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Confessions of an Unreal Engine 4 engineering firefighter

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Re: Confessions of an Unreal Engine 4 engineering firefighter

#21

Post by josephg »

abritinthebay wrote: post #6
lfowles wrote: post #2

FTA, a take on entry/mid/senior level distinctions I haven't heard before: "If you are the guy asking for help from people below, to your side, and above you, you’re probably an entry-level engineer. If you frequently need support from those above you (excluding C-level and executive support, that my friends are a whole new level of hell), there’s a good chance you are a mid-level engineer. If you find yourself suppo…

I've heard a similar thing but phrased as what frustrates you in you work most. It's a bit more cynical. Basically: If you're frustrated by your work... probably junior. If you're frustrated by your colleagues... probably mid-level. If you're frustrated by too much management... probably senior. If you're frustrated by too little management... probably lead.

I think about it in relation to how much responsibility each person in the team is comfortable taking.

If you're responsible to solve tickets, you're probably junior. If you're responsible for implementing features, mid. If you're responsible for making sure the whole project will work in time for delivery, senior. And if you're responsible for making sure your team can deliver the project on time, lead.

Re: Confessions of an Unreal Engine 4 engineering firefighter

#22

Post by andybak »

ythn wrote: post #17
georgeecollins wrote: post #3

The amazing thing to me is that now people can make games without a bunch of great engineers. Back in the day when we made Battlezone we had at least four really amazing engineers (one was a Masters in CS from MIT, one wrote early 3d workstation code, UCLA, Cal Tech CS degrees). In those days you needed people like that to just 3D to work in Windows. Direct X helped a lot. Unity and Unreal have made things we couldn'…

> Unity and Unreal have made things we couldn't have dreamed of possible. Such as mountains of bloatware/shovelware template games clogging up every single online store and platform.

Shall we go back to the old days, then? Because there were no crap games then.

The solution is better curation and discoverability. Not harsher gate-keepers and horribly difficult development.

So many incredible games wouldn't exist without modern development tools. Just because you were mildly inconvenienced the last you time browsed an app store, don't wish it all away.

Re: Confessions of an Unreal Engine 4 engineering firefighter

#23

Post by skj »

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #8
georgeecollins wrote: post #3

The amazing thing to me is that now people can make games without a bunch of great engineers. Back in the day when we made Battlezone we had at least four really amazing engineers (one was a Masters in CS from MIT, one wrote early 3d workstation code, UCLA, Cal Tech CS degrees). In those days you needed people like that to just 3D to work in Windows. Direct X helped a lot. Unity and Unreal have made things we couldn'…

We've never met, but I believe you owe me about $17,000 in quarters, with interest. :) Now if I can only hunt down those bastards who made Tempest, Qix, and Galaga...

I understand you're joking, but why would you be owed quarters? Did you not enjoy the games!

Re: Confessions of an Unreal Engine 4 engineering firefighter

#24

Post by danbolt »

mattnewport wrote: post #18
MisterTea wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The amazing thing to me is that now people can make games without a bunch of great engineers. I remember reading an interview with a well known person in the 3D and gaming industry in a gaming magazine well over a decade ago. I can barley recall the details but one thing that stuck out was the interviewer asked why couldn't the game engine be the API giving the developers higher level tools instead of OpenGL or dir…

This is at least in part because hardware has advanced to the point that for many games it makes sense to optimize for development time over runtime performance. Unity and Unreal are still not as performant as a well optimized specialized engine could be in many situations but it would probably take too long and cost too much to build that specialized engine. There are also trade offs in flexibility that come with us…

I love the productivity Unity brings, but sometimes I feel like making a game in the engine requires extra polish as I need to make sure the game has character and not “a Unity game”.

Re: Confessions of an Unreal Engine 4 engineering firefighter

#25

Post by georgeecollins »

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #8
georgeecollins wrote: post #3

The amazing thing to me is that now people can make games without a bunch of great engineers. Back in the day when we made Battlezone we had at least four really amazing engineers (one was a Masters in CS from MIT, one wrote early 3d workstation code, UCLA, Cal Tech CS degrees). In those days you needed people like that to just 3D to work in Windows. Direct X helped a lot. Unity and Unreal have made things we couldn'…

We've never met, but I believe you owe me about $17,000 in quarters, with interest. :) Now if I can only hunt down those bastards who made Tempest, Qix, and Galaga...

I don't, because it is not that Battlezone. Sorry.

Re: Confessions of an Unreal Engine 4 engineering firefighter

#27

Post by georgeecollins »

icefox wrote: post #11
georgeecollins wrote: post #3

The amazing thing to me is that now people can make games without a bunch of great engineers. Back in the day when we made Battlezone we had at least four really amazing engineers (one was a Masters in CS from MIT, one wrote early 3d workstation code, UCLA, Cal Tech CS degrees). In those days you needed people like that to just 3D to work in Windows. Direct X helped a lot. Unity and Unreal have made things we couldn'…

So the question would be what type of game could be made with that type of team today?

There are certainly teams of people of that technical caliber today at Blizzard, Riot, Sony Santa Monica (and lots of other places farther from me) making amazing, cutting edge game tech. But there are also teams like the ones the author described that don't have amazing tech skills that still can make games we couldn't dream of thanks to game engines. I think it is exciting.

Re: Confessions of an Unreal Engine 4 engineering firefighter

#28

Post by georgeecollins »

ythn wrote: post #17
georgeecollins wrote: post #3

The amazing thing to me is that now people can make games without a bunch of great engineers. Back in the day when we made Battlezone we had at least four really amazing engineers (one was a Masters in CS from MIT, one wrote early 3d workstation code, UCLA, Cal Tech CS degrees). In those days you needed people like that to just 3D to work in Windows. Direct X helped a lot. Unity and Unreal have made things we couldn'…

> Unity and Unreal have made things we couldn't have dreamed of possible. Such as mountains of bloatware/shovelware template games clogging up every single online store and platform.

There has always been mountains of books and huge libraries of music being created and we have always managed. Find people you trust to recommend things to you. I recommend Tom Chick at Quarter to Three.

Re: Confessions of an Unreal Engine 4 engineering firefighter

#30

Post by georgeecollins »

egypturnash wrote: post #7
georgeecollins wrote: post #3

The amazing thing to me is that now people can make games without a bunch of great engineers. Back in the day when we made Battlezone we had at least four really amazing engineers (one was a Masters in CS from MIT, one wrote early 3d workstation code, UCLA, Cal Tech CS degrees). In those days you needed people like that to just 3D to work in Windows. Direct X helped a lot. Unity and Unreal have made things we couldn'…

Oh hi co-worker of my old friend Ken :)

OMG: Ken is one of the most amazing people I have ever worked with. You are lucky to count him as a friend.
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