career-chat

[dusky fable]

Honestly, if you want the easiest route to a game programming job, UI is hands down the easiest.

[exotic marsh]

Interesting. I'm currently doing a masters program in human computer interaction, a field which has a focus in user interface. If you care to, would you talk more about what you did as a UI programmer?

[vocal aurora]

I got into animation at Disney by cleaning up hand drawn art in photoshop to have clean lines, then did basic 2D stuff in after effects, then animatics, then animator on tv series. There's always entry level jobs to go after, instead of asking "how do I apply to be a highly paid" job

I've been an animator since 2002 and zero employers have asked where I got a degree. It means next to nothing. They want to see portfolio and experience. Don't need your own website either. Youtube demo and artstation account is plenty

Lots of colleges will graduate people who nowhere close to professional looking work. Some kid doing awesome professional looking work will get the job. It needs to look at the level that is ready for production. Competition is high, so no one is going to hire someone with a PhD and their work looks like a class project

[dusky fable]

Sure. I worked on a AAA game doing the UI using UE3 and scaleform. I got the job because I had a background in art, so I could make UI screens in Flash by myself. So it was a mix of C++, UnrealScript (essentially C) and action script. No one uses scaleform anymore, but it's still not as much competition as gameplay.

[vocal aurora]

ahh Flash... the good ol' days 🙂

[dusky fable]

It made really good UI really easy. I like coherent game face, but it's not as good.

[dusky fable]

The same can be applied to gameplay programmers. If you have a portfolio with a handful of systems that are production quality, that will put you above most candidates.

[vocal aurora]

it's all about production level quality. If it looks like a hobby or class project, and not a game you'd buy on Steam, then don't expect to be hired

[sonic yoke]

Ok got it thanks for sharing

Next time I will follow these instructions

[steel creek]

should be this time too

[fervent palm]

Alright I think he gets it you ain’t gotta tell him again

[hollow cipher]

so I kinda feel like i've hit a bit of a brick wall atm, and I'm struggling with figuring out what to do. My portfolio prob needs work, but idk what on, and every time I try to do a project i hit a roadblock that ends up completly de-railing the project.

Does anyone have any good ideas/sources to look at to help get back on track?

[woeful iron]

looking at your bank account could be motivating if this is your job

[dusky fable]

It's not clear what you are asking for. You use discipline to work on your portfolio, because you need to get a job to pay the bills.

[hollow cipher]

Yes. But im not sure what bits my portfolio could use or be updated on, or what theyre looking for

Its less discipline, more direction

[ivory echo]

If every project you start gets derailed and you stop working on it, then you have no portfolio and self-discipline is needed

[hollow cipher]

I have A portfolio, it just hasnt been updated in a couple months due to the roadblocks.

[ivory echo]

Ah, then prly best to say what you’re aiming toward, in terms of job

[hollow cipher]

Prop/environment art. Most the blocks i hit come from the qiad drawing/retop phase. Tried doing weapons, ran into isssues making the layered forms. Tried doing this one windmill project, and ive spent weeks trying yo figure out how to do the conjoined rockwork of the islabd itself, as theres too many faces to quad draw it all effectively

[dusky fable]

You do need to learn how to get past those blocks. If you are working for a studio you can't just give up, because it's hard.

[hollow cipher]

Yes, but if im spending weeks on the same issues, isnt it better to try and find something else and create output, rather then waste the time with no result

[shut token]

But then you don't solve the problem

When applying for a job, the employer wants to know that you can solve problems.

[woeful iron]

well no cause you're just gonna stop on that new thing too eventually

so you end up with 8 unfinished projects instead of 2 finished ones

[hollow cipher]

Fair enough. Ill present my problem to #graphics tommorow, see if anyone might know a good method

[fierce ledge]

I agree that you generally need to push through and solve the problems, environments take time which is why you've got to be sure you are ready to commit to a portfolio piece before starting. This is especially frustrating when you begin because you're trying to learn so many things at once. I sometimes find it helpful to work in voice chat because when I run into a roadblock someone may suggest a new direction forward. In turn, I try to help others.

You may also be able to get some feedback on your portfolio in voice chat if you wait for a break in conversation and ask politely. Assume good intent with the feedback, critique can be tough but it'll help you grow to consider other's opinions.

[hollow cipher]

I appreciate that, thank you. I just feel bad jumping in to a vc, and derailing a convo ongoing just to ask for help, especially if it may take more then a few mins to walk through

[inner sphinx]

Hello, I want to reassemble my portfolio to look for a job in the industry. My skills center around Gameplay & Animation and Graphic programming. I have previous work that I can show for all three areas. Does it make sense to showcase these by creating a kind of demo reel video? How long should I keep it and would showing things in all three areas have a negative impact?

[woeful iron]

I don't think it's negative since they're all programming

[sonic yoke]

Hey I need some information regarding how to post our portfolio in discord community? And where I can post?

I'm 3D environment artist in unreal

[chilly sundial]

#instructions has a link to a website with the info you need.

You should also read the #rules on crossposting

[dusky fable]

Demo reels are for artists, not programmers. You should have a portfolio website with short videos, screenshots and a bullet point list of what you did.

[proper cliff]

Hey guys, is there a job board in this channel? Thanks

A friend told me there is a job board but I cant find one

[round radish]

#instructions

[oblique ice]

reels, screenshot for artist 👍🏻, wireframes and polycount optional 👌🏻

[west iris]

I always afraid and avoid multithreading, for entry level game dev job am I expected to know multithreading for some degree?

[dusky fable]

Every studio has their own criteria. Some will ask multithreading and some will not. You should at least understand the basics enough to answer questions.

[wary idol]

For any programming position I would expect you to know at least the theory behind synchronization and multithreading
For something like gameplay programming I wouldn't expect deep knowledge of multithreading, but for an engine programmer or anything lower level in general I would

[ivory echo]

multithreading = do things at the same time using different threads. There you go 😛

hire me now, Luthage! 😄

[shut token]

A friend of mine was expected to build a small game engine before idSoftware would give them a chance. Meanwhile other places they just care that know you some basic OOP stuff and can write code. Pretty much - it is wildly different criteria. In general, I'd say the more "prestigious" a company is, the more they expect their entry people to know.

Not a 100% guarantee obviously.

[vocal aurora]

1 minute YouTube video showing your best work. Studios will have longer reels for themselves, but employers are digging through hundreds of applicants.

[dusky fable]

I've seen you answer questions enough to know better than to do that. 🤣

[wary idol]

[shut token]

https://tenor.com/bEH3l3ezTCA.gif

[ivory echo]

https://tenor.com/view/will-gif-2553459115951539861

[sonic yoke]

Hey I need some information I want to post my portfolio Fiverr how I can post anyone tell me ?

In discord*

[tired haven]

what sort of portfolio does a programmer put together then?

wouldnt a demo reel of a game you programmed be good? obviously showing actual game features

like, what's a good portfolio for someone who wants to be a game programmer, but doesnt have experience in the industry? Obviously it'd be nice to mention in your cv you were a programmer in 5 different game companies, but if you dont have that luxury, what can you put together to display your skills?

[chilly sundial]

I mean the second half of the message you replied to addresses that.

You showcase things that show technical ability, with very short videos, and explain what you did, and overcame

[plush jay]

HOW DO I REPORT A BUG?

[ivory echo]

Read the #rules , crossposting is not allowed

[tired haven]

well yeah, I figured. I guess I'm asking if there's any advice I can get from people in the know that I might not be able to deduce by myself. Common mistakes, stuff like that

[chilly sundial]

#career-chat message

This is a good message from Luthage on what to do.

TL;DR don't pitch your projects as if you're trying to sell them. Don't use terms that oversell yourself like "advanced" and "expert"

[dusky fable]

In short you make tech demos of technically impressive systems.

More detail here: #career-chat message and here: #career-chat message

If you already have systems in solo or team project games that you worked on that fulfill those requirements, feel free to use them!

The key really is is to tell us why your system is cool. What were some interesting problems that you solved? What tech did you use? If you used UE, I want to hear about that. If you used the EQS or GAS, I want to hear about it. What were some of the things that you learned? What weird bugs did you come across and how did you fix them? What decisions did you make and how did you make them?

Being a professional programmer, in my experience, is not just about the output. Lots of people can make an inventory that works, but professionals try to make it work well.

Someone who has worked on 5 different games professionally doesn't need a portfolio, because they list what they did under work experience.

[dusky fable]

A nicer way to put what I said: we know you're a junior and trying to make it seem like you aren't a junior is just going to make things worse for you. I'd much rather hire a junior that knows they have a lot to learn and is eager about learning and improving than one who thinks they are an expert.

[shut token]

https://tenor.com/IDj3.gif

👆 What Luthage wants from a junior

[chilly sundial]

That is indeed a really good way to put it.

I find it can be a hard line to draw sometimes which was quite daunting for my applications.

You realise you have a lot to learn, but you want to make it past that first look, so you need to make yourself sound impressive, but you also don't want to sound like you need to be walked through everything

Wording is hard 😆

[dusky fable]

It's a tricky line to walk, but really you just want to come off as competent for your level and eager to learn. Regardless of your level.

I think one of the biggest problems with juniors is that they think they are competing for jobs with Seniors. They are not. When we open a job posting, we know what levels we can accept based on budget, current workload and mentorship time availability.

[dusky fable]

You're more mid level.

[exotic marsh]

Any tips for appropriately communicating one's eagerness to learn? That seems like something best communicated implicitly, but actually doing so seems a bit tricky to me

[chilly sundial]

Personally my biggest problem was knowing how many other juniors there are also wanting the same job :P

[dusky fable]

I like to tell people a lot to "show, don't tell". Instead of saying "I'm eager to learn," tell me what you learned doing each project on your portfolio. Just a few lines is fine, but goes a long way. Also doing research for a portfolio project. I'm always more impressed with portfolios that say they watched GDC talks, read articles or something.

[dusky fable]

Lots, but 0 of them are experts.

[wary idol]

@shut token

[shut token]

https://tenor.com/bbIKP.gif

[plucky hatch]

How do you guys feel about trade school versus 4 year college? I have never really thought about it, is it something to look into for CompSci?

[chilly sundial]

I've never seen a trade school offering comp sci

[plucky hatch]

Ive seen a couple, but i also barely looked into it, so i thought id ask

[ivory echo]

Yeah, it’s not exactly a trade lol

[woeful iron]

I'll trade you one comp sci certificate for 700k

[ivory echo]

Ooh, a certificate. that’ll be sooo useful

[woeful iron]

Hand signed by me!

[chilly sundial]

I'll trade you two Computer science certificates for 1 Codecademy C++ completion badge

[plucky hatch]

haha

[plucky hatch]

Okay but thats worth a LOT

[hasty musk]

I have a weird question, I am looking for a feedback/code review on my sample code, but I have no idea where/how to get that! any idea how to get that?

[spice dagger]

You can post a Job Listing or look through the #hire-a-freelancer channel.

Read the #instructions on how to make a listing

[dapper stump]

Hey all, Job isnt panning out as i'd hoped after 5 years so im looking to finally pursue gamedev/design, in a good enough place to prop me up for a little while but considering studying or getting a degree in this stuff instead of tackling it on my own since i can find it hard to self motivate consistantly.

Does anyone have any good reccomendations for courses I could do online? Or should i do something part/full time in South Australia, thanks in advance.

[spice dagger]

Is there much going in the form of game dev jobs in SA?

Usually you would be looking to be in Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane

[dapper stump]

As far as jobs go Im a COMPLETE novice, no coding experience and no artistic bone in my body, SAE is advertised reguarly but am unsure about paying so much for education, id be willing to go to melbourne for work but I need to get the training first

[spice dagger]

If you are that new to the industry i would suggest you try building/designing things on your own for a bit.

Get a feel for what it is that you might be getting yourself into

Follow some tutorials on Youtube

Getting into gamedev doesnt happen overnight.

[dapper stump]

Ive been doing UE5 for a few weeks, messed around with blueprints and followed a few tutorials, thats led me to wanting to get a proper education rather than making more brickbreaker clones following YT videos

[rigid bluff]

college, classes and tutorials will only get you so far, if you have difficulty self-motivating it's going to be hard for you tbh... this is an extremely competitive industry the bare-minimum won't cut it

[dapper stump]

I appreciate being talked out of it but its the ONLY thing ive been passionate about and after spending 5 years suffering in a high paying job so I could be in a position to pursue this im completely willing to self fund all my own projects, I'm only looking for information on the best way to get started

[rigid bluff]

well it does sound like you are self-motivated then, my biggest tip would be to never skip a day... always do 4+ hours of gamedev related stuff everyday, make a plan for the day and complete the tasks

as for where to start

the pins in #ue5-general , https://youtu.be/k-zMkzmduqI this video, also I would recommend trying other engines (godot, gamemaker maybe) and if your goal is to make a full game think small... you're not going to make an open world MMO after even 2 years of study and practice

[dapper stump]

I do see where my verbal vomit caused some confusion, my self motivation problem is an issue im looking to remedy by structuring proper study, something to keep me doing gamedev stuff everyday to keep me tethered to it. Completely my confusion sorry, thanks for talking and giving me resources 🙂
As its been on my mind for years I've constantly condensed all my project ideas to be more and more managable, upon trying to learn code I found out that even my smallest easiest ideas where far from my grasp xD
Again i appreciate you taking your time out to help me thanks!

[rigid bluff]

what was your previous career? anything related to gameart/dev?

[dapper stump]

No im coming in completely uneducated unfortunately, Steelmaking background

[rigid bluff]

well maybe you can make a simple game related to steelmaking xD

[dapper stump]

I have watched alot of gamedev stuff, lots of behind the scenes and talks, listening to people talk about the process is as entertaining to me as anything on netflix i just need to put in the work myself at this point 🥲

[dusky fable]

You can post a link here. However, you really should have a portfolio instead of just a code sample. We don't have a lot of time to review resumes to also dig through unfamiliar code.

[dusky fable]

What is the actual role you are looking for?

[hasty musk]

I thought portfolio was for artists, is there a programmer portfolio sample?

