42 réponses à ce sujet

[Moondoggie]

vometia wrote...

I hope so.  Burn-out is a serious risk in high-pressure development environments, and none are so high-pressure as games studios.  Although I'd love a lot of the atmosphere, art, ideas, people and so on, even if something like that dropped into my lap I'd have to consider turning it down because it'd probably finish me off.

That's not to say that everybody can't deal with high-pressure (though in the longer term it's probably best avoided) but an easier route into really hectic technology environments is probably the likes of the investment banking industry: good way of finding out if it's the sort of life one wants to lead without investing quite so much of oneself into something that may or may not work out.  And it'd be a handy thing to have on one's CV.

When he goes for his interview he'll likely see a developer outside on his knees looking up to the sky praying while yelling "KILL ME! KILL ME NOW!" That should give him an idea what's in store.

[Druss99]

The OP might believe right now this is the only thing he wants to do and good luck to him with it but for all the big talk in the world he is still just a 16 year old with an ambitious plan, how many of those fall apart as soon as other responsibilities and things like drink, women and drunk women become a regular part of peoples lives? Hell at 16 I was going to be the first footballer in space, I'm sure you all have similar though possibly less outlandish tales. The boy has his dream and will probably find out the hard way if its for him or not.

[MichaelPaton]

Gaming development isn't something I've wanted to do for months. I've wanted to do it for years. It's an immense amount of work, yes, but I still want to be a part of it. Sometimes age is a very good guideline as to how a person might act, but for me, I try to act as mature as possible. I've never been the type who's like a lot of others. I like to be unique, I like to stand out, to showcase my abilities and work ethic. I'm willing to deal with pressure, I've dealt with it a lot. I see a great validity in all your posts. Coming from a random person who's 16, you could only hope to understand the type of person I am. Yes, I have ambition, but it's an ambition I'm willing to do whatever it takes to live up to. 

Modifié par MichaelPaton, 23 janvier 2011 - 06:49 .

[Moondoggie]

MichaelPaton wrote...

Gaming development isn't something I've wanted to do for months. I've wanted to do it for years. It's an immense amount of work, yes, but I still want to be a part of it. Sometimes age is a very good guideline as to how a person might act, but for me, I try to act as mature as possible. I've never been the type who's like a lot of others. I like to be unique, I like to stand out, to showcase my abilities and work ethic. I'm willing to deal with pressure, I've dealt with it a lot. I see a great validity in all your posts. Coming from a random person who's 16, you could only hope to understand the type of person I am. Yes, I have ambition, but it's an ambition I'm willing to do whatever it takes to live up to. 

You might want to work on pulling your head out of your ass in the next few years while you work on getting qualified with real skills. Skills which you don't have now and which you'll have to work damn hard on in future before you're even close to being ready for the industry. Brag about your own little project all you want and your "role" in that which seems to be some sort of supervisor role/guy who doesn't actually do anything.

You have nothing to offer the industry but the ability to play games and say what you don't like about it and your own inflated sense of self worth.

There is a lot of validity in all the posts some of which come from people with years of industry experience who know exactly what it takes. You have chosen to not heed those words and instead cling to your giant ego bubble. Try to understand your position. Adults with experience versus some 16 year old little boy with a dream. I shouldn't even bother replying so much to you but i'd really like you to understand. You have not even asked what it takes to get into the industry you just assume you have it and want to push your way into the door. You had the chance to learn something but you already think you know everything. Nobody likes some stuck up kid who thinks he knows it all. If i had an intern with the same attitude as you i'd send them packing. And i'm sure most people who do the same. You might think that you are showing some sort of initiative by pretending you have all the answers and have any knowledge whatsoever on the industry you hope to get into but it doesn';t make you look clever.

It just makes you another bratty kid too caught on his own trip to be a valuable asset to anyone.

[vometia]

Moondoggie wrote...

It just makes you another bratty kid too caught on his own trip to be a valuable asset to anyone.

Perhaps harsh, but a valid point.  A prospective employer is highly unlikely to be interested in someone who appears to be unwilling to learn from others: nobody is that special.  Listen first, learn, and in time others will judge your abilities.  Hopefully favourably.  Don't listen and brag about nebulous abilities and doors in the gaming industry (and anywhere else) are unlikely to open for you.

[Stanley Woo]

MichaelPaton wrote...

Stanley Woo wrote...
*mean face on, list of difficult questions prepared*

So what precisely is your contribution to this MMO your team is making? What makes you think you can succeed with a ragtag team of volunteers when entire companies of paid, experienced professionals have lived and died on similar projects? What's the scope of the project, and how long do you expect it will take to complete? And what position are you hoping to get at BioWare? And what makes you think you would be a good developer, besides being popular and punctual and not easily bored?

