine?

[granite solar]

It depends on what part of the "developer" you're on. If you're a gameplay engineer, then yes, C++ is most likely a guaranteed requirement. If you're a gameplay designer, it's most likely not necessary, or even relevant. You might not even have access to C++ if you're a designer.

[plucky hatch]

What do you mean by systems developer?

There are plenty of jobs in unity for C# but only a handful in UE if you only can use blueprints. Visual scripting tools aren't supposed to be used for programming but to tweak the built-in system.

If you want to start learning C++, I did using C++ without fear by Brian Overland. It is a really good beginner's book and you would have a lot of fun (or I hope so 😊).

[plucky hatch]

You are a normal 17 year old. The truth is most of us never would have life figured out. And the best you can do is to try to have a pragmatic attitude and work on skills. Go to college and work hard on some tangible skills such as programming, marketing, filmmaking or any skill that you can measure and that pays. Once you are financially stable (and that may take some time), you would be in a much better position having quite a good idea of what you'd want from life. Just enjoy what you do. Stick to one, one to gun.

[green oyster]

I only got my first industry job at 25 (3d enviro artist), after college and after a few tangentially related jobs in cgi and rendering, you got a ton of time

[granite solar]

In addition to what others have said, don't take a path just because it's what people are saying is the right call. I know so many who spent years in college pursuing something they don't know if they even want, purely because it's what they were told is the right decision. Make sure you have an understanding of why you are making a major decision, like going to college, before you do it. I'm not anti-college btw, I've got two degrees myself. I've just seen so many people take that route without any clear understanding or reason behind it.

But I'm scared of failure
You will never find success without failure, it's a great learning experience. Trying to delay your failures is to delay your success.

[tender ridge]

Sorry, i mean things like designing core features like movement systems, interaction, inventories ect

[tender ridge]

.

[tender ridge]

I appreciate it

[jagged zodiac]

Is it hard to get a first remote entrylevel job? Does anyone here did know someone who made it?

[hybrid ice]

be me
get hired by YoYoGames in 2021
the only one build engineer in the company making GameMaker
for the first year just port the entire compilation of the engine from random abandoned office PCs to the cloud
2022
compilation_in_the_cloud_done.quiteok
time to fix the rest
realise we have 18 years old dependencies in the codebase
wtf they don’t even have a release process in place
propose to use Git Flow or a similar approach
ignored.dds
they release randomly with random version numbers
they still used VS2015 when I started working there
we don’t even have a GameMaker Launcher like our competitors (Unity Hub and Epic Games Launcher)
write a long document listing tech debts and send to product managers
ignored.heic
organise calls with managers and lead devs
explain how the build and release process should be changed because it’s bitrotting super fast
fast forward 1 month
they fire me because “I bothered people too much and want to do things my own way”
???

Time to get back to Unreal

[hybrid ice]

back in the day I got a remote Junior Dev job in Ubisoft, it wasn't that hard to get in

just a few C++ programming questions + some trigonometry for the game engine side of things, they did not care about a degree or anything, they just cared about knowledge

the job was crap and I decided to leave after 3 months, but was a good bootstrapping

[mint skiff]

My first role (not in this industry) was remote but that was largely because of covid lockdowns

Current role was sort of like "yeah you can do remote but we really would like juniors to be in the office so we can mentor you" which i thought was fair enough

[plucky hatch]

It was common during Covid. less so now, most juniors are expected to be at the office for the most part. I only let Seniors or above work remotely personally.

[granite solar]

I got a 100% remote junior job just last year in June. 100% as in it isn't even option to go into the studio - I live 10 hours away :p

[pastel estuary]

@ancient thunder be mighty fine if you read the #rules before posting content. thanks.

[cloud rapids]

You're in the same boat as many in the new economy. Look how many people are able to make a living through Fortnites creator economy.

The answer depends on your ability to live while you follow your passion.
If you can live at home, have food on the table etc you might look at following your passion and spending time finding how to generate revenue in a more streamlined way than becoming a fullstack studio.

If you aren't financially able to pay for the bare necessities you'll be better off getting a job either in the industry, you can do freelance work for studios or creators, and pursue your career aligned goals on the side and in your spare time.

I'm very passionate about helping people find a career out of traditional paths and certainly in Forntites ecosystem. For perspective, during my final years of school I started playing Fortnite in week 1 of it's release, became a supported creator and pursued jobs in community building, strategy and marketing for people who had raised money for their startup but didn't understand the digital landscape like we do.

