Looking: Programming Position

D

DooVoo

Guest
Hi Everyone,

I'm an undergraduate student, who's just finishing my degree (2 weeks to go!), who is looking to join an organised MOD team over the summer and, possibly beyond that, in a programming role to help continue / complete a MOD. While starting a new MOD from scratch is very appealing, I would rather join an existing team for the experiance of working in such an environment.

I have 4 years of C++ programming experience as well as dabbling in MFC, Java, VB, BASIC, Assembly and UScript. I also spent 18 months as a full-time PHP developer for online cms systems.

The kind of position I am looking to start with is one where I can contribute specific sections of code as dictated by the MOD spec. While I don't mind adding creative input as well, it is not a requirement for me. While I am confident in my programming knowledge I do not have the time or MOD experience to be a lead programmer of any description at this stage.

I hope that gives a general idea of the position I am looking for.

If any people would like to contact me regarding a position, or would like more information, then please reply here or drop me an email (you should be able to do this from the forum). I'll do the best I can to answer any questions you have.

Cheers,

Paul.
 
we should bet on how many PMs this guy is gonna get....im guessing around 500.
 
Heh, I don't mind receiving a lot of pms, it gives me choice!

Already had a few offers, which I'm pleased about, and I'll give them and future messages full consideration and answer them all ASAP.
 
hmmm 'a few' ... I am willing to bet at least 12 PMs :)
 
Not quite that many, luckily. It's too late to look at 12 different mods :D
 
Hopefully I haven't found this too late.

Xenos is interested. Sending PM now.
 
Right, I have had a lot of messages and emails now (so fast, I can't believe it!) so I will consider the offers sent to me and answer each one by the end of tommorow. Please don't send anymore requests, they will not be answered.

Thankyou to everyone who has shown interest and I'm sorry that I won't be able to come and work with all of you!
 
Like ghouls over a fresh corpse, hmm? Glad to see more people are actually interested in doing coding, rather than asking other people to do it for them. Welcome to the club - you're better than most other people now.

-Angry Lawyer
 
Well, I never put myself on the market, but I still tease all the other mod teams :p I prefer working alone, and already I have more to show than the majority of mod teams with multiple members.
Whatever path you choose, make sure you pick a team that has mature members, and a solid concept, and a leader that actually knows how hard coding is, otherwise you're going to have the vaguest commands - "Make the game into an RTS!", "Make it so we have a gun that shoots lazerz!!11" "OMG you gotta tUrn th3 gam3 inTo a MMORPG!!111"
Mod teams tend to worship coders like deities, but remind them of your limits, otherwise they'll ask for stuff that even God would have trouble coding.

-Angry Lawyer
 
Well your arrogance has just about hit astronomical limits. At this point anything less than you releasing the best MOD HL2 ever would be a huge dissapointment.

Coders are as vital to a mod team as any other position, so stop inflating your ego. I'm not speaking from inexperience (I've coded a mod for ut2k3).
 
DooVoo, I missed that last PM, can you resend?
 
Sorry to pull this off topic, but...

Shinobi said:
Well your arrogance has just about hit astronomical limits. At this point anything less than you releasing the best MOD HL2 ever would be a huge dissapointment.

Coders are as vital to a mod team as any other position, so stop inflating your ego. I'm not speaking from inexperience (I've coded a mod for ut2k3).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm arrogant, but alcohol does that to me. Coders ARE vital, and so is the rest of the team, but compare the number of them around as opposed to the number of mod teams. Most mod teams I've seen consist of just a few concept artists, a mapper, and a modeller, and they don't last all that long.
I never said I'd produce anything good, I just said I'd produce SOMETHING, which is more than a lot of mod teams.

And, to take it back on subject, I'd give my reccomendations for you to join any of the guys who have posted here. They're all pretty much dedicated to what they're doing, which is why they dived after you so quickly.

-Angry Lawyer
 
Angry Lawyer said:
which is why they dived after you so quickly.
Click to expand...
that, and coders are about as rare as orange broccoli
 
Angry Lawyer said:
Sorry to pull this off topic, but...



Yeah, I'm arrogant, but alcohol does that to me. Coders ARE vital, and so is the rest of the team, but compare the number of them around as opposed to the number of mod teams. Most mod teams I've seen consist of just a few concept artists, a mapper, and a modeller, and they don't last all that long.
I never said I'd produce anything good, I just said I'd produce SOMETHING, which is more than a lot of mod teams.

And, to take it back on subject, I'd give my reccomendations for you to join any of the guys who have posted here. They're all pretty much dedicated to what they're doing, which is why they dived after you so quickly.

-Angry Lawyer
Click to expand...

ah yes alchahol,,, I'm on questionable cold medicine,, so I may be at an equal anger level :p

Only thing I have to say about the lack of coders on most mod teams is that in a lot of cases those mod teams dont really have artists either. They tend to be a few "visionaries" who read some basic max and hammer tutorials.... I guess when it comes to art, it's sort of a "easy to learn imppossible to master" thing and when it comes to coding it's "bang your head against a wall for years untill it finally clicks suddenly" thing... at least from my expereince...

after a few bad experiences with mod teams and 2 commercial game dev companies,, I've decided to hide and work by myself on my own portfolio crap and maybe emerge to do something around the time HL2 is obsolete...

anyways sorry to fly off the handle on a rant,, but all this arrogance and lack of ablility to manage a team has finally gotten to me lately,, thank god I'm going to england/france/poland for a while and I can just sit back and go back to doing stuff on paper.....
 
btw: there are a lot of good coders out there,, but from what I've noticed they dont tend to use the internet tht much,, I have about 4-5 coders who really want to work on a mod project from my old college,, I just dont have anything for them to work on, and I dont wat to recommend anything that I dont have complete faith in
 
Yeah, alcohol makes me even more condescending than usual. I don't hold it against you - I popped open a bottle of red wine before posting.