[hasty musk]

I don't mind paying for that but it feels weird to pay someone who may not be qualified or lack skills for a code review! unless there's reliable consultant!

[dusky fable]

You can Google "gameplay programmer portfolio." The content of the portfolio is different, but the idea is the same. Ideally you'd have a few game specific projects with some short videos, screenshots and a breakdown of what you did/interesting problems you solved.

[hasty musk]

Thanks i will look into that

[spice dagger]

You get what you pay for really.

If you need a thorough review, you are better off finding a freelancer with extensive experience. With anything, that typically comes at a higher cost.

[tribal nova]

what type of code i.e a whole game worth of code or ?

[hasty musk]

nah, it's mass sample, with basic functionality, I want to know if it's structured right and whether i am using mass right
I didn't design it to be a game, for that I am working on a seperate project with different implementation

[small marsh]

is programmer == engineer == developer == coder?

[woeful iron]

Pretty much

[dusky fable]

In games, "developer" is not used for programmers in many areas.

[woeful iron]

it is though?

a game developer can be broader

but in a lot of cases it still refers to programmers

[dusky fable]

No, game developer is anyone who works on a game. It doesn't refer to programmers.

[woeful iron]

I'm not saying whether it is or not, just that if a job ad says "game developer" it's actually a programming position 90% of the time

[dusky fable]

"Game Developer" is not a job title in the US

[woeful iron]

you must be right

[bold osprey]

$15 an hour to be a game dev? No one should apply to that criminally low paying job.

[dusky fable]

No it's not common. The first one is casino games, the 2nd one offers an insult wage and is a website design company, 3rd is an outsourcing company, 4th and 5th is a more general tech company, 6th is hyper casual mobile/slots/casino.

[ivory echo]

Red flags: Mobile, Unity 😀

Knowledge of Algebra? 🤣

[dusky fable]

The last one is a blockchain/crypto "game" company. 🤣

[broken hollow]

How would you guys recommend trying to break into the games industry with a portfolio? Feels like its a lot harder these days than it was several years ago.

[steady pewter]

Scroll a bit up here, there are some convos on the topic.

[full ginkgo]

It’s easy to come up with a lot of reasons why failure will occur but tbc I’ve been in this industry since the 90s and every time I picked a fight with a project and lost it’s always taught me more than anything else. You’re supposed to fail especially as you start out. Focus on what you’re naturally talented at first, get that right as that will build confidence.

Think of your skills as a skill tree .. you have limited points to allocate (time) so if you allocate all your points across multiple branches then you will be somewhat weaker for it .. so pick a branch, go deep on it and then look for another and so on.

The power engines give us today means we can be multi hats across multiple streams of work .. don’t fall for the false positive of power / control over a game .. instead be a great environment artist or programmer or modeler etc .. pick a niche to begin with as you’ll find your peripheral vision will pickup other streams of work along the way but remain focused on where your talents and natural instincts occupy the most

Motivation is always going to be an issue as if you talk yourself out of work each day it’s more than likely a form of confidence issues “it’s too hard or it’s too overwhelming to think about”

Pick a fight each day with a project knowing you will lose. But losing is the point as you will be taught way more in failing than you would sitting in a lecture at University.

In this industry your degrees only matter for the ai resume bots. When you do get that interview I’ll bet 90% of the time the interviewer could care less about your degree and is more focused on how you spend your time being good at what you show them.

Especially in programming

I never finished University in Australia and I wound up being a product manager on .net team.. education isn’t as important as your drive to succeed in self learning and pushing past the “20 reasons I’m not good at something thinking “

Best part is along the way you’ll always meet smarter and more talented people than you .. embrace their time

[dapper stump]

Damn bro thanks for this ❤️
The responses I got here are super encouraging as I was mostly just looking to be held accountable and give me a reason to keep coming back for information and engagement.

'Scope creep' Definitely tripped me up a few years ago, was finally gonna dive into things and started folllowing the art, then the coding, then back to digital art, then modelling and by the time I lost motivation i hadn't given any of them a proper go because they were just parts of what i was actually trying to do.

Now I'm in a good enough place to devote my attention and do things right so I'm extremely grateful that this community has people like yourself encouraging us newbies the right way.
Thanks and goodluck!

[full ginkgo]

and lastly we all eventually suffer imposter syndrome.. ignore it.. i've had the priv of working with some true pioneers in this space and they're just as anxious as a jnr dev at times :D.. gl!

[bold osprey]

Yeah, I have been making games in a professional setting for about 10 years now, and have worked alongside some of the smartest people I have ever met. Even they don't know everything (as it sometimes appears they do), and experience imposter syndrome. I have found the best way to manage that feeling, is just making something you enjoy. It quickly fades once you realize and remember the skills you posses.

[plucky hatch]

after researching about narcissism, I came to the conclusion that narcissistic ppl themselves are more or less an extreme case. Because they gaslight to such an extreme that they believe in an alternate reality.

In the past I placed too much emphasis on "luck" on almost everything, as if things happen out of luck or lack of luck.

I think I've experienced many times this scenario: I score 8/10 in a test. Then the mind fabricates this thought "8 is not enough" or "why did you forget...." or "damnit, so close to 10, I'll never forgive myself" and many other variations

[plucky hatch]

the most amusing thing is that even when the score is the perfect 10, there could be still a thought along the lines of "but you weren't fast enough".

[full ginkgo]

Narcissism or technological hubris in software development can amplify feelings of insecurity, especially in the dynamic and complex field of game development. Rapid technological changes and the high skill levels evident in the industry can cause newcomers to experience imposter syndrome. They may feel inadequate when comparing themselves to seasoned professionals and struggle with the perfection expected amidst technological complexities. Tools like Unreal Engine and Unity, while powerful, can overwhelm newcomers with their advanced features, such an trivial example as Global Illumination aka Lumen, initially developed for film by Pixar.

Lumen is often used without a full understanding of its limitations or the problems it addresses. To many, it's a "magical" innovation that enhances their light sources. Using it without grasping its underlying principles can foster technological arrogance, as if everyone should intuitively understand the science of photons and maths. This is not narcissism in the traditional sense, but it does imply a form of self-centeredness or arrogance. It's about using technology without fully understanding it and expecting the same level of knowledge or interest from others. In my opinion, this is a form of technological hubris that, if unchecked, can contribute to the onset of imposter syndrome.

Although these engines are designed to simplify game development, they also require a deep understanding of complex concepts, which can intensify feelings of inadequacy among beginners. This environment, where rapid mastery of complex tools is expected, is ripe for imposter syndrome, particularly if the educational support isn't sufficient to bridge the knowledge gap effectively.

[plucky hatch]

I certainly can remember cases where I thought that some tech was easy when it was not. Or that my understanding of something was complete, when it wasn't.

[full ginkgo]

I do it daily and I’ve been at this since 1994 😂 .. or as I sometimes tell my son “trucks still hit bridges” meaning despite all the training, data and environmental changes somewhere around the world today a truck was too high to go under a bridge.

Software by design will fail. The only thing you will bring is the experience to anticipate the failure and have confidence to not let it derail you from finding a different path to solve it or work around it

[frank urchin]

Hi all
I've made my first game for steam, may you please give me some feedback about steam page and ,if you know, some tips for PR?
here is page https://store.steampowered.com/app/2928360/Tank_Factory_Simulator/ (add to your wishlists plz:>)

Steam

Tank Factory Simulator

👷Tank Factory Simulator👷 - you become the new director of the enterprise! Your task is to develop the factory, create new tanks, and ensure their production. Hire workers! Order materials! Create your own versions of heavy military equipment! All of this is available in this game!🔧Welcome to the Tank Factory Simulator comrade! You have been give...

Release Date

Q2 2024

[ivory echo]

Needs a trailer

[frank urchin]

thanks

[round radish]

Seems like it's on track.

[frank urchin]

https://tenor.com/view/mox580-бибизяна-бибизяны-обезьяны-обезьяна-gif-2590137578907573616

[ivory echo]

#1054845120236757103 might be better for feedback tho

[small marsh]

https://gracklehq.com

bruh someone pin that

[pulsar turret]

Hey guys. Probably asked a lot of time, but how to land a job as a Unreal dev (focused more on C++) ? Doing plugins... ? Working for free on some projects ? Any good idea ?

[dusky fable]

#career-chat message

[pulsar turret]

Dooming

[dusky fable]

?

[pulsar turret]

Well it sounds just really hard. Going to game jams, making a website, not being able to relocate etc.. on top of that specialize from the beginning, meaning that you target a small pool of jobs
Can I see your portfolio website to get an idea ?

[dusky fable]

Well it's a really competitive industry. You can use Google to find portfolio examples. Once you get enough professional experience, you no longer need a portfolio if you are a programmer.

[dusky fable]

Also, you don't specialize early other than gameplay vs engine programming. That doesn't make it a "small pool of jobs."

[pulsar turret]

Oh ok. I thought it was specialized as "I'll do only proc gen"

May I know what is your position to give such advices ? Did you personally hire people ?

[dusky fable]

I've been in engineering leadership for several studios and yes I have personally hired people.

[exotic marsh]

For those of you who have portfolio websites, do you have any recommendations of what service to use? I've seen a couple of options so far, but I'd like to hear some recommendations from people who actually use the services for displaying their work

[mint skiff]

For what? Art?

[exotic marsh]

For showcasing programming work

[mint skiff]

People will usually keep a blog and/or a public repo on e.g github

It doesn't really matter what you use so long as you aren't spending all your time on maintaining the site rather than the content

[chilly sundial]

I've seen Jekyll be quite popular, so is quartz.
The general idea being that it takes a series of easy to edit markdown files, and generates a website around them

[rich timber]

Do you have a creative cloud subscription?

Adobe Portfolio can be used for that. https://portfolio.adobe.com/

Or just show your github repos

[lilac walrus]

I wouldn't tie your portfolio to a subscription service if you can avoid it

you kinda want it to be online most when you have no money

[small marsh]

Everyone looks for experience, but who gives it? Local unknown indie studios ?

[limber schooner]

Don't knock it too hard. I had employees from my studio go on to major studios after as little as a year with us. Plus, even just having a job offer from one can get you offers at others (if you let them know you've already got an offer).

[restive girder]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWxPyyhNdqQ&t=436s

The rant is strong in this one >.>

I'm sure there's more context to the issue but it really doesn't look good pr wise considering 2 months ago they said they wouldn't do such a thing

[restive girder]

Recently joined an art game dev jam called Project Titan

They suggest using this

https://www.artstation.com/?sort_by=community&dimension=all

@exotic marsh

[chilly sundial]

Art station is not where you want a programming portfolio, which is what the question pertained to

[round radish]

Github?

[oblique ice]

& stackoverflow

[finite knoll]

this dude is still around? lol.

but yeah the T2 stuff is typical disgusting exec greed

[woeful iron]

people host portfolios on stack overflow?

[finite knoll]

And not to say that privately owned studios don't have layoffs, but I think I'll want to avoid working for publicly traded ones. Expectations of exponential growth year on year isn't sustainable and shareholders matter more than you do as a worker

[restive girder]

Yeah. He tends to be over the top in some vids like this but I honestly enjoy his channels reviews of popular shows that come out. I haven't found another film critic channel quite as passionate anyways (since screen junkies before the incident). I prefer open discussion between 2 or 3 other people and most channels are solo reviews. Also don't watch the reviews first, always after I've finished whatever it is.

[candid oak]

@chilly sundial @dusky fable I promised you guys I would reach out to you within a few weeks for my updated portfolio and resume. I have taken your tips and considerations to heart and I would be happy if you can provide more advice on how I can improve. https://bwap.netlify.app/home

[chilly sundial]

Looking a ton better imo. looks like you forgot to fill out one of your templates though :P

[dusky fable]

You've made significant progress. I do think that you still have a lot more "why" than "what" when it comes to your project details. For example your AI project goes into no detail on how you built the AI. But you spend a lot of time talking about why you built the weapons the way you did.

There's still a lot of filler that you can reduce to include more of the things you did. Such that you have paragraphs about your game engine, but you only mention 1 feature.

[chilly sundial]

I'd personally add a bit of spacing between each heading as it looks a tad cramped. But I get a much better feel for what the projects actually are and what you struggled with.
I also agree with Luthage, it seems you could cut down on some stuff to add more tchnical information.

I've also noticed a couple of the embedded videos are incredibly low resolution, I am unsure if this is intentional.

[candid oak]

ahh crap I forgot to remove the place holder, i was supposed to update you guys last week so i been rushing to get it done, please forgive me

[chilly sundial]

There's nothing to forgive, it's an incredibly minor mistake that has no bearing on us :P
Don't bother rushing either, take your time. No point stressing out about it 🙂

[dusky fable]

I find that when people try to write in paragraphs, they end up feeling like they need to write more to pad it out. But if you do bullet points, you write more succinctly.

[chilly sundial]

I am a huge sucker for paragraph padding.
It's to the point where I don't even realise it.

High school essays really corrupt you 😆

[dusky fable]

Everyone does it. And it's completely because of high school and college essays having word or page counts.

[candid oak]

So go into more technical. When you mean bullet points what should they cover? Any other recommendations? How about the resume is it better?

[chilly sundial]

Ooh just switched to phone for the night and wanted to mention your website is super broken on mobile.

Doubt it's a huge issue, I don't imagine many recruiters and interviewers use mobile for that, but something to be aware of

[dusky fable]

Take your paragraph about the weapon system approach. You go into enough technical details, but there's a bit of extra fluff that isn't needed. That could be cut down into a few bullets points. Then you can add a section for your approach to AI.

[candid oak]

So I formatted it for my phone and it looks ok but what phone are you using ?

[dusky fable]

It's looks fine on my pixel phone.

[candid oak]

Ok good

[chilly sundial]

Oppo find X5 lite, 6.43" screen.

Must be a quirk of my phone then. Yet another reason to never buy one 🤣

Can't exactly say I'm surprised it's a me issue tbh

[candid oak]

I’ll improve on that, my initial goal was to try and not make it sound robotic

Want to say thank you for the information. May I ask about the resume and the other sections?

