career-chat

[nova coyote]

What if the market does not exist 🙃

[fluid thorn]

Does anyone have any experience working in fiver? How does that fare or is there other platform where we can offer our game dev related services?

[upbeat spear]

What kind of technical questions would you guys expect in a interview for the role of UI Programmer?

[bitter falcon]

somebody has a good looking resume free with photo

[fervent palm]

A resume doesn’t need a photo

It’s not gonna help you get that many interviews

[coarse parrot]

Hello everyone. I hold a electrical and computer engineering degree

But I have no idea about game development

How to get started?

What's game jam

Where can I find that

[main harbor]

i have worked professionaly as unity developer for 2 plus years switching to unreal now but im not able to find jobs related to unreal programmer anywhere in europe im not getting any proper website to search for any oppurtunities i aint gonna mind to join as a fresher tried googling but that aint helping

[coarse parrot]

Bing better than ChatGPT?

@charred sentinel

itch.io

[green oyster]

Technically there's the Bing ai in skype

[coarse parrot]

@charred sentinel can u suggest me any Good tutorial/course

To get started

[coarse parrot]

How am getting started?

I saw a tutorial which is 7 hours on YouTube

From freecodecamp

Should I watch this?

[fervent palm]

learn the basics first

[woeful crow]

https://tenor.com/view/learn-the-basics-preston-blair-animation-cartoon-study-gif-15630520

[gusty vapor]

https://dev.epicgames.com/community/learning/paths/OR/welcome-to-game-development

[coarse parrot]

Perfect

[past cradle]

is this the chat for getting advice on gamedev for solo devs?

[blazing gust]

hi guys a tutuorial video how to animated on ue5 ?

[ivory echo]

Try #animation

[ivory echo]

Lol, never change 😁

[crude vault]

y'all, do you know how I edit a job once I post it?

I cannot find the command...

[earnest pecan]

anyone know where to learn actual game design from scratch? I like to believe I'm already familiar with at least intermediate concepts but it was all self-learning so I'd like to start from scratch in an actual, planned structure.

[earnest pecan]

idts you can, gotta remove and post again

[crude vault]

fml lol

ty

[earnest pecan]

happens

[cold hull]

Which gaming company have you interviewed with, and what specific technical questions, particularly in coding interviews, did they ask?

[placid zinc]

Wont specify but most of the coding test are trash with the single exception of a sony aaa studio

Im referring to coding tests

[cold hull]

trash means easy or unrelated to game development?

[placid zinc]

Unrelated to game dev. The most unrelated to game dev was one from a known open world game company

The sony one was good because it was math heavy

Literally making web dev questions

[cold hull]

how many companies you have interviewed?

[dull flame]

hi! has anyone here set up an LLC in the states? trying to figure out if i need a specific license or permit for my game company

[shut token]

It varies from state to state.

So you'd have to look up the laws for your state

[upbeat spear]

You might be able to find some specific questions or interview structure in Glassdoor, especially if it's a big company you're looking for

A lot of them use questions like LeetCode/HackerRank

[round radish]

Last coding interview I had asked me to write, in the language of my choice, an algorithm to print a list of anagrams given a list of strings.

Before that I had to write a copy of minesweeper in Slate.

[woeful iron]

that sounds like pain

[dull flame]

did you need one for the state you're in? im in nj btw

[dull flame]

just for more context: i looked into which licenses i might need for nj but nothing showed up; however the LLC creation company i used said they found 1 license i need but didnt specify which one. so not sure if they're trying to upsell me with no actual requirements needed, which is why im trying to find people who've gone through this process

yeah for sure, i definitely want to avoid paying more for registering my company when it's not necessary

[coarse parrot]

Is it better to use Unreal on windows or Ubuntu? Because I have Ubuntu

[steady pewter]

It is a limited experience on #linux but is possible.

Gotta capture more ppl in #linux

[round radish]

Rename it #lambda

[coarse parrot]

What do you mean shipping?

What's proton?

[coarse parrot]

?

[round radish]

Programming joke, Legolas.

If you have to explain them, that makes them better, right?!

[coarse parrot]

So it's better to dual boot because I'm having only Ubuntu right now?

Which are the best countries (except USA) for game development? Is Switzerland good?

What's judge?

Ah ok

Lol thought was an engine

So I install vulkan?

@charred sentinel

Do u have LinkedIn?

[gusty vapor]

This is a ridiculously broad question. Immigration laws vary from country to country and support for game development generally isn't a priority. It also depends on your skills (programmers are in higher demand, for example), and whether you're seeking employment or running your own studio.

[coarse parrot]

Sorry

😀

[round radish]

I can't imagine Switzerland is good for anything, except maybe banking. The extreme cost of living will offset most of the benefit of having a well paying programming job.

[green oyster]

but you can do freelance for them from wherever you are. costs them peanuts, makes you rich

[woeful iron]

I also have never heard from a game coming out of switzerland though

I'd guess like Sweden or Poland or something

Finland, especially if you like mobile games

UK also has some banger studios

[chilly sundial]

Best game ever made was made in Derby

So yeah

[coarse parrot]

I found this private game development school in my country

www.sae.edu

But it's extremely high cost

About 18k per year

For 3 years

To learn game development

Can I learn on my own? But the learning curve won't be high?

How do you know?

Ok cool

Yeah but this is private school. You pay

Ok cool

Computer science degree?

[woeful iron]

this highly depends on what you study where and what time and on you as a person

I personally found my higher education very valuable

[chilly sundial]

i am also finding mine very valuable, and very worth the cost. I wouldn't have had the discipline to self learn

however most game development focused higher education routes are absolute scams from what i've seen

im currently doing Computer Science for Games, which is basically regular computer science, but has a module with an emphasis on practically working with things like DirectX

compare that to my precursor game dev further education diploma, where we learned blueprints barely, and spent most of the two years doing 2d art

[nova coyote]

I want to put my two cents here. Even tho I don't have a job yet I did land a decent amount of interviews without having a CS degree. I tried to compensate for that by having a decent portfolio.

The only reason I don't have a job still is because I didnt meet requirements for the remote work 🫠

Apperntly 100kb/s isn't good enough 😒

Nah 100kilobytes

[woeful iron]

neither did my education

at least my taxes pay for something 🥲

if I were poor it would even have been free

[nova coyote]

Lmao nope but tbf a CS degree here is like -600$ here

Thanks to my grades on highschool I have a right for 100$ per year in allowance. So pretty I make money when studying lol

But I'm pretty sure it's only usable in my country. If I wanted to go to UK for instance I'll need to redo my degree there 🫠

[woeful iron]

F

that depends where you got the degree

and which degree

but why would you redo it

[nova coyote]

TBF you just need to study for two years instead of 5 but as for why, Probably because we study stuff in french and the things we learn is pretty much outdated? I don't really know

[woeful iron]

no I know why they want you to redo it

but if you already have work experience I don't see why you would decide to redo it

[tender ferry]

I had an LLC in NJ for my gamedev company
You don't need any extra licenses
Once your LLC is in the public registry, you'll start receiving mail from these random certificate services
Its basically a scam
You dont need it

[woeful iron]

unless it was necessary to perform your job, like a doctor

[nova coyote]

Oh I meant like if you just got your degree then moved out to search for a job

[coarse parrot]

Ι did ece and wasn't satisfied. Just got tired of electrical messy things 😫

[woeful iron]

idk what ece is

electrical computer engineer?

[coarse parrot]

Oh yes

Just waste of time for problem solving and programming skills

Very few skills I developed throughout the years

I mean related to computer science

[harsh epoch]

Hmm? why are you trying to form an LLC via a 3rd party provider? I did it directly on the ohio business registry website and it works and is a working business. I got my EIN for free as well. Now, i don’t know what it is like in NJ, but I should be able to help somewhat.

I did mine here (if the link gets deleted, oh well.)

https://www.ohiosos.gov/businesses/

[chilly sundial]

a third party service for that sounded strange, but i kept quiet because i don't know how it works in America 😆

[woeful iron]

I mean, americans use third party service to do their taxes as well

weird people

[harsh epoch]

I too was going to use a third party, but Iooked it up and realized i could just do it myself on the .gov website, so I did.

and it was $99 to form the business, $0 to get the EIN, and $5 to get the Certificate of Good Standing

[shut token]

Yeah, there are 3rd party services that really streamline the process.

[harsh epoch]

now it may be different in NJ??

[harsh epoch]

How so?

[shut token]

Every state is different.

[woeful iron]

so you pay for good standing?

this is very america

[shut token]

You pretty much just walk through a wizard and answer human understandable questions.

[harsh epoch]

I don’t think it’s required, but i got it anyways

[shut token]

And they handle pretty much everything.

[harsh epoch]

Yeah… the business forming asked me lots of questions too, like what the point of the business is and stuff. All very basic questions

[shut token]

It can be helpful for people who are having issues navigating the confusing stuff

[shut token]

Oh, these services make it even more simple

[harsh epoch]

what is that..? i don’t see anything searching it up?

Whatever it is, i didn’t get that. Should i have?

oh lol. yeah i’m not german, haha. i am rather intrigued in the language though. would love to learn it

[harsh epoch]

be honest. what do you guys think when you see the words “i have 4 years of experience on Roblox” I personally think any experience is experience but what do you all think. I’m trying to get an honest answer for what someone in the industry will think of me

[chilly sundial]

it depends what you're applying for and what you did on roblox

[woeful iron]

play hide and seek

[chilly sundial]

for example, programming experience if all you made was those jumping games, considering you've only used lua, and not much of it.
if it was something advanced it's absolutely relevant

[harsh epoch]

i have a youtube playlist of my best (it’s still mediocre imo) work. you want to see it?

[chilly sundial]

go for it

[harsh epoch]

can i send it here or would i need to send it in DMs

[harsh epoch]

i would say it is intermediate? it was all easy tbh. but it has some features a beginner couldn’t do thats for sure

[chilly sundial]

again it also depends on the role you're applying for

[harsh epoch]

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIi0AjnI9EIh7DOd0YFFqUe3c7fEQbdba&si=kJVmquS-oxhi0JhJ

[chilly sundial]

send the playlist link here

[harsh epoch]

like entry-intermediate level programmer. i’m not good enough for anything above that

[chilly sundial]

i personally wouldn't be putting something on a portfolio where one of my ores is called "earwax crystal"

[harsh epoch]

lol my friend made that

it’s a joke that is in the game that only the devs will see

but yeah you’re right

it is kind of stupid

[chilly sundial]

a silly joke is great, just not for a professional portfolio :P

personally i'd work on something a bit more standalone, complete and substantial

all the stuff there is very much a demo, and doesn't really go into the technical side of things.

[harsh epoch]

yep, it is all demos

[woeful iron]

it's hard to judge since most people don't know roblox that much, so hard to determine what is yours/built in and what effort what was put in it

I'd say based on the videos, it would be junior level at best though

[shut token]

Or, make a useful tool or blog about something you find interesting. The fact is, its a lot about who you know.

[harsh epoch]

Understandable

[chilly sundial]

to me, who has used roblox studio barely any, that looks like stuff i'd expect to be built in, or via feature pack sort of things. with a flavour of homemade

[harsh epoch]

Yes, i would agree. I definitely am not an advanced programmer.

[woeful iron]

it also depends if this is your only experience or just something extra

[harsh epoch]

Hmm, the multiplayer and character customization is built in. Just list something and i’ll say if it’s built in or not

[woeful iron]

if you only sent me these videos without much added context about you there would be an appoximately 0% chance I would hire you for a non-roblox position

[harsh epoch]

that is all extra, i’ve done way more then that

[harsh epoch]

i do have a portfolio, i can send it?