You are 16. What will you be doing until you are old enough to work at a a development studio? what do you do besides gaming and gaming related things?

My contribution to the team is design and management. By design, I am not referring to the actual 3D design of the game, but things such as the design document, balancing of weapons and buildings, etc; as well as ensuring the levels are designed to work on both sides equally. We have a low budget  for our team, and yes, we're only spending a number of thousand as opposed to a number of million on development. We believe that we could succeed because of the resources we have, and a couple communities which members of the team are administrators on. These forums cumulatively have 500,000+ members. Each forum has over 5000 premium members which each paid $10 for their status. As well as free advertising here, we hope to advertise through other means. We plan to make our game cheap, to have the price at $10 to beta players, who will play for free during the beta. The full retail price for regular people is planned to be $20.

Whoa, that sounds a lot like you're getting ahead of yourself here. What's the 500,000 number for, potential developers? Your market? Investors?

Now, for the position I aspire to get at BioWare:
I can easily see from your point of view how ridiculous you think I sound wanting a job at BioWare.

I don't think you're ridiculous at all. My questions were serious. Regardless, your posts already put you ahead of other, similar threads I've read.

I broke my humorous bone in May and it completely overlapped itself (yes that's a bone name, and no, it wasn't funny when it happened).

It's humourous that the bone name is humerus, but I understand the confusion. Not trying to be a jerkface, but you emphasized the point so I thought I'd correct you. Also, sorry to hear about your arm. That's gotta suck.

I'm still not totally convinced that your proejct will ever see the light of day, but that's neither here nor there. Experience in working on such a project is still experience. I applaud you for your enthusiasm and actually working on a project in an industry you love.

BUT...

Slow down, man. You've still got two years before you're old enough to sign legal documents, which is usually required when working at a development studio. For now, don't worry about getting a development job and keep doing what you're doing. Stay in school, get good grades, and maybe you'll find something you want to go to college for. Do that, and work your butt off to do the best you can at school and your project. You'll probably want that project to be done (or abandoned, however it works out) before you get an industry job, as it would be unlikely that a dev studio would let you continue making a commerical game while working for them.

By the time you're 18, you might not want to do something as relatively low-paying as QA. You might decide that project management is what you want to do, or design, or something else entirely. You don't have to impress people now, you need to do it when you're in a position to work for them. But if you are as dedicated and hard-working as you say, and if your project gets completed, then I'm sure you'll have no problems at all finding a development job, even if it's in QA. And really, don't pin all your hopes on just one studio. There are lots of development studios out there, large and small. don't dismiss them just because they're not BioWare.

[Moondoggie]

vometia wrote...

Moondoggie wrote...

It just makes you another bratty kid too caught on his own trip to be a valuable asset to anyone.

Perhaps harsh, but a valid point.  A prospective employer is highly unlikely to be interested in someone who appears to be unwilling to learn from others: nobody is that special.  Listen first, learn, and in time others will judge your abilities.  Hopefully favourably.  Don't listen and brag about nebulous abilities and doors in the gaming industry (and anywhere else) are unlikely to open for you.

I had a random rage moment >.>

I'm allowed one a day and several during certain times of the month.

[Druss99]

Moondoggie wrote...

vometia wrote...

Moondoggie wrote...

It just makes you another bratty kid too caught on his own trip to be a valuable asset to anyone.

Perhaps harsh, but a valid point.  A prospective employer is highly unlikely to be interested in someone who appears to be unwilling to learn from others: nobody is that special.  Listen first, learn, and in time others will judge your abilities.  Hopefully favourably.  Don't listen and brag about nebulous abilities and doors in the gaming industry (and anywhere else) are unlikely to open for you.

I had a random rage moment >.>

I'm allowed one a day and several during certain times of the month.

Thats so sexist. I want a get out of rage free card too . Never again would I have to goad someone into starting it.

Anyway he may be coming across like a know it all who doesn't listen but he is a 16 year old on the internet, what do you expect? He has time to learn that he doesn't know as much as he thinks he does, alot of people have to learn that lesson the hard way. Offering advice or anything at this stage is pointless when he hasn't even taken the first step to getting qualifications its all just big talk for the time being.

[Bryy_Miller]

Moondoggie wrote...
 several during certain times of the month.

Now that I know that, I figure you should be called Gidget and not Moondoggie.

[MichaelPaton]

Stanley Woo wrote...

MichaelPaton wrote...

Stanley Woo wrote...
*mean face on, list of difficult questions prepared*

So what precisely is your contribution to this MMO your team is making? What makes you think you can succeed with a ragtag team of volunteers when entire companies of paid, experienced professionals have lived and died on similar projects? What's the scope of the project, and how long do you expect it will take to complete? And what position are you hoping to get at BioWare? And what makes you think you would be a good developer, besides being popular and punctual and not easily bored?