[chilly sundial]

There's some stuff in the resume I don't understand. Like how the steganography save system improves engagement and longevity between the community and developers.

[dusky fable]

Just started looking at the resume. Work experience is for professional experience. A volunteer project is not professional experience. Epoch Games appears to be a volunteer project and should be listed under the project section. I would also remove the * for your proficiency in languages. It's really not necessary.

Still reading, but so far an improvement.

[candid oak]

When I mean that since you can share data, you could potentially start markets for the specific save data, kind of how cs go does with weapon skins and etc, makes the players more engaged because they need to understand what the image holds

[candid oak]

So you wouldn’t recommend it even though I did do some tool work? I’ll remove it but will it cost me?

[chilly sundial]

Ah, I understand now

[candid oak]

Should I make that clear?

[dusky fable]

For your projects section, you can remove the paragraphs above the bullet point list as they don't really add anything. You are also focusing too much on the why instead of the what. Like the game engine is more about improving your understanding of the lower level systems instead of what systems you have built. Tell us the what.

[dusky fable]

You don't need to remove it, just put it the project section instead of the work experience section.

[dusky fable]

The problem you have now is that the technical details are getting lost in the fluff.

[candid oak]

I thought explaining the event system and the use of premake solved that

[candid oak]

Could you show me where, I’m not sure I understand

[dusky fable]

I'm talking about the resume:
Learning lower level skills to maximize workflow with Unreal Engine.
Developing event systems, rendering systems, and scripting systems to become more proficient in game development.

[candid oak]

Oh I thought you meant the website

[candid oak]

So talk about the what, but how can I do that and make it short?

[dusky fable]

You don't need the paragraph above it or the first bullet point. Or the part about becoming more proficient in game development in the second. That gives you more space to have a bullet point for the different systems.

Not having done the work, it's very hard to tell you how to write it.

[candid oak]

Ok. So the reason why I have the intro is because don’t the recruiters need to know the intention behind the project or should I just get into it?

[dusky fable]

Nah, they don't need to know the intention

[candid oak]

Ok thank you for clearing that up? Anything else, how about the visual save section?

Is that ok?

[dusky fable]

That one is better. You don't need the opening paragraph as well.

[dusky fable]

I will say that you might want to add a gameplay project to your resume, if your looking for gameplay programmer jobs.

[candid oak]

Ok noted thank you. Now for the portfolio is every other section ok? Sorry for asking all these questions guys I appreciate your feedback

[dusky fable]

I would personally replace Ace Search with a new gameplay focused tech demo. Some sort of gameplay system that is technically impressive.

[candid oak]

I gocha, ill leave it in for now. when i have a working demo of one I'll show it

[dusky fable]

The skills section is great. The about me is a little on the prose side for my taste, but it's not bad. I would highly recommend not making some words a different color though as it's confusing.

[candid oak]

i did that to make them stand out because i see some other portfolios use bolding to do it

[dusky fable]

Overall it is a good improvement than it was before.

[candid oak]

ok thankyou @dusky fable @chilly sundial for your advice ill be implementing them

and ill reach out again

[dusky fable]

Bolding is different than using a different color. Usually a different color means it's a link.

[candid oak]

oh

thank you ill make the improvements

[small marsh]

should i have the blog in the porfolio or should i make other page for da blog?

[ivory echo]

Definitely don’t refer to it as “da” blog if you’re using it for a potential career

[mint skiff]

Clarify: art or tech/programming

[dusky fable]

No one reviewing your portfolio has time to read your blog.

[sonic yoke]

Hey

[steady pewter]

Me too.

[oblique ice]

me tree

[ivory echo]

Are you going to leave us in suspense or…

[mint skiff]

I'm interested in everything that's unknown to me 🤔

[sonic yoke]

What?

[ivory echo]

⬆️

[oblique ice]

⬆️

[sharp granite]

the density of a liquid is a measure of how heavy it is for the amount measured.

there is some info

[ivory echo]

A good talk, indeed

[round radish]

How massive it is maybe.

[nova coyote]

Pigeons are in fact government drones that emits a signal to your brains that changes the way you think so you would vote for biden. Those damn lefts

||is information being correct a requirement?||

[ivory echo]

That would be misinformation

[oblique ice]

heard some people also pay for informations 😆

[green oyster]

What about missed information?

[high briar]

I am looking at pivoting my career; i'm a very experienced web developer but I feel like i'm picking up unreal pretty quickly; but of course i have no experience in the game industry and i'm "old" (41); if i put together a small-ish game with what assets i can find/create, can i reasonable expect to get an entry level job? or is ageism/lack of experience going to torpedo this

[dusky fable]

Putting together a smallish game isn't going to be impressive. We prefer to see tech demos of systems instead of solo games. You'll need a solid understanding of C++ as well as performance and optimization.

Whether or not a hiring team considers your previous experience is going to depend on the team. You'll unlikely be able to find a senior position, because you don't have enough experience to mentor. But you'll also unlikely find an entry level position because of budget issues. You'll want to look for mid level positions.

[vocal aurora]

building a simple game from assets doesn't show you actually know anything, it just shows you can follow youtube tutorials

[oblique ice]

i follow the course from instructors in epic developer site, all from epic recommend 👍🏻

[ionic sage]

what kind of demos of systems ? are you talking about something like behavior tree ?

[dusky fable]

Something production ready. What that is, depends on what you are interested in. There's a significant difference between a simple quest system for a solo game and one that a design team can make a 1000 quests with.

I would not recommend a BT.

[winged dragon]

why is it so hard to find work as a freelancer

[ivory echo]

Too many candidates, too few opportunities, too high of a standard requirement, too difficult to get any job without xp, even though to get xp you need a job, referrals being given preference, take your pick

[green oyster]

Well are you really really good?

[vocal aurora]

networking is a huge part of it too. Social media, events, conferences, etc is the place to meet people

[winged dragon]

I'm not talking about my experience, but the vacancies in general, it's so hard to find. Upwork and Fiverr I don't even count them. I really only try to find something here, on artstation and googling ... but google is also not really helping

[mint skiff]

vast majority of freelancer/contractor gigs are fulfilled by people in the professional network of whoever's offering the gig

so most jobs don't even get onto those boards.

you either know someone who needs work done, or a recruiter finds you and connects you with someone who needs work done.

[simple wyvern]

Hallos!
By the flow of the chat, I assume this is the right place to pop this in.

I'm bootstrapping an indie game, looking to hire some folks who know their way around blueprints.

There is plenty of stuff on the UE marketplace that is gorgeous.
I just need some folks who know their way around blueprints.

I pay per milestone. (We agree on what a task would cost and then go for it.)

I pasted an example of what I am up to here.
#1227461736790097940 message

[chilly sundial]

This is not the place, in fact the channel description says so.
You're looking for the job board. #instructions has the info you need. 🙂

Oh. It's an NFT game

[simple wyvern]

Big difference between games that utilize NFTs as a way for folks to own assets and 'NFT games' (Mostly dodgy farming things) .

I was looking for ways for players to have the freedom to sell their ingame goodies to each other outside of locked-in platform stores like Steam.

Wasn't too excited about Web3 but I am slowly wrapping my head around it.

[simple wyvern]

Cool bananas. Thanks!

[simple wyvern]

It's really hard to find legit suppliers on Upwork and Fiverr.
And usually when Indie devs post jobs on public platforms like Reddit etc. we get hammered because our wording was wrong, or our offer is too low, etc.
So I guess we just end up kind of looking more at organic relationships and just watching tutorials lol.

I would love to find a place that is beginner friendly for both sides!

[finite knoll]

use of AI slop too

tech bro bingo

[simple wyvern]

Holy Crap. This is why we don't post in places like this.

[chilly sundial]

I mean I have still yet to see anything new the Web3 stuff does.
Not having NFT's doesn't mean you can't trade across platforms.
All having NFT's does is stop you publishing on Steam, allows you to make promises it's all too easy and common to revoke, and waste precious environmental resources

I have yet to see anything in the Web3 space that hasn't been
a) a flat out scam, and
b) absolutely 0 innovation whatsoever, despite claiming it's "revolutionary" or "the dawn of a new era"

Oh noes, they left the server

[finite knoll]

lol

[woeful iron]

lmao

[finite knoll]

the first time I've been subtweeted by an interaction not even on twitter

also I don't think this chat really whines about the lack of jobs

[woeful iron]

it doesn't

he just needs to shape the narrative to put him in a better light

[high briar]

lol. Lmao.

[chilly sundial]

Jesus Christ his post history is a trip

I wonder what happened to it just being a marketplace?

"Token launch coming"

[lilac walrus]

https://tenor.com/view/yeet-lion-king-simba-rafiki-throw-gif-16194362

[woeful iron]

what is an ultra rare playable nft airdrop though

[lilac walrus]

ultra rare is a platform IIRC

but if you're complaining about people on Upwork and Fiverr being too expensive your project is already doomed

ah no sorry, 'public platforms like Reddit'

[finite knoll]

"I'm slowly wrapping my head around NFTs" but seems very enthusiastic about them

this is around the time the youtube algorithm started recommending me generally not-positive videos about NFT games

[chilly sundial]

"I'm not like the other crypto bros" - is exactly like the other crypto bros.

[round radish]

NFTs aren't such a bad idea - as a concept. Just don't use a block chain.

Unique stuff is cool.

[ivory echo]

Umm… #career-chat message

Sometimes

[dusky fable]

There are a significant amount of people who overestimate their skills. You can level up your skills without a job.

[torpid river]

I will share my experience but I think I’m a very lucky one and the stars were aligned : I dropped off my old job and started learning unreal and programming a year and a half ago, after one year of full try hard I built a portfolio off of 2 personal projects and scoured every possible discords for a job, landed an interview and showed off my project and got hired ! Pays just about enough but for an entry job I’m happy and I keep learning and I now am very happy with my job.

But it definitely paid off to look every day regularly and try your luck. I would even ignore the years of experience required, so long as you think you can fulfill the task presented

[azure crater]

Hello everyone.

Currently looking to hire someone to create a custom PCG tool / geometry tool. Will pay you for your time. If you're interested, DM me, preferably with some of your previous relevant work, and we can discuss further.

[chilly sundial]

Read the channel description. #instructions is where you want for hiring people 🙂

[winged dragon]

I understand what you mean, but I'm not here talking about being hired full time job, or lack of experience, I'm talking about simply freelance / short-term jobs are hard to find, no matter the experience. It's just very few vacancies

[lilac walrus]

this isn't the channel for recruiting

#instructions has the details

oh you've spammed this into multiple channels 🙃

[limber schooner]

What is it you do?

[hasty musk]

how to Pitch myself in 140 words, idk but it feels really wrong!!

what do they want to know? don't they have a cv and cl?!

[ivory echo]

they want to know if you can handle this small task

[hasty musk]

not what i meant, there's different kinds of introductions, what kind of introductions they want/expect, it's 140 letters!
if it was professional introduction, the CV and CL should have accomplished that
or do they want a personal introduction, like who i am, my hobbies etc

[past cradle]

Hey guys, so for a resume, would a space invaders made with win2d and c# be more appealing or a unreal engine project with blueprints?

pls @ me

[lilac walrus]

depends what and where you're applying for

[hasty musk]

why not add both?!

[dusky fable]

What is the role that you are applying for?

[past cradle]

becuase my resume is already one page

[past cradle]

software engineering with a focus on game dev

[hasty musk]

it can be 2 pages, no more than 2, 1.5 pages are fine

[dusky fable]

A UE project with BPs is not going to be impressive for a programming role.

[orchid zinc]

Most game dev roles seem to require UE and C++ skills. Just check out the job boards to see what they're looking for.

Then start learning.

[chilly sundial]

Id say space invaders with C++ and SFML would be much more impressive than C#

[dusky fable]

I'd prefer to see a C++ tech demo using UE. Space Invaders is something you can do in a weekend.

[restive girder]

Just imo,

Sounds like you need some soul searching for that spark that got you into game design. Look at some genre's that don't get enough talent and see if your skills could be applied there.

Roguelikes like you've been working on for example are showing moderate success these past few years for solo/small indie devs. Could you ask/buy out the cancelled game and finish it yourself? Maybe build your own team and see it through? Or start something new and scale down to an even more simple game keeping to your vision. Honestly tho if a game has that many years put into it, it'd be a shame to see it all wasted.

Alternatively could jump on yt/twitch and stream some games you've been meaning to play. Even a small 10+ community fanbase could just be the nudge you need to figure out what you want to do next. At the end of the day, we're artists. We design what we want how we want. People will flock to see. Simple as that.

Maybe look for some collab projects like Project Titan (It started about 2 weeks ago. Has 2 months left). See if that is something that can help build your skillset, add your own content to the project, and be a part of a group without being told what to do. It's all voluntary and can be marketable later on to future employers.

Just some suggestions I hope spark an interest in you.

[vocal aurora]

I find the more words people write, the less they know how to do anything

[green oyster]

Why many words when less do trick

[woeful iron]

https://tenor.com/view/why-waste-time-when-few-word-do-trick-the-office-kevin-malone-gif-15168206

[restive girder]

https://itch.io/jams I think this collab site would be a good first stepping stone to getting back in the right mindset. See if anything peaks your interest. Whatever you make doesn't have to be fancy. Just has to exist to know you can accomplish something yourself. You'll end up feeling much better once you see something you made completed.

Another idea is to go hit up Vrchat and take some character models of yours with you. There are quite a few communities that revolve around game design just in the vr space, like discord here. You'd be surprised the kind of talent that ends up in there making vfx/character/maps on commission.

Apart from those there's only one other dev space I could recommend to try out and it's quite close by. <.< UE for Fortnite. While this discord is a bit constraining on an uefn community I'm sure there are servers starting up dedicated to this very very new genre.
Imo, uefn is the next roblox/minecraft equivalent. If you can't find yourself accepting your own skillset then hop onto a place where everyone else is in the same boat, relatively new to everything.

[woeful iron]

is this explanation self referrential

[restive girder]

I do indeed think you could be mistaken as to which your words describe such a scenario that makes I, the writer, sound foolish and subliminal.

