What would YOU do?

Published July 19, 2006
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Given the following choices, what would YOU do?

1) Become a Technical Director on a small project for current-gen console technology. This would be an interesting game in itself with a very small team of people that you know and enjoy working with. The only real downside is that there's not a lot of technical challenge in it and it's working with essentially out-of-date technology so any skills gained are pretty useless going forward. Oh, and because its a smaller team with a shorter shipping schedule, it would likely mean some long hours next summer.

2) Become a Senior Engineer for the Next Big Game shipping on next-gen technology working on Terrain and/or AI (to me, these are really interesting fields and I would really enjoy either).

3) Quit and go find a job working on a game that you'd really love to work on. Neither of the above games are ones that I would really be passionate about (beyond the fact that I love programming games in general) and I KNOW that I could find a job doing a game I'd love...but this could very well mean moving out of state and it would also mean starting over at a new company, earning trust and proving myself all over again, etc. Ug.

*sigh* A couple of years ago, I would never have dreamed I'd have these choices. Life does seem to change at miraculous speed sometimes.
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Comments

walle
3) Any time of the day...but that's my own thought, I guess alot of people would kill for any of the other ones...
July 19, 2006 05:52 AM
ukdm
Personally, I would take the Technical role on the current gen game and use the extra time you get to develop your own skills in the areas you like. technical Director is a better role than Senior Developer and if you have the skills you need for the other role at the end of the project you may be able to slot in as Technical Director on a next-gen game.
July 19, 2006 06:55 AM
Rob Loach
"Senior Engineer" sounds better then "Technical Director", although working in a small team might give you some good connections later on. Definately don't go for option number 3 as that will end up with unemployment for a good six months....
July 19, 2006 08:13 AM
Stompy9999
I would go with option 1. I definetly wouldn't do option 3, as I'm sure eventually a game will come along that you're interested in.
July 19, 2006 09:11 AM
Ravuya
Personally, I'd probably go with #1. Who needs the hassle of broken-ass development kits?

Put a bug in your boss' ear about porting the current-gen game to a next-gen console, so he gets you some next-gen training and sit-down time to try and make the game 'more portable'.

That way you get a stable project under your belt, and you get to learn from others' mistakes before you start on a next-gen project.
July 19, 2006 10:26 AM
ApochPiQ
Depends a lot on which console is involved. Personally, I'd take a 360 development job over a cur-gen job any day of the week, but neither of the other next-gen products interest me at this point; in that case I'd prefer the more stable and well-understood platforms.

In either case, I'd hold out on the most preferable of #1 or #2, and look for a potential #3. If you find a #3, get to know the people there outside of work, and then set up to make the transition when it becomes practical to do so.
July 19, 2006 01:46 PM
Trapper Zoid
Personally, I'd go with #1, as the projects I've had the most fun with are those where I worked with a small team of talented people I like and respect. Plus I figure there's always something you can learn on any sizable project. But that might just be my opinion.

This assumes that there wouldn't be a month or more of killer crunch time at the end of the project though, where sanity gets thrown out the window and various clueless people (often attached to the publisher) try to stomp on your team's dreams. (And this is also just my opinion [grin]).
July 19, 2006 11:49 PM
noaktree

2

July 24, 2006 11:18 AM
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