[chilly sundial]

that would be far more appropriate :P

[harsh epoch]

it was made on Indeed, so it isn’t the greatest. But it works fine for me

But it lists most of my major accomplishments

https://profile.indeed.com/p/averyc-kr1yj1h

it definitely could be better

and i don’t have much stuff to show off

[chilly sundial]

now seeing that you have a lot of plays on roblox is more interesting, but that's also a cv not a portfolio

[harsh epoch]

? how so

[chilly sundial]

i would set up a website.
talk about your best, most played roblox project perhaps, and talk about the technical challenges it presented

[chilly sundial]

wdym

[harsh epoch]

Oh, hmm. Would github pages work?

[chilly sundial]

yeah a lot are hosted there

[harsh epoch]

the problem is i don’t know HTML haha

or anything for websites

[chilly sundial]

website builders are also appropriate

unless you're wanting webdev

[woeful iron]

I used wordpress for mine back in the day

[chilly sundial]

i used wix for mine personally

just needing something quick and professional

[harsh epoch]

yeah you’re right

[woeful iron]

you list this as work experience, but you don't even put a company?

[harsh epoch]

I don’t know what Wordpress is haha

[harsh epoch]

oh it’s not professional… i probably should list that… i have no professional experience, it’s all self employed/in my own free time

[woeful iron]

I also don't feel like your descriptions add all that much info for most entries

then you should put it as self employed

or not under work experience

[harsh epoch]

you’re right

sorry i don’t really know what im doing much, i am trying though. i’ll probably just remove that part then…

I don’t have any professional experience so i don’t know what it good to say and what’s not

ok i removed the unity part

[chilly sundial]

I'd say definitely make a portfolio, detail your best project but work on something more technically challenging and complete, depending on what you're going for.

if you wanna be an industry programmer, learn and make something in c++

[woeful iron]

you could list projects you worked on then, preferrably with visuals on your website

[harsh epoch]

the projects i worked on are in the links section at the bottom of the portfolio

idk it’s just what Indeed had

[woeful iron]

so much effort

[chilly sundial]

thats not a portfolio

its a resume

a cv

[harsh epoch]

OH YEAH sorry i meant resume this entire time

sorry

[harsh epoch]

yes, it is. i see what you mean. i’m glad i asked here, lol. you guys helped

[chilly sundial]

you're unlikely to get a job with no portfolio.
basically 0 chance in programming if your only demonstrable programming experience is in roblox lua

[harsh epoch]

i have some in Unity and some in Godot, and also some in Unreal. But it’s all unfinished projects

[woeful iron]

especially with no education or professional experience

[harsh epoch]

i am thinking of going to college for computer science, idk though

[woeful iron]

it doesn't necessarily have to be an entirely finished project

you can showcase a mechanic or something

[chilly sundial]

just something that shows technical knowledge

and explain it

[harsh epoch]

I should probably work on a portfolio then…

[chilly sundial]

explain how you made it, why it challenged you

[harsh epoch]

technical as in what?

[woeful iron]

show that you can make stuff

[chilly sundial]

technical as in what ever is relevent to your chosen field

if you wanna work in environment art showcase something that shows good understand of topology, texel density

[harsh epoch]

just game programmer, i dont even need to be main programmer. i just want a job in programming games since this is my passion and dream job

[woeful iron]

what is a "main programmer"

I noticed second programmer on your cv as well

what does that mean

[harsh epoch]

something from roblox, does that not exist in the real industry?

[woeful iron]

never heard of it

you can have lead developer

[chilly sundial]

if you wanna work in games programming show a mechanic you made in c++ that is somewhat complex.

[harsh epoch]

I… I don’t know C++, i do my unreal work in Blueprints

[chilly sundial]

then you won't be getting into industry programming

[woeful iron]

then you're very unlikely to find a developer programmer job

[harsh epoch]

I do know C# and Lua though

[woeful iron]

you could be a unity programmer with c#

[chilly sundial]

still not as many doors as c++ though

[woeful iron]

indeed in game dev c++ is more prevalant

[harsh epoch]

you guys are very helpful, i appreciate the honesty. you guys aren’t holding anything back, and i appreciate it

[woeful iron]

I don't think that's the word I meant, but close 🤔

[chilly sundial]

that's the right word

[woeful iron]

ah prevalent

with an e

[harsh epoch]

the more “mean” you are, the better the advice is to me

idk how to say it lol

[woeful iron]

we're not being mean

just realistic

[shut token]

Ah - now its my time to shine

[harsh epoch]

yes, why it is in quotation marks 🙂

[harsh epoch]

yes that is what i was looking for. thanks

[woeful iron]

look at what jobs you want in your region or where you wanna work, work on those skills

[harsh epoch]

I just want to be a gameplay programmer haha

[woeful iron]

if you want anything that is not unity, chances are you will need to learn c++

[harsh epoch]

i’m in Ohio, but i don’t have a car so i am looking for Remote rn

[chilly sundial]

blueprints will get you somewhere as a game designer.
c# will get you as a unity designer, and little else
learn c++ if you really want to be a gameplay programmer

[shut token]

Oof. Good luck as a junior.

[chilly sundial]

then make something in c++ that's somewhat complex

and talk about it on your portfolio

[harsh epoch]

I do have a course on Udemy that goes over c++ on unreal. got it for like 20 dollars

[woeful iron]

you could also get a car/move/use public transport

[shut token]

It's probably crap

[woeful iron]

read the pins in #cpp to get started

[harsh epoch]

probably, but is is better then nothing

[shut token]

Not necessarily

[harsh epoch]

oh true. didn’t even know this server had resources

thanks

[harsh epoch]

I can send a link of the course i have? Idk if it’s good or not lol, but i have it incase. I actually want to use it though. If i need to learn C++ then might as well.

also isn’t there a website that is based entirely on learning c++

like classes and stuff

[woeful iron]

of course

learncpp.com

[chilly sundial]

send it sure

[woeful iron]

it's linked in #cpp

[harsh epoch]

that is it, thanks

hmm, interesting. i’ll send it

[chilly sundial]

inb4 gamedev.tv

[harsh epoch]

it most likely is bad, but i mean it’s 20 dollars

[harsh epoch]

i have their courses on unity

not unreal though

[woeful iron]

good

cause they suck shit for unreal

[harsh epoch]

lol

glad i didn’t buy them then

[shut token]

Then maybe you got the Stephen {w/e his last name is} one.

[harsh epoch]

ok here it is, now it was 20 when i bought it. idk why they increased the price haha

https://www.udemy.com/share/109vYc3@8AkqcbDO6AFUOP7jylDMWgpUoyqY99ylj5JmFT_HlOcPY-6IxcOTfxS-vlywZHVHjg==/

[woeful iron]

it is a stephen

idk who this is though

[shut token]

Don't start with GAS if you don't know C++

[harsh epoch]

me neither, just got it because it looks interesting

[shut token]

I've only heard good things about him. He goes pretty in depth apparently.

[harsh epoch]

lol it really is

[woeful iron]

some common links
https://www.tomlooman.com/unreal-engine-cpp-guide/
https://dev.epicgames.com/community/unreal-engine/getting-started/games
https://www.learncpp.com/
https://tackytortoise.github.io/2022/06/24/common-slacker-issues.html
https://landelare.github.io/2023/01/07/cpp-speedrun.html

[harsh epoch]

will save this

thanks

[harsh epoch]

He does, he explains every little thing he does. His course even came with a 4 month free trial for JetBrains Rider (the IDE)

[woeful iron]

also the actual docs are not all that bad for basics https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.0/en-US/programming-with-cplusplus-in-unreal-engine/

[harsh epoch]

he also gives like homework in the course and tells you to pause the video and do it. he showed you how to do it before though so if you were actually paying attention you won’t struggle. he then goes over it and explains how to do the homework

it’s cool, and imo worth the 20 dollars. it was only 20 after all

[harsh epoch]

Ok, i will learn C++ by using these resources you guys sent. Interesting language anyways

[woeful iron]

I'd say start with learncpp first and then move on to unreal sources

[harsh epoch]

learncpp is what i’ve heard good things about

i’ll definitely be using that

[nova coyote]

you should try making a 17 dimension inventory system as your first cpp project

if it wasn't obvious, that's a horrible idea

She's a lvl100 cpp programmer I have no doubt that she'll get there

[harsh epoch]

who are you guys talking about

[nova coyote]

The cpp god obviously

[harsh epoch]

lol

[nova coyote]

#cpp just search for recent messages mentioning "17"

Ah I misspelled, I meant goddess. And dragonHell is only a prophet sending us the message of our lady and saviour missty

Who's Emily!?

I thought that was missty

Was I misguided!?

I would love to see it!

Thanks a lot!

Ah those are actually great questions! I was expecting a 17 dimension array level questions lol

But fair enough she can have the title of a goddess of cpp questions.

[ivory echo]

Yeah I don’t have enough cpp knowledge to be able to tell for sure but those seemed like valid, if elaborate questions ? 😅

[nova coyote]

They are really valid questions tbh

Like not even the things she was questioning but she also gave her goal and what she attempted and what her code looked like

This is like one of the best structured questions I have ever laid my gaze on

[ivory echo]

Ok that’s what I thought too

[ivory echo]

The only issue I usually have with that approach is my shitty YouTube short trained millennial lack of patience tends to make me go “ah, TLDR”. Tho I usually try to make an effort and skim through the question 😅

[nova coyote]

It beats having to ask for these information and maybe getting half an answer tbh

[ivory echo]

True

I do also feel giving more details on what the precise problem is and what I’ve tried so far gives me a better chance at getting an answer to a complex question

[rough gale]

Not sure if this is the right channel for this, forgive me ;).

I have a background in graphic design and I know color, type, layout, system design etc. pretty well. I’ve done work as a brand designer and also for production on many jobs.

I’m thinking of trying to get into game UI A bit, possibly as a career pivot. Would you recommend a class or just dive in and go?

[green oyster]

A class as in maybe a brief introduction to UE's systems, but I'm all for starting to do something and learning as you go

[mint skiff]

Understanding the basics and conventions of materials & texture formats etc and the UMG system enough to work in the engine independently certainly won't hurt you

[dull flame]

oh my god, thanks, appreciate the heads up!

[dull flame]

they took care of everything and i had my LLC formed within a day so that's why i shelled out more money, but the short answer is laziness lol

[harsh epoch]

I had mine formed within 12 hours when i did it myself. Laziness is a valid excuse, i guess? Also they upcharge like 100 dollars or whatever. I looked at LegalZoom and they were charging 300 dollars, but it only cost me 100 on the .gov website

[dull flame]

they also offer free tax consultation and some other stuff is included, but anyway not really looking for someone to validate my reasoning 😁 that part is already done, i was just asking about licenses and someone helped me with that

[harsh epoch]

oh sorry, i didn’t mean to be rude. i was just curious for your reasoning

[abstract badge]

I have a very generic question. I have been a programmer since '94 working in lots of different languages, but I have never done game programming before except for a little tinkering with OpenGL and Unity. I started learning Unreal this summer and have been working through several courses on Udemy since then. I'm just about done with the "generic" UE courses though and will have only things related to specific topics available after this.

What would be the best way for me to proceed in my study? Eventually I want to be a freelancer and maybe start my own small studio, but right now I very much want to learn more and I'm not sure what the next direction for me should be. Content creation? I picked up the current Humble Bundle of Blender courses yesterday, so that could be my next step. AI? I have a friend who does AI programming with Blueprints and she thinks I should look into that.