<.<

lol ><

maybe

.>

[pure dust]

-Furthermore, eavesdropping to impromptu of a flaneur or two, may I serve the task of mine, or self-serving prophecy learning thy language - behemoth in the royal court!
-This is what happens if you listen sonnets while learning English zD
-sonnets fr

[woeful iron]

mr big brain over here

[pure dust]

Steps to reproduce the bug:

1. Be sun
2. Give life to planet earth
3. Many years later
4. Outputs "mr big brain over here"

[restive girder]

5. Produce many small "mr big brain over here" via progeny
   5.1 If failure repeat from step 1.

[ivory echo]

Wrong career

[vocal aurora]

Many words accompany 13 minute demo reel of slow camera move over default map with free asset pack

[hasty musk]

I can understand if someone used many unrelated words, thinking they are writing essay, or someone using slow camera to increase the length of a video, these can be legit criticism.
but i don't understand why using a free asset pack has to do with anything, unless you are reviewing an artist's application??? using a white box shouldn't matter unless you expect them to make assets for you!

[woeful iron]

what are we even talking about

[pure dust]

We were talking about the career-focused problem.
Also, I understand the irritation regarding the language. I'll improve.
I am not here to bore people out. Thanks.

[hasty musk]

i must've misundetstood it then sorry^^

[eager snow]

is it worth it to pursue game dev as a career?

[vocal aurora]

only if you are very good at it

[woeful iron]

depends on what you want

what do you define as worth it

[chilly sundial]

If the money is the end goal, most certainly not. It's a very underpaid sector compared to the same job in other industries

[magic scroll]

no

[round radish]

If you become the next among us, you're made.

If you don't, it's a terrific waste of time and effort for no returns, except the joy of making games.

Depends if you value that or not!

And if you're a solo / small team dev, it takes a tremendous amount of dedication and motivation.

[vocal aurora]

I just watched a YouTube guy talk about how much money he made with 3 games on Steam. In 5 years he’s made less than $1k… because they’re basic side scrolling games. No Man’s Sky made millions the first year with a very small team. So it’s mostly about skill level, and marketing ability.

[round radish]

There are games like vampire survivors (or among us even) that require very little skill and are successful because the gameplay is good.

So it's not even about skill.

Take tarkov, written by people with no idea how to make a multiplayer game, but successful.

[wary idol]

and overran with cheaters

[limber schooner]

Absolutely, but with caveats:

• You do it because you can't imagine your profession being anything else.
• You don't expect your career to necessarily make you wealthy.
• You understand that "game dev" is a lot of different jobs, and when you grow, you may be shoehorned into one that isn't what you planned.
• You are able to define your own version of success.
• You can tolerate people telling you you're wrong/you suck/they hate you -- alongside the ones that like you a little too much.

[round radish]

Yeah.

You definitely need to be thick skinned.

...and willing to take our retraining orders.

[limber schooner]

I don't know what it is, but there's some... "enthusiastic" gamers out there...

[green oyster]

I would say creating good gameplay takes skill. Also vampire survivors sound like a nightmare to do, with a gazillion weapons and monsters that had to have been balanced

[limber schooner]

Balance is overrated. And they don't have to be balanced for survivors games anyhow. You play the same thing over and over, your options are luck-driven (RNG), and you don't necessarily always get a good selection.

But what makes it interesting is the intrinsic challenge -- can I get the combination that lets me get enough to improve and advance?

[shut token]

That's what make VS fun - there is no balance

Intentionally

The only balance is "is it fun"

Not "are they playing the game the way we want"

[green oyster]

Balance is the sense that weapons are similar in damage, there isnt one insanely powerful from the start, similar progressions at higher levels etc. there's work to do there that you need more than a "little skill" for and making it fun also takes a lot of skill + art + sound + effects work together to make it appealing

[dusky fable]

This is a myth. The pay is lower at junior levels, but catches up by senior.

[limber schooner]

Not exactly surprising, is it? There's a glut of candidates at the junior levels, but most don't last to senior levels -- likely due to comparing with other juniors in other fields, they feel overworked and underappreciated -- and they accept lower offers for a desire to work in games, bringing the average down.

[chilly sundial]

Might be regional? I know the jobs I've seen coming and going senior non gamedev programmer positions tend to be around £50,000 - £80,000, but senior programmer positions in gamedev seem to range from £40,000 - £50,000

[eager snow]

well thats about any profession really. I really enjoy game dev so far although I am relatively new to it and for now its just a hobby I do after my classes. I was just wondering if it would be worth it to pursue as a career either making indie games, working at a big company or even opening your own studio if you see fit

[limber schooner]

So define "worth it" in your opinion.

[eager snow]

worth it in my opinion is making decent money and not wanting to kill yourself from working

[dusky fable]

Pay is definitely regional. I have been offered £80k, but I'm in the US and it was not enough to consider moving.

[limber schooner]

Now define "decent money" and "not wanting to kill yourself from working".

This is the problem as I see it -- many people complain "Oh, I can't live on X salary". But the truth is that they absolutely can, they just don't want to say no to the things they see other people have.

Others complain "I'm killing myself at work" but they're working 60-80 hour weeks because they're not willing to say it's not good for them.

There are a lot of studios enforcing limits on hours and prohibiting crunch as a policy. There's a lot of good paying positions in very small studios that bring the average wage back up. Are you the sort to find those things, or are you the sort to externalize difficulties?

Small studios usually have to pay more to attract talent, and offer better incentives. Working for a studio owned by EA or a major publisher is like working for a Big 4 accounting firm -- you're going to be paid less and worked harder because there's 10 other people ready to take your position

[dusky fable]

While there are some AAA studios that under pay because of their reputation, that's not true across the board.

[eager snow]

Well at first decent money would just be rent in a one bedroom apartament, money for food, bill etc. Also some leftover to be able to afford a car and fund some hobbies. Not killing yourself from work is not just about working a lot of hours per week but also not getting a headache everytime you work

[eager snow]

That "decent money" changes once you start a family tho

[limber schooner]

Nothing is true across the board. That's the mistake of trusting averages.

[eager snow]

Wouldn't the pay increase later on tho

[limber schooner]

Generally, yes. But again it depends upon the job. When you get into managerial work, there's generally fewer people who have the skills after specializing in tech for years that can effectively move into leadership positions. So there's a lot that stay stuck in senior development positions, which keeps pay more competitive, from an economic standpoint.

[dusky fable]

I disagree that it's even the average. Large studios can and do pay significantly more than smaller ones can. There are some outliers that don't, but that's not very common.

[limber schooner]

Perhaps. That is not, however, the experience I'm seeing when I'm working with large studios versus when I'm working with smaller ones.

Again, averages and different sample sizes may result in different determinations.

[dusky fable]

Are you talking contract or FTE?

[limber schooner]

Generally FTE. Though contracts apply as well.

To clarify, though, this is looking at headcount numbers while consulting -- not from arbitrary values posted to sites like glassdoor or gleaned from job listings.

And no, EA is not a client, which is why I used them as an example.

[hasty musk]

other than EA, i have heard ridiculously low offer from a well known AAA studio that belong to a publisher everyone knows, it was even below that country's minimum wage for visa sponsorship for programmers(not to mention living expenses are high in that area compared to others, and an even lower offer from another studio in another country!
funny thing is I used to spend more than that when i lived in that country!

then don't ask me to move to that country!

I was talking about europe, studios in america is different, they pay better but they are worse, but for another reason mostly racism, especially USA! i had an interview in a well known international studios and one of the interviewer(junior gameplay programmer) was obviously racist and I asked him a naïve question, simply to explain what he meant by what he said, to give him benefit of doubt and the jr guy stutters and mumbled and couldn't make a sentence and the lead smiled and covered for him, and i decided never to apply to that company ever again.

[dusky fable]

I did say that there are some that under pay. Blizzard is well known for having very low salaries, but Riot is known to have really high salaries.

Except they don't. If they want to hire as a FTE, they have to sponsor a visa. Which they don't do below senior level. Outsourcing is often only during parts of production when more help is needed for a specific amount of time.

[oblique ice]

is actually normal, there was many outsource for many years 🤔

[velvet shoal]

Can someone share some programming related portfolios I am in heavy need to inspiration

[mint skiff]

Interview is usually where you discuss compensation. Theres nothing stopping you from asking beforehand but they may just deflect until the interview.

Whether you entertain these positions is really just a matter of what your options are and your threshold for time wasting 🤷‍♂️

[vocal aurora]

lots of time wasting job postings out there- many look like they're from a studio but it's really a wannabe job site reposting stuff

[lapis bone]

"what if I apply, do the interview, wait for the response, and then it turns out their budget is way below what I'm looking for"

I would say that this depends on how desperately you need a new job. If you ask about salary in the wrong way it can backfire and alienate you. While it's obviously going to be the number one thing for many, employers dream about finding people for who -the work- is number one... or at least people who will turn down bad work even if it's for more money. They want to know that you'll enjoy the work - and not be looking for the next exit.

If you are currently employed at a studio where you're "safe", absolutely, ask about salary... or even open with "I'm currently on $x,000 and would be looking for similar or better". BUT.. if they get the impression that salary is the driver for you looking for new work, make sure that you're underpaid at your current job - if they find that you would leave a job where you're happy for a $2,000 pay rise, that won't paint you in a good light to them.

Always put yourself in the recruiter's shoes. They don't only care about how good you are at your job - they want to know that you won't be leaving in 6-24 months' time when another studio offers you more money.

[ivory echo]

And really you shouldn’t leave a job for anything less than a 5K bump

[limber schooner]

Here's a secret: Neither your salary nor their budget are set in stone.

They don't know until the interview just how much value you can potentially provide versus the next best candidate. Is that value worth the price you're asking? Are there other benefits to the job that might make the switch worth it?

Part of sales (and applying for jobs is sales -- you're just the product) is learning to negotiate contracts. The reason a lot of people fail to find jobs or get as good of pay bumps as other people is because they don't understand the business's needs, and they don't know how to sell themselves. Learning to negotiate is a key skill to develop to improve your ability to get the jobs that you want at the price you want.

Additionally, there are a lot of your own personal expenses, for instance, that employers can absorb, which decrease your expenses, and/or increase your effective compensation. Health care is an obvious example, but pet and child care, gym membership, commute expenses, education assistance, decreased hours, etc. Game studios can also provide stipends as a deductible expense for video game purchases as marketing expense (market research).

If you're not working with a headhunter, the company is saving several months salary upfront that you could use in the negotiation.

Additionally, you can tie in agreements for additional compensation tied to your specific performance. An idea might be clearing an average number of assignments a month/quarter/year, or, if you're in management, boosting KPIs for the team you're leading. It's hard to provide specific options without knowing what you're applying for.

[daring sleet]

Hello.
Could I get some feedback on my resume please ?
I made corrections to it based on the comments on my previous post.
I am seeking AI/Gameplay programmer roles outside my country and so far I've had no luck.
I haven't been able to get any interviews. My current employer doesn't provide me with opportunities in my area of interest, so I am seeking a switch and trying to prove my abilities with my personal portfolio - https://github.com/HappySapeta

[fervent palm]

What’s everyone using for there portfolio I was using ArtStation before

[dusky fable]

You don't have enough experience for roles that need to sponsor a visa. You'd need to be at senior level.

[daring sleet]

I don't have many options. There aren't many game dev studios in my country. My current studio rarely takes any AAA projects.

[vocal aurora]

ArtStation is good. I've seen many job postings specifically ask for it

[oblique ice]

artstation, if got artworks

[echo iris]

Any advice for sound designers looking for work?

I come from a music and film sound design background, so I am good with creating sounds but now need to prove my implementation skills. I have done the Wwise 101 and 201 courses but their certificates are a bit expensive... so for my portfolio I am making my own very simple game and implementing all the sounds through Wwise and Metasounds. I thought making my own game may be better than taking a game from the marketplace and replacing the sounds but maybe I am making my life hard for no reason?

[steady pewter]

If you make a game, maybe they take you for a game designer instead? If anyone is hiring a sound designer, I believe they should look into that, not your gameplay or art skills. Even on the contrary, the game might be not so good and distract. Take a platform which can showcase your skills the best.

[candid oak]

@dusky fable @chilly sundial Hello again, apologies for this late submission I had finals so I didnt get that much time to work on my portfolio and resume. I have implemented the improvements that you guys mentioned and would love some feedback. https://bwap.netlify.app/home. Thank you for helping me out again I really appreciate it.

[woeful iron]

I would get a more normal looking email adres to put on your resume

your resume also has a blank third page for some reason

and would be nice if you had a page on your site to show it instead of just a download button

it's just less of a barrier

with the gifs of your project, if you now click them you just go to giphy

it would be nice if they go to the project page

cause it's more intuitive to click on the image than on the "Learn More" button

I would on the project pages also include what tech was used, and maybe what you learned by doing it

and add some longer form videos if possible on the page, not just the gif that they already saw on the main page @candid oak

lol on your github for BLU

Blu is an advanced game engine presently in its developmental phase. The primary impetus behind this initiative is to cultivate the essential skills integral to outstanding game development and enhance the understanding of the foundational mechanics that govern a game engine. The acquisition of these low-level competencies will not only provide a substantial edge in the field of game development, but will also foster a holistic proficiency in software engineering and computer science, thereby enabling greater efficiency and effectiveness across these disciplines.
Did you ram this through a thesaurus

[rigid bluff]

why would you want to encode save data to an image? sharing the image with others like through discord would corrupt the data when it compresses it wouldn't it?

[woeful iron]

it's an interesting idea, but indeed would never use it

[round radish]

Sounds a bit like substanceless corporate buzzwords.

[woeful iron]

yup

Hey Mr GPT, can you make it sound more complex and smarter sounding?

