Ask a games programmer

[ParadigmShifter]

I normally do 8 cans a night when I am at home. Sometimes more at weekends.

I wouldn't recommend that though. I'm not as fat as the Lead Designer, anyway.

 

[Luckymoose]

Dwarf Fortress is never going to pay the rent though. It's a niche game and a labour of love. Most people aren't going to touch it with a bargepole. I love NetHack, so I can see where you are coming from. But it's a hobby, that kind of thing, these days.

He does pay the rent with it. And brings in around 2-4k dollars a month in donations from the very large fan base.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

That's not very much though.

The Angry Birds people are doing well (as is the Minecraft guy). Angry Birds company got valued at £600m I think... wow.

 

[aelf]

I normally do 8 cans a night when I am at home. Sometimes more at weekends.

I wouldn't recommend that though. I'm not as fat as the Lead Designer, anyway.

Is beer a major expenditure for you? Do you drink because of the pressures of work or just for fun?

 

[Luckymoose]

That's not very much though.

The Angry Birds people are doing well (as is the Minecraft guy). Angry Birds company got valued at £600m I think... wow.

That is surprisingly well for a programmer giving a game away for free. Now the easiest market is definitely the mobile market, individuals can make a small fortune on the idiots who play mobile games.

As for a question, Why do you insist on learning C++? I much prefer Java, C# and Python and I think as machines grow more powerful the benefits of C++ are really negated. What do you think?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

You are always going to get more bang for your buck from C++. C# and Java are nice though. We use C# for Windows GUI stuff.

 

[Luckymoose]

You are always going to get more bang for your buck from C++. C# and Java are nice though. We use C# for Windows GUI stuff.

I think this is a fallacy. The bang for your buck considers boilerplate code, memory leaks and other issues that high level languages often keep to a minimum? I believe the future is moving away from the C/C++ standard and it will only open the markets to better applications and definitely games. Why hurt yourself when you can do the same program in less time and less headaches in a higher level language?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

In the future, probably. Not yet though.

All the APIs for consoles are C or C++. The graphics APIs are all C, and physics and stuff is C++.

 

[Luckymoose]

In the future, probably. Not yet though.

All the APIs for consoles are C or C++. The graphics APIs are all C, and physics and stuff is C++.

Consoles yes, but that market is probably in the last few years of life unless the next generation pulls away from the motion controlled focus. For PC gaming, creators are clearly pulling towards more high level language alternatives and even if you need C, say while making a program in Python, there are extensions to do that. There is really no reason to continue using C, unless you are programming for OSX or iOS, as it requires Objective-C I think.

While on this subject, what do you think is the future of gaming? Major studios or smaller indie studios?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

The core engine will still be C/C++.

Scripting is handy for extensibility.

I still think major studios have the upper hand (money behind them). We are looking at about half a million quid for motion capture/facial capture stuff. We couldn't afford that without a major backer.

 

[GoodGame]

Dunno. I probably wouldn't play a game like that though They can't make a lot of money, unless they are really popular.

Right.
A lot of them are based on the MMO model of getting tons of players online at the same time in a coop/PvP mode, so from a marketing angle it can be genius since they get lots of players drawn to the free game-play experience. The profit comes from either making the game "pay to win" (you aren't fully competitive if you don't pay in for various DLC or services), or make advancement in the game partially based on experience point grinding that is only alleviated by payments. But yeah, they have to have some kind of fun factor, and fairness, to make people play at all.


@Luckymoose, I'd think the marketing aspect is somewhat obvious in that we get huge failures (e.g. Spore) and then indie overnight successes published through friendly online distribution (e.g. Terraria published in part through Steam). I'd say the market is available to all scales, especially since the number of platforms for gaming increases all the time with new gadgets, such that a programmer to freelance and make a living, though obviously not be as productive of as a big studio (e.g. a MW2 or BF3).

 

[Flying Pig]

Does working on video games take the fun out of playing them?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Nah, we know are games aren't that fun, and funner games are available

 

[holy king]

how do you feel about spending your time creating things you dont care about and think are crap?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

It pays the rent.

 

[MjM]

What is your favorite genre of video game and why?
Favorite video game series?
Games you currently play?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

It's a toss up between Zelda and Mario. Pikmin was great too.

I currently play civ IV and not too interested in XBox games.

 

[Quackers]

Pikmin was excellent.
What do you think of COD series?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Never played it. Only FPS I have played recently is Half Life 2. Not as good graphics as I remember And it's a big wiggly line, as in, very linear.

 

[NedimNapoleon]

How do you climb up the hierarchy