You can build your skills here on Discord and get paid for it from the outside world.

You got this, achi!

[winged dragon]

what are the best websites for finding remote unreal engine jobs?

[blissful crescent]

https://remotegamejobs.com/

[cyan hawk]

Curious Question, is a High-Level Design Document (HLDD) a standard thing when developing a game? Like, I know outlines and stuff exist and I just found out there is apparently a proper term for a document detailing a production, but I wasn't sure how widely utilized this term was. So, I am really curious if the term is something people even use or does even just call it an outline?

[round radish]

You'd think it'd be pretty common, but then you see the people making Doom and you just have to question every decision management ever makes in every company.

[cyan hawk]

Okay, not going to lie, I got a chuckle out of that xD

Never played doom though, and probably wont. Just no interest.

[round radish]

Did you read about the debacle with their music guy?

[cyan hawk]

Nope

[round radish]

https://medium.com/@mickgordon/my-full-statement-regarding-doom-eternal-5f98266b27ce

This is well worth a read on how not to manage a game company.

[granite solar]

https://gracklehq.com Not unreal specific but has a remote option under "Metro Area"

[balmy burrow]

If you are passionate about game development particularly with unreal you could look into epics academic partners.
https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/academic-partners

[unreal zodiac]

Hey if anyones a freelancer based in London, UK and looking for a desk space let me know. I’d be really down to have another unreal head in the studio. Its affordable, secure and in a really good location

[modern relic]

Oh oh do Australia next!!

[brave forge]

False. It's missing the resident huntsman spider

[modern relic]

It got employee of the month

[pastel estuary]

@slim parrot you might want to read the #rules for a bit :) job requests/offers go in the job board section of our discord. You can read the #instructions on how to do that.

[inner rain]

Does anyone know what kind of questions may come up at an interview for a gameplay engineer position (primarily based around combat) using unreal and cpp. I've been studying up primarily on just normal cpp interview questions but ofc ue has a load of differences from raw cpp. I started using chatgpt as a fake interviewer which is surprisingly good but I'd rather get more concrete questions from real people haha

[round radish]

Sounds like GAS will be involved.

Animation integration. Physics.

Physics part might just mostly be collision, but you never know.

[inner rain]

I had a feeling about GAS 🤔 Def something I'll need to look into. Thankfully I'm pretty proficient with physics and integrating animations so

The game specifically is a singleplayer AAA action/puzzle game from a very well known IP, not sure if I'm actually allowed to mention the game haha

[round radish]

Shrug

If anything, it's just advertising that that position is available to everyone here. It's not in your interest to do so.

[inner rain]

Actually the positions been closed, it's down to just 7 of us so :3

[round radish]

Well, you say that, but you never know.

Someone with the perfect resume comes along, I'm sure they'd always consider it.

[inner rain]

Fair Fair

Guess I'll study up on gas

[serene crystal]

probably things like examples of features you have implemented, problems you faced etc

how you approach problem solving etc etc

be open about what you don't know as that shows you aren't messing around

[round radish]

Hint: if you say chatgpt, you won't pass the interview.

[inner rain]

Oh yea no worries I wasn't gonna mention that 😂

[round radish]

It's gonna be like referencing wikipedia in papers.

[serene crystal]

at this rate I think referencing a wikipedia page shows more initiative than using chatgpt lol

[inner rain]

These are great points! Thank you! I'm nervous to say the least, this will be my first interview for this kind of thing

[round radish]

I had my first interview in a while where I had to code, live, with somebody watching me, and relearn std on the fly while implementing an algorithm.

That was fun.

It's not as hard as you think. People are human. 🙂

[serene crystal]

yeah, I'm happy to say I had no real technical "can you actually code algos" part in my interview

my portfolio was enough somehow

even if you do have a live code task just try to be open about how you approach the problem as that's the real purpose behind it II think, unless they are just evil

I think I would fail most leetcode questions lol

[inner rain]

😅 I hope I don't have to do that, while I know a lot, I'm all self taught so there are gaps in what I know alongside not having been taught all the proper terminology like polymorphism, abstraction, etc. I was just taught to some degree what they are. I've been spending the last 48 hours just diving into everything technical trying to cram in as much refreshing and new things that I can to prep

[round radish]

Yeah. That's what got me through. I didn't do an amazing implementation, but when the guy talked to me about it and prompted me to talk about how I'd make it better. I think I came up with a good solution in the end.

