Greatest of All Time

[Xtreme]

omfg...

So out of no where, just now a voice in my head spoke the word: "Battezone" and I was like w...t...f

So I arrived on the forums and immediately, my eyes rolled in the back of my head and for a few minutes i lost bodily control, seized, and millions of images and memories flashed before my eyes.

I've since regained consciousness, cleaned up the drool, and changed my thunderwear and very much would like to know how you cunts are these days?! It must have been like what, 5 years? I know some people make returns after a much longer time, but for someone my age that's like an eternity.

Hope you're all doing well, any losses/damages? Like what's going on?

A little about me: I graduated a while ago and now working full time as a video game developer, which I worked very very hard for. Faced a bit of a horrifying rough patch after graduation, facing $50k in student debt and unable to make payments or find any kind of job that would pay for living expenses and loan payments. I worked full-time for a startup for about a month, they offered me a job and salary, but they were still unable to pay me 2 weeks after the first promised pay day, so that sucked. I eventually got them to pay me a while later though, 70% of what was promised then I let em off the hook.

Current job is f*** great, sometimes long hours around a deadline and pretty demanding but it's just what i wanted, and i'm pretty damn good at it. Beer on tap, awesome area. Cant complain.

BFT/dx/eddy/hitchcock/stealth/kahless/bzc HOLLER. BACK.

[Dx.]

"$50k in student debt" ouch, what did you take?

[Xtreme]

Lol and to think I had a full time job and $25k in cash going in. Didn't take anything special, tuition at $7k a semester plus living expenses

[FirBirGir]

Hey X-Dude!

$30K is the average student debt in the US these days but it's not uncommon to rack up closer to $100K depending on what school you are attending.

Are you working for a game studio? Any interesting games coming soon?

Eddy

[Dx.]

What part of game development did you get a degree in?

[Xtreme]

I got my degree in computer science. I have a friend who was getting a masters degree in art, focusing on games, and he has managed to get himself $120k in the hole, and that's REALLY scary cause not many studios are looking for full time artists these days, and you have to be DAMN good. Usually we just outsource it and get freelancers.

Right now I'm actually working on mobile games. Not my first choice but I figure any game dev experience is good, and actually smaller indie published games are more profitable right now. At GDC, we met the Korean guy who made flappy bird, and he claimed to have been making $50k a day before he quit due to pressure. Nauseating.

I'm also working on a 3d online game on the side I'm hoping to sell. I do all the coding in C++ and all the art and 3d modeling in photoshop and 3ds max.

It's so awesome you guys are still around, this is a pretty special community actually, and I consider battlezone to be a major part of my identity. I'll have to get on bze soon.

[Dx.]

Oh cool, you're a programmer then.
Have to pick your brain on Team speak 3.

Would be great to make small games to sell, i take it you'll be using open Gl?

[Xtreme]

I'd love to get on teamspeak for a chat soon. I've always been a fan of directx because of its speed and features (Dx 11 is amazing) but cross platform with OpenGL is the way to go, so yeah whatever engine I make I tend to use OpenGL.

I used to spend months working on one game project, which was fun, but impractical. Now it's definitely about making smaller games you can get out the door quicker and monetize faster, and save the big projects for when you have a team.

Rather than making engines from scratch like I used to, I now use unity and unreal engine/UDK to get stuff up and running faster. After all, the player doesn't care if you made the engine from scratch all they care about is if the game is fun. One of the more important things I've learned since getting in the industry.

[FirBirGir]

Your perspective changes when profitability and cash flow become a real thing

I've been playing Vendetta Online which is cross platform - Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and IOS. It uses their own proprietary engine called NAOS but it looks like they will be offering it to the public soon.

The days of million dollar bubblegum games are numbered. Hopefully you get a few money makers out there before the general public moves on.

[Xtreme]

The days of million dollar bubblegum games are numbered. Hopefully you get a few money makers out there before the general public moves on.

Oh I agree completely. I've always felt that people will always want to play pc and console games regardless of how popular mobile games are.

It's frustrating, because success in the AppStore, GoolePlay, etc. seems mostly about getting lucky, cashing in on a fad before everyone else, and/or having connections to get you featured. Even if you made a remarkably unique game and marketed it well, there's a good chance you still won't make bank.

[hitchcockgreen]

Hey welcome back! So what do you think of the unity platform?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Xtreme]

It's alright. I see it better used for designers and artists (content creators), or rapid protyping rather than fully fledged games. When you're used to programming stuff in C++ from the ground up it feels a little slow to use. But it's undeniably useful.

[LilStealth]

BFT/dx/eddy/hitchcock/stealth/kahless/bzc HOLLER. BACK.

HOLLER. It's good to see too, Xtreme!