Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Hi, I'm Max McGuire. I'm the main technical guy at Unknown Worlds. We're currently working on Natural Selection 2, and previous I developed most of the tools and technology for Titan Quest at Iron Lore.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: What made you guys decide to become a developer?

Answer: I started playing video games when I was a kid, both in arcades and on the Atari 2600. I quickly wanted to make games like those that I played, and I was told that you had to write computer programs to make videogames. So, that's what I did.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: What would you suggest as a starting point for someone wanting to make a game and has previous general programming experience but not really any game developing?

Answer: The best advice I can give here is to make a game. It doesn't matter what kind. It doesn't matter if it's a mod or your own engine, or your own game or someone else's idea - just get started! You will learn tons very quickly and it's a total blast.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: Hello my name is matt. And im wondering since i also planin on being a developer. Im just wondering what classes did you take in high school to be in the field you are in now, like what did you major in.

Answer: I took every computer class I could find in high school, and at college/university I majored in Computer Science. Although the classes were helpful, being passionate about programming and hence doing it in my free time has been more important than any class.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: Also did your parents encourage you or tell you that your wasting your life on those games? My parents are telling me this but i am actually trying to learn what makes games fun and "addicting"

Answer: My dad loved arcade games (Circus by Atari, in particular), and my parents were both very supportive of learning to program and to play games. My mom only kicked me out of the house to play in the "real world" sporadically :).

 

kaeta: Question: AntiChrist© †: What kind of qualifications/talents did you need to start getting into programming?

Answer: Programming is the talent. Getting into programming is like getting into any other hobby - you need to love it to be great at it. It's a bit like solving puzzles, a bit of a mind teaser every day. You get to flex your brain and think about different things all the time.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: AntiChrist© †: What kind of qualifications/talents did you need to start getting into programming?

Answer: I think a Computer Science degree is great for programmers, but definitely not necessary. I've met college grads who weren't as good at programming as others without any formal edumacation.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: What was the first programming language you learned?

Answer: BASIC--Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. Makes sense to start with something basic, doesn't it?

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: OneKnux: Where exactly would you start in creating a game from scratch?

Answer: Lots

 

Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Question: Tosh<3's GeForce!!: What made you guys decide to become a developer? Also did your parents encourage you or tell you that your wasting your life on those games? My parents are telling me this but i am actually trying to learn what makes games fun and "addicting"

Answer: Indirectly -- when I was a kid my dad forbid my brother and I from buying video games, so we started making our own. Much later I decided to go into the game industry when I stated looking around for jobs after college and realized being programmer #A62123 at Huge Corp, Inc. would be pretty boring!

 

XfίЯξ: Question: Do you enjoy what you do? do you wish you could have done any other job in the world?

Answer: I love what I do. Making games is great, and making tools for gamers is great, especially popular ones :). I've found that any job working with really talented and creative people is really fun, and fortunately that's what we have at Xfire.

 

kaeta: Question: tiptoc: What has been toughest part in being a developer what college did you go to and what you would you recommend?

Answer: I went to Northwestern University and got my Computer Science degree at the engineering school there. I recommend that people go to a full university and get a degree. There are a lot of schools specifically tailored to getting into the games industry cropping up and they have a lot of valuable things to teach. But part of game development involves interacting with all sorts of people, and that is exactly the kind of experience you get at a university. Taking different, non-gaming classes, and studying things that have nothing to do with games can really come back and help you later on to be creative in the workplace.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: OneKnux: Where exactly would you start in creating a game from scratch?

Answer: Lots of designers/developers would tell you to write up a full game design document. I think it's more efficient and more fun to create a prototype of your game instead. Nothing will give you an idea of how good your game is faster than making a small version of it with placeholder art that you can sit people down in front of and watch.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: What is your favorite game?

Answer: Right now I'm playing a lot of Guild Wars as well as some games for the Wii. All-time, my favorite games have to be Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man, and Robotron.

 

kaeta: Question: Tosh<3's Microsoft: My question is- Did you guys get into it because you saw the future money in it or did you do it because of the burning passion in your heart?

Answer: No one should get into games for the money. The vast majority of programmers in the games industry make way less money than they would make out of the games industry. We do it because we love games, we do it because we can't imagine doing anything less creative.

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Agreed Kaeta. I think I got a lot out of my college "experience", not just classes. I'm just not sure if it's worth $100k or whatever it costs these days! For that kind of money, think how many small games or learning projects you could fund to learn the same skills (if you're SURE you want to go into games at least). It's a tough call.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: My question is- Did you guys get into it because you saw the future money in it or did you do it because of the burning passion in your heart?

Answer: Passion. In my opinion, there's no way to build something creative unless you really care about the product. If you only care about the money, your final product will show that, and people will show you what they think of it (largely by NOT giving you money :).