FWIW my previous programming experience is pretty evenly split between systems and scientific programming, and webdev. I also have a math degree, so math heavy programming would be fine with me.

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

[shut token]

Just build games

Recreate older games

[round radish]

Or become a tools programmer 👍

[abstract badge]

I intend to! I've got an idea for a simple game already, though it would be multi-player so I would need to learn the networking stuff first. I'm really just wondering what the "most important" things are that I should learn first.

[shut token]

Not multiplayer

Learn the frameork

Then move on to multiplayer

[round radish]

MP is an order of magnitude more difficult than SP.

(Never convert SP to MP either)

[abstract badge]

Yeah, I was planning to build out the game first as single player and with AI controlled enemies. The AI for what I need would be simple and it would let me focus on the basics to start with

[ivory echo]

(Never convert SP to MP either)

[ivory echo]

#career-chat message

[wild mesa]

trying to post a job for hire anybody able to steer me in directions for that?

[chilly sundial]

#instructions 🙂

[wild mesa]

ahhh thanks

[modern relic]

This should include "unless you are absolutely rolling in money or you don't want to ship"

[abstract badge]

Really? Why is that? Is it just that MP really needs to be architected in from the beginning? If so I guess it means I'll be building the project twice.

[shut token]

It's more work to try to retrofit

[ivory echo]

Pretty much, yeah

It basically changes the laws of “physics” 😀

[abstract badge]

Well then, the SP version will be a learning project.
And the MP version will be a different learning project. 😄
And maybe between the two I will actually learn something useful.

[round radish]

It's a completely different programming paradigm. You have to reprogram everything for async and authoratitive operations. Everything 6ou have done so far for SP will instantly break.

SP Allows you to write sloppier code that just won't cut it in MP.

Plus you have new issues to deal with like lag compensation, disconnects, online subsystems, etc.

[tiny island]

Asking as a parent. I'm looking to incentivse my son by getting him to go through the Getting Started Learning course & tutorials on Epic Gaming by offering to upgrade his PC'S hardware. Is there a way to verify he is completing the content before I handover the goods? I just want him to give the Getting Started content a go. If he likes it great, if not at least he can move on and try something else.

[brave forge]

Depends on what you define as giving it a go. If it's just watching then it does have a tick on watches videos. If you want to verify that the work is actually being done and followed along with then Watch the last video of each course you want and you'll see what the end result is. If you can't see that running locally and interact with it, then they probably haven't done it.

[tiny island]

When you say the last video for each course, is it one course for each of the "journey" types Games, Film & TV, Architecture & Visualization? Is there a page that summarises each course with a flow diagram, list or similar? If so, how strictly do you need to adhere to the structure in people's opinion?

Assuming I can strike a deal with him... What's important/critical, what are people most likely to miss the first time round?

[fluid thorn]

Can I ask at what age do you guys start working in game dev industry for those of you that are currently employed in the field?

My goal is to apply for intership in a year time, is there an age factor in the game dev industry? I am 32 y.o and only about to start learning technical stuff.

[green oyster]

I had some colleagues that got into gameart (and AAA) in late 30s and completely different backgrounds (like banking or theater)

[meager trench]

As in other industry, I beg there is no age-limit. All depends on your skill-level. Maybe they pay less because of less experience. That‘s all. Maybe try to stay in your actual business as long as you can. Keep GameDev as Hobby and who knows which doors will open.

[fluid thorn]

I do not wish to keep it as hobby only. 😔 taking all the necessary step to be picked up atm

[round radish]

It all depends on your ability, really.

[meager trench]

I‘m hopefully wish you to reach your goals 🙂 For me it‘s just a hobby, so I can‘t give you more information and only speak for industry in general, sorry

[round radish]

Unless you're in a corporate conglomerate, I doubt they care if you're 20 or 40, as long as you can get the job done. Do indie/small studios really think about employing people for 40 years?

I doubt even the bigger companies think about that kind of investment.

[mint skiff]

Ageism is a problem generally but not really for 30 year olds

[fluid thorn]

Awesome 👌

[abstract badge]

For what it's worth I am 54 and am only just now trying to get into game dev. I expect there will be some hesitation from people because of my age, but with almost 30 years experience as a programmer, I'm hoping people will see beyond my age and recognize my skills. Of course, I'm also going to be trying to do freelance work and maybe start my own small studio, so if things go the way I want I'll actually be my own boss, too.

And OMG I can't believe I'm actually 54. I still feel like I'm in my 20's. 😄

[pastel estuary]

there's some people here around your age (im getting there slowly myself), and while some have been in the industry for a long time, others --like yourself-- are just starting out.

[pulsar turret]

I just hit 30, and I want to get into the game dev industry too (was web dev before)

I definitely feel the rush of getting there ASAP and building proveable skills before being hit by ageism (which is really scary to be honest, considering the amount of new people out of CS colleges every year)

[round radish]

I think a key difference in people who are late comers is that a lot of them have actual programming experience in the real world. That's not something you really get in a game dev degree.

[harsh epoch]

This question was targeted towards me, since I am not employed in the field, but I have a couple years of experience under my belt. I am only 18, so it has been hard finding a job. I was told here the best bet is to learn C++. I am currently at a phase where I am exploring other options than Roblox (why I’m in this server, lol) so I can get “better” experience and hopefully make this a career.

[fluid thorn]

If I can rewind time, I would deff learn raw cpp in depth. Don't think there's much Job opportunity with visual scripting alone

[quartz viper]

There’s no longer category to look for job listings?

[shut token]

#salary-jobs & #freelance-jobs. You might have the section collapsed or you have them turned off in id:browse

[quartz viper]

I’ve just added them, thank you

[dense imp]

It seems there's no job for junior game developers...I'm wondering how did you get your first job?

[modern relic]

There is, just not everywhere is hiring junior developers

[steady pewter]

By coincidence I saw that trend. Number of juniors is expected to grow and grow.

However, last year or so there were thousands game devs fired. We are in economic downturn imo.

[modern relic]

Ye imo your best bet would be contract work or some kind of start up but gamedev isn't a lucrative business so good luck. Either way it's a good time to just keep working on your skills and portfolio

[dense imp]

Yeah, thanks dude.

[pulsar turret]

If I want to get a job as a gamedev, but on the lower level end, do you think extending godot, or unreal is the way to go ? I'm scared that unreal is too cumbersome to start with

[dense imp]

Actually I started with UE, and then I tried Unity and Godot too. For me I think yes UE is the most cumbersome one to start with, maybe because its big and somewhat heavy, and people say C++ is difficult and stuff like that, but I think not that much. So no need to be scared.

[nocturne remnant]

This is a bit subjective, and your own target may change as you grow as a professional. If all you want to do is to create stylized games, any game engine will do.

Unreal gives a lot of control to allow you to do anything (more than any other engine at least), but that comes at the cost of increased complexity. On the long run, for a professional career, Unreal Engine is the best option in my opinion. It is just a better fit for the needs of the big developers who can pay more.

On the other hand, Unity and Godot are simpler, so they can be a better option to start with considering they hide away a bit of complexity. In my opinion that means it is usually twice as hard to get custom things to work. This makes them operate well in the low to mid quality range. Even if you want to end up working on triple A games, it may be better to start here than to get overwhelmed in Unreal Engine. When you're ready to appreciate the control Unreal gives, you can and will probably switch to it. It seems that Unity has a downward trend right now, and Godot has an upward trend.

Think about all of that and make the decision you think suits you.

[pulsar turret]

Do you have example of said odd/outdated/bad design choices ? just off the top of your head

[chilly sundial]

I also liked that reduz's response to that was basically "That's cool but I think I know Godot better than you"

[pulsar turret]

Do you have the post for this ? I'm quite curious. I find hard to believe the no support for GPU without HW raytracing as godot is usually a choice for people with a more humble workstation

Thanks !

[copper notch]

Is there a discord for rigging? I think i have decent knowledge but id like to go learn more

[nova coyote]

#animation is the closest thing I reckon

[mellow linden]

Hello, ive been applying for level design jobs for almost 2 months and im not getting anything. i believe that there is something wrong in my portfolio. Can somebody help me with reviewing my portfolio?....this will help me a lot. Thanks.

[chilly sundial]

post it here and people will have a look!
Make sure anything really personal is redacted if applicable though

[copper notch]

I poked around a little bit, while I dont know how to export to or build it in engine. I think as far as building complex control mechanisms for animators im a little more advanced than what im seeing there. I think im maybe intermediate to advanced range with rigging stuff

[chilly sundial]

though i will say, just keep going, 2 months is a relatively short amount of time, and the industry is in a bit of a spot lately

[nova coyote]

Hmmm. There is #artist-hangout people there can give you a decent amount of help

[shadow dune]

Hello,

Firstly, thank you for taking the time to read this message. My team and I are passionate and skilled in independent game development. We bring our projects to life, yet our experience within an actual game studio is limited, causing some challenges in our progress. Our knowledge primarily stems from online resources, lacking a professional perspective in this field. Feeling stuck in our research, I reached out, recognizing the opportunity to connect with an experienced individual in the gaming industry, like yourself.

I would greatly appreciate some guiding advice or insights on what steps we should take. Your knowledge and experiences within the industry would be immensely valuable to us.

If you could spare some time to assist, I would be extremely grateful.

Best regards,
Mustafa Gülsoy

[round radish]

It might have helped too if you at least changed the wording to suit discord instead of copying an email you sent someone (or a lot of people).

[last comet]

I suspect he doesn't speak English, so I don't really think there's anything to be done, unfortunately

[ivory echo]

Maybe it’s some advanced Nigerian prince narrative

[green oyster]

joke's on them, only poor indie devs here

[tender knot]

I produce 3d medium poly and high poly assets and I can texture them. I am trying to enter the game industry but wherever I go they want 10+ years of experience. how can I follow a path.

[round radish]

Apply anyway.

Have a good portfolio.

Don't apply for senior positions?

[mint skiff]

definitely junior roles out there

post your portfolio here or on like polycount for critique

[round radish]

I mean, you can still apply for them, just don't expect to get one if you can't prove you have teh skills.

10 years experience is just a way of gauging those skills.

[mint skiff]

3d medium poly and high poly assets and I can texture them
Can you take a game ready asset from start to finish, concept to in-engine?

[tender knot]

i send my portfolio @mint skiff

[woeful iron]

if you only find positions requiring 10+ year of experience you're not looking hard enough

or in the wrong places

of have too high standards of what you want with what you have to offer

[mint skiff]

you should post it publicly, you want more than one opinion.

[fervent palm]

I”ll have a look at it

[plucky hatch]

Hey, can you search here for teams that need a programmer in Unreal Engine? I am certified by SAE University

[ivory echo]

#instructions #hire-a-freelancer

[last comet]

Junior positions definitely exist, but there is a dearth of them right now, with all of the layoffs recently. AFAIK a lot of these companies are trying to mitigate risk, and hiring unproven juniors is risk. Where have you been looking for jobs?

Not sure if twitter linking (x-posting?) is allowed here, but anecdotally: https://twitter.com/softndeadly/status/1726224272669257937

[half scaffold]

Hi, I asked this the other day but im still lost after doing a bit of research. I want to learn vfx for videogames and i dont know where and how to start. Some people say learn ue5 since is an engine and almost every studio has their own engine and other houdini. Thanks

[woeful iron]

I don't think most studios have their own engine

but definitely learning maya and houdini would be very useful

and unreal of course

[half scaffold]

Triple A studios have their own

[woeful iron]

a lot of them don't still

and a lot of engines are alike anyway

[pastel estuary]

@half scaffold check the pinned messages in the #niagara and #materials channel. There's also a beginner-thread on realtimevfx.com. you'll have a long way to go, but a bright sparkly kaboomy pewpewpewy one.

