I was recently contracted to make a neat prototype of a game. It's a twinstick shooter with MOBA elements, you got minions coming out of towers attacking other minions and the goal is to destroy towers to make your way in and destroy the enemy base.
My first game: A small dungeon-crawler style treasure hunter, written in JavaScript with Phaser 3. I'd like to note that those are not my assets, I only worked on this for two weeks and I also learned JavaScript and Phaser 3 in that time.
How has the actual process of developing your idea been different from your initial expectations and assumptions?
Do you have previous experience with a creative hobby/skill/profession (even if it's another sect of software development), and what challenges have you faced in the shifting of your creative paradigm? What's different?
Before I started, I already had some experience with python for simple scripts and Discord bots. I also watched a lot of tutorials for Godot, but I quickly lost interest in Godot because at the time I felt like I wasn't ready for stuff this complex. I also felt like Phaser3 isn't really beginner-friendly either, because of there not being a lot of ressources. The one's that exist are pretty meh. The official docs don't have examples or good explanations, and the official examples are confusing to navigate and it's hard to find what you need. In terms of JS, it was similar enough to python for me to understand the basics, so that was pretty okay.
Apart from that, I had a good amount of knowledge for GIMP and VSC to use them properly.
At the start I wanted to create a way different game, but I quickly realised that my idea was way too simple, and done already so many times that it's hard to do anything unique with it.
But after a few days of coding, it became easier and easier, because I realised how similar my ideas were to implement. Or it was the other way around, that I came up with ideas that I knew how to implement, idk.
TLDR: Didn't really have a plan, tried out different game ideas, and further developed ideas for the current game simultaneously while learning how to implement ideas.
I came to most of the same conclusions. I really like Rust, I'm glad it exists, I'm amazed by the people who designed it. It is not very good for creative work at all.
Honestly the "rewrite it in rust" meme is actually the use case where it shines: when all the requirements are 100% clear up front, and you just need to make a new version of some software that is much faster and more reliable. That is not what game development is like.
Most of my programs are in C Link. Would this turn them off? I have no issue learning a new language mind you, let alone, superset of one I know. What worries me is the standard library. It's not hard to learn a language, it's hard to learn its standard library. For example, Rust has an extremely non-POSIX-ly STD. It really turns me off. To this day I have no clue how to close a file in Rust. I am implementing AWK in Rust, since there's already an AWK in Go and I think there must be one in Rust. However there's no damn close function! There's no file descriptors. I know Rust does most of its shit during compile-time and it's mostly a meta language with focus on denotational semantics (which I just happen to write a Gist document about here) so I finally had to make a ChatGPT model to explain Rust to me. I have a ChatGPT model for most languages, just to look them up.
I am also making a Ruby script to create manpages for Rust. Based on the JSON files that come with Rust-Doc package on Pop_OS!. If anyone wants to help me with those. that would be great. Thanks.
Honestly that all looks good, if you were able to demonstrate graph theory, with something like a-star and some game mods you would probably be able to bust into the industry.
Just keep in mind you'll probably need to start out in a junior role first.
As it happens, I am in the process of making a documentation language with equation and graph support, taking hints from GraphViz, and initially targets PostScript. Structurally, I know how DAGs work. I have used DAGs in this abandoned compiler I was working on:
I stopped working on it. I also learned about graphs in HS and first semester of college at DiscMath class, but they were basic info. I then learned about graphs by reading Rosen's discmath. I wanna read 7th edition. But ChatGPT has made me lazy. Why read a book fully when I can make a model, tell it to absorb the book (I think they have downloaded the entire libgen into their model? Am I wrong here? Why does it know every book libgen has, and does not know every book ligen does NOT have?) and then quiz it? haha.
Does one have to specialize in proprietary engines (unreal and unity) or do you mean general knowledge of how things work in these engines (I'm a Godot person, that's why I'm asking).
I was invited to a FLOSS engine project, I think it was Piston. I did not know much so I just bailed. I usually prefer making stuff from scratch because my aim is to learn, I know the software I write has no use. Like rn I am writing a UNIX shell. Just to learn (I just remoted it, see my profile).
Still, I doubt I will ever get a systems job. I don't have a degree. I dropped out. I will get one eventually, but I doubt the shirtty thirdie for-profit college I can afford is going to be attractive to recruiters.
I do have a job currently, it pays enough for thirdie living especially given the devaluation of currency here. I just want to have a job where I am not ignored for days by my client, like the job I have now.
I think it's everyone's dream to make a FLOSS that attracts pay piggies, I would like that too but I don't put much stonk on it. It's as delusional as people who clone a Todo app and expect to get hired by anyone.
Delusions run rampant in this discipline sadly. People are entitled. I think a degree is important because I would personally not entrust a non-degree holder with the stuff I personally like.
You are right that having a shiny education gives people a huge advantage. It's not everything though.
For example, I have a friend who makes 6 figures in europe doing performance-oriented C++ work, with no degree. Once you get the first job it becomes far easier.