 

Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Question: tiptoc: What has been toughest part in being a developer what college did you go to and what you would you recommend?

Answer: I went to Carnegie Mellon University. The have a game development degree there now, but I majored in the mor traditional computer science and mathematics (I wasn't really planning on going into games). I'd recommend something similar to anyone interested in becoming a game programmer, especially if you're interested in the low-level "engine" type stuff. There's no substitute for the basics

 

XfίЯξ: Question: I'm busy learning to program in C++ and Visual Basic in college right now, working towards my Computer Science degree, but I don't quite have the technical skills to start programming games just yet. Is it good practice to work on developing text-based games that use a D20 style system, just to learn the basic mechanics of how RPG's work in the meantime?

Answer: If you want to make games, then you should make games immediately :). It doesn't matter if it's text-based, or as simple as Pong. You'll gain experience learning about what makes a game fun versus what makes a game boring, and that's the most important skill to have. Besides, making games is fun, otherwise you wouldn't be doing it, right?

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: AntiChrist© †: How demanding is your job? do you get alot of time off? or is it WORK WORK WORK 24/7?

Answer: Good question. It's a pretty work-focused culture and you'll probably have to work like crazy (50-60+ hour weeks) for the first few years. After that, if you have discipline, are good and find the right workplace, you can cut that down I think. Acheiving work/life balance is quite hard though, especially when you and everyone around you is so passionate.

 

kaeta: Question: tiptoc: Sorry if this is a personal quesiton but what where your guys GPA( Grade Point Average) in highschool?

Answer: LOL. That's a funny question. I honestly don't remember. I was in the top 5 students in my class, though. GPA is relevant in-so-far as it indicates your willingness to work hard. If you work hard in school, you'll probably work hard on the job, which is something employers like.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: When you guys got out of school, what company gave you your big break in the programming field? What was the first big game that you were put on?

Answer: 3DO was my big break when they bought my company making Meridian 59. Although 3DO went out of business, many people in the industry still call it "3DO University" as so many people went there straight out of college, learned how to make games, and then went to other companies.

 

kaeta: Question: Tosh<3's Microsoft: When you guys got out of school, what company gave you your big break in the programming field? What was the first big game that you were put on?

Answer: I worked for 6 years at Mad Doc Software. My first real game that I worked on from start to finish was Star Trek: Armada 2.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: tiptoc: Sorry if this is a personal quesiton but what where your guys GPA( Grade Point Average) in highschool?

Answer: Heh. My GPA was around 3.0 most of the time in highschool and college. I didn't apply myself until I got into games.

 

Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Question: tiptoc: Sorry if this is a personal quesiton but what where your guys GPA( Grade Point Average) in highschool?

Answer: I was an A student in high school, but of all the people I've interviewed I've never bothered to ask their highschool or college GPA. I doubt it has much correlation with how good you are at your job. It's really important for getting into a good college though!

 

XfίЯξ: Question: After you got whatever qualifications/degrees you wanted, how did you then go on to either making a company/ asking a company to hire you etc to actually EARN money

Answer: In my case, one summer during college my brother and I both decided to NOT get summer jobs, and instead to live at home and start a game with just the two of us. We built up a good working prototype which we were able to show other people which let us really start a company a year later.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: Where do you see video games going as a whole in the next ten years? Do you think that Virtual Reality based engines are going to take off, or graphical and memory intensive games are going to skyrocket?

Answer: Great question! It seems to me that games are spreading in many directions right now. Simple games are taking off in the "parlor games space" such as Pogo, yahoo games, etc. Games of all varieties are gaining popularity on cell phones, and even consoles are getting many kinds of games (largely because of Nintendo's creativity). I think that video games are going in all directions right now, as more and more people want to spend more time playing them.

 

kaeta: Question: AntiChrist© †: After you got whatever qualifications/degrees you wanted, how did you then go on to either making a company/ asking a company to hire you etc to actually EARN money

Answer: I applied. I graduated college and sent my resume out to game companies that were hired. I talked to my advisor and everyone I knew that might have contacts in the games industry about getting an interview. I got two interviews at games studios and one turned into a job. If you want to work in the industry, go to the websites of your favorite game studios and look and see if they're hiring. Apply! That's the best place to start.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: Nodgene: I fully plan to set up my own games design studio. I have done a college-level games design course and am jumping into Bolton University in England to study computer games design there. I have had the chance in my college course to ask EA senior management and Dave Perry a question, and I'll ask you; "do you have any advise for someone who wants to set up their own games design studio?" I specifically want to be the creative director. I have been creating game design documents in my spare time towards that end, so anything beyond that that I should be aware of? And generic recruitment/funding concerns?