[solemn gust]

Dont forget most of the junior positions are filled by recent bootcamp graduates and such.

[marsh barn]

Hi would this channel be appropriate to put my showreel in so as to I can get some input?

[last comet]

I don't think recent bootcamp graduates are filling up the junior positions 😅
They usually ask for formal education or at least a few years of relevant work experience

[ivory echo]

#1054845120236757103

[keen wyvern]

Can you recommend any sources on game design standards? Books, courses, etc. In the UE, I have 4 years of experience and a pretty cool game under my belt (along with a lot of non-gaming projects), but it's all in small teams where the approach was 'it just works' 😛 As long as it worked, it was okay, and since the team was small, everything was OK as long as you understood your own code/BP design. Now the company that employed me is closing down, so I'm looking for new employment. Even though I get interview invitations and tasks thanks to my CV, the feedback after a test, for example, is like this (actual translated feedback):
From a purely design and gameplay perspective, the project is at a high level. The task structure, level design, variety of puzzles, use of engaging narration, and attention to audio-visual presentation create a pleasant impression. It's a cohesive and complete micro-game, which is a significant plus. Unfortunately, in terms of technical implementation, things are not as good. The overall process is quite chaotic, and the solutions indicate a lack of understanding of system architecture and the creation of mechanics in blueprints. (...) Despite the truly impressive gameplay, design, and audio-visual layers, I can't give a positive assessment due to technical errors.
It makes one feel quite disheartened.

[ivory echo]

rough. but at least they gave you feedback, which is more than most employers do tbh

[keen wyvern]

Yes, I'm totally grateful for that feedback, it actually was a lot longer, the guy did a complete analysis of my project and highlighted places where I lack and should educate myself

I was like woah, I could pay for that 😄

[chilly sundial]

Could I ask what role you are applying for?

[keen wyvern]

I'm looking for gameplay designer or technical designer role. I also apply for level designers, but I don't have much of a portfolio in that field.

[round radish]

Guess you need to brush up on your technical skills.

[keen wyvern]

I think the problem isn't what I can do, but how I do it. It's based on a few rejection feedback emails that I got. My way of doing things makes Lead Programmers that review these task go "WTF is that" even if my stuff works flawlessly. So I need some sources on how things should be... structured? in a game. Even a pure programming sources could be useful, as it can be applied to BP's (I apply to mainly-BP roles, I have only basic understaing of cpp)

[steel creek]

indeed, that can be a drawback. When working in smaller teams, it is less of an issue as you can sometimes get people to appreciate your style of coding. In larger and longer maintained code bases, it becomes a legacy problem when things are not setup in a way to be understood 5+ years from now. It is somewhat ironic that game development itself started as a mostly run-and-gun environment and has adopted much more SWE practices over the last 30 years.

[keen wyvern]

SWE?

Oh, google got it 😉

So I think I need some source to learn that, best if it's game oriented, ideal if BP-targeted but I can manage with code as I know basics.

[last comet]

I don't know how relevant it is for Gameplay Designers, but Game Programming Patterns is an excellent book for getting familiar with different ways to structure things behind the scenes. Some of the patterns are really only relevant to Engine design, but quite a few can be applied to Unreal

[abstract badge]

Hi! I'm a programmer with almost 30 years experience but zero years in games, and now I'm learning Unreal with a serious goal of getting into game development. I'm doing fine so far learning on my own, but I'm wondering what recommendations you might have for someone like me to get up to speed. I see a mention of Game Programming Patterns and I've bookmarked that to check out tomorrow. Are there other resources like that out there? At the moment my focus is on learning as much as I can about programming Unreal using C++

[ivory echo]

@abstract badge For Unreal C++ https://landelare.github.io/2023/01/07/cpp-speedrun.html

[verbal solstice]

I'm playing piano here with 3D scenes, hope you will enjoy )

[modern relic]

This isn't the channel to show off your work. Try #1054845120236757103 maybe? Not sure on the showcase channels here

[verbal solstice]

ok, sorry for missunderstanding

[abstract badge]

Cool! Thank you

[gusty vapor]

https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.3/en-US/programming-with-cplusplus-in-unreal-engine/
https://www.tomlooman.com/?post_type=post
https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.3/en-US/lyra-sample-game-in-unreal-engine/

[abstract badge]

Thank you! The first link I've already read, but the Lyra sample I haven't gotten to yet and Tom Looman is entirely new to me

[tardy schooner]

Can really recommend Tom Looman's "Professional Game Development in C++ and Unreal Engine"
My studio decided to switch engine on our game and that was my intro to the Engine.
https://courses.tomlooman.com/p/unrealengine-cpp?coupon_code=COMMUNITY15

[vagrant stump]

$220 :(

[tardy schooner]

Yes. Of course easier and not much money for a company to pay for quality education but could be harder for an aspiring to-be developer at home. Still a very good quality kickstart for any new Unreal-dev

[vagrant stump]

So you would recommend the course for someone starting from scratch? My programming skills are abysmal

I'm a beginner programmer

[ivory echo]

Maybe start with CS50 to get the programming basics down. It’s free on edX

[vagrant stump]

I know the basics just not how to "string" things together

[ivory echo]

Idk what that means.

See this thread as well. Some of the Tom Looman stuff is free #programmer-hangout message

And there are other resources

You don’t need to pay anything to learn programming really, just gotta put in the work

[vagrant stump]

I'm working through a GameDev Udemy course

[chilly sundial]

Please don't tell me it's a gamedev.tv one

If it is, don't bother finishing it

You'll be better off without it

[vagrant stump]

What's wrong with it?

[chilly sundial]

they teach horrifically, even laughably bad practice

[vagrant stump]

really?

[chilly sundial]

yep

[vagrant stump]

where is this coming from?

[chilly sundial]

from all the people that have been here askign for advice on "normal" practice that they picked up from them, only to find out that it's completely insane

[vagrant stump]

oh i see

so i guess the course is worth it then

[chilly sundial]

i also couldn't in good faith reccomend spending so much on a tom looman course, although it is certainly one of the better ones I've heard of

[vagrant stump]

apparently they use it at stanford and several AAA studios

[chilly sundial]

All of the information is available for free for instance, so I personally don't think any amount of money is worth it

Yeah I've heard the same

But again, it's an unnecessary cost. If you are willing, and able to learn without the structure of a course, then a course is simply not worth the money imo

especially since it is quite a steep price

[vagrant stump]

i see

[chilly sundial]

however that one is personal preference, and I can't really tell you that :P

What i would reccomend is trying to go it without a course for a month or so, and if it isn't working out, or you feel it isn't doing anything a couple of weeks in, try a course.

otherwise if you need a course i have heard decent things about Tom Looman, and Stephen Ulibarri's solo work. emphasis on solo, he partnered with gamedev.tv once, and I've made my opinions on them quite clear :P

[vagrant stump]

gotcha

[chilly sundial]

For an example of bad teachings, especially on the c++ side, I will link you this message. For context if you are unfamiliar with C++ and using it with unreal, to compile code changes you just close the editor, click into visual studio and press f5, that's it
#cpp message

There are a lot of bad tutors out there, so you do need to be careful in the course space

[vagrant stump]

thanks for the info

i am gonna bite the bullet and buy the tom looman course

[chilly sundial]

I hope it works out for you!

[abstract badge]

This looks like something I might be interested in. A bit pricy, but certainly not as bad as the stuff on gamedev.tv. I generally prefer the paid courses myself, since they tend to be more professionally organized and more comprehensive, plus I don't have to try and figure out what the best order is to learn different topics - someone else has already done that for me.

[signal turtle]

glad to see the Tom Looman course recommended here as well... I just picked it up myself. 🙂
I already have C++ experience, so it seemed like the best course for those who have development experience.
I'm trying to do the whole course on Linux though which has been "interesting" to say the least. The build environment leaves a lot to be desired...

[dapper fractal]

Hey, I got a question regarding college. I want to attend university for software engineering to get a masters degree in game design, is any math needed in this field at all? I am terrible at math, and I have higher chances of getting a job after getting masters in game design rather than a bachelor in language major...

[dapper fractal]

If anyone responds please ping me! I'm likely to fall asleep

[signal turtle]

@dapper fractal
in short, the answer is yes math is needed
how much depends on what specific part of games you work on, but here is a good article on the fundamentals
https://pikuma.com/blog/math-for-game-developers

[woeful iron]

definitely vector math is important, other that that I don't think you'll touch a lot of it in the day to day, unless you're working on deeper parts of your code or the engine

[round radish]

Boolean algebra is pretty important too.

[woeful iron]

very complex as well

[fickle moss]

is there anyone here who has started a studio in the UK? I'm curious how difficult it is to get a startup grant for a game dev studio and what you need to provide to prove that you're making a legit business that requires a grant

[modern relic]

im not an expert or a resident of the UK but generally when you apply for grants they want to see either a business plan or a product

[fickle moss]

how would that work with games then? because the grant is needed to get the staff to make the product

like I can get my head around level design, programming, I have done QA work so I know how to bug test my games but I really need sound design, 3d artists, 2d artists, legal etc but I'm way too broke to afford that and kickstarts do not get enough money.. they are more advertising aids than anything.

also don't be afraid to @ me with responses I have this server muted so it won't notify me otherwise

[woeful iron]

you can still have a business plan though

if you can show that you have done market research and have a plan how the company will be profitable in x amount of years, they could give you a grant to actually start producing it

what you're gonna make, cost breakdowns, estimated earnings in good and bad scenario, required personnel, marketing strategy...

if you just show up and say "I wanna make this game cause I think it would be cool" slim chance you'll get any kind of grant

but idk, I'm not from the UK

[round radish]

Basically you have to prove you don't need one.

[fickle moss]

well yeah I never planned on simply saying "I want it because I want it" which is why I asked here, that said you have given me a lot of good advice there so thanks, gives me a lot to think on

[abstract badge]

I would say it's more a matter or proving that you know how to manage money responsibly and that you have firm plans for how to spend the money in ways that will generate a profit eventually.

[round radish]

Which generally comes with already running a successful business.

[abstract badge]

Sounds like trying to find a first job: you need experience to get a job and you need a job to get experience.

[round radish]

Hehe. Yup!

[buoyant minnow]

Pro Tip from my experience, pay more for graphics than development 🤣

Investors can be as flaky as players if they don't have a ton of games experience.

[nova sinew]

I'm just finishing up the Tom Looman course - really liked it! (One annoyance is that the videos are in UE4 but mostly works for UE5). All the info might be online but you are basically paying for someone to curate it and present it well. I feel like all the stuff he presented would have taken way longer to learn on my own

[spiral helm]

Hi there, I have a question for you. As a gameplay programmer, how did you create your portfolio? What kind of projects did you include, and how did you present them? Did you go into a lot of detail about each project, or did you keep it brief? Did you add in code snippets and explain them? I’m a second-year university student, and I want to apply for some internships (prepare), but I don’t have much to show yet. I would really appreciate it if you could share some examples of your portfolio, or any tips on how to make one. Thanks a lot! 😊

[chilly sundial]

Hi there, I can perhaps provide a little insight into this, as a current would be final year, doing an internship/placement.
I primarily interviewed for gameplay programming related positions, however my skillset was of a more technical background, working with things like directx and assembly.