You are 16. What will you be doing until you are old enough to work at a a development studio? what do you do besides gaming and gaming related things?

My contribution to the team is design and management. By design, I am not referring to the actual 3D design of the game, but things such as the design document, balancing of weapons and buildings, etc; as well as ensuring the levels are designed to work on both sides equally. We have a low budget  for our team, and yes, we're only spending a number of thousand as opposed to a number of million on development. We believe that we could succeed because of the resources we have, and a couple communities which members of the team are administrators on. These forums cumulatively have 500,000+ members. Each forum has over 5000 premium members which each paid $10 for their status. As well as free advertising here, we hope to advertise through other means. We plan to make our game cheap, to have the price at $10 to beta players, who will play for free during the beta. The full retail price for regular people is planned to be $20.

Whoa, that sounds a lot like you're getting ahead of yourself here. What's the 500,000 number for, potential developers? Your market? Investors?

Now, for the position I aspire to get at BioWare:
I can easily see from your point of view how ridiculous you think I sound wanting a job at BioWare.

I don't think you're ridiculous at all. My questions were serious. Regardless, your posts already put you ahead of other, similar threads I've read.

I broke my humorous bone in May and it completely overlapped itself (yes that's a bone name, and no, it wasn't funny when it happened).

It's humourous that the bone name is humerus, but I understand the confusion. Not trying to be a jerkface, but you emphasized the point so I thought I'd correct you. Also, sorry to hear about your arm. That's gotta suck.

I'm still not totally convinced that your proejct will ever see the light of day, but that's neither here nor there. Experience in working on such a project is still experience. I applaud you for your enthusiasm and actually working on a project in an industry you love.

BUT...

Slow down, man. You've still got two years before you're old enough to sign legal documents, which is usually required when working at a development studio. For now, don't worry about getting a development job and keep doing what you're doing. Stay in school, get good grades, and maybe you'll find something you want to go to college for. Do that, and work your butt off to do the best you can at school and your project. You'll probably want that project to be done (or abandoned, however it works out) before you get an industry job, as it would be unlikely that a dev studio would let you continue making a commerical game while working for them.

By the time you're 18, you might not want to do something as relatively low-paying as QA. You might decide that project management is what you want to do, or design, or something else entirely. You don't have to impress people now, you need to do it when you're in a position to work for them. But if you are as dedicated and hard-working as you say, and if your project gets completed, then I'm sure you'll have no problems at all finding a development job, even if it's in QA. And really, don't pin all your hopes on just one studio. There are lots of development studios out there, large and small. don't dismiss them just because they're not BioWare.

Thanks for the response, Stanley. I went ahead and sent you a PM as opposed to a reply. I'd greatly appreciate it if you read it and responded when you had the time.

Thank you! 

[Bryy_Miller]

This is a mistake I used to make, too, but don't tell people that it's okay if they read it later.

[Moondoggie]

Bryy_Miller wrote...

Now that I know that, I figure you should be called Gidget and not Moondoggie.

My partner already got that name since she is a big fan of those movies and she ended up with the nickname. When we started dating she was calling me her "Moondoggie" and the name just kinda stuck.

[Bryy_Miller]

Not to derail the topic, but that movie (the first one) has possibly the only deus ex machina ending that actually works in modern storytelling.

[Moondoggie]

It does seem to be an ultra rare occourence where it actually works. Though it's early and i've watched so many Gidget movies that i can never remember how the first one ends. If i recall correctly it had something to do with the "king of the beach" taking advantage of her and her getting dramticly rescued from his clutches XD

[Bryy_Miller]

No, it ends with Moondoggie being revealed as the "nice boy next door".

[Moondoggie]

Bryy_Miller wrote...

No, it ends with Moondoggie being revealed as the "nice boy next door".

Ah yes. Thinking about it that is a really nonsensical ending. You'd think she would have noticed him if he lived next door all this time

[Deathwurm]

Fozee brings up a really good point...The more well rounded you are in general, the better you'll be at anything you pursue.

Doing some extended study in Literature, especially concetrating on Mythology and Epic Stories will take you far. A little Joseph Campbell might help as well...try "Hero with a Thousand Faces" it's a bit dry but you are more than capable of handling it based on what you've written here so far.

Another quick suggestion to possibly make a bit of money for your Dev team...I'm not sure if you are familiar with a site called "Kongregate"...it's a place where Devs can put their Games up for people to play (it was just bought by Gamestop) They have Cash Contests for devs based on community voting and also have a place for folks who like your Game to make a donation to you. May not be what you ultimately want to do, but you and your Team could toss off a quick Game that could help pay the bills while you work towards your ultimate goal...gotta pay the bills...I was an Actor for over 20 years, so I know how badly you gotta pay the bills! lol