Answer: Tough question. My best advice is probably to make sure you don't skimp on getting experience at other companies first. I think things would've been easier for me if I spent more time in the industry, learning on other people's dime.

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Perhaps more than that, it would've been great to heave more "street-cred" before doing my own thing. If a group of people all leave Blizzard, then can get funding and/or a publisher deal in a heartbeat.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: I've built a full text-based RPG that I have around 25 people playing on a forum, and it's been running pretty well for around a year. It's really opened my eyes to what companies who make online games have to deal with. Have any of you had any negative experiences with gamers maligning the games you've worked on?

Answer: I developed the first 3D MMORPG, and I can tell you that players back then were just as brutal as players these days. You get at least 20 complaints for every compliment. Still, people would come back to play, so I assume that they liked it well enough, despite their complaints :).

 

Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Question: Tosh<3's Microsoft: My question is- Did you guys get into it because you saw the future money in it or did you do it because of the burning passion in your heart?

Answer: I don't think anyone goes into game development for the money. When I started in the game industry I was making half (literally) what my friends were pulling in at Silicon Valley tech companies -- and this is after the .com bubble. As they say: To make a small fortune in the game industry, start with a large one

 

XfίЯξ: Question: What languages do you need to learn to be successful in devlopment?

Answer: Lots. Most likely C and C++ to start with, but you'll learn more depending on your career. You may need to learn assembly languages for various console hardware, or scripting languages created specifically for one game (or game engine).

 

kaeta: Question: Kusarin: what game did you play that made you say to yourself, "OH yes this is what I want to do in life?"

Answer: That's a good question! I can't really remember, to be honest. I remember playing the original Final Fantasy on my NES, and Phantasy Star. I loved the old Sierra Quest games, as well as the Might and Magic series. But I can't point to just one that tipped me over the edge until I said "this is my calling".

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: =HT=Gamma [xfireplus.com]: What kind of cars do you drive?

Answer: I used to drive a dusty white '83 Civic but now I walk....

kaeta: Heh. And I drive an Infiniti G35

 

Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Question: tiptoc: This might be my last question but how do you guys feel about piracy. I know you guys cant sleep at night to due to this and also lossing money. I just want to hear your thoughts about this issue.

Answer: It doesn't keep me up at night, but I think it's definitely a problem. On Titan Quest, the full cracked version of the game was available on BitTorrent before the game was even on store shelves. I don't think it's hard to make the case that something like that is going to hurt sales. But at the same time, I think companies are doing the wrong things to try and stop piracy, since it's obviously not working and it's pissing off customers

 

XfίЯξ: Question: Tosh<3's GeForce!!: What is the future for MMORPGs? Will they be more complex and harder to play/level like Final Fantasy 11 or Easier and much fast like WoW?

Answer: I think it's clear there will be both types. Hard-core focused games are growing in popularity, as well as ones that are more accessible.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: Jaran: I've built a full text-based RPG that I have around 25 people playing on a forum, and it's been running pretty well for around a year. It's really opened my eyes to what companies who make online games have to deal with. Have any of you had any negative experiences with gamers maligning the games you've worked on?

Answer: Congratulations! That's awesome. I'm sure you've learned TONS by doing this. Yes, online communities tend to generated a lot of negative criticism. I've gotten tons of nasty personal e-mails and even death threats. Just get a PO Box and shrug it off if you can. They're not bad people, they're probably just frustrated with something else.

 

kaeta: Question: AntiChrist© †: What country do you believe is the best/easiest to obtain a job in games development in? or what one is more advanced in the gaming development arts?

Answer: I don't really know! I've only worked in the US, so I can't really speak to how hard or easy it is to get into the industry in other countries. I imagine the same skills are desired world wide, though

 

Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Question: queen of the damned: do you like using your own game engine or a third party like the unreall or quake engine?

Answer: We're using the Source engine for Natural Selection 2. In the past I've always written the low level technology for the games I've worked on, so it's a bit of an adjustment to not know how every little piece works or how long it's going to take to implement something that interacts a lot with the engine. Obviously there are advantages to using a 3rd party engine, but it certainly adds complications too. If I had my choice we'd do everything in-house, but for a small company like Unknown Worlds that's not really practical

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: Devon: When creating a game, which factor is most important to you: Creating a good game to be able to work in a competitive situation, or trying to make the game fun and entertaining, even if it lacks that competitive edge?

Answer: I try not to give up either. It's hard to make a game that does both, but they are both so important that I think it's worth the effort.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: Jaran: What are your views on really big game companies like EA? Do you think they're too focused on the money aspect of gaming to actually put passion into their games? Or do you think that it's still possible for them to be a big corporation and still keep that level of passion that smaller companies have?