I put together a portfolio of projects, that I made throughout my time at uni, but also detailed personal projects. For my game projects, I included a high level overview of the project, with an accompanying video/screenshots if possible. I then detailed interesting portions of the game, talking about the technical challenges that presented while developing. In the case of my primary project, whioich showcased mixed 2D and 3D work in DirectX, I showcased the game, but also talked about significant technical challenges, such as asynchronous asset loading from an fbx file via a threadpool and assimp. I also detailed optimisations I made, as well as how I identified them.

I also detailed projects made in Unreal and Unity, and talked about challenges with those, and how I solved them, such as making bouncing lasers, and the maths and engine systems I needed to achieve that.

I also supported the visual portfolio with a github, albeit a small one, that was linked where appropriate, which mainly contained things like a custom container class, as well as other relatively small snippets.
I will not share portions of my portfolio currently, for privacy reasons, the same with my GitHub

[spiral helm]

Thank you for your reply. It sounds like you have a very impressive portfolio of projects, I have a few follow-up questions, if you don’t mind. How did you decide which projects to include in your portfolio, and which ones to leave out? Did you have any feedback or guidance from your professors, mentors, or peers? I’m sorry if I’m asking too many questions.

[chilly sundial]

I had guidance from a tutor as to what makes, primarily a CV pop.
As for deciding my projects, I didn't have that many under my belt. I decided to order them based on technical difficulty/impressiveness, and what set me apart from other people in my situation.
I first detailed the DirectX project, as it was the main focus of my second year studies. This was also the most technically challenging thing to write, so it warranted being the centrepiece.
My next project I decided would be impressive to detail a project that I was aiming as a commercial release, as I figured it might be attention grabbing, as none of my peers were working on anything similar. I then detailed a minor project, that was really more of a demo, to show what I achieved in terms of a simple puzzle game in a short amount of time (think like a game jam)

Now something which I wouldn't consider the best move, was showing some of my earlier beginner work, with some modelling projects I found fun, as well as some simple set dressing. They weren't impressive by any means, but I guess at the time I thought they showed adaptability to other skillsets, and generally made things feel more complete.
However, if I had the opportunity, I would have much preferred to fill that space with projects.

[spiral helm]

Thank you very much for your response, I will be taking this into account and preparing myself by doing some more game jambs and working on my personal projects in hopes that before graduating in my 3 year I have something to show 👌. Once again thank you

[mint skiff]

Anyone here done any art tests? I've been given one right off the bat - before any interviews or conversations and I'd really like to know more about about the role before I commit my time to that.

Wonder if I can get away with deferring it.

[ivory echo]

I haven’t done anything of the sort but I did once get approached by an employer than wanted me to fill out a form with personal info before there was even an interview. That and other red flags along the way made it seem more and more like a scam, and when I questioned the process they stopped responding. Not saying this is necessarily the same case but def protect yourself and your intellectual property

[mint skiff]

art tests are not super uncommon and this studio is reputable (although new). It does seem to be a fairly large task though.

[ivory echo]

In my case, they had approached me and they were impersonating a legit company.

Because I’d made my resume public on one of these job sites

[mint skiff]

oh yeah I wouldn't even be considering an art test if i'd been approached lol

i'll see if i can wrangle a phone call out of them first, thanks

[silent wedge]

ive got an interview thursday i was wondering what i can change/add to make this small project display more skills/knowledge

[dense imp]

I bought this course too, only because it's the top rated course on udemy😢

[dense imp]

Thx, good to know that, so I don't need to finish it anymore. I bought quiet a lot courses on udemy though...😅

[silent wedge]

the base design of the world is from the beginning of the "Crypt raider" udemy project but i added the UI, AI, ect. from what ik from other sources such as youtube and years of C++

i got the course for free with an upgrade from theyre UE4 course and i only paid like $10 for that one

[dense imp]

Fortunately I got none of those courses at a full price, so I guess I just need to think twice before purchasing another unreal course.

[chilly sundial]

Hell if you have good editor knowledge you don't really need a course

Once you know c++ the API is pretty much 1:1 and the bits that aren't are easily found

[silent wedge]

im still learning the UE5 specific code library, and connecting code and working assets. mainly the parts where all the code is right but the asset doesnt work right lol

[nimble geyser]

men navigating Unreal documentation to find what you need is hard

at least unity has things well documented

[chilly sundial]

that's why you don't

[nimble geyser]

I cant know what I dont know

[chilly sundial]

use the solution search in your editor, and a copy of the source code

[nimble geyser]

I need documentation to help me

[chilly sundial]

the source code is the documentation

not the documentation

for example if you want to find out how to use GetActorsOfClass in cpp, you search for that, and it pops up.
now you can look at the internals and use it

[nimble geyser]

so IDE helps more than documentation

[chilly sundial]

yes

[nimble geyser]

okay men thanks

I has been a while since i was applying for new jobs, I guess just github and linked in arent enough on CV i should have my own website that shows my portfolio with gifs, pictures and videos

with detail technical explanation etc..??

[last comet]

What position is the interview for? I'm assuming some kind of programming position?

[urban compass]

Was wondering is remote work popular among Unreal jobs? From few glances at job postings at regional work site and it would seem that UE jobs are more tilted toward AA-AAA joints that most often offer hybrid model at best. Is there a best site/resource for looking at unreal job postings?

Where either freelancers go looking for work or people hoping to find a permanent position.

[last comet]

https://remotegamejobs.com/
Isn't specific to unreal, though

and it's just a small fraction of total jobs. I think remote-friendly is something you have to look at more on a studio-by-studio basis

psh, you make games all day, why would you need better working conditions, that's obviously super fun

[urban compass]

yeah, I'm dedicating some of my free time to learning web dev to have that security and getaway option ready, but I gotta be frank I find it very dull and it's really hard to keep up the discipline for learning

[urban compass]

thx, will scan this!

[shut token]

Boring pays bills

[urban compass]

it does. tho I'm the kind of person that is putting more hours into the work when actively interested in it and would be greatly satisfied working for only okay money, seeing how people over at web side of things earn 2-3x the amount of game dev does makes one ask some questions about his convictions (especially when not getting any younger)

[urban compass]

gotta be hopeful you will struck the gold with good management and no crunch 😅

strongest personal obstacle is having been part of workforce since my early teens, working shitty exhausting jobs nobody would want to do, I developed strong aversion for spending time doing what I'm not passionate about. I'm starting to be willing to ignore my dislike for blueprints to finally start doing something I'd be happy to do.

ane be paid for it*

[signal turtle]

sometimes the boring corpo job can be draining to the point you don't have the energy or desire to continue sitting at a computer afterwards (or looking at any screen for that matter)

[wild hatch]

Upcoming VES panel with emphasis on career , roles and virtual production - https://www.vesglobal.org/event/panel-virtual-production-exploring-career-options-in-a-new-artform-virtual/

[silent wedge]

its with a group of people who just started a game company, my friend is going to introduce us on thursday and im making a project for a display of my skills/knowledge in a wide spectrum from world design to coding/blueprint since im not exactly sure what my job title will be

[steel creek]

add overlays (lower third, popups, etc..) that explain what you did where you think it highlights the technical/art work. E.g.: at time index 23 "You picked up a key" -- you could pop a toast message on screen that says "Implemented Character Controller in (BP or C++)" at time index 37 you could say something like "Created event system for character condition changes"

[urban compass]

Coming back to those career safety plans - from brief research I got the idea that web dev would be the easiest and fastest to get into and find job without a CS degree. Does anybody know of any programming area that could be better for those goals?

[ashen lynx]

with the amount of workforce available in that area and having in mind developments of AI, that is neither easy nor sustainable in the long run path.

[urban compass]

do you have other recommendation?

[ashen lynx]

specialize in something.

[silent wedge]

sounds like a good idea thank you

[urban compass]

doesn't quite narrow it down :p

[round radish]

Specialise in specialising by specialising in everything.

[steel creek]

indeed, be a generalist's generalist.

[urban compass]

I think general "specialize" doesn't quite help me. Like there's thousand different thing one could specialize in. I was asking whether somebody knows of any specific area that meets my requirements of relative easy entry, ample job opportunities and high acceptance of people without CS or some other ancillary degree, high chances of remote work and part-time working hours. Last time I looked web dev seemed like the best candidate.

[woeful iron]

it probably is

the level of challenge really depends on what you're working on

like I work on the backend of supply chain planning stuff, but it's still complex code, it's the same as if it were a desktop app, just exposed through an API instead

but I can imagine if you work on business websites or something it remains very superficial

[granite basin]

bro it sounds like you just don't want to expend effort in any way, what's your end goal here

[woeful iron]

me neither, but not everyone agrees on that, so hard to be clear in communication

[steel creek]

knows of any specific area that meets my requirements of relative easy entry, ample job opportunities and high acceptance of people without CS or some other ancillary degree, high chances of remote work and part-time working hours.
This is a unicorn question. No such jobs exist, in ANY industry.

correction: self-employment fufills your criteria.

[woeful iron]

it's interesting that he's looking to just get any job with no challenge though, strange motivation imo

[steel creek]

If you want to be real, plumbing.

[woeful iron]

if you would get it without any effort it's probably not a very good or very interesting job

[chilly sundial]

if that existed wouldn't everyone be doing it?

Easy entry, no degree, plenty of work, WFH on part time hours.

The only thing that would complete that is looking for a six figure salary :P

[woeful iron]

six figures per day right?

[chilly sundial]

but yeah in all seriousness, manual labor contracting pulls in those mega bucks for little entry requirements.
Same with long haul trucking

[chilly sundial]

of course

is it a job otherwise? 🤣 ||/s||

need that Laura's hourly rate

[woeful iron]

I don't have enough hangars for that

[chilly sundial]

sell 1 jet > buy more hangars 🧠

[woeful iron]

but I only would have half jets 😭

[chilly sundial]

few hours and some super glue can fix that

[woeful iron]

but what if you only get paid in left halves

[chilly sundial]

bend 4d space to flip the other half and you're golden

[urban compass]

there's a little of mischaracterization of what I was saying. I'm not saying "gimme a remote job paying god knows how many money with zero effort to get into". I was saying what was the easiest programming field to get into - I know there's a shit ton of work to be put into it - I'm doint it rn with web dev - as for reasons I think they were pretty easy to read from what I've said - done physical labour my entire life, I'm done with that and with wasting my life on getting to work. Seeing how I really wanna make games - either professionally or as a hobbyist - and that involving a fair bit of programming - and me knowing some scripting languages and C on a solid level - it makes sense to look for a job in programming area as both areas - hobbyist aspirations and work - would benefit each other in some way.

[chilly sundial]

I was mostly joking for what it's worth 🙂

But yes, I would personally throw a vote for webdev having the lowest barrier of entry.

Other fields, don't particularly need a degree, but there will always be higher emphasis on proving your skills, degree or not.

You're also in an unfortunate situation with the state of the world, especially if you want to get into the games industry, with lots of layoffs

Though also, I would say ease is quite relative :P
For me web dev is not as easy, compared to other fields :P

Remote work can also be a pain starting out. As someone who very recently "broke in" so to speak, the number of remote roles were little-to-none

[woeful iron]

I don't think there's many remote junior jobs

hybrid maybe

[chilly sundial]

Yeah I saw plenty of Hybrid.
It seems pretty popular.
I saw maybe 1 or 2 remote junior jobs, but they were they were mainly due to being in quite obscure locations/virtual startups.