[oblique ice]

i stop look at resume long time ago 😂

[woeful iron]

also you might want to get a custom domain

[wary idol]

Yeah, it would break instantly

[rigid bluff]

just seems like a terrible project to have on your portfolio, sort of displays a lack of understanding instead of the opposite... I would work on creating something that is actually useful and practical

[woeful iron]

It depends on how you present it I think. If it's just like a fun learning/research experiment and you present it as that, it's fine to have I think, it shows some creative thinking and interest in new things. If you present it as if this is actually solving a problem, they might just think you're delusional, or dumb

[brave forge]

Depending on the method used it may or may not break with recompression, and it can be used to demonstrate understanding of a few concepts. If just hiding payload data in the file it can show understanding of data structures. If using more advanced techniques it could show understanding of DSP. It's been an area of research before. It can be an interesting project for sure. Limited actual uses though definitely

[rigid bluff]

ya if it's presented with the understanding of the problems and there are solutions for those problems, that would be good

[brave forge]

As with all portfolios and CVs, it's all in the presentation

[dense hedge]

https://youtu.be/xxEO3dGw4no?si=EziqWQ5_pl4WRchi GameDevTV is making a game jam in the end of May. Who wanna collaborate and make something in UE5? I am a gamedev for 2 years and Unreal dev for 1 year. Do C++ and BP.

[candid oak]

So the main reason is that it presents a alternative way to saving data. You can share it with others using social media sites. Let’s say if someone got a legendary weapon, well they can save it to an image and sell it. This would result in more community engagement. Discord actually doesn’t corrupt the data I checked

[lilac walrus]

'save it to an image and sell it', whut

[candid oak]

My main problem is that I need to describe it more. There is a lot of utility that this plugin has that I fail to market. It’s a very adaptable plugin. I can send you the plugin if you would like to test it out?

[candid oak]

Yea they do it with nfts. It opens up another way to enclose the community

Like this image contains a legendary weapon and some save progress for the game and costs $

That’s what I was going for

[lilac walrus]

that's not how NFTs work (and they're nonsense to begin with)

most NFTs do not contain any image data at all

[candid oak]

They are images that hold data basically that’s what I was getting at

[lilac walrus]

no, they're not

[candid oak]

Tokens sorry

But hopefully you understand what I’m trying to get at

[steady pewter]

It has some idea in it, but this goes offtopic, kinda?

[candid oak]

Could you explain?

[steady pewter]

Is it related to your or someone else career in the industry? I might be missing something here.

[candid oak]

I’m getting help on my portfolio and resume, this is a project that I have on my resume that I need to do a better job at clarifying what it is, what problems it solves and why it is useful. If you scroll up a little you can see I failed to do this

[woeful iron]

but if the data is just stored in the image, that's not unique at all, you could just get someone's save with a screenshot, so not sure how you'd expect anyone to sell it for money

[steady pewter]

The ledger takes care of the ownership. Duplicates however...

[woeful iron]

well, the ownership yes, but the image itself would not be unique

like with nft's, anyone can screenshot your shitty art

it's just a receipt that proves you own it

aka, worthless

[steady pewter]

I suppose you can add some copy finds mechanisms..

[candid oak]

I am actually working on generating the image as well if you don’t want to upload an image. I went with the image uploading route because of aesthetics basically

[woeful iron]

I mean I'm not talking about your project, seems cool and all

it's just a strange thing to expect it to be sold by people

[candid oak]

I think of it like if you want a set of attributes someone else has and they sell them to you. It enhances communication engagement

Beats buying it through the shop if you can even

[woeful iron]

ok but how are you selling it

if it's in a picture, what's holding you back of saving a copy of the picture for yourself?

[candid oak]

Through any site that doesn’t compress it currently. If you take a copy of it, that won’t work, because of the way I encode it. If that’s not enough have the user pay the money first then show them the image. So if a game implements this and if they have a market place specifically to sell their features and etc this can be on there. People like rare and legendary stuff in game, chuck that data into an image and sell the image on the game’s market place, that user just downloads the image and uploads it to the game and not they have the legendary stuff they want

[woeful iron]

pay up front does not fix the issue

you'de just be duplicating things at that point

and what's the advantage of doing it as an image with this?

[candid oak]

An image provides an easy way of encoding the data. You can upload the image anywhere. And the user will think it’s magic as well

[chilly sundial]

Yeah I'm not seeing any benefit of an image versus any regular marketplace backend

I'm not sure a user would care if their legendary item was encoded into a picture or not

[candid oak]

The image is more dynamic because the user can chose to encode whatever they want into it. If you use a backend then you would have to set that up, depending on all of what you would want to sell that’s a lot of work.

Plus it’s portable

And since it provides a different way to store data, you don’t even have to sell it. If your game needs to store a lot of data then use the images of high quality and reference them

There was a game I’m not sure what it is called but they stored their game data into the sky

[chilly sundial]

Having the platform be set up by you is a benefit though.
If any old person can start a marketplace selling image saves, it's going to be wrought with scams.
"Hey I paid some money, can I have the image save?"
"Sure here you go"
"It didn't work"
"Must have been something on your end, sorry"
*scammer runs away with money and keeps uploading stock images to people*

You also then need to trust the user that their platform isn't compressing the image, which the average consumer would probably have no idea

[candid oak]

That’s going to happen really anywhere, that would be the devs problem not mine, they would have to set up a secure way of doing it

[chilly sundial]

But if they're going to set up a secure way of doing it, you lose the benefit of having the plugin and having it be able to be "uploaded anywhere"

[candid oak]

I mean since it just provides a different way of storing data the use case can be up to you. It can act like a backup or be solely used by the development team to stir high quality assets to save disk space somewhere

[chilly sundial]

Is it saving disk space though? My average image is much larger than my average source file/save file

[candid oak]

I would assume since you can upload it anywhere once you make the purchase the image encodes a key that the game recognizes so it prevents scams

[chilly sundial]

(I'd just like to point out I think it's a cool project, and a cool portfolio item, I'm just arguing it's viability)

[candid oak]

You can store the image on the cloud and have an api to retrieve it

[round radish]

Using it for nfts or transactions is silly, but using it for transferring data ain't terrible.

[candid oak]

I guess the viability depends on what you want to use it for. Unreal uses a .sav file this is just another approach that offers different perspectives. No one really has done this in unreal so that’s why there is some confusion

[chilly sundial]

But again, if you've got to set up some way of making sure the user cannot gain the item back, host the image somewhere, give the image to another user, who has to manually download and import it, then ensure that can't be abused, you're doing something way higher effort than just changing the owner of an item on your database

[round radish]

There's even a thing for hiding data in images. I forget what it's called.

[chilly sundial]

That's what this plugin is doing iirc

[candid oak]

Steganography

[round radish]

Thsts the one.

[candid oak]

That’s what the plugin uses

[round radish]

That's cool. But it's it's not good for what you've been talking about.

[woeful iron]

so you're keeping it on the server anyway, so what's the point of the image

[candid oak]

You could do that, if you have a solid approach to avoid scamming let me know so I can rework the plugin a little

[chilly sundial]

It's a very cool concept.
It would be cool to see an in game gallery of your save files, and you can click an exhibit to load the game

[candid oak]

Anything really

[woeful iron]

I saw a video about that recently, but he ended up with a different approach

[candid oak]

From saving data to increasing community engagement

[candid oak]

Yea currently this is a new thing and hasn’t been done before so idk if that would happen any time soon

[round radish]

If ehje you saved a game it took a screenshot and encoded the save data into it, that'd be awesome.

[candid oak]

That’s what it can do

[round radish]

That's the no one of application you want.

[chilly sundial]

I mean it could be done right now. With an image importer plugin and that visual save plugin you could probably set it up in a few hours

[candid oak]

Of course it’s not that hard but I was the first to do it so it’s already out there

[chilly sundial]

It's got some great utility, but advertising it as an approach that can bring a game community together, and some innovation for a digital marketplace is the wrong move.

[woeful iron]

I don't think you're the first tbh

[candid oak]

For unreal engine yes

[candid oak]

What would be a better way of advertising it?

[chilly sundial]

The truth, that it's a plugin that provides a cool visual way of representing save files

[candid oak]

Yea

[woeful iron]

other than the cool factor it has no advantage though

and I already said I agree it's cool

but idk why it would be something for selling saves or some shit

[candid oak]

Can you explain why so? I just want to know that’s all

[woeful iron]

what does it add over normal saves?

[candid oak]

That’s just one example I thought would be cool to use because to my knowledge no one has really done that before

[chilly sundial]

For instance, you have a game about being an explorer on planets.
Your main menu is walking through a gallery that has pictures of each planet, with your latest save on each planet being encoded into the picture. Hell the picture could even be the last thing you saw before saving, and the save is encoded into that
You can interact with the picture to load your latest save on that planet.

That's the kind of cool stuff you could do.

[candid oak]

It can be used for other applications I guess it all depends on what you want to do with that data, do you wan to store it on the cloud and decrease how big the game is or etc

[chilly sundial]

I'm not sure how this is decreasing size at all though

[candid oak]

I’m sure you could do that with the plugin

[chilly sundial]

You've just also added on top the original source image, that will have unneccessary data

[chilly sundial]

That's what I'm saying, it's a cool thing you could do with it

But it's not what you claim

[candid oak]

The image isn’t stored in the game, it’s stored in the cloud and the game is getting the data from that image

[chilly sundial]

Storing a save file in the cloud or a database would be smaller though

[round radish]

The cloud is essentially a database

[candid oak]

Well it depends on what you want at the end of the day. You just thought of an approach that the plugin could be used for that I didn’t even know. Thats what I failed to explain

[woeful iron]

the cloud is someone else's computer

[woeful iron]

again, that's just the "cool factor", from a useability feature, there's no point in doing it this way over storing it in binary/json/keyvalue stuff

[candid oak]

You could do it that way if you want, it is cool but I’ll come out with a video explaining many other use cases

[round radish]

No recruiter is going to watch a video, though.

Getting slightly back on to the #career-chat topic.

[candid oak]

But I don’t want this conversation about me trying to sell a plugin, I saw there was a lack of explanation on my end about this project that I included on my portfolio so I figured I try to explain it the best I could.

[candid oak]

Yes I know but for a developer that is thinking about using it hopefully it can paint a bigger picture

@chilly sundial did I do better on my resume and portfolio than last time?

@round radish I remember you were providing advice on improvements I needed to make for my portfolio. If you could let me know what you think that would be appreciated

[woeful iron]

I already gave you some feedback before the save ramblings

[round radish]

Is the information readily available to anyone who visits the page and does nothing else?

[candid oak]

Yes I saw and I thank you

[candid oak]

Yes to my knowledge

[woeful iron]

on the plugin page you mention combining a passion for game dev and data security, but you then mention nothing about security

[candid oak]

I had some finals so I’m a little bit late at updating it I apologize

[chilly sundial]

The code screenshots are nice.
Still would like to hear a little more personally, not sure what others think. You only talk about an event stack being the thing you faced in making a game engine, which seems a bit conservative.

[candid oak]

Notes I’ll add the security aspect

[woeful iron]

oh, I found the video I was thinking of btw https://youtu.be/0aBy8wLnpQ8

[candid oak]

I’ll take a look at that thank you

[woeful iron]

he also did the same as you with least significant bit, but gave up cause of no redundancy in compression and such

[candid oak]

Wouldn’t that add more fluff though? That was one Criticism that I had

[woeful iron]

don't write 18 pages on it maybe, but make what you write relevent

just talking about an event system seems very arbitrary

[chilly sundial]

Fluff is padding things out without talking about important things. Adding more important technical challenges would not be fluff.
I'd personally like to see at least 1 more. I would be wary of writing too much, but one technical challenge seems too conservative

[candid oak]

Ok that clears up the confusion thank you guys. That’s why I included what I did because I didn’t know if it would be a hindrance

Anything else?

[chilly sundial]

Also I don't know what you/my phone did but the site works flawlessly for me now 😆

I'd look at maybe trying to get those gifs a little less 360p. Not sure if that's on you or where you're hosting them, but they're quite blurry to me :P

[woeful iron]

why is there a horizontal scroll bar no matter the size 🤔

[candid oak]

Yea that’s where I’m hosting them from, I’ll look at another site, I’m surprised it works flawlessly now lol

[candid oak]

That’s something I need to fix, I put up the site in a hurry and that’s one side effect of doing so lol

But it seems like I’m making progress from my initial post and I want to thank you all for helping me

[woeful iron]

well, I'd expect it to be good since you mention front end development on your github

so your site will also represent your skills

[chilly sundial]

It's becoming a pretty solid portfolio

[candid oak]

Yea for my school I need an internship to graduate and I’m kinda pressed for time

[chilly sundial]

I definitely find it much easier to find useful info than the initial iteration

[candid oak]

Hahaha I’m glad it’s getting better thank you all again

I’ll make the improvements and clarification and I’ll get back to you all

[last mountain]

I was planning to post a freelancer offer on the "freelancer-jobs" channel, but i wanted a URL that could show the projects I've worked on, be it being pictures, videos, or links that take to my itch page. Does anyone know what kind of website i could use

[chilly sundial]

any? You can just make that. Any website builder would let you set that up too

[oblique ice]

fortunate, there are still website builder around, and don't ned to use money

[round radish]

Artstation?

[dusky fable]

You're still using a lot of fluff to look impressive and leaving out most of the technical aspects. What you don't seem to understand is that it's the technical aspects that are impressive, but that's not what you are focusing on.

Like I said before, you have this massive paragraph about your weapon system using a data table and absolutely nothing about the AI or inventory in the Survive The Enemies project. You need to learn how to use less fluff, so you have the space to talk about more of the systems that you worked on.

You have the same problem with all of your projects. Avail: far too much detail on two abilities trying to make them sound more impressive than they are, and absolutely nothing on the AI improvements you mentioned in your resume.

[vocal aurora]

ArtStation

[hollow cipher]

Is this the right channel to post my portfolio and ask for advice on the kind of thing i need to show more of/improve upon

[dusky fable]

Yes

[candid oak]

Since Avail was a gas project I thought going into the abilities and showing my thought process would be advantageous, I just decided to use two of the abilities out of many that I liked working on. When I wrote it I thought it didnt contain any fluff if you could tell me where because im not seeing where im adding fluff

@chilly sundial was telling me that he would want to read paragraphs to better get a feel, correct me if im wrong but I thought I was doing that. Dont the recruiters care about the thought process as well?