Answer: I think it's a mixed bag. Sometimes the larger companies are so focused on the development costs that they can develop uninspired games or release a game too early. At the same time, by only funding games that they think gamers will enjoy, they prevent some bad games from being released to the public.

 

kaeta: Question: Kusarin: How easy is it for you to overcome the issues that come with working on a game genre that you may not be so interested in?

Answer: I don't think it's a problem. I've worked on RTS, RPG, FPS, Action, and even a flight sim. I don't love all those types of games, but working on all of them had its high points. We always get the great energy of working together with creative minds, and there's something beautiful on screen that I had a part in. That's the same no matter how much I play that type of game or not.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: AntiChrist© †: Is the game development markey very competitive? or is it easy enough to get going with a game and make it something in the industry?

Answer: It's very competitive. The trick is, the talent is hard to find as well. A lot of people that want to get in the industry will work for very cheap or free, just to get experience.

 

Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Question: G2Wolf: Which genre of games do you think is the easiest to make? Which is the hardest?

Answer: The hardest genre is the one you're currently working on -- all of the others are easy. In all seriousness, I think RPGs are probably one of the hardest because of the sheer amount of content and the complexity of the design. involved. And anything that has MMO in front of it gets extra hardness points.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: G2Wolf: What do you think about companies rushing games out before they are finished?

Answer: I think all game developers hate this. I know of many games that were released on a certain date so that revenue could be counted in a specific quarter because of accounting rules, and all of those games were released in pretty bad condition. It's a tought problem to deal with.

 

kaeta: Question: G2Wolf: What do you think about companies rushing games out before they are finished?

Answer: It's a shame, but the truth is that making games is a business. At a certain point, there are economic considerations that need to factor in. As a gamer, it's tragic to play a game that was so close to excellent but didn't quite get the polish time it needed. As a developer, I understand that sometimes these things are out of our hands. We have to get the game out there when it's due.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: Explodie: When is Natural Selection 2 finished? I cant see the link on Moddb.

Answer: We haven't announced a release date yet, but check http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2 for more info. It won't be toooo long though. :)

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: [Xfire++] GODJonez: I started making an online browser-based roleplaying game a few years ago. I got some interested people to help me and we got pretty far in the plans and even creating the game itself. But then personal life issues such as studying came to take too much time and breaking down the project completely. Has anything like this happened to you?

Answer: It does seem quite common. For me, the key is making sure that it fits in with the rest of my life so it can be sustainable. Crunching like crazy will burn you out pretty fast.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: Nodgene: Do you feel there has been much development, in terms of gameplay for the genres of games avaliable? I personally don't see much evolution between, say, C&C, and C&C3, and much interesting change among the MMORPG market...

Answer: Games in one series will normally be similar in order to be popular with the same group of people, but how about the Dawn of War series? They're very different RTS games compared to C&C. Also, MMOs are evolving in various ways, from the very accessible World of Warcraft to what I call a "Massively Single Player Role-Playing Game", Guild Wars, which is almost entirely instanced. I do tend to agree that there hasn't been as much large-scale change in game genres in PC games recently... but how about on the Wii? The controller makes even well-known genres seem totally different.

 

kaeta: Question: -]cG[-Gen.SplitterSide: Do you enjoy developing for PC based games over consoles, or do you enjoy consoles more?

Answer: There are tough parts to developing for both. I developed exclusively on PC for 6 years, so that's where most of my experience is. Some things are much easier, but now that I'm working on console the one thing I really don't miss is dealing with compatibility issues. On PC, you never know what graphics card is going to be matched up with which motherboard, and all the driver combinations cause all sorts of fun when you're trying to get the last of the crash bugs out. Consoles are pretty set, you know what you get. :) But they have their own hardware limitations that keep things interesting.

 

Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Question: G2Wolf: What do you think about companies rushing games out before they are finished?

Answer: I think it's really unfortuante for the developers of those games. Generally I don't tihnk that's the decision of the actual developers, and it's disappointing to see something you've put so much blood sweat and tears into come out before it's ready. I don't think it's going to change anytime soon though, unless developers get better are scheduling -- release dates are really important for the publisher's bottom line

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Max: Heh, and we're soooo good at scheduling ;)

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: -]cG[-Gen.SplitterSide: What do you think about real cash economies in games, such as Sweddish company Mindark's Entropia Universe, is the real cash econ a good idea to implement in a game?

Answer: Sounds pretty cool! I think it's worth trying, although I wonder how many players would be interested in a game like this. It sounds almost like playing the stock market.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: Jaran: Do you all enjoy games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band? What are your views on the focus on casual gaming that most of the big brands seem to be doing?