[signal turtle]

in general a beginner would do much better in an office with helpful coworkers because there is way more opportunity for mentoring

besides webdev I would throw in knowledge of a major cloud like AWS/Azure/GCP, there are tons of companies that want people who have expertise with those, and it's usually something a full stack webdev knows anyway

[dapper fractal]

Quick question could someone check over my GDD and maybe point out what else I should write about, mistakes to correct etc? This is the second time I'm writing one, I'm basically starting over because the first one was too basic
I can drop a google docs link in dms if anyone's willing to help out

I want to make it look as clean and professional as possible

[chilly sundial]

If this is for your work, then no, as it will be NDA'd
If this is for a personal project, it doesn't really matter. Just detail the project how you see it, in a way that doesn't allow features to creep in easily.
It's your game, your gdd, you write it however you feel best describes your project.

[bright raven]

Anyone have any suggestions on how to make a pivot into level design? I keep seeing so many places looking for level designers. My work history is all over the place which is a bit tough (Mix of QA and Production along with the stuff I want to do more like Content Design and Narrative) and after 5 years in the industry and my first layoff, I'm really struggling to land another role

But no ones hiring narrative certainly, and most of the game/systems design roles are beyond my experience levels

Any help would be appreciated. Like ways to try and present my Encounter design experience to appeal to a level role or something. Right now all I've got is "I've had to wear a lot of hats and I enjoy and am good at learning new skills, so take a chance on me for a level design role" which obviously 🥲 has not been playing well so far

[dapper fractal]

Yeah it is for a personal project

[plucky hatch]

hello can we play fortnight? or do no one no to a play that ahhah

[hard briar]

I have a level designer but what’s the price rates normally, they’re doing level design and environmental 16x16 map? Multiple biomes

We’re doing a deal where we pay them once the game receives funding, so what’s the best way around this?

[pastel estuary]

@odd finch job offers/requests should be put in the dedicated channels. Please check out #instructions :)

[dense imp]

Hi, I'm deciding whether to buy this course or not, could you tell me if this course covers inverse kinematics? I don't know what the final result is.

[dense imp]

Wow! Thank you very much!

[worn gale]

youtube is great can get about 90% of what your after on there but get a month or 2 on skill share they have some great courses. That month also covers everything on the site I'm pretty sure don't quote me on that but then you can go learn something completely non-related if you felt like it

[nova sinew]

It doesn't, glad Laura shared some cool resources for ya 🙂

[tardy schooner]

Not sure if I agree. Depends on the circumstance. If a company has the money and really appreciate a speedy transition a full package with a red thread running through the whole project is sometimes the way to go. There are TONS of free stuff out there, I agree, but most of it are very very basic and never really shows you the bigger picture of a full scale project and how you would do different when it comes to architecture. That you can get with bigger (100 hours+) courses.
I'm a big fan of watching free tutorial and most of the answers comes there as you go but, once again, there are very good courses out there which has a valid purpose.

[ivory echo]

Your pretence seems inconsistent with this context. If that user was already an established company that had the budget to spend on courses to learn Unreal, they wouldn’t be chilling in a discord asking about it

[shut token]

Most of the paid courses out there, from what I've seen, is just paying for YT quality. So you might as well just use YT.

Also, Laura did say "almost never the answer"

[tardy schooner]

@ivory echo ? Well, Discord channel was mine of my first entry in here. Is your assumption that all in here are indies? This channel is my main (and many other big companies) source of information and knowledge.
I just saying when talking to Unreal themselves (as they have seen a lot of transition projects) these courses were among the first they talked about, before YT and their own inhouse content.

[ivory echo]

Not at all, ik there are some companies here, but like you’ve just proven, they would already have access to other resources such as UDN

The majority of users asking that sort of question here will be solo/small team indies, it’s not exactly a leap

Paying for a course with limited resources or otherwise can make some people feel disheartened when that course doesn’t teach them everything they thought it would, hence why we usually recommend free resources first

[tardy schooner]

I totally understand what you are saying and I totally agree that free stuff is very good. I just reacted on the "buying a course is almost never the answer" as saying taking loans for an education is almost never the answer as there are free literature on the internet. I think both options really is valid.

[shut token]

In the context of gamedev - actually, yeah. Taking out a loan for education really is almost never the answer.

(Like the more traditional aspects of gamedev that is)

[tardy schooner]

I am the traditional aspect of a gamedev I guess. Self learned and everything since 80's but.. still really dont agree with that. God, I wish I had been able to go a few extra math and tech architecture classes back then 🙂 But I guess we see this differently and that is fine too.

[ivory echo]

School in itself is not entirely useless, I think the point is that in gamedev you can still be successful without it

[last comet]

FWIW (and not really applicable to Udemy courses) a lot of the junior programming positions I've seen will list Bachelors in relevant field or x years relevant experience, so it's not impossible to get started without a formal education, but that comes with a lot of caveats and asterisks

Fair, but a lot of hiring managers still haven't figured that out, unfortunately. Especially with positions getting more applications on average, degrees are an easy/lazy filter

[shut token]

I know not to care about a degree because I have a degree.

[last comet]

I won't say that my algorithms courses have all been useless, but I really haven't had the opportunity to use a lot of that in gamedev. I think most of my courses were theory and we didn't really do much programming outside of Java and some C when learning about assembly, certainly we never got into the intricacies of C++. Maybe it was there in higher level courses that I didn't take, but I don't remember what was on offer.

Did you study CS? It technically is a mathematics field, and not really supposed* to focus on the specific programming. Well, we don't have a governing body passing down edicts that CS is for math only. At my Uni, it was fairly common to double major in pure math and cs

[signal turtle]

they should break up CS into theory and then an actual software engineering degree, I think some schools actually do that

[steel creek]

The saying goes... if you can't do then teach

It has been the thing since 2005. Don't actually have skills to get a job well then you should just teach.

Which works out well for all the people taking those courses, huh?

[west iris]

since here's career chat I wanna ask something. I will be graduated from college after 8 months. I am developing a highly advanced plugin (at least that's what I believe) I really wondering whether it's that advanced and impressive enough to land my first job or still too simple. Once I finish and upload to youtube explaining all the features, could you guys evaluate my plugin functionality's advancement and give me a feedback like "impressive enough to land first job" or "still too basic"?

[rose mesa]

This is currently my concern for marketability in a career, im self taught in programming for 7-8 years now but im worried if algorithms or not knowing the absolute best programming practices will cause me trouble when I try to enter the job market

[signal turtle]

every company has its own best practices, so it's kind of impossible to learn them all, besides the basic ones like "use version control"

[last comet]

You can definitely learn data structures/algorithms on your own! I can't personally speak to the effectiveness, but if you want to do a college-style course https://www.coursera.org/learn/algorithms-part1 is something that came up after a quick search and is free. Not necessarily a recommendation either, but it exists.

There are a lot of other resources too! Getting a book or two could help if you're worried about not knowing. You might get a few algorithms-y/leetcode questions on interviews, but I think what employers are looking for is more of a general understanding of how to apply algorithms and being able to research which ones to use when you're unfamiliar

[rose mesa]

being able to research is something im fairly ok at when i have motivation like that

Otherwise I wouldn't be self-taught XD

[woven pilot]

What Laura said...
Apply to enough jobs and get an interview.
You'll know in about 4-5 interviews. they all ask the same questions more or less and focus on that.

here is a hint:
Most companies are trying to replicate fortnite and Cod success so that means if you see a Fps title job they'll ask you about
Multiplayer
Replication
GameMode,State,LocalPlayer etc. <--- that kind of fundamentals.

Most companies that get funded are working on multiplayer titles.. get those fundamentals straight..

Oh and it seems everyone jumped on the "GAS" bandwagon... its overkill for most games and companies just want to use it because.... so yeah get that too and you'll be straight

[wide citrus]

hey, im a composer and i got in contact with a game dev for a paid project, but i have no idea on how much i should charge per track, i never worked on paid projects before

[humble lagoon]

Have you looked around to see what other people are charging? It'll be tough, since I imagine it would depend on the length of the track, the complexity, how much experience you have, etc. I don't know if there's a perfect answer but until you have paid clients to go off of to gauge and adjust, it might be worth looking around or seeing what other professionals are doing.

[fair zephyr]

hey yall i want to ask for your opinion.. in january, im planning to apply to go to a university that offer a game development degree in game technology and im wondering, is it alright for me to ask if the degree like what im learning there worth the money(i have the money for it but feels like maybe i should just learn it all myself)

heard the professors there actually have develop games before and some fo them have work for ubisoft asia and they use unreal for teaching and im well accustomed to unreal already

https://www.uow.edu.my/programme/bachelor-of-game-development-hons/

[chilly sundial]

The fact it promises to teach 3 areas, each of which has it's own vast array of complete Job Titles is slightly concerning, and suggests that none will be taught particularly well

[fair zephyr]

not all three, you have to choose either 3, im planning to specialize in game tech there

[chilly sundial]

E.g. you'd be at a disadvantage if you were to opt for a job in level design, versus someone who has specialised in it

[chilly sundial]

ah

The most important thing will always be proving your skills, degree or not

a degree is helpful for ticking a box for a recruiter that may not know the field though :P

[fair zephyr]

mainly why im planning to get them.. plus i've been using unreal for 6 years and unity for 2 (dont count this tho since that when im first starting out).. one of the reasons is i feel like i still lacking knowledge and seeing what's being taught in field i want to specialize in really make me want to go there but i heard stories that you better much off learning most of these on internet and its not worth it to get these type of degree

that too..

game dev is not big here in malaysia(should i say this? i remember its kind aviolate some rules) and overseas like singapore where its big ..im planning to go overseas anyway..

well my big dream is to open a game studio here too so game dev here gonna be a big industry bcs its kinda a super niche thing here

will do

there some scholarships being offer and my grades is all above 3.7 so i should be good (althougn aiming to get at least 3.9 by the end of this semester that end in 25th

im still young so dont know the technical know how but feel like if one day im gonna open one, at least the head of it should ahve the knowledge of all thing game development

to add to this, its a private thing but the degree is being recognised by the government and meet their criteria

mhmm.. thats why i want to build my portfolio first..my only thing i have under the belt is im a MP creator and i do small game and let my friends play them lol

also if there others tha would love to chime in, feel free to do so .. would love to hear from yall experience

[shut token]

Can confirm. I didn't do any useless tests to hire myself.

[fair zephyr]

😮

[humble lagoon]

The tests are a very unfortunate part of the process

[lofty pier]

Hello, I need help with a few career path questions. i want to pursue the gaming industry but im having a tough time picking something for myself.

if anyone is willing to help slightly , feel free to send a DM. Thanks in advance.

[crude vault]

Super specific question, y'all: wondering if anyone has any advice for picking up/looking for agent-simulation/gameAI/reinforcement learning contracts in the engine? (other than posting as a freelancer, lol). Everyone of my jobs/contracts so far has come from finding an interesting company and writing them and/or developing a relationship with them. So, trying to look for cool companies in this space. Open to suggestions.

[hoary current]

Hello! I'm getting ready to apply for a gameplay programming job at a AAA studio. They use C++ with an inhouse engine with their own visual scripting system. My game code is written in like half C++ and half BP. What is a good way to showcase my blueprint code for the portfolio? Should I just upload screenshots/a video with each one? Or Should I spend time to migrate some stuff to C++ (although that would take some time and I think it would be counterproductive for my project)?

Also, the project contains paid assets so I cant really upload the whole thing either..

[round radish]

I feel the best demonstration of visual scripting is 1) clean layout 2) to explain why you used visaul scripting for this bit instead of c++. I am not a game programmer, though.