[serene crystal]

try to give examples of where you used those things, what was good about them and how they affected working with a team etc

[oblique ice]

my interview was test to model environment in 4 hours, the person interview me was not even artist but act they are so good at what they do

[round radish]

Seeing as it's UE, composition is a big thing. Make sure you learn about that!

[hot spear]

are you allowed to say which company this was for?

[oblique ice]

was a domestic Software company

[dull moss]

hey is there a tab on where i can go to inquire some work from someone for a commission?>

[brave forge]

Yep, theres a job board section where you can browse people looking for work, or you can post a job yourself. #instructions on how to post on it via manny

[desert marten]

If I want to go in the field of game engine development, would triple majoring in physics, math and cs be worth it

assuming I can afford it

or would a double major in math and cs, minoring in physics would be a better option to go

[mint skiff]

Depends which part of the engine you want to work on

All 3 will be valuable, particularly for graphics and Physics systems

[desert marten]

I kind of just want the knowledge to build my own game engine from scratch, similar to what the youtuber jdh does

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO0Tx3w5abQ

this guy

[mint skiff]

Definitely at least CS

Tbh I'd just think about whether I would enjoy the content being taught

[desert marten]

yeah that's true

I defintely would enjoy cs, and I wouldn't mind math, but physics is kind of not too much of interest for me

[royal lintel]

I'd also be wary of triple majoring in terms of workload, not just money. Know what you're getting into with that.

Even a double major can be a crazy amount of work, though it depends on the program.

[mint skiff]

Yeah they will all be intense courses

I will say I'm doing just a little bit of rendering stuff for work and I already wish I had more of a physics background

[round radish]

You can pretty much learn all the physics you need for game dev in the applied math part of the maths bit anyway.

[clear flint]

Hello! I am a freshman college student who has a love for GameDev, used to work with GameMaker until a month ago

I recently moved to UE5 to build a better portfolio, my end goal is to get a job in AAA companies. I am trying to build a portfolio for my self as I learn more, but the biggest problem I come across is ironically the art side of things. I have utter most respect for indie gamedevs who can do art and the programming themselves. But I don't know any art. And I feel like if I spend months trying to learn blender I would be ""wasting"" my time on a skill I wont use when hired. My goal isn't to be an indie dev.

Yes I could use marketplace assets, but there is so little. They limit what I could want to do greatly, I think we can agree they dont even look good when put together with other assests (styles often dont match)

What should I do? If I were to commission all art it would take thousands of $'s for every project. I hope my question makes sense and thank you all.

If the end result is "suck it up and spend months trying to learn blender" I will do so.

[green oyster]

but what job are you trying to get?

[clear flint]

Programmer, sorry forgot to mention

[round radish]

You don't need artwork to implement the systems required for that kind of job. Sure, it will look nicer, but yeah.

UE comes with a lot of default art you can use, like the mannequin.

And there are plenty of free animation assets out there.

[clear flint]

Yes but I would also need complete games in my portfolio right? I don't necessarily need "free". I am fine with paying as long as it's reasonable. I am trying to seek how programmers who were building portfolios got away with the "art" kind of things

[modern relic]

you dont need complete or polished project necessarily. just something that shows what you are able to do

[mint skiff]

Are you referring to some peoples portfolios youve seen specifically?

[oblique ice]

build prototype/first playable or Vertical Slice 👍🏻

[clear flint]

So I could put down systems in my portfolio? Like X mechanic (Complex Pathfinding) etc? I wouldn't need a polished / published game? Or well, wouldn't it be much better in the eyes of an employer?

[mint skiff]

You definitely don't need art for a programming job

[clear flint]

I actually couldn't see any portfolios I was going off of what I heard

[clear flint]

Yes I do know that! But I heard many say having a finished game helps a lot, well to finish a game I need art

[mint skiff]

Programmer art should be just fine I think

There are people who do it all themselves, but I think that's really just for the love of the game

[clear flint]

I guess I will start by building systems using Unreals default / free assets. Maybe towards later years into college I could work with an artist / save money to comission for polished projects ~

[shut token]

All the real devs use Manny

[woeful iron]

is there any context to this?

[steady pewter]

Yeah, advertisement.

[mint skiff]

They obviously want crit, rip in!