Answer: Love them. We're really excited to see "casual" games reach a much wider level of visibility and acceptance in mainstream culture. I hope we're a part of it.

kaeta: I also play these games a lot. Love them. And I have to disagree with Flayra, I think that casual games are successful because it's an untapped market. The Wii is successful because NON-gamers are gaming. And there's huge potential there. I hope that there's always room for the hard-core gamers, because I love hardcore games. But we can always have more gamers playing!

 

XfίЯξ: Question: Jaran: Do you all enjoy games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band? What are your views on the focus on casual gaming that most of the big brands seem to be doing?

Answer: I happen to love those games, though they hurt my wrist to play too long. While I think casual gaming is growing, I think that the way the big publishers are so focused on it is a concern; if they start creating games that are focused ONLY on casual players, then they will find that those games get very few players at all. Most types of videogames start with the hard core players and then trickle down; there are only a few notable exceptions to this rule.

 

kaeta: Question: Kusarin: what suggestions do you have for us single house hobbie houses in terms of creating a game from start to finish. many games of course have multiple people working on many areas, like art, engine etc. How would you suggest one person tackle a project such as a game with such limited on hand resources.?

Answer: Don't design beyond what you can achieve. The best thing you can do is to design a game you can actually create. If you imagine some enormous MMO that can support thousands of simultaneous users, with 10 unique character classes, and all handpainted art, you're not gonna finish. Ever. So think about where your strengths lie. Build iteratively, so the game is playable early, and you can keep releasing revisions with more features.

 

Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Question: Jaran: Do you all enjoy games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band? What are your views on the focus on casual gaming that most of the big brands seem to be doing?

Answer: Someday I hope to work on a game like Guitar Hero, which you can bring up at a party and everyone knows what you're talking about. I wouldn't describe them as casual though, maybe more like pop games

 

XfίЯξ: Question: Explodie: Xfire i have just one last question for you, how did you come up with building an ingame message system?

Answer: Actually, Xfire initially started out as a system for joining other people in FPS games. I had a lot of trouble trying to get on the same public Unreal Tournament server as my brother one day, and I wanted a better way to do it. One of our developers said he could intercept the drawing calls of a game and do in-game messaging, and we all knew immediately what a good idea it was, if he could do it. Of course he succeeded, and Xfire has really taken off.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: Nodgene: Do you feel there has been much development, in terms of gameplay for the genres of games avaliable? I personally don't see much evolution between, say, C&C, and C&C3, and much interesting change among the MMORPG market...

Answer: Interesting point. I think it's important to realize that successful games build on the 'backs' of other games. If you make something too different, it can be very hard for new players to enoy it quickly. It can also be hard to pitch it to a publisher, if you go down that road. I think that if you can show your game to someone in your target audience and they enjoy it quickly without help, you're on the right track. (I do think that even MMORPGs have a lot of borrowing and reuse too though)

 

XfίЯξ: Question: AntiChrist© †: if you had a choice, would you rather live your life in an MMO/FPS game or your life as it is just now?

Answer: I think the typical life span of a character in most games is only a few minutes, so i'll take my life as it is just now :).

 

kaeta: Question: Strega: Do you ever see jobs open up for people on disability that need to work from home?

Answer: On don't know about the particular aspect of being on disability, but I do know contractors who work from home. Freelance artists and programmers can take a contract and work remotely. Not all studios will do it, but there are roles like that out there

 

XfίЯξ: Question: queen of the damned: has their been any changes since you were purcashe?

Answer: I assume this refers to Xfire's acquisition by MTV Networks. There have been many changes on many fronts since we were acquired more than a year ago, but the core product development process has not changed at all. We still aim to build the best tool and community for online gamers that we can, and we work very hard towards this goal.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: Strega: Do you ever see jobs open up for people on disability that need to work from home?

Answer: I've never seen jobs posted specifically like this, but if you're good, I don't think it would be a problem for many companies. I think basically all developers are equal opportunity and non-discriminatory for everyone. If you could work on-site in the beginning, you may also convince them to let you work offsite through steps outlined in the book "Four Hour Workweek". I've seen co-workers do this quite successfully.

 

kaeta: Question: Kusarin: knowing what you know about game development do you find yourself analyzing a game while playing it, or do you allow your mind the opportunity to just enjoy it and let it go?

Answer: I can definitely just play. If a game isn't good, or is really close to good but something is missing, I'll definitely try to figure out why and what I would have done differently. But that's usually when I've already sunk so many hours into the game that I'm a firm fan anyways

 

Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Question: magiteker: Do you feel that the individual developer is intimidated by the "big budget" titles that come out with polished graphics and mechanics, Or do you think these titles inspire a lot of people to enter intot he development field?

Answer: I think a lot of hobby/independent developers probably fall into the trap of trying to compete with those titles in those same areas. Guitar Hero is a great example of a game that didn't have a huge budget or a lot of complexity that could go head-to-head with the biggest releases

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: Kusarin: knowing what you know about game development do you find yourself analyzing a game while playing it, or do you allow your mind the opportunity to just enjoy it and let it go?