[dusky fable]

"Developing the Frostbite ability was a significant challenge that involved applying a continuous effect that damages and slows enemies over time while also managing their mana levels. The process began with brainstorming and drafting the initial concept on a whiteboard, where I used pseudo code to outline the ability's mechanics. This preliminary planning helped in visualizing the mathematical aspects necessary for the implementation. The ability itself is structured around a gameplay ability in Unreal Engine's Gameplay Ability System. This system allows for the encapsulation of complex game logic into manageable components. For Frostbite, the ability involves a debuff that reduces movement speed and applies damage over time. Additionally, it manipulates mana by draining it initially and then restoring a portion at the end of the debuff duration. One of the primary challenges was managing the 'tick'—the regular interval at which the debuff affects the player. Ensuring this tick was consistent and accurately restored the player's stats after concluding was critical. To handle this, I utilized a gameplay cue, which in Unreal Engine acts as a trigger for certain visual and gameplay-related events. The cue was programmed to activate at the end of the debuff, restoring the mana and clearing the debuff effects, ensuring that the gameplay remains balanced and the effects do not linger past their intended duration."

That's using a lot words (fluff) to say very little.

[candid oak]

I dont get it? I pictured it as me walking the reader through my journey of implementing the ability to show my thought process

Cause I came from a understanding of yes I can do this stuff but what am I doing it for, i tried to include that

[dusky fable]

Most of that is unnecessary fluff. You need to learn how to write more concisely, because we are going to evaluate your ability to write technical documentation.

[shut token]

"Created a movement slow debuff that also did damage over time. The most challenging aspect was managing the consistency of tick. I used a gameplay cue handle this by activating it at the end to restore used resources and clear the debuff."

👆 This is pretty much the main points of that like 8 line paragraph

Not even saying this is the best either, but it is far more succinct.

And still gets the point across.

Can't imagine being interviewed for a gameplay programming position in UE and the interviewer not knowing anything about GAS

[dusky fable]

Or about tick

[rigid bluff]

"Unreal Engine's Gameplay Ability System was key in designing Frostbite, a damage over time ability that slows enemies, drains and partially restores mana, with a gameplay cue ensuring its effects are applied and removed precisely."

[shut token]

Resume is succinct points. Explaining the journey is when sitting down and doing an actual interview.

[candid oak]

so basically explain it to the interviewer and expect they know nothing?

[rigid bluff]

no your interviewer is likely to understand GAS and other technical things

[candid oak]

im a little confused, Im supposed to be technical but keep the paragraphs small

[candid oak]

oh

[dusky fable]

That is the opposite of what you are being told.

[candid oak]

dang im on info overload lol

[shut token]

Hiring peeps go through resume's fairly quickly.

[candid oak]

ok so basically if i understand this right, be technical but be short and sweet

[shut token]

I know I don't want to read a darn paragraph when I have potentially 50 other people to go through

[dusky fable]

It's what I've been telling you, now for the 3rd time reviewing your portfolio.

[candid oak]

I thought i was getting better

slowly

😦

These talks are so awesome im cracking up right now.

I think I got a general idea, im going to implement this and not disappoint thank you all again

[dusky fable]

The trick is to be succinct. Only say what you need and leave out all the filler. This isn't a creative writing assignment. You aren't graded on how many words you have. Get the point fast, because we are too busy to read your prose. It's the same with technical docs. Just get to the point.

[candid oak]

@dusky fable I made the necessary updates, I believe this iteration hits the mark better. At your convivence if you can provide feedback that would be appreciated, thanks https://bwap.netlify.app/home

i still need to add the part of clicking on the gif to navigate to the learn more page

[hollow cipher]

https://www.artstation.com/nullshade so atm im working on another diorama, but i admit im a bit out of practice and directionless rn. I need to make better use of resources like this server and embed myself in discussions more

[small marsh]

It looks bad on mobile, check it out

[chilly sundial]

Depends on the phone and browser it seems. Worked fine for most here, did that to me the first time, now it works fine

[woeful iron]

looks broken on my phone too

[round radish]

This is why webdev is shit

[chilly sundial]

This is why I use website builders.
Miss me with that 😆

[woeful iron]

just send them to a page to buy a pc if they visit the site on mobile

[chilly sundial]

Sponsored by iBuyPower

[dusky fable]

Better, but you missed the 2nd part of my point. Shortening the wording gives you room to talk/show more stuff. In 2 of your projects you said you did AI work, but there is nothing showing that off. The engine also only talks about 2 of the systems.

[candid oak]

Since I was in a hurry styling and formatting it for a couple of phones is what I did, I made it look fine on iPhone 11 and higher and iPad and desktop

I’m going to fix it once I get the other stuff straightened out

[candid oak]

Ok I’ll talk about some more systems on the engine and include the Ai stuff

Can you guys tell me what phones you are using so I can style the website for them

[woeful iron]

I'm on iphone 14 and it did not look fine

Unless this is intentional

[candid oak]

Ok thanks for the info, the styling needs to be changed because I added in some more stuff, I will work on that, the problem is the page height

[fervent palm]

@woeful iron that’s how it’s supposed to be viewed on a phone just a website the layout changes based on the device you’re viewing it on 🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️

Of course you ain’t gonna get the full layout you’re viewing it on an iPhone the exact same thing happened to me

[woeful iron]

idk what kind of web design you do, but I don't think any site is supposed to look like that lol

it's what they call responsive design

[fervent palm]

I’m not even into website design

[modern relic]

Skill issue

[candid oak]

lol

[candid oak]

I made the improvements to the responsiveness

@dusky fable I added in the advice. If you all could take a look at your convivence that would be appreciated https://bwap.netlify.app/home

[chilly sundial]

Just to add on to this, this is what I meant about paragraphs.
A few sentences talking about a unique technical problem you faced, but then multiple of those.

As Luthage said, give yourself room to talk about the things you did.

[candid oak]

If you dont mind could you check my site again. I believe this current version implements that and does not break on mobile

[chilly sundial]

Mobile site is looking good for me. Liking the addition of more technical additions too!

[candid oak]

yes!!! it works

would you say its ready to submit for a job aplication?

[chilly sundial]

I think I'd best leave the more experienced folk to judge that one :P

Personally though, I'd opt for a couple more technical things in place of some stuff.

Take Blu for example, you talk about dependencies and using premake, which is pretty standard with c++. Well, premake, cmake whatever, you get the point, it's fairly standard workflow, whereas you have something a lot more technically interesting, like how you implemented a C# scripting layer for your game objects.

To me it feels a bit like passing up the opportunity to talk about a super interesting fundamental part of an engine, in favour of a way more mundane build system :P

Would like to see what others think on that though.

[candid oak]

im actually going to add that, currently im using mono for the c# scripting aspect so ill talk on that

thank you for the advice

[edgy trail]

I have classmates who got into pretty decent game industry jobs with quite a bit less

But the market was quite different two years ago

[heavy kelp]

True

[edgy trail]

Still I don't think it hurts to apply to places even if you're not completely ready. You'll still learn something even if you get rejected.

[candid oak]

How can I learn something if I get rejected and they don’t tell me why? Am I over complicating this by asking for too much advice and trying to implement all of them? I just want to make sure I’m not messing up that’s all

[edgy trail]

Hmm that's true. I think it depends on how they send you a rejection and how far you made it through the interview process. But usually even if they don't tell you exactly why it's possible to figure out why you get rejected by reading between the lines.

[oblique ice]

it's normal actually for rejected, myself also rejected, can use that those moments to browse for knowledge as usual

[candid oak]

Yea it’s sucks getting rejected but that’s feedback in of itself and great feedback as well just next opportunity. Hopefully I improved from my initial version. I think I did but I’ll have to see

Thank you all for your help and feedback

[chilly sundial]

A rejection isn't always feedback. Sometimes it's for a biased reason they can't say without getting sued, sometimes there's just a better candidate that is settling for less.

Careful not to give yourself a case of imposter syndrome

[lilac walrus]

sometimes it's because the job never existed in the first place -_-

[ivory echo]

Yeah, hate that that’s legal

[round radish]

Yeah. Some companies advertise jobs just to make it look like they're growing.

[finite knoll]

even Epic does that

[lilac walrus]

it's also common to advertise jobs that you already have an internal candidate for

[round radish]

"There's a process" 😄

[vocal aurora]

years ago I was hired at a big studio in LA but the jobs were union, so they had to interview several union members first, even though they wouldn't get the job

then I had to pay thousands to the union to join... then got laid off 4 months later. yay

[candid oak]

Wow

[ivory echo]

Sounds like more of a scam than an union

[round radish]

When the unions are worse than the corporations 😄

[limber schooner]

That's a common complaint with unions -- newest members tend to be the first to be cut.

I used to be staunchly anti-union, admittedly, but in recent years I've seen a lot of value in them for specialists. They're far from perfect, but if you've spent your career building up a specialization that makes it hard to switch careers, unions offer job protection (again, provided you've been with them for long enough) and opportunities you may not otherwise have.

[vocal aurora]

This was the Motion Picture Editors Guild and the business runs a couple well known theme parks 😬 it sucked because it cost $2500 in dues just to join, and best they could offer is advice to file unemployment

Basically they laid off entire departments when a project was done, or that project was developed in the USA then sent to cheaper overseas studios to continue it.

[oblique ice]

i saw those post also, it just left there

[round radish]

Not that I know of. Honestly, if it were that easy, nobody would apply for them 🙂

[vocal aurora]

Yes, go on company websites where they post actual jobs. Its more work and research, but that’s the only way to know if they’re actually hiring

A lot of LinkedIn posts are fake. They even post under publicly available names from the real company so they look legit

[round radish]

Real company website are also going to have fake jobs too.

[lilac walrus]

^

the aggregator boards usually just pull down from actual company boards, so you're not really getting much of an insight there

[vocal aurora]

does anyone know a human that actually got a job using Indeed, linkedin or ZipRecruiter? I only know people who got jobs from studio websites or human networking

[rough knoll]

I'm new in the industry so that's interesting to know for me as well.

I'm also preparing for my first showreel after having worked with Unreal in school for a year. Was gonna ask what tips do you guys have for a showreel? And what's good to keep in mind?
I'm currently thinking just using OBS to record some of my work, Keeping it short, And trying to highlight more "under the hood" details instead of just the finished product. How does that sound?

[mint skiff]

render it properly, edit it properly. If you're going to do any breakdowns make sure they're communicated clearly.

But short and concise is good 👍

[rough knoll]

Nice nice, Yeah I know how easy it is to add to much. Better focus on the stuff I'm more proud of x)

[grim ibex]

can i run unreal engine 5 in i5 12400 with rtx 3060 12gb , 16 gb ram

?

[mint skiff]

is someone offering to pay you to?

[velvet shoal]

Yes, but depends on what you plan to do it will be fine for medium projects but High or epic will probably lag.
For context I had a i5 10th gen 1650ti 16gb ram laptop that ran 5.3 fine enough to learn and build basic games.
But working on openworld mapes is mostlikely going to be a nope for this one.

[exotic marsh]

I'm sure it happens. I think it's still nice having access to those job boards though. It's nice to see what jobs are available, then just look them up and check out their website. I've definitely seen roles that are linkedin exclusive, and state on their website that interested applicans should apply on linkedin

[oblique ice]

I also apply to website before LinkedIn was available or use

[meager wave]

damn do all the jobs require bachelors degrees? I do not have (and will never have) one

[round radish]

They do not.

But the alternative is some to prove you are capable of doing the job - e.g. experience.

[oblique ice]

Will mostly For immigration use or if want to teach for undergraduate/postgraduate

[velvet shoal]

Once you get into the industry it won't matter. It's getting into the industry that's hard without a bachelor's specially if you wanna be in the engineering side.

[lilac walrus]

nobody in games cares about your degree, it only matters for immigration purposes

it could be used as a filter in cases where there are otherwise identical candidates, but I don't think this is often the case

getting into a role on the engineering side is 75+% about your portfolio and how you present it tbh

[round radish]

The last interview I had, they pretty much said said the exact opposite that they just wanted to make sure I had one.

[lilac walrus]

if you can show me small finished examples / projects you're already ahead of the crowd

[lilac walrus]

if they wanted to make sure, then surely it was for immigration purposes?

or it wasn't in games?

[round radish]

Nope. It was WFH for a games company based in America (I am in UK)

[lilac walrus]

I'm wondering if there's some legal requirement shenanigans going on there, because that would be highly unusual

or the company is just shite

[round radish]

No, pretty successful company. Making popular games, etc.

[velvet shoal]

From my experience too, My HR told me they almost always prefer someone from B.Tech. or any other tech background unless they have excellent projects or certifications that they can make exceptions for

[round radish]

It may just be an American thing?

Idk

[oblique ice]

i only remember from interview for teaching positions, they will prefer people who done undergraduate/postgraduate, and always preference to postgraduate holder MA, MCS holder, but yes, other companies never asked if for it

[meager wave]

yeah, I'm wanting to look at entry level jobs for when i graduate that don't require comp sci or equivalent

[oblique ice]

looking at Interactive entertaiment or oter level job?

[velvet shoal]

what are you pursuing may I ask?

[meager wave]

I would just like to look around for gameplay programming jobs

[woeful iron]

first job is always the hardest

if you don't have a degree, you have to prove skill or knowledge in another way

such as strong portfolio

[meager wave]

using my github for that since i dont do any art

[chilly sundial]

Well, you'll want some videos and screenshots to support it.
After all a lot of gameplay programming is visual feedback and how good something feels

The code quality is also important, but it's hard to know if something is a fitting solution without seeing it in action

[woeful iron]

and no one is gonna read any code if they're not already interested

[chilly sundial]

Gotta hook em first

People don't have much time, especially looking over tons of applications.
Ain't time for a code review for a first impression :P

[velvet shoal]

you need videos of the things you have created at the very least to get anyone's attention

[meager wave]

oh the stuff I usually end up programming never has visuals in the end cause I dont have anyone to do the art 😅

[woeful iron]

anything has visuals really

[meager wave]

last project i did art for i only had about one level

[woeful iron]

especially in games

even if the art is shit, it's nicer if you can look at something

[meager wave]

guess I should start filming these cubes fighting lol

[woeful iron]

like this is one of my vids lol https://youtu.be/saBofjxBX6M

it's all shit free art

but it works

[round radish]

I'd have played that if there were some hitsounds!