[blissful sun]

Hello, I already asked on #programmer-hangout and eXi answered but I am gathering as many PoV as I can:
If you have a to train/onboard a programmer to unreal engine: What is/would be your approach? 🤔
Primarily focusing on "generalistic" profiles, but whatever experience you have I am happy to listen ❤️

[lapis sage]

generalistic is a very wide description you should give more details. Like I have 2.5k Hours of in-editor blueprint making, but there a soooo many facest I can say I am good with actors, medium with ABP and still struggling with how math works in UE5.

There is just sooo much in UE

Any way I am looking for some honest feed back on my game trailer https://store.steampowered.com/app/2273220/Axiums_Box/

Steam

Axium's Box

Challenge is at the core of Axium's Box, drawing inspiration from titles such as "Getting Over It" and "Jump King" in a fully 3D environment with stunning, cinematic graphics. If you relish in a good dose of pain, frustration, and mind-bending obstacles with a constant stream of paradigm shifts, then this game is tailor-made for you."Jack, a man...

Price

$4.99

▶ Play video

[chilly sundial]

The point of a generalist is to be applicable to many parts of the engine.

[chilly sundial]

#1054845120236757103

[chilly sundial]

I'm still not really understanding the game. You claim similarity to the popular rage platformer games like jump king, and do have the parkour aspect (great job touching up the visuals by the way)

But it seems you have random combat abilities spliced in, but I'm not seeing any enemies, nor an arena to use them in. It feels like you should pick one and stick to it. Like ability based combat, or rage parkour with hazards.

Some of the abilities just don't fit either. You show your character flying like superman, but I thought it was meant to be a rage platformer? Doesn't flying defeat the point of that?

I do think the trailer has done a much better job of showcasing your game, it's just not explained very fluidly at the moment.

I'd also work a bit on the UI. Or at least the font. You've got a nice custom font for the trailer, and some custom UI elements, but just stock unreal text block to show your number of fragments

[lapis sage]

Oh thank you Never even thought of changing that! I'll change it ASP. The flight is unlocked at the very very end. The game is alot like Jump king in that you fall but also like celeste in combat/getting new skills

[chilly sundial]

that flight makes sense, but the trailer makes it seem more like you can just skip the challenge. Id make the combat look a bit more clear, because it currently doesn't fit well with the game

[lapis sage]

So I should remove the flight clip?

Also did the voice annoy you? MY wife said it be better with out the voice

[chilly sundial]

it's up to you really. I personally wouldn't include it. Spoiling the end reward for the game probably isn't what i'd want to do

[lapis sage]

Okay

[chilly sundial]

yeah the voice doesn't really fit, especially with the odd pauses.

[lapis sage]

okay thanks

[chilly sundial]

another quick thing. i noticed you show the powers you unlock on the steam page, but it seems since adding them, you've added wallrun animations, so might wanna update the graphics for that :P

although not sure how easy it is, havent used steam before

[lapis sage]

ok Yea I'll do that

I spent over 50 hours learning cascaduer just to make that new animation 🙂

Thank you sooo much for your feed back

[chilly sundial]

damnnn, certainly making the game feel a lot better :)

upon watching the trailer again i think i see the combat elements a bit better. Im assuming those things floating towards you are enemies?

[lapis sage]

Yes

They hit you and throw you around

[chilly sundial]

yeah that makes a little more sense, they were a little harder to see for me, but not sure if that's just me or not

[chilly sundial]

sounds frustrating :P

[lapis sage]

Yea its hard to show them because trying to get a close up picture of them means you are bing tossed

I really tried to go with a purplish blue crystal style art vibe

With a few elemental thrown in

[chilly sundial]

yeah now im looking for them i can see it a lot better

[lapis sage]

I also added ragdoll physics to the game

so you can get knocked down and get back up

Does the music fit now?

[chilly sundial]

Its a lot better than it was, I wouldn't say it fits 100%, but certainly goes better with the theme of the game.
Take my advice on that with a pinch of salt however, im terrible at music choice

[lapis sage]

lol

[cyan granite]

really good! I would buy it if i had money

[lapis sage]

Thanks!

[mighty nova]

Hey guys, I’m pretty new at gamedev and im currently working on a 2D/3D hybrid rpg, but I’m also looking at getting a job in gamedev, what do you suggest I should do to be prepared for it if I wanted one in the coming few months?

[modern relic]

prepare a super good af portfolio

[round radish]

Get a vertical slice of your rpg working - that is look at all the mechanics, implement them and give examples on how they work. Add a class, talents, an inventory, an item to put in the inventory, a piece of armour, a spell, etc.