Answer: I can definitely "let go", but it takes a pretty special game to keep me interested to play it all the way through (Ico).

 

XfίЯξ: Question: G2Wolf: Xfire, where direction would you like xfire to go in the next 5-10 years?

Answer: Wow that's a long time--Xfire is not even 4 years old yet! I think you'll find that we'll keep building systems to help people have extra fun (and less annoyance) while they play their games. For example, more guild/clan support systems, continuously improved voice chat, and I think a lot more functionality inside of games. I would also like to see more and more community-building features in the Xfire web site to help bring like-minded gamers together.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: Jaran: What exactly is a day of work like for a game developer? Do you guys sit around and brainstorm? Is there a metric ton of programming that you guys do? Do you work on character modeling at all? I know that there are people who work on those things specifically, but what does a "Designer" do? It seems like a pretty vague term. I assume they come up with ideas and write out summaries, but what do they do after that?

Answer: At a small company like ours, we wear multiple hats. I don't spend even close to 100% of my day just thinking up ideas. Most of my time is on implementation of those ideas (and often it's on funding, business, IT, etc). I'm sure designers on big teams get to spend more time designing and brainstorming, but they may have less leeway to implement the ideas they are really passionate about. I can do anything I want ifI work enough.

 

kaeta: Question: Jaran: What exactly is a day of work like for a game developer? Do you guys sit around and brainstorm? Is there a metric ton of programming that you guys do? Do you work on character modeling at all? I know that there are people who work on those things specifically, but what does a "Designer" do? It seems like a pretty vague term. I assume they come up with ideas and write out summaries, but what do they do after that?

Answer: Personally, I'm a programmer, so I write code. Designers on action games frequently come in two flavors, level designers and system designers. Level designers build the spaces that we play in - they're putting together walls and spaces and making the path through the world fun. System designers decide *how* the game plays - how should combat work, what should happen when I swing my weapon? They tend to write a lot of documents and work closely with gameplay engineers.

 

Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Question: Tosh<3's Microsoft: Have any of you guys thought about starting your own game studio? If so what kind of games would your company develop?

Answer: That's exactly what Charlie and I are doing now. We want to build games that bring people together, and the next step along that path for us is Natural Selection 2.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: =HT=Gamma [xfireplus.com]: Do you plan on your work as a gateway to something bigger, or just to stay at where you are currently?

Answer: I think gaming is going to expand and grow a lot, but it's where I want to stay. It's not a stepping stone to film or anything like that for me.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: AntiChrist© †: I recently read somewhere that in america doctors are trying to put Gaming (MMO addiction) into the medical book as a mental illness. What are your views on how the world views gaming today? do you see it as an alternative to TV for example for entertainment? or do you see it as a drug, and people need to play it all the time?

Answer: I believe many surveys have shown that lots of people, particularly young males, are playing more games instead of watching TV. I've seen people causing harm to themselved by doing too much of many different activities, and while videogaming is one of them, so is gambling and even surfing the web.

 

kaeta: Question: =HT=Gamma [xfireplus.com]: Do you plan on your work as a gateway to something bigger, or just to stay at where you are currently?

Answer: I'm not sure what would be bigger than what I'm currently doing. I get to work with some of the most intelligent and talented people in the industry at LucasArts. I get to work on a Star Wars game! What could be bigger?

 

XfίЯξ: Question: =HT=Gamma [xfireplus.com]: Do you think its better to come up with new and original titles, or to continue a series?

Answer: That's like saying what's better, getting more singles (in baseball) or swinging for the fences to hit a home run. Both have their place; it depends on the person. For me, I prefer to try to hit home runs.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: Nodgene: Should the aim of development across the genres be to amplify realism to a point where gameplay is only logical?

Answer: I think realism is just one path for the future of games. It tends to be the most obvious path and can be very easy to market, but it's not the only way forward. I think that non-photorealistic rendering (like seen in Team Fortress 2) show how fresh a game can be when it deliberately chooses non-realism.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: Tosh<3's GeForce!!: Since Blizzard annouce there in-game voice client for WoW has Xfire changed there mind on developing better communication clients for guilds? Blizzard is trying to keep ventrillo and Teamspeak at bay!

Answer: Xfire's voice chat works both outside of games and inside hundreds of games; no one developer's actions has a significant impact on our product direction. They are trying to serve their users to a better experience, and of course there is nothing wrong with that.

 

Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Question: -]cG[-Gen.SplitterSide: Visually do you thing games have started to reach thier peak, or do you think there is still a lot of room for improvement?