[lavish bison]

Hey guys I have a question on how to start a company or something similar to get income as a company for steam and other platforms. Ps I’m a minor and I heard of LLCs but I’m in Germany so if someone knows something I would be happy to know.

[lavish bison]

Is it the right channel to ask something like that ?

[chilly sundial]

You don't as a minor

Wait until you're an adult

[lavish bison]

Bruh

[chilly sundial]

Blame the law.

There's lots of international legal stuff those platforms need, and you can't agree as a minor

https://www.make-it-in-germany.com/en/working-in-germany/setting-up-business/requirements#:~:text=There are a small number,set up a business in.
Hell to even form a company you need to be over 18 in Germany

[woeful iron]

you could have someone set up the company for you though

but you really have to trust them

cause they will have all the power

[chilly sundial]

I'd also say it's unadvisable, as you'd want them to understand all of the legal stuff as well.
Which the chance is low.

I'm also unsure where that crosses over into being legally gray

Someone setting up a company on behalf of a minor allowing the minor to sign legal agreements seems dodgy at best

[woeful iron]

well the minor would not sign anything

the other person would be the sole responsible, and would just pass on the profits or whatever to you and ultimately the company

hence you really would need to trust them

[faint crypt]

Hello!
I need mentorship during the development of the project that I'm working on, in both the C++ and Blueprints, using the GAS (Gameplay Ability System) for a Top Down multiplayer game with Dedicated Server format

The kind of relationship I need is that when I have a question about how to create the X mechanic I need someone to guide me, and show me how to do it, than I will expand the implementation. So, because I'm inexperienced in the field, like how to implement specific functions, I need someone to guide me on the right path.

I'm also opened at more collaborations, like asking to help me with a part of the code, help me refactor parts of the code and so on, in the limits of my budget.

I am able to pay per hour invested in this. Please, DM me if interested and if you have the expertise. Thanks!

[dusky fable]

You can try posting on the jobs board. See #instructions

However it is far more important that you learn how to break down problems until they are small enough for you to manage or you'll never actually learn anything. If it's all too complex, then you should start with simpler games.

[limber schooner]

The first step should be to talk to your parent/guardian. A minor in Germany between the age of 7-18 can enter into limited contracts that are "only legally advantageous" to the child, are "pocket money" sales contracts, or with the consent of their parent/guardian.

From there, an attorney could help set up a UG, and guide you through formation and compliance. Once you form the UG, it's the UG itself that enters into contracts, and therefore has limited liability (provided that compliance is maintained).

[gritty cypress]

How's the industry rn guys?

Hearing its horrible in the games area, but what about marketing, advertisements, other aspects?

[brave forge]

Those roles aren't exactly safe when a studio closes either. I don't imagine those roles are much better

[lilac walrus]

usually worse off tbh

marketing departments are typically quite small, so when you cull studios and projects marketing gets hit hard

[gritty cypress]

I miss the work a lot

Want to return to the industry

[drowsy ember]

meanwhile im looking at that game developer degree at CG Spectrum

would be such a risky move to even try it

[exotic marsh]

If I had more money I'd love to do one of those programs

[covert vortex]

I'm sending a lot of CV, these is the list of places where I sent it.

In red all the industry that rejected me with no interview, in orange some that answered me and made me go through to a first/second call.

I want to change my strategy of getting at least the first interview... any suggestion 🥲 ?

[woeful iron]

man applying for lead dev and junior dev positions at the same time

wild

[finite knoll]

the shotgun approach to applying

a lot of different disciplines too

[covert vortex]

I did a lot of different things so, there is no perfect match position for me unless is a general one.
I did 3 years of unity and then 1 of Unreal, and I can't say I am junior neither senior 😅

[chilly sundial]

I wouldn't bother. A lot of them aren't a true degree, the courses are normally awful, and poorly taught, expensive, and the certifications they bring are often ignored in the industry. Game development isn't something that relies on certs as much as something as say, cybersecurity

[woeful iron]

if you're getting rejected by everyone or failing after first interview maybe there's something wrong with you, your expectations or your portfolio or cv

so it's hard to give any advice without additional information

[chilly sundial]

I mean there's definitely something to say about expectations. Applying to a lead game designer role, with only 4 years in the industry, and seemingly a programming focus sounds like a good candidate for instant rejection

May be region/company dependent, but 4 years around here isn't even senior

[lilac walrus]

the fact that such a wide range of positions and experience levels are being applied to makes me feel that as a candidate you don't actually know what role you want or are capable of - which is probably showing through whatever material is being submitted as part of those applications

[covert vortex]

If you click on my image, in my description there is my linkedin and my github. My github is a work in progress, since I cannot share what I have done professionally, but you can get an insight about me from the linkedin page

thank everyone for the feedbacks

[woeful iron]

but is there anything else?

cv with more details?

portfolio?

[covert vortex]

Yes, but I don't think I can send it in this channel

[woeful iron]

cause linkedin doesn't say very much except pure facts when you were where, and no one is looking at github unless they're already interested

ok, found your portfolio through your github

it's fine to share though

lol that picture on your about section

[covert vortex]

so this is the cv I am sending around

[woeful iron]

in your about on your site you talk both in first and in third person

very strange

When I was a child...
Salvatore is not only a passionate programmer, he is...

strange that you put your skills and core skills so far apart on the cv

you don't say much about yourself on it either

which is impressive on a 2 page cv

I personally think the CV could be a bit shorter, but then refer to your site with more exposition

on your site about page, I would put your skills above your favorite games

and maybe a link to downloadable resume

you're missing an h in hesitate

this is strange, but maybe it comes with using a free version of site hosting idk, but if you can get rid of it I would

some of the videos on projects don't seem to work

maybe just me though

[covert vortex]

Thank you @woeful iron

No, I don't understand why but sometimes they don't work. I will check

[woeful iron]

on the top right of the page you have a bell, settings and account icon

but they don't do anything

should probably remove them

and it's a bit strange that the banner changes from "game programmer" to "my portfolio" when going to a project

but all in all not too bad

I think your resume could use some improvements though

it's very long to me

and the layout is suboptimal

[covert vortex]

do you think I should remove the images and go for something in one page?

[woeful iron]

possibly

I'm not a resume expert though

it just looks long and plain to me

this was mine, and I'm not even really happy with it 😆

I already think there's too much on there

[covert vortex]

Can I ask you which tool did u use to create it?

[woeful iron]

photoshop lol

[covert vortex]

Infact, it's in your skills xD

[past cave]

Anyone knows how hard it is to get a career in level design in UK

[misty rune]

According to my experience,
Getting work in Uk is harder than In USA

[undone hull]

Hello everyone, I have been working as an Android application developer so far and have very much interest in learning MR and VR applications.
I have been working with Unreal Engine so far and also worked with Unity for a small project. But now, I want to gain expertise and switch to XR development. Which engine I should stick to?

I am good in programming, but working on 3D is very much new to me and would like to know from you folks, what all things I should be learning to become an expert in this domain.

Any guidance, help or tips would definitely help.
Thank you!

[oblique ice]

both 🤣

[woeful iron]

use whatever engine you want my man

[sacred meteor]

Hey everyone, looking for some general career advice if you’re willing to share! I was laid off in Feb from a TV animation company where I directed animation and I’m having a difficult time transitioning into animation for games. I worked in children’s entertainment so I totally understand that stylistically, my experience is really different from a realistic COD FPS or similar. I’d really like to get into games and am wondering if anyone has advice or resources about what is needed specifically for games - like how do you determine the necessary cycles, how do you work with state machines, how do you connect animations together and across different characters, etc. I’m willing to learn any and everything and have experience animating with control rig and Metahumans. Thank you so much in advance! 🙏

[modern relic]

legitimate question but does it really make sense to list visual studio (+code) under software? like.. its essentially a glorified text editor

how can you not know how to use it

[mint skiff]

HR is often doing recruitment and they often have no idea

[brave forge]

It's so they don't think he's one of those insufferable vim people 😄

[dapper ivy]

Has anyone heard of this company, Collimation.tv? I'm doing an internship with them. Glassdoor only has 3 reviews on them.

[modern relic]

I'll have you know I use vi

[gritty socket]

Since the industry is not in a great spot it can be a bit difficult at the moment, but overall the UK is pretty good, plenty of game studios that hire frequently. It is a competitive industry through, especially for junior positions, so getting your first job is the hardest part for most people.

[drowsy ember]

is there any that you would recommend?

doesnt have to be a degree, can also be some high level course site. I looked at Gnomon and some others as well

[chilly sundial]

No, literally no "Game Development" school I have ever heard of as being worth it.

Even popular ones like Full Sail are wrought with complaints

[drowsy ember]

but people graduate there and network with the elite in those industries, thats probably THE biggest thing you get from there

you learn from the best, you network with the best

[chilly sundial]

You don't learn from the best and network with the best though

[drowsy ember]

unless you find a way to network with the elite outside of schools ofc

[chilly sundial]

That's what they advertise, but it doesn't work out that way

[drowsy ember]

what got me tho is that for some courses at CGS they use Blender instead of 3ds Max for modeling which is sus for me

or focusing so much more on Maya than Max although both are heavies in the industries

that would suck for me tbh because i already fully jumped into 3ds Max for modeling part of the workflow only for a course to focus on Blender for whatever reason

[chilly sundial]

I've heard of plenty of people going to gamedev schools, hell even full sail, that claim they were charged nearly 30k a year, basically had to self learn everything, and didn't even manage to network with anyone.

And it makes sense. They just have far too many people to efficiently do it. They're a for profit company.

[drowsy ember]

hmm

and yeah thats a hell lot of monea

money*

[chilly sundial]

Of course, you have your success stories as well, but from what I've heard from schools of that sector, it often isn't like that

[drowsy ember]

understand

tbh im not desperate to get a job in the industries, i want to learn for myself and hopefully my own path in the first place

[gritty socket]

30k a year is crazy :o

I did go to a 'gamedev school' and would easily say that it was the right choice for me, but that was only for 2k a year 😅 quite the difference

[chilly sundial]

There will definitely be great ones out there, I just think a lot try to capitalise on it being a dream job for many

[round radish]

If you want to learn to make games, do a regular programming course and find the game stuff online.

It's all out there.

[chilly sundial]

I also prefer that one because you're more transferable. you've learned general skills for across industry then :P

[round radish]

Exactly.

If you don't end up being a "gameplay programmer" or whatever other niche thing you're training to become, you've got options.

[drowsy ember]

so learning C++ as the introduction?

actually a bunch of people do recommend to start with C++ despite the reputation

im focusing on the creative stuff right now but i "cant run away" from C++ forever and just use blueprints

[round radish]

c++ will never die and it will always be a higher paid job than BPs

[safe juniper]

why?

[round radish]

Because BPs are extremely limiting and no serious job will hire you just because you know BP.

[gritty socket]

I do level design so my experience is obviously different from programming, but to me one of the great qualities of going to a game dev oriented school is being able to work on projects with other disciplines and learn the workflow of making projects start to finish within a team.

[drowsy ember]

im just a bit nervous considering that me dipping my toes into the world of coding by starting with Python didnt turn out well xD

just imagine that with C++

[round radish]

BPs are a tool you use to add to other things, like being a level designer or tech artist. BPs help you do those things. Being a "bp programmer" is not a job.

[drowsy ember]

i still dont think that i was too stupid tho

the mistake was somewhere else

[round radish]

www.learncpp.com

Go

[drowsy ember]

thats where im going to go but right now im heavily focusing on the creative part + blueprints

[round radish]

That is obviously very valuable and if that's what you want out of it, it's probably a good idea. But you can also get that for free if you join a volunteer group. Quality may vary.

[gritty socket]

Yeah a bit hit or miss with those, but that's the same for universities I guess.

Just need to find a way to develop your soft skills next to your coding/art/design skills ^^

[chilly sundial]

Yeah, a lot of people see University as a waste for a lot of Big Tech, if you don't need it for visa purposes and such.
To me though, just having the structure was valuable, I wouldn't have had motivation otherwise.

There were also some decent opportunities.
I wouldn't have done it if the cost was absurd, fortunately in the UK there's a maximum tuition, and it's not an insanely high amount, and neither are government student loan repayments.
I'd have probably skipped a degree entirely if I was against US's education system, unless I magically happened across a scholarship :P

[granite solar]

Hell, in my experience the quality will vary greatly even in university/college. In 5 years, I didn't have a single group project that wasn't a shit experience and I ended up refusing to do group projects in my last two years - going to end up doing everything in the end anyways, might as well start there. Granted, I didn't go to a college known for game dev like DigiPen or Full Sail, just a local college that happened to have a game programming degree. But the majority of students had the mindset of, "I like video games and I have great ideas." but next to desire to do anything on that.

Aside from that, developing soft skills is something that college helped with significantly and I don't think I would have developed outside of that environment. Especially dealing with terrible team members 😅 And similar to ACuppaTea, the structure and being held accountable by another party helped me in the beginning. But in terms of hard skills and the technical side, I would have saved a lot of time and a lot more money not going to college.

For context, I went to college in the US. The cost per credit was around $330 when I enrolled. Currently it is $608 per credit. Which means a minimum full-time semester is $7k. (not counting additional cost for whatever supplies you may need. That's strictly to enroll in the courses.)

[chilly sundial]

Oh yeah, no doubt the hard skills were largely developed by myself anyway, I just didn't have the motivation to do it otherwise. There's some stuff I probably wouldn't have known about otherwise, but in terms of actually being able to do it, those skills were self developed.

My year thus far in industry has done far more wonders for building hard and soft skills than university though. Learned more on the job than I have in the past 3 years of uni and doing things myself :P. I just think it would have taken longer to get myself to a point of being hirable without the uni.