[granite solar]

I'd also say try and get an idea of what you want to do in the realm of game dev. Doing art for RPG's is a completely separate skillset than being a programmer.

[mighty nova]

Well my interests lie in animation and mechanics

[mighty nova]

Well what would that entail? So far I have 2 projects that I'm working on, a solo one and one with a small team, but as neither are finished, I don't really have a portfolio.

[modern relic]

Basically, show me what you can do. What have yob worked on that best showcases your skills and experience related to the position you are applying for. Give me a reason to consider you for this position

[mint skiff]

Finished projects

[modern relic]

Eh not necessarily. Finished projects are hard to do especially when you are new to the field

[mint skiff]

I'm not sure you should put unfinished stuff on a portfolio frankly

although this is more from an artists perspective

[brave forge]

Yeah it doesn't have to be big, but it has to be someway towards finished. It's infinitely more valuable to a hiring manager to see more complete projects. And there's a lot of learning in the final 20% of a project too

[mighty nova]

Well for an artist, unfinished stuff doesn't make sense as all you'll have to do is make the technical art, while the only way I can think of to show gameplay mechanics stuff is through finished or almost finished projects

[modern relic]

Best I can do is a dozen early production projects with no prototype

[mighty nova]

lol

[mint skiff]

What's your point? If the only way to demo gameplay mechanics is through finished or almost finished projects then we're in agreement

[mighty nova]

Well when I say almost finished projects, I also include projects with no assets implemented, and simply using the gameplay mechanics on the UE5 mannequins with blanket obstacles

[mint skiff]

Right but you are applying as a programmer, not an artist

finished means, to me, "achieves the goals you set out to achieve" not "produced and sold an AAA game"

Sorry I guess that needed clarifying

[mighty nova]

Well I considered a fully playable and usable game in general

But I guess we're in agreement then

[old oracle]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcFYU03ynF4

I just found a valuable vid for some new up and coming devs

Thought I'd share, I definitely have this problem myself, but I try to stick to my own guns most of the time

[serene crystal]

better off with an actual concrete example like this:

https://youtu.be/BJvoaBeqVm0

[steady pewter]

Everything should be done with measure. If you rely to outside too much, you get weak. If you are solo, then you are slow. Etc.

[old oracle]

I remember watching that one when it came around. Was a good watch.

[round radish]

Depends just how much passion you have, really. You can do both. Is your job tiring? Do you have other commitments such as friends and family? Do you want other free time?

[vocal birch]

sorry this is some more context and background on the question.↓

I'm 17, almost an adult, I don't have a job, not much money, I can't drive, I have no skills, and I live with my parents, I don't know if I should go to college because I hardly remembered what I have learned from high school, and my passion is starting a game company and being the creative director of it, by first starting out by having a job in writing or level design or environment art and working my way up, then make a company. But I'm scared of failure, because of my reputation, and that I don't have financial freedom/aka not worrying about money at all. And I am thinking about whether I should do my passion or financial freedom first. In the position that I'm in right now, is it delusional to follow my passion, or is it just the wrong thing to do? I just want to hear other points of view and maybe other pieces of information like alternatives, advice, etc.

So this is what I stated last time ↑

And this is my answer ↓

So I chose to do both passion and financial freedom but only do what is nessecary for Financial Freedom which does not include doing a buisness model and learning finance but instead buying what I need, saving, and budgeting; general stuff like that. Also decided to get a job at 18 to have a safety net cause in the current situation it is not needed.

But I want to know any flaws that you spotted in my answer or any recommendations you have for me and any support to my conclusion.

[round radish]

My questions were more rhetorical just to make you think about things yourself.

[plucky hatch]

Personally, if you have a passion then the fears and the threats it can/could bring to your life be it long days, worried over money etc., its all about finding that balance. When it comes making a indie game, you don't start with a deadline. Its you making what you can when you can and working it into your life. Once you're comfortable and wanna make the push then you flip it. You revolve your life around it instead.

Don't think about ideas like you have no skills because you do. Its just a matter of applying them into something you have passion for. Being scared is reasonable but you need to take that leap. We believe in you

[round radish]

A deadline is bad, yeah, but you should set yourself goals. And reasonable timelines for those goals. And don't be mad if you don't hit them.

You need some way to track your progression or your passion will peter out.

[plucky hatch]

^ Yeah exactly. See it as less a deadline and more so as progress points. If you dont hit them then don't beat yourself up about it. You can either try for timeframe next time or adjust your goals to fit how you work

[round radish]

It's about small, achievable goals!