Answer: I don't think they've reached their peek, but I think we passed the point a few years ago where things look "good enough". Instead of adding more bumps to polygons with the new power we have available, I'm more interested in doing things we haven't seen before in games (e.g. http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/news/2006/12/dynamic_infestation)

 

kaeta: Question: Jaran: What kind of hobbies to you all pursue on your free time? Are there any of your hobbies that you've found inspiration for games in?

Answer: I love music, and spend some amount of time playing instruments, mostly guitar at this point. And I read a ton. Reading is definitely somewhere I find all sorts of crazy game ideas. I was reading a history book a few years back, while working on an RTS and it gave me all these ideas about different things we could try in the game. Reading all different kinds of books is definitely something I'd recommend

 

 

XfίЯξ: Question: FF= Ghost: Do you think that Modding a game like people do in Battlefield 2 is a good way to learn to program games better and give you more knowledge?

Answer: I think that modding is a great way to get into game development. You can start small but eventually make very big changes, and you can learn very quickly from your users what works and what doesn't.

 

Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Question: Jaran: What kind of hobbies to you all pursue on your free time? Are there any of your hobbies that you've found inspiration for games in?

Answer: Hobbies just take time away from developing games. No hobbies!

 

kaeta: Question: Jaran: In your opinion, what is the best way for a young developer to gain recognition? Should they mod existing software and post it on a public forum for people to try out? Or is it better to shop around employers and show off your work?

Answer: What's your goal? By recognition, are you trying to have people know who you are, or are you trying to get a job in the industry? Making mods can be a successful way into the industry because it shows that you're really passionate about this and willing to do what it takes to make a game. If you mod is a hit, then it also can show you have good design sensibilities, which is a great thing.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: G2Wolf: Do you think gaming will be more popular than ever in the next 5-10 years?

Answer: Gaming seems to just keep growing, especially as we reach to new people through new games and technologies. The DS, the Wii and Guitar Hero are great examples. In my neighborhood last year, you could go out and play Guitar Hero in a bar - the advertised it and it brought people in. I think that if we can keep innovating and trying new things, we'll be serious pop culture in 5-10 years (though we're pretty close now).

 

kaeta: Question: G2Wolf: Ninjas or pirates?

Answer: Ninjas. Really, no contest.

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Definitely ninjers.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: Jaran: In your opinion, what is the best way for a young developer to gain recognition? Should they mod existing software and post it on a public forum for people to try out? Or is it better to shop around employers and show off your work?

Answer: I'd say make a mod for the most popular game in "your" genre. That will get you somewhere.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: Nodgene: Economists have been concerned recently by "greying" populations in the west. Too many people are getting old, and so many products and service markets have had to adapt to this. How do you see games for older people becoming, when the young gamers of today get old and "grey"? or for older people now?

Answer: I think this is the main reason gaming is growing so fast--gaming is much more popular with people roughly 40 and under, and as they age they will continue to play games. My suspicion is that this is driving the rise of "casual"-focused games. For example, in my heart I am a hard-core gamer, but now I have a wife, two kids, and a job. I don't have as much time to play as I used to, but I still want to play. Games focused on people with only short times to play will continue to grow.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: =FF= Ghost: Do you think that Modding a game like people do in Battlefield 2 is a good way to learn to program games better and give you more knowledge?

Answer: It's a great start. I highly recommend it. It will also teach you tons about building a team, working with your community, taking feedback, balancing, etc.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: =HT=Gamma [xfireplus.com]: Do you think Gaming will become just another social thing in life, the way that radios, and then eventually televisions have become?

Answer: I think so, yes. Gaming could easily become as dominant today as watching TV was in the 1960's

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: Nodgene: Economists have been concerned recently by "greying" populations in the west. Too many people are getting old, and so many products and service markets have had to adapt to this. How do you see games for older people becoming, when the young gamers of today get old and "grey"? or for older people now?

Answer: Games for the elderly? Obviously there are design constraints there (font sizes, reflexes required, etc.) but social and online games? Let's do it.

 

kaeta: Question: =HT=Gamma [xfireplus.com]: Do you think of developers that make small games like Bejeweled, are any less great, than the developers of a big game, such as Battlefield 2?

Answer: If you think about how many people have played Bejeweled versus Battlefield, you'll realize that Bejeweled has probably affected way more people. How many non-gamers spend hours and hours on their phones or on the web playing "casual" games? It's amazing! I think being able to come up with a simple and easy-to-grasp puzzle mechanic is very impressive and is contributing hugely to the mainstreaming of gaming culture. I definitely don't think less of those developers. It's a unique challenge, and it too has a very important role to play.

 

Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Question: =FF= Ghost: Do you think that Modding a game like people do in Battlefield 2 is a good way to learn to program games better and give you more knowledge?

