If you don't mind, what school? (I'm starting to want to get my degree now, I've looked at a few options but the one I like best is out of state with no online option...)
As I am,
a state of being.
Drop the first,
a verb of similar meaning.
Exchange the first,
a debatable fruit.
Drop one and two,
friend of a root.
Drop first, read in reverse,
the type you don't want to be meeting.
I am a five letter word, what am I?
It's also expensive and you're not getting nearly as much out of it for the cost.. like how we require coops and those lead to jobs (more important for undergrad than you but just the same)
Fair enough.. if you're looking to get into the game industry and you've already got a job, you may be better off trying to make your own small game/project and then just applying places and showing that off
^ Yes. This is very good advice for getting into the (very hazardous) game industry. Generally speaking, even though programming and math knowledge are necessary, initiative and creativity and teamwork/leadership are more attractive than pure coding skills.
@n_palum I know, I've done a little bit, but I'm rather lost in trying to proceed with the current project I'm working on. My biggest issue though is that I'm far from creative, so creating a game completely on my own is rather unlikely.
@dcfyj From what I've seen, the indie projects that fail the most (as in, fail to reach their goals or produce a playable demo) are those that start by aiming too high and trying to accomplish too much
As I said, I have a fully working pong game (followed the tutorial pretty much step by step) but I don't feel I learn all that much from it. As for the 2048 I'm making I've hit an impasse from lack of knowing how to do what I want to do (and the inability to find how to do it)
@MikeQ You really don't understand lol. Try as I might, I don't get ideas. When I needed to write papers for composition in college (or high school) I would be sitting on it for days on end unable to even start it because I didn't know how.
But for your personal development (not portfolio, just practice), you don't need to finish anything. Most of my "projects" are simply scraps of game mechanics ideas, rather than actual playable content.
and @dcfyj I can personally recommend Purdue's game dev concentration. They've produced some truly exceptional people (I personally know TWO grads who work at big-name devs)
Although as a heads-up warning, the industry is very intense and doesn't have the best job stability. That said, it pays well and I imagine that many studios are potentially fun work environments.
@n_palum Useless anecdote: Among the game devs I know, the happiest ones are independent contractors (working on projects with actual companies). The others often complain about crazy work schedules and feeling like code monkeys.
@Sid That is also correct! But at least they know in advance that their work will probably end once the project is complete - unlike other companies that have this tendency, but the employees assume that their job will continue after a project's release date.
Like I said, this is mostly anecdotal.
Also, it's coming from me, and you should (almost) never take me seriously
I have cohorts that ended up at Riot, NetherRealm (was previously at Volition), and a lesser-known company that does DLC
Biggest tip I can give is just be really really good
Everyone and their dog wants to get into games these days, so you have to really be willing to apply yourself and maximize your portfolio. A specialty skill will take you far.
Get as solid a base education as you can, but then pick one or two areas to hulk out in. For design side, this could be modeling, rigging, animation, lighting, environment, secondary animation (e.g. particle effects).... for code side, this would be a language and/or system.
@dcfyj What's your background, and how soon are you looking?
^ Yes. Having a strong (if secondary) art/music skill is very appealing. There are many, many applicants with purely programming skills and nothing else.
General engine-skillset pairs: * Unity -> C# (what? javascript? shh) * Unreal -> C++ * Android apps -> Java * pygame -> Python and lots of patience * Blender -> Python and ability to memorize a million hotkeys * GameMaker -> get out of here
Alternatively, you could become a traveling country music singer. I can assure you that requires very little talent or creativity. Just complain about stuff, maybe mention a truck at some point, and add some acoustic guitar.
Recently, I answered one of the lateral-thinking puzzles here. I still believe that my answer was the best of the lot, although there were quite a few creative answers as well.I don't see how it is too broad.
The Lateral-thinking tag allows for creative answers, but till what extent? Most of the...
@MikeQ , good one! Also, a take on haiku's: If you have a few of them, maybe you can tie some together into a single puzzle somehow, perhaps along the lines of a metapuzzle, or even a meta-haiku
Could be worth stewing a little longer (said by someone with 10 or so puzzles on the back burner), but one or two forced ones among some goodies can add to the fun.
@Mithrandir , lateral-thinking does seem to fail Gareth's does-it-help-searching criterion . . . but it does serve as a warning to solvers, though that warning could just as well be in the puzzle statement.
You mean into the puzzles, or solutions, or both? If puzzles, I wish everyone (including myself) would be better at stating all aspects of puzzles in their statements without relying on tags.
. . . actually, I just dropped by to leave a couple of impulsive wise-cracks that almost became comments on the main site but had enough discretion divert them to this outlet:
Regarding:
Then again, as much as I enjoy catchy dressings on puzzles, as has been evident, and on solutions too, some of us don't miss them at all when not present — humn1 hour ago
What I really wanted to add was: Some of my puzzles try so hard to be catchy they should, if caught, not be released.
Deduce what happened, supporting with observations and deductions, also a possible story of what might have happened.
Disclaimer: I didn't create this one. I don't know the original source too.
Such a large red splash surely requires a formidable tomato, but, unfortunately, all the victim had for defense was a licorice gun. Evidence locker mug shot:
A common complaint here is not getting anything done due to the Siren's call of this place, but I have actually been rather accomplished today and ticked off a couple of boxes
In Greek mythology, the Sirens (Greek singular: Σειρήν Seirēn; Greek plural: Σειρῆνες Seirēnes) were dangerous creatures, who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on some small islands called Sirenum scopuli. In some later, rationalized traditions, the literal geography of the "flowery" island of Anthemoessa, or Anthemusa, is fixed: sometimes on Cape Pelorum and at others in the islands known as the Sirenuse, near Paestum, or in Capreae. All such locations were surrounded by cliffs and rocks.
=...
@MikeQ , don't give up! I think it's okay to post experimental puzzles. Usually I say so in the first comment under each of mine, if not in the statement itself.
A rebus has gone missing. What rebus, and under which
$~\boxed{\sf~ \raise{.5ex}\underline\quad \, ? ~\raise{.1ex}\strut}$ ?
$$ \color{#274}{\boxed{ \quad \begin{matrix} \\[-1ex]
& \kern-1em \rm ADAD & & \raise{2.5ex}\strut
\kern-2em\raise{1.2ex}\color{black}{\boxed{\s...
fun fact: my first job was in a company in the business of databases and SQL, and the first thing I did was ask a senior engineer "what is SQL, again?"
Here's one to recalculate points if ^votes on puzzles were to count 10 points:
select top 1234
ups as ups,
5*ups as adjustment,
u.Reputation as reputation,
u.Reputation + 5*ISNULL(ups,0) as revised,
u.Id as [User Link]
from ( -- counts --
SELECT u.Id as uId,
count(*) as ups
from Users u
join Posts p on p.OwnerUserId = u.Id
Turned out to only change things very much for a couple of users who post puzzles but not solutions.