[brave forge]

This is pretty spot on. Screenshots to show what you want, and most important is being able to explain decisions vs just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks

[prisma verge]

I spawn different instances of a blueprint, and in one instance I want to change the sound it is playing and remove a component (a static mesh)
The sound changes as it should but the mesh component is not destroyed! how can this be? I am doing this within a function if that changes anything....

[dull flame]

for US citizens with a single member LLC; are you subject to backup withholding tax for US sales on Steam? i'm guessing "no" but i've seen conflicting info online

[ivory echo]

Try #blueprint for these problems, the channel titles are usually quite relevant to the topic

[modern relic]

This is really the kind of question you should ask an accountant

[dull flame]

...or a group of people that might be doing something similar to what i'm doing

[chilly sundial]

No, not really.
As those people are not qualified to give such advice, and you cannot verify their authenticity.

An accountant dealing in that area though? A must have if you're setting up a business

A quick consult would be on the cheaper side of business dealings

[modern relic]

Free financial advice is not worth the cost

[chilly sundial]

It's like asking legal advice from Reddit

you just don't

[modern relic]

My brothers friends cousin knows a guy though

[chilly sundial]

It's the internet, anyone could come here and say they're a big studio/licensed accountant/super mega genuis, and give you instructions that are going to get you at best, audited and fined, or at worst, arrested

At least if you get bad advice from a licensed professional, you have recourse

[modern relic]

Ye and it doesn't even have to be malicious. Some people just genuinely think they have the authority to speak about stuff when they really don't

[chilly sundial]

You try and argue "But the internet told me so" the only response you're going to get is:

https://tenor.com/view/haha-so-funny-gif-27253208

[chilly sundial]

Yep, it's why my advice for things that can be dubious, especially with copyright, is always leave it without a shadow of a doubt that it's your own stuff.
If you want to know where the line is, pay for a lawyer

it always scares me how willing people are to take nameless, faceless internet stranger's words on such topics, even when they probably aren't even in the same country

[dull flame]

yes, a tax pro is obviously the best person to go to for tax questions lol

but im also gonna get a feel for what ppl say before i throw money at something

[chilly sundial]

It also scares me how many people still like to make nintendo and disney fan games

[near sinew]

Hey so im 14 years old and my 2nd hand man is 15 and we are trying to make a game to sell on steam. We have most concepts put together but we gotta build it now but we were looking into things and wondering if we would have to pay taxes if we earn anything>

Anybody know if we really would have to pay taxes or no?

[mint skiff]

depends on where you live, but most countries have an income tax.

tbh something to worry about when you're publishing

[near sinew]

We both live In Oklahoma, USA. We were mostly wondering cus we dont know how to do any of it

[mint skiff]

Wouldn't worry about this until you have a product

Either you pitch it to a publisher and they'll handle a lot of that, or you self publish in which case you should speak to a lawyer and/or accountant and not randos on the internet

[near sinew]

May i ask how would sending it to a publisher work?

[mint skiff]

never done it so I can't tell you much.

people do demo things at shows and conferences

and publishers scout there

[near sinew]

Would it be just send them everything and they take a pay cut out of it?

[mint skiff]

that's something you negotiate with the publisher

[near sinew]

kk i think ima look into it

[placid zinc]

just curious, how much taxes someone from there has to pay for a $100k salary ?

[near sinew]

I got no clue im 14

[grave forum]

be like $4,408 at a 4.75% rate

[placid zinc]

wow I think thats really low for us standards ? Is that accurate tho ? I pay like 12%

[grave forum]

according the quick googling i just did lol

[round radish]

5% tax?! Lucky.

[spice dagger]

My tax rate is 32% 😦

[woeful iron]

my tax rate is 50% on any raise I get now 🙃

[round radish]

45%.:(

[ivory echo]

Oof

https://tenor.com/view/muppetwiki-muppet-wiki-muppets-muppet-angry-gif-4979240094074316588

Altho that might mean you’re a millionaire so f you, you deserve it! 🙃

[woeful iron]

I’m not 😔

[lucid dagger]

Although the tax brackets without context is not really useful. What country? Is it coming with healthcare? etc.

Honestly I don’t mind to pay high taxes if I get stuff in return.

[woeful iron]

Well it's Belgium, we do get a lot of things in return, maybe not 50% worth though

and the government is still running a major deficit

[misty knot]

God damn Belgium, you don't need to earn that much for the max tax rate

I mean it's a good living but more than 30k less than what it is here in the netherlands

[woven pilot]

Belgium tax looks crazy, the minimum tax there is the max tax here… and here i was complaining about 25% tax

[brazen shard]

Got a question for you all. Who has worked both as a "regular" dev (as in regular dev jobs, webdev, java, c#, most famous frameworks, etc...) and as a gameplay/unreal c++ dev ?
If you had to eyeball the difference of salaries in percent, how you'd compare it ?
(I'm trying to think if I should make a definitive switch of career by joining this famous studio nearby but I always heard how working in the game industry is underpaid hence why you should be passionated)

[woeful iron]

for me it was over 40% difference when I switched out of gamedev

but I guess it can vary a lot by at what place you work though

[brazen shard]

Holy shit, that much...
Where do you live if that's not too indiscreet

[woeful iron]

^

Liquid

[brazen shard]

@woeful iron Fuuuck I'm in Belgium too xD

You think it's worth it ? I mean, 40% of my current salary is practicly slavery ngl T_T

[woeful iron]

it might differ though, I only worked in 2 game studios, of which one in belgium

[woeful iron]

I got 40% more, so it would be 60% of current

but you experience might differ

why not just apply and see what they offer you?

[brazen shard]

If it's like that... Dieter, I'll wait for you at Gare du Nord in Brussels, I'll be the one doing push ups

[woeful iron]

why would I ever willingly go to Brussels

[brazen shard]

Oooh more ???? I tought gamedev wer supposed to live and feed themselves with passion

[woeful iron]

indeed

especially on extralegal benefits game studios are lacking from my knowledge

[brazen shard]

Oh my bad my bad. Ok then, can you tell me how much you were paid on your gamedev jobs and 40% but on what position/job ?

[woeful iron]

but also on brut wage tbh

but like I said, just apply and see what they are willing to give you

you can always refuse an offer

[brazen shard]

Yeah I will when my current mission is nearly over but I'm asking cause I have not even a general ideas of the salaries in the gamedev field

• Being in Brussels, I'd have to probably work in Ghent or a city holding several/one major studio(s)

[woeful iron]

well I don't know if my one salary is reflects the industry though

if you move out of brussels salary will definitely be lower

even not in game dev

[brazen shard]

I'm not even planning on moving out, it's 40 minutes in train wich is pretty much what I'm doing to get to my current job

[woeful iron]

well I mean if the company is not in brussels, they're not gonna pay you brussels wages

[brazen shard]

Yeah obviously. You have an idea how I can get my eyes on some game programer salaries, I don't know if I can trust the first links my google searches

[woeful iron]

glassdoor I guess?

or just applying

or ask people if you know some

you could also work remotely for some big studio in USA for example though if you find one of those jobs

then you'll be making bank

[brazen shard]

Yeah that would be the best possible outcome

[woeful iron]

I mean, this is the first thing on Larian glassdoor page lol

[brazen shard]

Lol, yeah that's pretty much what I see most of the time >_<

[woeful iron]

I'll stick to what I said, just apply and see what you would get, then you can judge for yourself

if applying to find this out is too much effort for what you're willing to put in, you're not gonna work in gamedev anyway

[brazen shard]

Ok I will but I find it frustrating that you can't find "concrete" numbers on this

It's not like it's an obscure position/industry I mean T_T

You just hear how it's low compared to others but never how by much

Ok I guess I'll keep that as hobby then xD

[chilly sundial]

Because it's variable.
You cant get a concrete number on something with so many variables. The amount differs even in the same citt

In the UK for example, I've seen gamedev jobs paying higher than some software engineer jobs, in the same city.

[brazen shard]

Yeah but like, you can type "Spring boot junior salary in Belgium" and you'll get a clear range of salaries

[chilly sundial]

A range of salaries means nothing when there are so many variables at play for your specific situation

A range means absolutely nothing when you could place anywhere in it

I don't remember tbh. It was some startup I think that wanted cheap labor, versus a well established game studio.

[brazen shard]

I disagree my dude, if the range sits between 2k and 2,5k, it already gives me a clear idea and if I can settle for the minimum amount if I fail to negociate a higher salary

[chilly sundial]

But the range is never that concise

[brazen shard]

I don't want concise, I want a general idea

[chilly sundial]

You look at the range in England, and you get a number anywhere from £20k to £75k

That's a huge range

And absolutely useless

[brazen shard]

Yeah but like in every country, Brussels is the capital so yeah it's a little bit higher but not significantly either (depending on how much you care about money, I guess)

[brazen shard]

Yeah if you put it like that, no it's not a range xD

USA is a continent hiding as country, they're not gonna fool me

[chilly sundial]

And there is no general idea of how much less gamedev pays.

It's just often less.
You're comparing apples to oranges, when variables such as the size of the company even affect this.

The only way you can get a number is look at a non gamedev job you like, then look at a gamedev job you like, and compare the two

[brazen shard]

They're different continents

Hmm Canada is a special case but special as in that special kid in class

[brazen shard]

Ok I'll do more searches and I'll make a few job applications

[round radish]

Ironically, I was offered a 30% pay rise for going into game dev.

[woeful iron]

Yeah it can differ tremendously from place to place

And of course where you’re coming from

[brazen shard]

Where you from ?

[round radish]

UK

Neither of the companies in question are in the UK.

[signal turtle]

I've noticed that some gamedev adjacent jobs actually can pay well enough, but then my view might be skewed because I'm in the US and tech wages are generally much higher here anyway.
What I mean by gamedev adjacent is for example backend cloud infrastructure for a game company running online services of any kind. You might not be working on the games directly, but are supporting them and the players in many ways.

[placid zinc]

rockstar uk was paying like 60k mid level. Ive seen many uk companies paying just 35k a year for game dev

[pastel estuary]

I just saw a 36k euro Senior vfx artist job posting and it made me giggle.

[round radish]

I really like how I don't work for a UK company then!

[ivory echo]

Maybe it’s one of those “ask for Sr. , settle for a Jr. “ role

[crude vault]

Do you have a suggestion about how to search for game dev adjascent work? All my current contracts are game dev adjascent, but I've gotten them through researching, writing companies and networking (often very haphazardly). Wondering if there's some way to more systematically investigate this/find interesting companies. All my contracts are also pretty different, I haven't specialized yet (though will probably specialize in AI, various forms, ultimately) (right now I'm researching a lot of AI middleware and testing companies like kythera, regression, modl and agentic, e.g.). I even asked in the unreal discord (I'm the SF chapter lead); there weren't really any suggestions... (so I can just keep wandering along here but I wish there was a better way...).

[signal turtle]

I wish there was a "systematic" or standard way of doing it, but it sounds like you already have a pretty good handle on how to do your own research, likely better than me
personally I've heard of roles through word of mouth, and then just searching open positions with the right keywords (if you add "devops" for example to a query for gamedev roles, infrastructure related engineering roles will come up more often)
I just mentioned gamedev adjacent roles because it's easy to get tunnel vision into a specific role or field when looking for jobs, and sometimes you don't even realize these other roles or opportunities even exist

[crude vault]

I'm doing, I would say, "pretty alright" -- I would say that likely things will become better as I specialize; however, the process is extremely haphazard. Like, I've gotten jobs in the most truly random ways. I guess I'll just keep up with that. But yes, overall, yr point about this work being quite interesting and paying OK I think is true, and I think people don't immediately think about it. It's always the thing I'm looking for bc it removes me out of the immense time pressure bc you're working on infrastructure, rather than a game under a crunched deadline (which is ofc awesome, just not for me, I'm quite slow).