Answer: I'm going to disagree with Charlie on this one. In my experience, game code is usually written under some intense time constraints, so it's not always the best place to pick up habits. But once you've got a good understanding of what's "good" and "bad" when programming, there's a lot to learn from looking a professional code.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: Tosh<3's Microsoft: Have you guys ever developed anything else besides games?

Answer: I worked on software that ran IBM assembly lines that built computers. It was fun at the time for sure.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: magiteker: With the majority of game stores making their profit on trade-in's what are your thoughts on digital distribution and game publishers fighting it as a delivery system?

Answer: i think this is spot on. I think game publishers will push digital distribution as much as they can in order to fight sales of used console games. I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of the consoles of the next generation made all games available for sale by download instead of in stores.

 

kaeta: Question: Jaran: AI is obviously very important to a game. Does it ever become frustrating trying to make an AI that performs like a human would? In addition, how hard is it to make an adaptive AI?

Answer: I love working on AI. I think that you're question has an big assumption there - "performs like a human would". Depending on the game, that isn't always the goal. We want to make our games fun and challenging. And that doesn't always mean making human-like enemies!

 

kaeta: Question: queen of the damned: are their times when you create a game and think of some great music to go with the flow of the game. but when you try contact the artist. they refuse it.

Answer: Hmm, that's an interesting question. But just about all the games I've worked on were scored, so we hired someone specifically to write music for our game. I haven't worked on a project where we tried to get rock music or anything like that.

 

Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Question: Tosh<3's Microsoft: Have you guys ever developed anything else besides games?

Answer: Even if game development there's a lot of non-game development (if that makes any sense). At my last job I wrote a source control system we used for our artwork and the editor we used to build levels, along with lots of other little tools. And for the past few months I've been working on a Lua debugger for our use on Natural Selection 2. Before that I interned at IBM Research developing prototypes for hand-held devices and developed software to render pictures of fractals

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: Tosh<3's Microsoft: When you design a game do you design for a certain generation of gamer or just design for gamers in general? By generations i mean the old school gamer or the new school gamer that wants more and more from a game then just fun but better graphics and more detail?

Answer: Not for a specific age group necessarily, but you definitely have to think about your target player. I am investigating use of "personas" in games now (Cooper Institute) that seems to hold a lot of promise as a methodology.

 

kaeta: Question: G2Wolf: Do you think handheld gaming consoles (gameboy, psp) are starting to die out and be replaced by mobile phones?

Answer: The Nintendo DS is certainly still going strong! I think it's the best selling console right now? Not quite sure on that, but I don't think handheld consoles are disappearing any time soon.

 

XfίЯξ: Question: Kronos // koValev: What's the best tip for someone who wants to be a video game designer? (Based on some expericence you had)

Answer: I think you need to get as much experience as you can as fast as you can. You need to make mistakes and learn from them, so that you can learn how to really design a good game. Usually the best way to do this is to work on game designs in your spare time. It's certainly not something you can learn in most schools these days.

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: =HT=Gamma [xfireplus.com]: Have you ever worked on something, only to have a manager or someone much higher up, completely destroy your vision/work?

Answer: Not exactly, though I've worked on stuff that I knew wasn't very good. Ie, someone gives you a specification for something that you know sucks and they won't let you refine it. That's just one of the tradeoffs for working for a company - steady work, steady pay, but you have to take orders. Me, I'm not so good at taking orders.

 

kaeta: Question: Kronos // koValev: What's the best tip for someone who wants to be a video game designer? (Based on some expericence you had)

Answer: Do what you can to get your foot in the door. QA Testing is still a very good choice for learning about the game development process and making connections. Research the companies you're interviewing at and make sure you know about their games! Be passionate and learn from whatever you can.

 

Unknown Worlds - m4x0r: Question: Kusarin: Are there any books that you recommend to aspiring programmers wanting to steer towards programming games. Aside from the specifics for low level engine code etc..

Answer: The only books I'd recommend are Code Complete (not about games but great) and Real-Time Rendering

 

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Question: Kronos // koValev: What's the best tip for someone who wants to be a video game designer? (Based on some expericence you had)

Answer: Make sure you go to your local IGDA meetings and Meetups. You will meet like-minded folks and often people with a lot of experience. It's also a lot of fun.

 

cigdevelopment: Great questions, but we are all out of time here, we hope everyone learned a lot and had fun doing so. Thanks again to our guests, the following 5 winners should pm me for instructions on how to claim prizes. Thanks All!

G2Wolf

Nodgene

Kronos// koValev

Jaran

=FF= Ghost

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Flayra

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: lol

XfίЯξ: Thanks for the great questions everyone!

Unknown Worlds - Flayra: Yeah that was awesome. Lots of great stuff. Best of luck to everyone - follow your dreams!