"This week, I'm going to learn how to use landscapes." That sort of thing.

[plucky hatch]

And when it comes down to it, you can learn just by asking. School isn't for everyone. Im currently in uni but a lot of the things you'll want to do you'll learn outside of it. Even right now, im asking in this server for help because my uni doesn't talk about it. Its all about asking and being open like you've done already. Dont be afraid

[plucky hatch]

I need some advice. I've been applying to game programming jobs. Are there jobs other than game programming that uses C++?
So, that I can apply to them

[woeful iron]

Of course lol

there's more non-game c++ jobs than game ones

just open linkedin or google and you'll find plenty

[plucky hatch]

I read in a book that there are only two fields where c++ is used: game programming and DNA processing

lol

I know financial trading to be other

[brave forge]

yeah banking, HFT, embedded systems (although there's lots of just plain ol' c there too).

A quick look on my local jobs site also shows climate data analyst, defence roles, etc.

There's heaps. They probably all pay way better too

[plucky hatch]

🤑

[woeful iron]

seems like a bad book

[woeful iron]

it's true though, game dev pays shit compared to corporate swe, at least for sure at the lower levels

[plucky hatch]

But I don't have a fancy degree. And do these other jobs hire on the basis of portfolio on github?

[woeful iron]

generally less so than game dev in my experience

but I dno tbh, I had a fancy degree for game dev and then transitioned to normal swe

but step 1 is always, don't suck

[plucky hatch]

🫡

[woeful iron]

not specialized in reading #instructions though

[pastel estuary]

no need

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/221796616653373441/1060685591336996934/BluemanBan.gif

[shut token]

Dang - must've missed the memo

[plucky hatch]

Does participating in game jams and competitions impact your job selection prospects?

[pastel estuary]

its nice to showcase on a website, especially if you showcase technical understanding, which both can provide insights to other devs, and improve your visibility/popularity.

[plucky hatch]

Okay.

[round radish]

I've heard that companies don't really accept it as "game dev experience", though.

I guess it depends how you show it off.

[verbal horizon]

If I make a game and a big company gives me a cease and desist, can I frame it as use it for my portofolio?

[dull wagon]

what happened?

[verbal horizon]

Nothing happened yet

[dull wagon]

is the company being unfair?

[verbal horizon]

Probably not

[dull wagon]

whats going on?

[verbal horizon]

I’m tired of epic games taking too long to make RL2 so I’m gonna make a demo and prove them it’s possible to do a port

[dull wagon]

oh i see,

[verbal horizon]

I at least want to scare them into showing us the lack of progress

I love RL, but I want progress

[dull wagon]

Rogue Legacy?

[verbal horizon]

Rocket league

[dull wagon]

oh!

[verbal horizon]

Rogue legacy is good too

[dull wagon]

Yeah, your not tech doing anything wrong. i mean people make fan ports of games all the time.

as long as your not selling it,

[verbal horizon]

Of course not

Unless I sell it to them

So they can copy the bps and the assets

Cuz I’ve decrypted the entire game so I could xfer em to ue5

Which infuriates me cuz they could have done that years ago

[dull wagon]

noice.

[verbal horizon]

I’m also trying to make a personal game on the side, but using RL to learn basics is nice

[dull wagon]

same but its not based off of Rocket league.

[verbal horizon]

Mine isn’t either, I just use it to learn

[dull wagon]

My game has no future.

[verbal horizon]

Why not?

[dull wagon]

Because of Financial distress plus i just lost a supporter who would donate 1,000 usd a month.

[verbal horizon]

Oh jeez

[dull wagon]

so i went from a steady income to now i have no money next month.

[verbal horizon]

D:

Time to make YouTube videos about your progress

[dull wagon]

maybe

[verbal horizon]

It’s fairly simple to make those. Just make 10 minute videos explaining how your bps work

But don’t display the gameplay until later videos

And to make some $$ to start, release a 1-2$ demo on steam and use that profit to increase production.

That’s the baseline steps for a bone fide developer

[dull wagon]

yee, i hope that works out for me.

[verbal horizon]

Once you release it on steam, lemme know and I’ll support it

[dull wagon]

ty

ill prob be dead before that happens, but heres hoping im wrong.

