Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
they solved some sticky problems. The
involved understanding how character
movement was supposed to feel. Once I had a clue, I had to convert that feeling
to a piece of code that fixed the problem
art
that was science, mostly math. Two sides
of your brain working together can solve some really cool problems. Even if you
understand the science, sometimes it
'
s up to you to tweak it, like an artist tweaks a
smile on a portrait.
It
s great to take a game design discussion with you to lunch. You can have a heated
debate on whether the master zombie characters came from outer space or originated
here on Earth the result of some tragic experiment. You get the weirdest looks, as
someone screams,
'
Damn it, everyone knows that it
'
s better for the zombies to come
from space!
I have the most fun coding, especially when things are going well. Game code can be
pretty difficult stuff, and you frequently have to break some new ground here and
there. This is especially true when you are playing with new hardware like the latest
console development kits. When working at Red Fly Studio on Thor 3DS, no one had
worked on stereoscopic 3D rendering before, and it was both fun and tricky to figure
out how to do it right. Sometimes you can break new ground when you figure out
how to implement a customized version of a classic algorithm so that it runs fast
enough to be in a game instead of a textbook.
Probably the best part of game coding is starting from scratch and allowing every-
thing in your libraries to be refreshed and rewritten if necessary. While you are fin-
ishing, you can
t make drastic changes, and you are forced to live with some
annoying hacks and hastily designed objects. When the project is done and you are
starting the next one, there ' s nothing better than throwing off those shackles. Refac-
toring, reorganizing, and rewriting an older system so that it really shines is
extremely rewarding. Games probably offer more freedom than other types of pro-
gramming projects because game code can have a very short shelf life. Of course, I
say that knowing full well that some of my code might very well still be alive in
Ultima Online, 10 years after it went live. Still, the state of the art moves pretty fast,
and as a game developer you
'
'
ll be pedaling as fast as you can.
The Gamers
If you work in the games industry, people want to know about your company and
your projects. They talk to you about your job because it
s high profile. They want
to know when they can play your game. Depending on the company you work for
and what game you are working on, you may not be able to say a single word
about it. (Secrecy can be very important when working with companies like Nintendo
'
 
 
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