Is there a future for me? (Delphi Games Programming)
Author
Okay let me set the stage. I''ve been programming for nearly 14 years. My programming experience has spanned many languages (Though I am partial to Pascal). I currently have my associates degree in computer science and am nearing completion of my bachelors. I also have a Unix/C certification which I obtained through courses at a local community college. Aside from that I also have four years of real world "work" experience designing, implementing, and maintaining installation programs as well as programming smaller in-house applications for a wireless middle-ware company (I also worked on a larger professional services project, so not all of my work was in-house). Currently I teach an intro to programming course and a rapid application development course at the local technical institute.
Now, ever since I was ten I knew I wanted to make games. My first game ever was text adventure programmed in basic (and I didn''t stop there). My ultimate goal is to get a job in the gaming industry. As mentioned before I love pascal, obviously Delphi was the next logical progression (in fact Delphi has become my current favorite language to program in). My question is... Are there actually game companies that use Delphi, to make games. I know I''ve heard of one or two that have a single major project each, but I''m starting to get my portfolio together, and wonder if maybe I should just do my demos in C. That is, rather than try to hunt down a company that uses Delphi and that needs programmers.
I truely think Delphi has a good place in the gaming industry, but alas the dominance of C is hard to shadow. Any advice and or info anyone has to offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Unfortunatly if you want to be a lead designer or developer at a major studio you will need to have C (and possibly portable C++) demo code.
However, as the role of a "level designer" get''s more and more complex -- people with general programming skills and an eye for graphics and gameplay will become more and more in demand.
Right now, if I had no professional game development wisdom under my belt and wanted to get a job in the "industry" -- I would design and produce a Quake 3 Mod or work on levels or addons for an already established title.
There aren''t very many design houses that would use Delphi for more than tools development (ask Steve when he gets back
) -- but even that can be a rewarding carreer.
[ Michael Wilson | turbo sys-op | turbo.gamedev.net ]
However, as the role of a "level designer" get''s more and more complex -- people with general programming skills and an eye for graphics and gameplay will become more and more in demand.
Right now, if I had no professional game development wisdom under my belt and wanted to get a job in the "industry" -- I would design and produce a Quake 3 Mod or work on levels or addons for an already established title.
There aren''t very many design houses that would use Delphi for more than tools development (ask Steve when he gets back
) -- but even that can be a rewarding carreer.[ Michael Wilson | turbo sys-op | turbo.gamedev.net ]
Hi X,
The houses that I know of that use Delphi are Digital Tome ( http://www.digital-tome.com ) who are based in Houston, Texas and wrote Siege of Avalon ( http://www.siege-of-avalon.com ) and Triumph Studios ( http://www.triumphstudios.com ) who are based in Holland, if memory server me correctly, and released Age of Wonders ( http://www.ageofwonders.com ) and are working on Age of Wonders 2 and No. 2 Games ( http://www.no2games.com ) ( also in the States ) used to use Delphi but I am unsure if he still does.
Obviously the games market is dominated by C/C++ and if you plan to work for most Game companies it is a must. If on the other hand you will pave your own way to Game development glory then you can use what ever language you like.
I think the Delphi market share of companies will continue to grow slowly over the next few years as the industry realises that Delphi is just as capabale.
The other problem is that there is an absolute multitude of C/C++ programmers out there and if someone leaves a project they can be replaced fairly quickly as almost everyone would love to work in the games industry. While Delphi programmers are comparitivly thin on the ground. The investors want to make sure that once they have invested their money the project will be completed regardless if someone leaves or not.
Anyway those are my thoughts. Where on this marble are you?
L8R,
Dominique Louis
http://www.DelphiGamer.com
The houses that I know of that use Delphi are Digital Tome ( http://www.digital-tome.com ) who are based in Houston, Texas and wrote Siege of Avalon ( http://www.siege-of-avalon.com ) and Triumph Studios ( http://www.triumphstudios.com ) who are based in Holland, if memory server me correctly, and released Age of Wonders ( http://www.ageofwonders.com ) and are working on Age of Wonders 2 and No. 2 Games ( http://www.no2games.com ) ( also in the States ) used to use Delphi but I am unsure if he still does.
Obviously the games market is dominated by C/C++ and if you plan to work for most Game companies it is a must. If on the other hand you will pave your own way to Game development glory then you can use what ever language you like.
I think the Delphi market share of companies will continue to grow slowly over the next few years as the industry realises that Delphi is just as capabale.
The other problem is that there is an absolute multitude of C/C++ programmers out there and if someone leaves a project they can be replaced fairly quickly as almost everyone would love to work in the games industry. While Delphi programmers are comparitivly thin on the ground. The investors want to make sure that once they have invested their money the project will be completed regardless if someone leaves or not.
Anyway those are my thoughts. Where on this marble are you?
L8R,
Dominique Louis
http://www.DelphiGamer.com
Author
Thanks for the insight/advice guys. I guess my best bet would be to do my demos in C, although it couldn''t hurt to have one or two in another language (shows I''m not bound to any one language). Right now I''m living in New Jersey, but chances are I won''t be staying here (not a lot of work in this area, game programming that is). I plan to really start looking once I finish up my Bachelors (hopefully that will be next year) 
When I applied for my job here at Krome Studios, I only had Delphi projects in my portfolio. I also knew C++, but I didn''t have any completed projects in C++. So I showed what I had and convinced them that I could do the same in C++. Luckily enough, Krome had a small background in Delphi and C++ Builder so they understood enough of my portfolio to see that I knew what I was talking about.
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
