Reply to: Developing games

[max]

Sounded to me from her tales of woe that the games industry owns your soul even more than the IB industry.

I'll type it slowly...that is a myth. IB industry is like the public service, but better paid(presumably). There's no need to sell ones soul. It's a bit like university, every now and again there is a release(exam), but the choice of bars is a bit better, and the female students spend more on their cloths and general upkeep.

[Ian]

How you ever read the EA Spouse article?

http://ea-spouse.livejournal.com/274.html

It's USA based, and 3 years old so don't know how relevant it is today in the UK?

[Francko]

Are you on a permie gig out there? Prices will never crash in SW19, Franco, you know that.

Well, I had a choice but the contract wasn't paying much more so at the end....

Sure, prices will never crash in _YOUR_POSTCODE_

[Cowboy Bob]

I met a woman on holiday a couple of years ago who's husband was a games dev. She was on holiday on her own as her husband had to work. She hadn't been on holiday for 3 years due to her husband's work commitments. Sounded to me from her tales of woe that the games industry owns your soul even more than the IB industry.

[Lucifer Box]

Well, not really in the alps but close enough. Yet unfortunately in the grim german side business capital. However, we are trying to move to the nice italian part, failing that back to London. Of course, only after the price crash (and yes when the ASBO expires ).

Are you on a permie gig out there? Prices will never crash in SW19, Franco, you know that.

[Lucifer Box]

No good luck with her designs I am afraid, she will have to switch to Plan B which is to marry old man and accidentally drop connected toaster into the bath...

Well, it could happen to anyone, your honour.

[AtW]

Nice to see you are still here, Alexei. How goes the work on Majestic?

How's your sister? Has she had any luck with selling more of her designs?

No good luck with her designs I am afraid, she will have to switch to Plan B which is to marry old man and accidentally drop connected toaster into the bath...

[Apache]

The return of board games

(Or should that be bored games?) I think I'll encourage him to reinvent the board game - that old horse is due a new lease of life - they'll become chic again, you'll see, and we'll be there when it happens, ready to ride the wave of success. I need more coffee - starting to hallucinate.

Thanks for the advice though.

[HarryPearce]

If the games industry is too boring he could try heading towards the simulators used by the military. Try http://www.custompc.co.uk/features/6...ogy/page3.html.

More realistically if he wants to work at the bleeding edge of game design he'd better do his homework, physics, maths, high performance graphics, AI all fuse to form the whole.

[Francko]

Well done, Franco. Which bit of the Alps?

I think they will only let you back into SW19 when your ASBO expires.

Well, not really in the alps but close enough. Yet unfortunately in the grim german side business capital. However, we are trying to move to the nice italian part, failing that back to London. Of course, only after the price crash (and yes when the ASBO expires ).

[Lucifer Box]

Not in SW19 any longer, just milked the profit and living off in the alps (well, not quite yet at that stage really but I like to think so).

Still do miss the Wandle and who knows... perhaps back soon there (when the prices crash and I can buy again with only the profit gained).

Well done, Franco. Which bit of the Alps?

I think they will only let you back into SW19 when your ASBO expires.

[Lucifer Box]

It wasn't Joffa was it? He was at Ocean when I was there. That was more than 20 years ago...

Might have been slightly before his time. He was a fella called Kim (yes, really).

[Churchill]

Fifteen odd years ago I worked a travel company with a lad who was a freelance games developer although it was mostly Ocean games that took his stuff. He did mostly Spectrum work and made quite a bit of money (he said). However, he said it was very dull as it must have been really dull because when I met him he was doing Cobol work on accounting systems.

It wasn't Joffa was it? He was at Ocean when I was there. That was more than 20 years ago...

[Churchill]

If you want to get your kid started in the world of games development then might I suggest you check out "DarkBasic". It has a lively forum and is a relatively mature development environment.

Get him to produce a few demos and then maybe he can progress down the 'C', 'C++' and assembler route.

At the start he will want a way to rapidly produce results without having to learn too much about the dev environment. DB should help. It has various libraries that handle 3-D, animation etc.

[Francko]

Greetings, young Franco. Funnily enough I did get trapped in Sainsbury's carpark when the Wandle burst ita banks. It was only for an hour or so but any longer and I feel the trapped shoppers would have started forming their own primitive society around the deli counter.

How are you, my friend? Still living in SW19? Settled down to the routine of married life now?

Not in SW19 any longer, just milked the profit and living off in the alps (well, not quite yet at that stage really but I like to think so).

Still do miss the Wandle and who knows... perhaps back soon there (when the prices crash and I can buy again with only the profit gained).