Not doing anything game specific, even in the more renowned universities over here they still tend to suck.
My actual degree is computer science for games, which is a roundabout way of saying it's general computer science, but more a specialisation in the things that go into making computer graphics and engines, like RHI's, and the maths behind various rendering algorithms.

There was a guy I knew on the game design course, and all they did for the first year was some art, design a board game, and learn BP basics, and do some 3D modelling. Which is my similar experience when I did a diploma in game design.

It's been a great experience for me personally, but it's one of those I would only reccomend if you think you need it for reasons other than learning the material

[granite solar]

It can also help ease you into the industry through internships and whatnot if the university happens to have connections.

[chilly sundial]

Yep, that's how I managed to break in sometime last year

Doing a sandwich course which has a gap year for working in the industry

[round radish]

Read #instructions

[torpid salmon]

Okay sorry

[round radish]

It's cool. Good luck 🙂

[high lintel]

Hello guys, I was wondering if it is necessary to be able to make your own 3d engine in order to be in this industry profesionally? Since many of the gamedev companies use their own game engine, do you have to be able to craft something like that (it is ofc great skill to posses)? I am currently learning opengl but have already realized that I might have bit more than I can chew. I could probably master it with a lot of time and practice, but since I am close to finishing my university and will have to find job in about a year, I suppouse that I should have made some big projects by now. For that reason alone, I wanted to turn to UE5 because of all the awesome features that would allow me to make something meaningful in shorter amount of time (it would still take a lot of time since I am just starting out) compared to making all from the scratch. I realize that I've started all of this pretty late since I am almost finishing university, but some guidance would really help me decide on what technology should I use, and in which direction should I move.

[round radish]

I was wondering if it is necessary to be able to make your own 3d engine in order to be in this industry profesionally?
Absolutely not

[chilly sundial]

No.
A game designer isn't even doing programming.
Neither is a writer, or an artist
Even game programmers don't possess such things.

It's also worth noting that learning opengl is but a small subset of engine making. OpenGL is graphics programming, not engine programmer.
If you are going for an engine programmer role, it would be probably be a useful thing to have :D

[round radish]

Most people in the industry probably have a fairly average, if not basic, understanding of c++. The true die hard experts are pretty rare.

(and that's if they're a programmer)

[oblique ice]

i only launch VS and created CPP project from unreal, not more, but i seen software enginner alot of knowledge in C#, CPP

[high lintel]

Thank you for all the answers 🙂

I would like to bi programmer (not talented and creative enough for artist, and I am studying computer science so it seems kind of logical way). I understand that you have to have good math background aswell as programming and problem solving ability (as for any programming job)

[high lintel]

Oh so there are people that specifically make engine and then other programmers make game using that engine? I assumed that you have to be able to both make engine and then make game in it

[chilly sundial]

Yep, the most important thing is to build up a portfolio, and pick what kind of programming you want to do best

[high lintel]

Yes I agree

I am long way from adding anything to my portfolio, but you gotta start somewhere I guess

[chilly sundial]

Yes, programming is many different sectors.
Gameplay programmer - makes gameplay mechanics
Engine programmer - Extends an engine or works on the in house engine
Graphics programmer - deals with anything and everything graphics, using rhi's, implementing various rendering features, some shader work etc.
Tools programmer - Works on tools for teams to use, both in engines and out of engines
Software Engineer - Tends to work on your more traditional applications
AI programmer - deals specifically with AI, in Unreal would use things like Mass

Only one of those has to have competencies in making an engine, and not all of them need competency in making gameplay mechanics

[high lintel]

I thought of developing some key mechanics that I would like to use in a game and then building off from that. I am now pretty sure that I will use unreal instead of making my engine since I am underqualified for that currently 🙂

[chilly sundial]

That's a great starting point

[high lintel]

I have merged all of those sectors into 1 in my head hahah

thank you for clarification

[high lintel]

That's actually relief to hear, I will focus on gameplay programming. Thank you very much for the replies 🙂

[chilly sundial]

Good luck in your journey!

[high lintel]

Thank you very much! All the best to you aswell

[gloomy condor]

its been stuck here for 3 hours

[uncut kraken]

I need some advice/knowledge.
I am considering learning blender.
I know Maya.
Will someone explain to me,
does Maya allow you to sell your work at any points, rather you buy the programs or not?
then Can you actually buy Maya?
Once I am out of college I don't mind buying maya if it isn't aweful price, but otherwise I might as well learn blender.

[green oyster]

@uncut kraken you can use Maya Indie subscription for like 300 euros per year

but between the two of the I would pick Blender

[vocal aurora]

I used Maya 20 years and switched to Blender 🙂

[oblique ice]

which your prefer maya?

[uncut kraken]

Thank you, I will consider.
But I'm learning blender from Ryan King, and he is pretty cool

[EDITED]
I like Maya cause it's what I know.
I messed with (3d/2d programs):
Maya, 3Ds max, Revit, AutoCad, Soft Image, Inventor
These are the recall

[green oyster]

For the record most studios use Maya, with 3ds being used more for archviz. But nowadays plenty let you use whatever gets the job done

[uncut kraken]

Thank you

[uncut kraken]

Does anyone know if you can edit maya projects in maya indie and visa versa?

[round radish]

You may find more direct help in maya server.

[green oyster]

Yes, there's no difference but the license terms

[vocal aurora]

save your files as .ma and not .mb and you can open / save them wherever

[main sable]

Ay guys can you give me some honest feedback about my portfolio https://kuzu3d.artstation.com/

[vocal aurora]

Looks good, but you need to use more varied textures in your interior renders if you want more realism. It looks "too perfect" to be real. Then just keep adding new work for a bigger portfolio

[oblique ice]

good job!

[mint skiff]

I swear I've seen this before...

Sickle has problems with dielectric-metal transition artefacting on the blood. Glaring issue to be on portfolio.

Otherwise if I'm remembering correctly the portfolio has improved

[uncut kraken]

Thank you so much for the heads up!

[tawny cloak]

I think it's rust

[round radish]

What is dielectric-metal transition artefacting?

[chilly sundial]

It sounds like something from a 90's sci-fi movie :P

[green oyster]

In pbr shading the metals use metalness maps for specular reflections and the blood doesn't, but low resolution, compression or bad masks don't make a realistic transition between them, it should be a clear border between blood rust and metal not fuzzy white

[round radish]

Yeah that looks like rust, though.

[green oyster]

maybe oxidation not rust, rust is not white

actually yeah, it wasn't blood 😆 but I was talking about the white borders anyway

it does look like blood on mobile

[shrewd eagle]

Howdy everyone, how do I set up a freelancer ad on this discord? Thank you 🙂

[round radish]

Have you read the #instructions channel?

[shrewd eagle]

Lol, well now it's obvious haha

Thanks, sorry, I'm kind of new with discord.

[round radish]

No worries. 🙂

Why did I say thread ?! Anyway...

[iron crag]

Hey everyone, if I wanted to pivot into game dev as a generalist in small indie studios, what is the bar for C++ experience? I'm not new to programming but I'm not formally trained. I also bring a lot to the table in terms of artistic skills.

My fear is I won't be employable without a strong, intermediate understanding of C++ in and out of the engine. Is this true?

[mint skiff]

Yes, if you want to be a programmer for a company that uses C++

[brave forge]

It depends. I guess a big thing is what's your bar of "small indie studio". A small startup indie is likely started by a group of college friends or local meetup groups and isn't really "hiring" in that sense. So whatever you can bring is fine as long as you can find this kind of group. It's also likely a revshare kind of project or atleast not industry level pay

Smaller more established or funded indie studios of 10 or more people are likely to want generalists who still have a heavy slant towards one domain. Moving closer towards the idea of a "T - shaped" person. If you are leaning more on the art and content side, there will be less requirement for c++, but BP would be expected. If you were leaning more on the dev side, then absolutely a good grounding in c++ would be expected

[iron crag]

I think revshare or hobby level is where I'd like to start since it's a good place to build a body of work / proof of competency.

My idea of small indie is definitely in the 10 person size category. I understand what you mean when you say generalists with a heavy focus. I could imagine needing to hire and thinking "I need someone who can make my 3D assets, but isn't afraid to impliment those assets into gameplay systems). So I'd be looking for a focus on asset creation, but a generalist skillset.

I'm currently working on my own game right now, but it'll be a while before I have anything to show anyone. What steps do you think are best to take if I want to pivot from my current industry (Visual Effects) into game dev? Are rev share projects valuable for this, or would I be in a smilar or better position focusing on my own game to completion?

[brave forge]

thinking "I need someone who can make my 3D assets, but isn't afraid to impliment those assets into gameplay systems). So I'd be looking for a focus on asset creation, but a generalist skillset
This is where BP excels. For this level i'd expect some reasonable BP competency, but not c++

[mint skiff]

Tbh if you're doing software engineering as anything other than a software engineer you are probably getting ripped off

[brave forge]

Are rev share projects valuable for this, or would I be in a smilar or better position focusing on my own game to completion?
Working with a team is a valuable skill, however a portfolio where you can show what you worked on and show what you learned is also very valuable. I doubt many revshare teams are following ideal practices for version control and reviews etc that you'd see in industry, so the value of the teamwork experience isn't so clear on revshare projects

Personally I wouldn't work on revshare projects unless I actually believed in the project or knew the people and enjoyed working with them and it was a way to boost my portfolio. I wouldn't go out of my way hunting for a revshare project just to get experience. Work on your own stuff is fine

[brave forge]

this is also true

[turbid pollen]

hey guys, im starting as a junior tech artist / 3D artist soon and have been asked for salary expectations. I have 0 experience in how much i should ask for, so i figuered i could ask here. This will be a part time position while i finish my studium in a bigger city in Germany.

[iron crag]

Thanks. I had a hunch this may be the case but it's good to know for sure. Super reassuring. Thanks for all the advice.

[undone obsidian]

Monitor advice, Currently have 22" flat and a 27" curved monitor in landscape. Looking for opinions on going ultrawide or something as i just want to have 2 essentially full screen applications open at the same time. Looking at possibly 34/40 Ultrawides

[chilly sundial]

My favourite career chat

In all seriousness, you want #hardware

[crude seal]

Question for you BorisTSR. Long story short I was in Oil & Gas JS/Typerscript/Ember but I'm trying to move to videogame C++. Had some job interviews for Unreal game dev but didn't get any because my C++ wasn't good enough.

Have created some games in my spare time that are on Steam. I learned how to be decent at C++ by trial and error, can modify code and implement changes to source but I don't know the technical terms. Is there a good learning resource specific to Unreal that teaches the absolute basics for C++ that would help me get a job? I'm really good at math, logic, coding, replication, physics and engineering I just don't know the C++ fundamentals it was all self-taught. A crash-course on fundamentals specific to Unreal would be super advantageous.

[chilly sundial]

Learncpp.com is your go to. You don't want to limit yourself to unreal specific code

You can get away with it for your own stuff, but not as much for industry work

[crude seal]

At the start I do want to limit to Unreal dev to gain a foundation. So I can get the top 40 or 50 tidbits of terminology I'll need to get the job as the framework for game dev. There's so much knowledge to gain it's easy to spend time learning concepts that aren't valuable or specific to gaming.

I was close to getting the jobs I interviewed for, it's not a massive learning bridge to cross. So start specific then get more general after that. Didn't really want to work for those companies anyway it was a good trial run.

I will check out Learncpp.com and go through the absolute basics though, thanks for the link. It's very well structured actually, good resource. Better than some University curriculum. I'll do the courses while my builds are packaging. Tried reading some uni textbooks and other online courses but they weren't nearly as good.

[plucky basin]

I wasn't the one asked, but, I'm a software engineer on the engine team of a game company working in Unreal, the advice I give to rejected entry level candidates is to practice C++ largely outside of Unreal with a personal project - it sounds like you're already doing this but as a quick check the main goals from doing this is to have a project big enough that you have to care about object ownership and lifetimes and are making some significant architecture decisions, but not so big that you're getting too lost or too discouraged. If your previous projects haven't gotten you practice in those two areas I'd try to find one that does. I also strongly recommend Effective C++ by Scott Meyers, it is consistently good and salient enough for every day programming that members of my team reread it regularly, and as a bonus its a pretty good cheat sheet for C++ specific programming interviews.

FWIW I don't particularly care about a candidate's Unreal specific knowledge because we may have modified that part of the engine anyways, I care about their ability to read code and dilligently pursue tasks and write clean code themselves, as such I tend to care more about their general C++ chops and "teachability", and assume that I can teach them what they need to know about Unreal as we go along

[dusky fable]

You don't get a job by knowing the basics. You get a job by having a deep understanding of the language.

[brave forge]

I think these other folk have answered the questions well. I do think if you are tripping over at interviews on C++ then getting a good understanding of C++ without unreal will help. You'll get a finer intuition about what unreal header tool, and all those random macros are doing if you understand the language better.

[crude seal]

Basics is the wrong word. Was really looking for an outline of topics to learn in depth so I don't waste time.

You have all given good advice already though, starting to study. The books I studied before were not very good. Also joined a local game dev club with some professionals that I'll be able to bounce C++ ideas off of. Thanks, muchos appreciated.

[woeful iron]

check pins in #cpp , also teh effective c++ book that was mentioned is actually really nice, even for more than basics

[plucky hatch]

I just got my bachelors in computer science, and I have a couple of months to train my skills in order to land a position in a game company, any advice on what I should focus on other than making games?

what are unreal devs and companies looking for

[dusky fable]

Work on your portfolio, which should be tech demos of systems and not solo games. Do some game jams for experience working with a multidisciplinary team, prototyping and rapid iteration.

[idle maple]

Aslong as it's related to programming in games, anything will do. That's how we look for interns/juniors

[silk token]

I'm starting a freelance career as a UE/XR developer with ~7.5 years of experience. How do I get over the fear of big numbers when discussing rates

[woeful iron]

why are you afraid of big numbers

[silk token]

Impostor syndrome

Also big number for me might not be big number for companies

[round radish]

Just do it.

If they complain, maybe you overreached.

[silk token]

Fair nuff