Games testing is highly overrated. Playing the same game, day in, day out, for three years? Hell no. When people think of games testing, they usually think of focus testing - which is very far removed from an average day in the life of a tester.
Learn C++. Game jobs that don't require C++ are very few and far between. A reasonable working knowledge of how it works under the hood will be advantageous in interviews.
Have an indepth understanding of general programming concepts. If you don't know your data structures and at least a couple of sorting algorithms (bubblesort and quicksort), you probably won't pass the interview.
Do game-related projects at Uni if you can. If you can't, do them at home. A demo goes a very, very long way. Small in scope but highly polished is much better than broad and half-working. Something like a physics simulation (ragdoll falling down stairs is classic), some interesting rendering stuff, some kind of AI demo, whatever. The important thing is to focus on one area, do it well, and then do the minimum required in all other areas. Don't spread your efforts too thinly.
In the UK the level of degree doesn't hugely matter, although impressive shiny degrees do look impressive and shiny. But degrees don't mean anything if you don't have the demo.
Games dev is hard work and you will end up pulling long hours towards the end of a project - especially as a coder. If seeing your name on the credits when the game is finally released isn't enough of a payoff, it's probably the wrong job for you.
I've been thinking of installing Ubuntu on my Eee for a while but I wanted the distro to get to a stable state before installing. Now it has, I have two questions (which I hope/. will be able to answer): 1. What's the SSD wear like? I believe the default Xandros has some clever wear levelling stuff installed. Has this been ported to the Ubuntu edition? 2. I don't like Gnome. Is there going to be a KUbuntu Eee edition?
I doubt RSEye (to coin a term) would be a problem, given that your eyes are constantly in use in everyday life, and very much used to moving small distances repeatedly. Chances are that your eyes are following your mouse cursor anyway, so the net increase in eye movement is zero, with the added bonus of avoiding repetitive mouse clicks.
Eyes are designed for frequent, small movements. Fingers aren't.
The Register has their usual perspective-giving article up, for those of you who might be inclined to start screaming OMG TERRORISTS as the US Government no doubt wants you to.
These sort of articles, besides showing Christians when their religious day falls, also explain when to expect such mechandise in your local stores. At the rate the appearance of the merchandise moves further and further back from the official date each year, I wouldn't be surprised if the said gelatin chicks turn up sometime this July. Buy now for Easter '09!
what is the difference between encrypted and encoded? Given an arbitrary message:
Encoding is just a matter of the way you write it. ASCII, UTF-8, braille, semaphore, morse code - different ways of writing (encoding) the same message.
Encryption is doing something specifically to make it harder to read, e.g. the Enigma cipher.
There can be some crossover - the Caesar cipher (replace each letter of the alphabet with a symbol) is both an encoding and a (rubbish) form of encryption.
Well, having read the entire article and the linked articles Woah, someone's new here.
I respectfully disagree Respectfully? This is Slashdot! The only acceptable kind of reply to another comment is an angry argumentative one, preferably including personal insults! (Bonus points if you get first post and still manage this.)
Why? What would you rather see - "she" written throughout the article? How would that be any better? "It"? "He/she" or "s/he" everywhere? Cumbersome and ugly. "They"? Grammatically incorrect, despite being used everywhere. "One" just sounds weird and formal (and the article isn't written in German).
An arbitrary choice was made. Pick "he" sometimes and "she" at other times, if it bothers you that much. More importantly, stop making big issues out of nonexistent ones - you understood the article, didn't you? Language is about communication; people being arsey about things like this are missing the point entirely.
The LED Incapacitator uses a range-finder to measure the distance to a target's eyes and then unleashes continually changing, multi-color light pulses that both blind and disorient the person. How long until this triggers an epileptic seizure in some poor unfortunate - and worse still, would whoever's wielding it be able to tell the difference between the potentially life-threatening seizure and the normal reaction?
Slashdot Mirror
Games testing is highly overrated. Playing the same game, day in, day out, for three years? Hell no. When people think of games testing, they usually think of focus testing - which is very far removed from an average day in the life of a tester.
In the UK the level of degree doesn't hugely matter, although impressive shiny degrees do look impressive and shiny. But degrees don't mean anything if you don't have the demo.
There are a few games companies that have sections explaining what they're looking for in applicants - http://www.bizarrecreations.com/jobs/ one comes to mind, although I know there are others. http://www.gamedevmap.com/ is your friend.
Games dev is hard work and you will end up pulling long hours towards the end of a project - especially as a coder. If seeing your name on the credits when the game is finally released isn't enough of a payoff, it's probably the wrong job for you.
Good luck!
The ratio went down [from] when I started...when we had a whopping 2.6 IT staff for around 200 staff in total.
I think that was the intended reading, actually.
Shouldn't the title be "Wii Are the New US Console Leaders"?
Thanks, I'll be here all week.
I've been thinking of installing Ubuntu on my Eee for a while but I wanted the distro to get to a stable state before installing. Now it has, I have two questions (which I hope /. will be able to answer):
1. What's the SSD wear like? I believe the default Xandros has some clever wear levelling stuff installed. Has this been ported to the Ubuntu edition?
2. I don't like Gnome. Is there going to be a KUbuntu Eee edition?
I doubt RSEye (to coin a term) would be a problem, given that your eyes are constantly in use in everyday life, and very much used to moving small distances repeatedly. Chances are that your eyes are following your mouse cursor anyway, so the net increase in eye movement is zero, with the added bonus of avoiding repetitive mouse clicks.
Eyes are designed for frequent, small movements. Fingers aren't.
The Register has their usual perspective-giving article up, for those of you who might be inclined to start screaming OMG TERRORISTS as the US Government no doubt wants you to.
Except that the number of the beast is 616, not 666.
Slashdot posted a dupe?!
You must be new here.
I misread the title as "Marmite Flood to Nourish Grand Canyon Ecosystem", and started wondering whether the ecosystem would love it or hate it.
Awesome typo, love the mental images.
Mod parent up - pretty much answers the question.
Why? What would you rather see - "she" written throughout the article? How would that be any better? "It"? "He/she" or "s/he" everywhere? Cumbersome and ugly. "They"? Grammatically incorrect, despite being used everywhere. "One" just sounds weird and formal (and the article isn't written in German).
/rant
An arbitrary choice was made. Pick "he" sometimes and "she" at other times, if it bothers you that much. More importantly, stop making big issues out of nonexistent ones - you understood the article, didn't you? Language is about communication; people being arsey about things like this are missing the point entirely.
"Hello human, what are you?"
*nom nom nom*
Uncanny.
Sounds like it'd be easier to write the worm.
And I've got a girlfriend in Thailand! We'll be married as soon as she can get a visa and I can scramble together enough money for her plane ticket.