Getting the first job is tough, but having personal projects really helps. Don't undersell yourself. You need to give people the impression that you dropped out due to pure happenstance (e.g. health or family issues that are now resolved). Make them think that you are a lucky find; if you had finished the degree you'd already be at a bigger company with a bigger salary.
Yeah you are right. Still, the sanctions make things hard to find job in most American or even Western European countries. American countries literally need a permission from the state department to 'officially' hire from here, but Western European countries avoid hiring Iranians because banking is extremely limited -- at least in theory. I have 2 PayPal accounts, one under my own name, one under some dude's name I don't know. With courier services it's very easy to transfer money. Even given the 'recent developments'. Not to mention crypto. Also, banks such as Turkey's Ziraat open accounts for Iranian nationales in a day or two, problem is, you have to be physically there. I am home-bound, a homebody. That is why I dropped out of JDM. I could not simply convince myself to step out of the threshold of our home. It's either very cold, very hot, and when it's temperate, my nose starts running like a ravine. I have lost both my male and female friends as well, to pill addiction (mine, not theirs). Coffee shops here have this thing called 'public table' to make up for the lack of bars and clubs, but I don't simply want to go out. The last time I went out was 6 months ago, no joking. I have two psychiatrists. I just pop Rialin and code.
All the 'cool jobs' here are either military shit which puts you on Bibi's radar, or college-educated only. Shit work exists. But even they don't do remote. Fuck them. Currency is so devalued t makes no sense to work locally.
Sorry if I am trauma-dumping (why is it a word anyways, these damn muricans label everything) --- just venting.
To be honest I have no frame of reference to understand what it's like to try and find a job while navigating the American economic sanctions. It sounds awful. Is there no prospect of finding remote work in the other BRICS nations? I was under the impression that they try to avoid relying on american-controlled software, so I thought this would create some employment opportunities.
There should be plenty. I applied to two in Turkey, they were fine jobs. All these countries are even healthier than America in some aspects, economy-wise. The jobs in Turkey were cool af. There are some duds in BRIC like Turkmenistan though. I think I have to focus my attention on a Christian nation, rather than a Muslim nation. Chances that there would be expats from English-speaking countries in Georgia is much higher than being one in Turkey. And that is the ultimate problem I face, language. I speak Persian natively and English at L2 level, and I would have issues communicating. I once interviewed for an on-site data pipeline engineering job in the capital, I wanted to fail it because moving cities is impossible for me. I interviewed with a Russian dude, or was he Ukrainian or Belarusian, anways, he worked for the Iranian company in questions and his accent was thick, my accent was thick and even if I wanted to pass the test and rail that cute recruiter daily and nightly and ever so rightly, I would not have been able to.
Let's not forget about Russia. They have a much stronger software industry than BRIC nations.
I got one callback from Turkish company, they were making Real-time OSes. Zilch. I don't think even if the Ayatollah rizzed Biden and vice versa and Iran was a member of G7 + 2, it would not have made a difference, neither for BRIC, nor for EU, and none for NA ,os SA or SEA. It's just impossible to get a job when I think of myself worse than dirt.
I’ve worked with many Iranians here in the US and all of them are excellent engineers. At least one of them managed to get over here without a college degree and work his way up to a comfortable software job.
Not having a degree is going to be rough as far as immigration goes… but you’re capable of figuring out complex systems so you’re capable of figuring this out. Easier said than done… but if you keep pushing you’ll get somewhere. If you accept defeat early, you’ll get nowhere.
I'll be honest, and sorry in advance, but it'll help you more. Your cynicism is probably the thing getting in the way. I understand it's rough and not fun, but you've got to avoid it grinding you down.
You need to give yourself reasons to stand out. Making a half baked unfinished engine that no one uses isn't as impresive as improving an existing one that people use. Greenfield projects are rare and you probably not going to get that as a first role. So you need to prove to employers you can take legacy code, learn it, understand it, improve it and get it live. Demonstrating you have the capability to do that on a FOSS project demonstrates you may be able to do that on an in-house engine. You also learn from the code others write. Why did they do it this way? Is it better? What are the pros and cons? Degrees differentiate, yes, but a green person out of uni vs someone who has proven they can do a similar job, you have an advantage. Plus, 5 PRS is probably easier than a new engine. Making one from scratch cannot hurt, but it doesn't prove everything they need to know. Businesses hire because they have a problem and need someone competent to solve that problem. Tick those boxes and remove the risk and you have reasonable chances.
If you only demonstrate you're not comfortable going out of your comfort zone and getting your hands dirty, you are not helping yourself.
So give them reasons to hire you, give yourself a chance, and keep applying. Give yourself a 2% chance, apply to 50 jobs, give yourself a 10% chance, apply for 10, but always go over the odds.
Remember, industry is rough right now. A lot of experienced proven folk got let go in last year. Might need to improve your odds and bide your time.
I was under the impression the company was moving to Unreal for future games. While it's nice to do this for the community, it seems like there isn't much of a future for these tools.
I can't believe the tutorial you followed is 11 hours long. Phew that's a lot of perseverance to get through all that. Nice job, and congrats on your first game!
Game Development
Hot
This magazine is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.