7/17   People, you have to give me time to read the post before you
       nuke.  Again:  for those of you working in the game industry
       either as a programmer or in the art department, can you
       describe the reality of such a job other than the long
       hours and the substandard pay (compared to other possible
       cs/art jobs)?  Is it in enjoyable, or do the tight deadlines
       typically make the whole experience downright unpleasant?
       It's a little bit hard to get the inside opinion on this
       type of thing, informational interviews can only show you
       so much.   -- disgruntled non-cs, non-arts bitter alum
        \_ What would you be doing?  What is the company?  Do you
           know anyone there?  A "game company" doesn't mean much.
           Specifics, believe it or not, help.
        \_ Non art?  Non CS?  What else is there?
             \_ a shit job like mine;  there are endless number of shit
                jobs but only a few good ones  -- bitter alum
        \_ working in games is a lot like work in other industries
        \_ I think Blojo and Bolt Action have it right:
           You work on games to have fun, try new things, do nifty
           tricks in your code, but you earn your money by calling
           yourself "Berkeley Consulting Group" and charge corporate
           suits to fix problems.
           \_ No, actually, Blizzard has it right.  Blojo and Co aren't
              talented enough to actually make a game that sells, so they
              have to whore themselves to stay afloat.
                \_ I bow to your superior wisdom and demonstrably
                 is coming up with a unique play concept. This has NOTHING
                   vast experience.  -blojo
                   \_ Oh spare me your posturing and write something that
                      sells.  Or if you don't want to write something that
                      sells at least tell your people that they are working
                      at a java-monkey consulting company, not a game
                      company like you claim.
                        \_ Look man, you've obviously never talked to anyone
                           who works with me, and you don't know anything
                           about the game industry.  If you sign your name
                           then at least I will know who to shun.
                                -blojo
                           \_ And you do?  Just get something published for
                              crying outloud.  At least I don't claim any
                              knowledge, you do.  Which of us is a greater
                              fool?
                                \_ you are, reiffin.  -tom
                \_ Nothing wrong with having a hobby company and supporting
                   it with your consulting work.  Didn't they get a game on
                   http://Won.Net or MS game zone or something?  Some tank hunter
                   thing?
                   \_ Lack of talent isn't a sin, but it sure sucks.
              \_ You're both wrong. The tough part of making a "hit" game
                 is coming up with a unique play concept.
                  \_ horseshit.  Nearly all the hit games are rehashes of
                     existing concepts.  -tom
                 This has NOTHING
                 to do with how '1337 a programmer you are. Once you
                 have that, there are any number of good programmers who
                 can execute the concept. The benefit of having an uber-hacker
                 is that it can run on a pentium 100, vs a pentium 500.
                 [plus these days, you gotta have good artists]
                 \_ And sounds/music too with all that 3d audio shit going on.
                    SPOCK!  MUST-HAVE-MORE-EYE-CANDY!  AAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!!!
              \_ *sigh*
                \_ Oh right.  "*sigh*" yerself.  Like you never mushed a thread
                   before.
        \_  Though this has little to do with the thread, but in light of recent
                posts trying to get people to sign on with Sony, etc., if you
                happen to end up working for a Japanese company, you can begin
                to feel sorry for yourself: you have no future.  There are many
                reasons Japanese companies can't make good software / hire good
                CS-competent staff.  Most of the good games sold by the Japanese
                gaming industry are games written by other companies, sold under
                their brand name label.  I interviewed with a Japanese software
                game maker once a few years back, and I have interviewed with
                Sony (non-gaming division, though) and many other Japanese-run
                companies.  Most of the 50-year old dweebs in charge have no
                klew about computers and software at all.  Maybe they know their
                hardware really well, but software and common sense and logic
                often escape the Japanese gurus.  There was this big thing in the
                80's about the Japanese-style of management.  Trust me, there
                is not much happening in the back offices of most Japanese corp-
                orations these days.  Simple, individual Greed has replaced most
                of what was a decent model 15-20 years ago... in fact, I'm not
                convinced it ever was a decent model to follow.  Sorry for the
                long excerpt, but I wanted to write a bunch more.  If you're
                mulling over working for a Jap. company, send me mail first.
                I'll do my best to convince you otherwise.  --mtbb
                \_ So, if I understand you correctly, working for a Japanese
                   company has both very high short and long term benefits and
                   no real drawbacks and you strongly recommend working at a
                   Japanese company even for less pay because the other
                   benefits are so great?
                \_ BUT AS1AN CHYX R __H0TTT_!!!1!  1 WANT 2 W0RK 4 A JAPN3Z3
                   CUMPANY BECUZ 1"M H0P1NG THAT A L0T UV YUNG AS1AN CH1X 1N
                   TH0Z3 SH0RT SK00LG1RL SK1RTZ W1LL B3 W0RK1NG TH3R3 2 !!1!!