[verbal horizon]

Here’s hoping

🤞

[chilly sundial]

In fairness a good devlog series is a lot more than that

[verbal horizon]

Yeah. But 10 minutes is baseline

[chilly sundial]

Devlogs can already struggle as a quite niche genre

No I mean it's more than just explaining blueprints

It needs to be entertaining

[verbal horizon]

Just put more points into charisma

Make a script to follow so you don’t sound lost

And make some purposeful mistakes so your development does funny things and then record the fixing progress

[dull wagon]

Speaking of Careers After i came out as Transgender ive been almost completely alienated. from basically everyone.

if you want my advice, coming out as Trans is the worst mistake you could ever make.

[chilly sundial]

what does that have to do with in regard to careers?

[dull wagon]

Even people in this server are friendly to me until the other shoe drops.

[dull wagon]

it will destroy your career.

read.

[dull wagon]

read the first sentence.

[dull wagon]

absolutely nothing. right?

im just imagining things.

[chilly sundial]

it really sucks you've had that experience.

also you don't have to be an asshole to me, i haven't done anything to you.
i just asked what that had to do with careers. I didn't make the connection

the sarcasm is unneeded

[dull wagon]

Im so sorry you were offended.

ive never offended before so i wouldnt know.

just tell me what you really think about me.

[chilly sundial]

i don't get why people can't just let others live their lives, it really sucks for those that come off the worst end of it.
stuff like that shouldn't be an issue

are you from an area known to have issues with things like that? Like the bible belt in america?
If so, is moving to somewhere more accepting an option?

[pastel estuary]

Very sorry this happened, and hopefully you'll find a place where they accept you. (as they should).

[chilly sundial]

for sure.

[wanton jungle]

I just want to boost myself in modeling and I thought does it really matters what program I master? Really bewildered about what program I should use. 3ds max, Maya or even Blender does it matter?

[mint skiff]

It matters less than it used to

[chilly sundial]

It depends if you plan on getting a job in industry. If so it might be an idea to learn one of the industry standard ones like Maya.

[mint skiff]

Maya and 3ds Max still dominate the industry, but you're not going to be locked out of a junior role if you learn blender

I think about 50% of our shop is blender

[wanton jungle]

Thank you for your actually; Wasn't expecting an answer.

I guess I'm gonna go with max or maya

pick a certain course and stick with it

[modern relic]

I wouldn't fixate in sticking to it. Unless you are a student or sail the seven seas you gotta empty your bank account for autodesk products while blender is free. Since 2.8 there's also been a muncher larger adoption of it and also tons more tutorials and guides for it

If you are looking at doing any sort of organic stuff like people, I'd add zbrush to your list

[oblique ice]

try learn fundamental term if possible

[wanton jungle]

Yeah I'm student I cant use Autodesk programs for free. However, since I don't have a tablet ,and not planning to buy anytime sooner, Zbrush won't do me any good. Thank you for your advice Gambit !

[modern relic]

If you are mainly planning on doing hard surface you probably don't need zbrush as the sculpting tools in blender should be good enough for you for doing normal maps and stuff. Once you get super good you could look into freelancing if you are unable to get a job in which case you could probably re-evaluate your financial situation

[wanton jungle]

To be honest I'm also really scared about the job opportunities. Since time IS money I don't want to waste my time on unwanted or already fulfilled skills. Thank you again for your time.

[plucky hatch]

Why not just use Blender as it's free, if you quickly accelerate your skills and feel you have outgrown it you can move to a paid package, but why bother now. You are a student and it's free now but that wont always be the case. Ive been using Blender now for 3-4 years maybe and i've not needed to migrate to more advanced tools with the exception of Houdini (for modelling).

[foggy knoll]

I have a question regarding creating a game. I have someone who is interested in voluntarily joining me in producing 3d assets for a project of mine. Does anyone have knowledge as to how to create an agreement/contract which only states the assets created can only be given for the particular project of mine and cannot be distributed and used for any other person's project? Do I need a lawyer for this? Can this be done on my own? Do I need a company to make agreement/contracts?

[chilly sundial]

Can you enforce said contract, and prove said assets would be yours if they showed up somewhere else?

A contract is only worth your means of enforcement.

[wanton jungle]

May I ask what kind of jobs you had during these 3-4 years using blender ?

[plucky hatch]

Senior Designer for Visualisation at an OEM, now Creative Lead at a 150+person studio doing enterprise level Unreal (automotive, fashion, product, VP, HMI etc). I can use other tools of course, but for modelling I picked Blender to learn.

