programmers portfolio

Submitted by tachyon on
Forum
Job and Work Experience

In the final year of uni, and really keen to get a job with a game developer when i graduate, so i've currently been looking throught things i've written throught my uni life, and deciding what else i should write to put in my "programmers portfolio".

Just wondering, what sort of things do employers expect when you show them your code samples, pacman clones? or 3d game engines, or inbeetween? Do they necessarily have to be games, as i have a few things i am quite proud of that aren't games, but are pretty impressive feats of programming in my opinion.

Thanks for you info guys, and just like to say this site rocks and i wish i'd known about it earler

Submitted by 0xBaaDf00d on Sun, 13/04/03 - 12:31 PMPermalink

Dude, One word. DEMO'S.
And it depends from company to company, Maths is extremly important, But a good demo is worth so much more.
My advice, Build DEMOS (3D), Demos demos demos......

0xBaaDf00d
-------------------------------------------------------------
There is no Schwartz

Submitted by rezn0r on Mon, 14/04/03 - 8:24 AMPermalink

A water effects demo is a good example. :D

Just little programs showing off things you have done, not necessarily full games.

Scott.

Submitted by tachyon on Mon, 14/04/03 - 11:46 AMPermalink

Cool, i suppose i'll have a go at the programmers challenge going on ;)

Submitted by GooberMan on Fri, 18/04/03 - 7:37 AMPermalink

For my demo CD, I used the two games that I linked to below. They both ran on a framework I made called AMGOS (currently undergoing a complete rewrite). AMGOS provided some basic services, and DLLs would contain the game code and use AMGOS to put stuff on screen and all sorts of other stuff. This had the advantage that I could write another menu style program and load up the games in question without having to restart any programs or firing up another process. As has been said before though, you don't need games, just demos (in fact, the person who interviewed me thought of the WH40K game as a tech demo and not a full blown game - but he did get addicted to Worms in Tanks [:)])

http://www.doomworld.com/doomarcade/downloads/amgos_wh40k_alpha_bin.zip
http://www.doomworld.com/doomarcade/downloads/amgos_wormsintanks_v0.95_…

The source for Worms In Tanks is released under the GPL:
http://www.doomworld.com/doomarcade/downloads/amgos_wormsintanks_v0.95_…

Submitted by Alex on Sun, 20/04/03 - 1:27 AMPermalink

In my opinion things in your portfolio do not necessarily need to all be games or demos. I think you will find that quite a few companies place a lot of value on anything that demonstrates a thorough understanding of C/C++ and OOD. Though if it can be a game, even better.

My portfolio, which helped me land a job at Irrational Games about 7 months ago, consisted of a single game. The game and source code can be found at http://yellowsoftware.sourceforge.net/volumewar/ (it is yet another take on the 3D worms idea).

Cheers
Alex

Posted by tachyon on
Forum
Job and Work Experience

In the final year of uni, and really keen to get a job with a game developer when i graduate, so i've currently been looking throught things i've written throught my uni life, and deciding what else i should write to put in my "programmers portfolio".

Just wondering, what sort of things do employers expect when you show them your code samples, pacman clones? or 3d game engines, or inbeetween? Do they necessarily have to be games, as i have a few things i am quite proud of that aren't games, but are pretty impressive feats of programming in my opinion.

Thanks for you info guys, and just like to say this site rocks and i wish i'd known about it earler

Submitted by 0xBaaDf00d on Sun, 13/04/03 - 12:31 PMPermalink

Dude, One word. DEMO'S.
And it depends from company to company, Maths is extremly important, But a good demo is worth so much more.
My advice, Build DEMOS (3D), Demos demos demos......

0xBaaDf00d
-------------------------------------------------------------
There is no Schwartz

Submitted by rezn0r on Mon, 14/04/03 - 8:24 AMPermalink

A water effects demo is a good example. :D

Just little programs showing off things you have done, not necessarily full games.

Scott.

Submitted by tachyon on Mon, 14/04/03 - 11:46 AMPermalink

Cool, i suppose i'll have a go at the programmers challenge going on ;)

Submitted by GooberMan on Fri, 18/04/03 - 7:37 AMPermalink

For my demo CD, I used the two games that I linked to below. They both ran on a framework I made called AMGOS (currently undergoing a complete rewrite). AMGOS provided some basic services, and DLLs would contain the game code and use AMGOS to put stuff on screen and all sorts of other stuff. This had the advantage that I could write another menu style program and load up the games in question without having to restart any programs or firing up another process. As has been said before though, you don't need games, just demos (in fact, the person who interviewed me thought of the WH40K game as a tech demo and not a full blown game - but he did get addicted to Worms in Tanks [:)])

http://www.doomworld.com/doomarcade/downloads/amgos_wh40k_alpha_bin.zip
http://www.doomworld.com/doomarcade/downloads/amgos_wormsintanks_v0.95_…

The source for Worms In Tanks is released under the GPL:
http://www.doomworld.com/doomarcade/downloads/amgos_wormsintanks_v0.95_…

Submitted by Alex on Sun, 20/04/03 - 1:27 AMPermalink

In my opinion things in your portfolio do not necessarily need to all be games or demos. I think you will find that quite a few companies place a lot of value on anything that demonstrates a thorough understanding of C/C++ and OOD. Though if it can be a game, even better.

My portfolio, which helped me land a job at Irrational Games about 7 months ago, consisted of a single game. The game and source code can be found at http://yellowsoftware.sourceforge.net/volumewar/ (it is yet another take on the 3D worms idea).

Cheers
Alex