[signal turtle]

it's a blessing and curse sometimes, people never think about the infrastructure until it's 3AM and the servers are on fire due to chiller failures after a lightning strike (true story) 😆

[crude vault]

insane

[fickle kindle]

Is this largely a gameplay developer thing or is it also true for people working on game engines?

[round radish]

Epic probably pays its employees pretty well.

I get paid pretty well working indirectly for Epic through a third party.

[fringe sentinel]

Hi there 🌺
Doe's anyone know a good resource for programming interview questions?
I'm preparing myself to a technical interview for a gameplay unreal programmer position and I want to practice on real interview questions 🥋

[surreal kiln]

Same but for unity

[nova coyote]

I've only applied to one studio as a gameplay programmer and their questions at first were very similar to what you find in a regular software development position. After passing that I was tasked to make an inventory system

[plucky hatch]

how far are you into the inventory system, or have you already finished that?

[nova coyote]

yeah that was like few weeks ago

[plucky hatch]

so you have already finished it?

[nova coyote]

yeah

[plucky hatch]

nice, nice.

[fringe sentinel]

thanks for replay 🙏
Did they asked you any 3D math questions?

[nova coyote]

no they didnt

[shut token]

#instructions

[fickle shard]

ahhh thanks!

[heavy cradle]

Use the job board: #instructions

[merry roost]

#instructions 😂

[chilly sundial]

I'm surprised no one informed them to read #instructions

[winter sentinel]

[Hopefully this is the right place to ask this]Hey guy's planning to apply for my first game dev job either by the end of this month or by next month(January), was curious if anyone would be willing to share about what type of preparation I should do for technical round? Like any specific data structures to focus on? I honestly don't have confidence in my data structures 😅( of course not talking about stl, arrays or searching algo's or sorting algo they are kind of necessity ) Any advice would be highly appreciated Thank You

[prime helm]

yeah engineering salaries in the US are just out of control in general in a lot of cases. Try being a software engineer in Japan, or really anywhere in Asia. They're paid pennies compared to us (according to my Japanese coworker). Something like $40k/yr? But also engineering culture and what a software engineer is expected to produce is just completely different.

[dapper fractal]

https://liqteq.com/our-team/
Hey, anyone know if this is legit? I don't trust these people... it feels like a scam, and I don't want to give away the rights to my project...

[woeful iron]

How would they get the rights to your project?

[dapper fractal]

Turns out it's a scam, as I suspected

Liquid Technologies is a company in poland completely unrelated to game development

[chilly sundial]

It literally says dealing with UI/UX for mobile and web startups lol

[dapper fractal]

It's a texas based scam, basically an impersonation of a company that exists here in Poland and produces chemicals

[woeful iron]

this is not really proof lol

[dapper fractal]

There is no other company🤷‍♀️

[chilly sundial]

yes there is?

[dapper fractal]

I'm not trusting some random dude who wants my phone number when there's discord

[woeful iron]

lol

[chilly sundial]

lol

[woeful iron]

pretty real according to texas tax records

[chilly sundial]

theres also this

[woeful iron]

I don't know how giving your phone number leads to them gitting the rights to your project though??? @dapper fractal

and it's quite common for recruiters to call you on your phone btw

[chilly sundial]

(it's also quite normal for a company you're doing business with to have your phone number)
very few companies conduct their business over discord, especially with how unsecure it is

[dapper fractal]

That's not the case, I'm not giving out personal information just like that when I'm trying to keep my identity off the internet

[woeful iron]

you're a very special person

what dis though

[dapper fractal]

Companies like that steal projects from people

[woeful iron]

I don't think so

[dapper fractal]

And publish them as their own

[woeful iron]

but ok

[chilly sundial]

just wait until you if you ever owned a successful business, and anyone is entitled to get some of your info via government records

on the internet too, no less

[woeful iron]

how would they steal it if you don't give it to them?

you don't even know the company and you claim they steal and resell other people's things

[chilly sundial]

outsourcing X part of a startup is very common and popular

[woeful iron]

you sound very paranoid/insane

[chilly sundial]

there are entire companies for example that will port your game to console

[woeful iron]

maybe contact a therapist

[chilly sundial]

doesn't Godot own one of those companies?

I'm also not sure how this applies to Liquid Technologies, as they are not a game company, so would not accept a contract for, or steal your game

[dapper fractal]

Got almost doxxed twice, one time a creepy dude had my childhood photos, not happening for a third time. I'm also a high school student who legally cannot pay taxes until the age of 26, can't even get a job without college so how am I supposed to pay a salary

[chilly sundial]

why are you trying to conduct business as a minor? you couldn't legally sign the contract anyway

[dapper fractal]

Ain't the first time I got approached by a "company" who wanted to be paid a weekly salary for a single horse model

[dapper fractal]

I'm not a minor?

I'm an adult💀

[chilly sundial]

you said a high school student?

[dapper fractal]

Polish laws are just different

Yes, I'm literally on my last year

[chilly sundial]

does high school work differently in poland? :P

[dapper fractal]

Yes

You start at 15 and finish at 20 IF going to a trade oriented high school, 15 to 19 if a regular high school

[woeful iron]

so you're trying to find a company to make your game? and you think everyone is scamming you?

[chilly sundial]

oh wow, that's a new one to me

[woeful iron]

and you don't have resources to pay a salary, but you think you'll be able to pay an outsource studio?

and again, this is not a game studio

[chilly sundial]

this one is a bit fishy? so they contacted you out of the blue? no ad, no posting, no nothing

[dapper fractal]

No just trying to find a few people for a small team, I'm doing a revenue share project to split sale revenue at the end

[woeful iron]

the chance you find professionals for that are very slim

[dapper fractal]

More specifically from reddit, never mentioned a company until we were in dms

[dapper fractal]

Not looking for professionals actually

[chilly sundial]

now that does sound like an individual posing as someone

and they said they represent a web dev studio from Texas?

for your game project?

[dapper fractal]

Yep, linked the website that I sent here

[woeful iron]

well, that doesn't make the company a scam

just that one dude

who probably doesn't work for them

[dapper fractal]

We scheduled a call for 1:30pm my time, he didn't call me and just vanished

[chilly sundial]

now we have the context that is a bit dodgy
we aren't looking at the legitiamacy of the company, but instead someone pretending to be them :P

yeah i'd avoid that individual

[woeful iron]

I'd avoid anyone contacting you over reddit for work tbh

[stark heart]

I would like to remind people that no company is entitled to anyones personal info. In fact there are laws prohibiting companies for asking for certaij types of info.

[woeful iron]

well we're not saying you have to give it to them, just that without it you won't get far in working together

especially for contact info

[dapper fractal]

I have no problem giving my information to a company in my area, but I'm not doing that for a company in another country that may not even exist

[stark heart]

Once again if you do not understand how laws work you should not be saying companies are entitled to info.

[woeful iron]

when did I say that lol

[chilly sundial]

good luck working with someone if you literally give them nothing to identify you as a real person

[stark heart]

Because they are not no one has issue giving out info to legit people.

[woeful iron]

if you don't understand how to read you shouldn't criticize people

[chilly sundial]

well, the company in the other country most definitely exists. they have job openings, tax records, and business hours listed.
the person you were speaking to in no way represents them, and was pretending to, in order to gain your business

[stark heart]

The one in texas is still odd. 🤔

[chilly sundial]

it's like the Microsoft scammers. They aren't microsoft, but them pretending to be doesn't question the existence of microsoft :P

[woeful iron]

what is odd about it

[stark heart]

Liqteq is hard to find

[chilly sundial]

i will admit for a webdev company their seo is incredibly poor

[stark heart]

I only had to look at a facebook page that was based in texas

[woeful iron]

they're the 5th google result when googlin liquid technologies

[stark heart]

In the united states

[woeful iron]

I'm not in the united states

but thanks for the great argument

their linkedin page is even third result

and they're first result for liquid technologies texas

[stark heart]

So are you saying you think it's professional?

[woeful iron]

what

[stark heart]

Because I haven't heard of them.

[woeful iron]

have you heard of every company in the world?

[dapper fractal]

Yeah if they're nominated as the best and work for microsoft, how is there barely any information about them?

[stark heart]

That's what got me

[dapper fractal]

On the website they claim Microsoft's one of their clients

[woeful iron]

so

[stark heart]

Being nominated usually has a lot of info

[woeful iron]

lots of companies have contracts with microsoft

[dapper fractal]

But they also work for railroads??? How does that require a UI design

[woeful iron]

or internal apps

[dapper fractal]

Are they a dev team or a construction group

[woeful iron]

wth are you guys huffing

[stark heart]

RAILWAYS have internal apps lol

[dapper fractal]

What

[stark heart]

I forgot to tell you that 💀

[woeful iron]

have you heard of Conxion? It's also a microsoft partner

pretty sure it's real since I pass by it on my way to work

[stark heart]

Oh well guess no one cares bye

[woeful iron]

good closing statement

[dapper fractal]

Welp imma go back to studying for my polish test now

[woeful iron]

have fun

[dapper fractal]

May your delulu come trululu

[worldly heath]

does college matter in interviews ??

i am in IIT in which i study electrical eng and i want to study CSE , so i think i didnt take EE course and take all cse course and after 4 years i leave IIT
even i didnt get any degree

does this is a good plan

because i am not very good in EE

only due to rank i get this

[ivory echo]

https://tenor.com/view/what-the-fuck-did-i-just-read-what-the-fuck-wtf-did-i-just-read-wtf-i-read-wtf-gif-22159188

And since when do trolls come in pairs lol

[dapper fractal]

We're not trolls... we just have adhd

And I say "may your delulu come trululu" as a goodbye/see you later message...

Only genshin players will understand

[nova coyote]

oh i thought it was a polish thing

[ivory echo]

I don’t play Genshin and I read it as as may your delusion come true

[dapper fractal]

It's a way Dottore Mains USUALLY end a conversation

It's become a goodbye slang

[ivory echo]

Mhm

[fierce turtle]

What’s the best way to “advertise” or publish a game as a solo developer and like advertise it

[chilly sundial]

hopes and prayers.
no, really. You can throw small amounts of money to ads, but it will likely be as effective as burning it.

post on social media, hope you go viral.
another way would be paying content creators to play your game. now this ranges from 6 figure deals to 4 figure deals depending on the size of the creator

(this, coincidentally, is why 99% of indie games fail, and don't make much money)

[steady pewter]

This channel is not for self-promotion, check out #1054845120236757103 e.g.

[magic scroll]

Your website is perfect. No need for improvement.

[granite fossil]

@atomic vinenot on this channel please. You can use Community Creations to showcase your site. Please read the #rules and remove from here. Thanks.

[atomic vine]

Oh sorry. I'll remove it now.

[plucky hatch]

Hello world, I would like to know, on an unreal brochure, it indicates that the latter had approximately an employment increase of + 110% over 10 years. I was wondering how this kind of statistic is produced? How does unreal estimate the market and its evolution?

[woeful iron]

you mean market adoption of the engine?

[plucky hatch]

Yes, the employment rate is unreal on the job market

[pastel estuary]

https://www.pcgamer.com/3d-realms-and-slipgate-ironworks-reportedly-hit-with-layoffs-as-embracer-continues-to-cut/