[chilly sundial]

Honestly blender is my favourite. Never knew it was picking up so much in popularity in industry too

[plucky hatch]

If a tool can fit into the workflow and pipeline of the studio it's more irrelevant what is used, will only becime more so.

[chilly sundial]

I am honestly surprised it isn't used more. Considering the whole free thing, and it being extremely powerful.

Although I guess a lot of the veterans are used to the workflow in said tools so it isn't worth the setback in transitioning

One of those "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" things

[plucky hatch]

Most young people I am hiring are only using it, as you say many older people will not bother to chnage. Luckily none of the workflows we use prohibit mixing tools in this way.

[chilly sundial]

Yeah. I am by no means going into the 3d art field, but I've done it as a hobby on and off, and my college diploma was mostly based on it.

Spent like a year in Maya before I found blender that was much nicer 🤣

Max is the worst tho imo

So clunky

[mint skiff]

Getting a lawyer to draft it is the safest way, but it's by no means mandatory. There is some info on drafting agreements here: http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Freelance

Contracts typically need consideration for both parties in order to be valid though

It's probably most important that you agree on a process for dispute resolution.

[oblique ice]

i don't work in maya anymore, was doing because was needed in the companies

[serene crystal]

what do you usually use now? and what would you use if you had the choice?

[plucky hatch]

Hello
I'm Kevin, a senior full stack developer have rich experience in the field of web development.
I wanna exchange and share experience each other.
If you want, keep in touch.

[woeful iron]

is this something for #introductions or what is this?

[granite solar]

What does it look like? It's the Inigo Montoya method.

[woeful iron]

ok, now I'm confused

[granite solar]

Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride

https://tenor.com/view/inigo-montoya-hello-killed-my-father-gif-9985166

1. Polite greeting. 2) Name. 3) Relevant link. 4) Manage Expectations.

[steady pewter]

lol

[granite solar]

1. Hello
2. I'm Kevin
3. senior full stack developer...
4. I wanna exchange and share experience

[woeful iron]

damn, 2 kevins in the chat

strange to introduce yourself with a numbered list though

[steady pewter]

How many kevins are needed to get a job?

[granite solar]

Considering thats kevin1129, I'd wager at least 1129

[woeful iron]

but he's already senior

so maybe less for entry level

[granite solar]

good thinking

[chilly sundial]

How many extra Kevin's do you need per year of experience 🤔

[woeful iron]

is it linear or exponantial?

[chilly sundial]

Damn this runs deep

[granite solar]

1129 is a prime number. I'm sure that has some significance somewhere in this discussion.

[woeful iron]

that's what they want you to think

[lavish lagoon]

Does anyone have advice/resources for determining an hourly rate for contract work? I've mostly worked on salary and don't have a good frame of reference for how to price myself per hour.

Or any other important considerations I should make for contract work in games

[plucky hatch]

Good rule of thumb is about 3x salary rate for freelance.
Remember inside your normal rate you need to care of the following:

Salary
Sick Pay
Pension
Tax
Healthcare
Holiday Pay
Transport
Office equipment and furniture
Software Licenses
Hardware (+Maintenance)
General admin

Not counting for inflation these were my general salary rates for Europe, prices are very location dependant:

2010: €130 per day (0 year experience)
2013: €220 per day (3 year experience)
2014: €270 per day (4 year experience)
2016: €400 per day (6 year experience)
2017: €600+ per day (7 years experience) (Senior)
2019: €900+ per day (9 years experience)

[lavish lagoon]

Was this for developer work, artist work, other? My general understanding is that certain roles pay more

[plucky hatch]

I am a designer personally. I work in non-games though as it pays more and at least for me more fun. Take everything with a pinch of salt too, rates are highly dependant on many factors, age, location, experience etc.

[lavish lagoon]

Got it. The other difficult part for me is that I'm going from a higher paying corporate gig to working with smaller startups, so I'm not sure how to adjust the compensation accordingly since smaller studios don't have the same budget

[plucky hatch]

I guess thats just a choice, plenty of smaller studios that pay the same as larger companies. Freelance usually relies on two things to go well in any field:

1. Skill
2. Networking ability and contacts
   Once you are freelance you can work for anyone globally as long as it's not a tax/payment issue, so you can still freelance for large corporate gigs too.

[modern relic]

I was actually really surprised when I found out that big companies hire contractors.. Like they have their own staff and still outsource?

[pastel estuary]

not only contractors, they hire whole additional studios