To be honest, the majority of mods (assuming you look at moddb.com or something similar) have nobody with any form of modding talent at all. Or at least, have a few people who've just started in modding, and who will have their hopes crushed when they realise that their team leader is an absolute knobjockey.

I've never worked on a mod-team that's produced anything past a beta. Which is why I work alone - and surprisingly, I've found I get stuff done quicker. There's no petty squabbles over what should happen, no slacking team-members, just me and my alcohol-fueled force of will to produce something in the face of all those people who have told me "Pah, you can't make a mod without a mod-team".

To quote your current signature:

redef said:
Maybe HL 2 mod teams will actually be able to do some work soon, rather than constructing websites and pretending to be working on their projects.
Click to expand...

Exactly my sentiments. I'm out to prove a point, and be an arrogant arse at the same time. It's a tough job.

-Angry Lawyer
 
Angry Lawyer said:
otherwise they'll ask for stuff that even God would have trouble coding.

-Angry Lawyer
Click to expand...

What language do you think God writes in? ;)
 
fair enough,, I agree with your sentiments inside,, but I'm having trouble coming to terms with them...


as for my signature,, that was around when HL2 wasnt out,,, unfortunately it still rings true,,, all I have to do is get out of my current commitments and then maybe I can finally get some work done,,,


kudos :)
 
Pesmerga said:
What language do you think God writes in? ;)
Click to expand...

He writes in Physics. Probably. Something better than C++ anyways.

Anywyas Shinobi, the best way to get people prompted to work is to lead through example. One of the things that always eggs me on is the thought of people working on a similar idea to mine and actually getting somewhere. Just say you're working on a WW2/Zombie/random cliche mod, and produce a few lines of code to make it work, and everyone else will rush to try to outdo you. Or that could be the wine talking.

-Angry Lawyer
 
:eek:
Yikes, I'm heading for cover before I get EOF'd in a tron fight :x

EDIT: Woops, I only read the first page, I'm an idiot and you'll have to forgive me, I'm running low on my Z's lately scouring the internet for the elusive beasties called coders :eek:

Ill leave the top part just for giggles. Assume it merrits a giggle :)
 
Just a quick update.

I have answered all but one of the requests I got fully now with a "No Thank you" and the remaining one with a "Where do I sign?" message. If you have not received anything from me then there has been a problem with the email/pm.

The mod team I have chosen to pursue have been in contact and know what is happening. If that isn't you, please stop pm'ing me with additional information as I will have already sent you a rejection notice you have not received for some reason.

For all those people, I hope they find their coder and have the best of luck with their mod!
 
Good luck to you Paul and I hope you enjoy your team, I wish you well on your endevours to find the knowledge you seek.
 
I like coding, but I've never tried coding a mod before. Where do i start?
 
The first step is being confident in your abilities, the 2nd step is to examine everything in the SDK.

DooVoo is in a simular situation, he's got experience, and he's confident in his abilities, but new to the SDK.

I'm still looking for a coder, I would'nt mind having you onboard Jelly, You dont need to know everything, you just need the ability to learn :)
 
Single-Player Mod - NIGHTFALL

You play a human-cum-combine that has somehow managed to retain his consciousness and now seeks redemption in the form of joining forces with the rebel alliance and fighting to destroy the establishment that created him. At the same time you are on the run from Combine forces who regard you as a failed experiment which must be exterminated...

This Mod is going to be a high-quality affair, and as a result all team-members are highly valued. Coders are a PRIORITY POSITION and any application will be highly regarded.

www.nightfallmod.net will have all the info you need, and examples of our (frankly stunning) map work.
 
Mess said:
Single-Player Mod - NIGHTFALL

You play a human-cum-combine that has somehow managed to retain his consciousness and now seeks redemption in the form of joining forces with the rebel alliance and fighting to destroy the establishment that created him. At the same time you are on the run from Combine forces who regard you as a failed experiment which must be exterminated...

This Mod is going to be a high-quality affair, and as a result all team-members are highly valued. Coders are a PRIORITY POSITION and any application will be highly regarded.

www.nightfallmod.net will have all the info you need, and examples of our (frankly stunning) map work.
Click to expand...
er, read the thread before posting perhaps?
 
JellyWorld said:
I like coding, but I've never tried coding a mod before. Where do i start?
Click to expand...

Hey Jellyworld, after some poking around and reading I would agree with Calimaw, if you have some experience with C++ then download the SDK (available through your steam client) and have a play, worst thing you can do is break an SDK installation! :D
 
Yeah, best to sift through the code and see what they use and how things are done in the game, then refer back to it when you need to edit. plus there are plenty of coding sites with decent tutorials.
 
Ennui said:
er, read the thread before posting perhaps?
Click to expand...
You seem to over-estimate the thought processes of a coderless mod team.

Hello, I can code and would like to joi-OMG OMG JOIN OUR MOD WE ARE GOOD, JOIN US PLZ PLZ
 
Fluffy Kitten said:
You seem to over-estimate the thought processes of a coderless mod team.

Hello, I can code and would like to joi-OMG OMG JOIN OUR MOD WE ARE GOOD, JOIN US PLZ PLZ
Click to expand...
lol, I understand, I was rabid for a coder till we got one a little while ago.

still, he said he's already joined a mod... so I asked if you'd read the thread :p
 
Well, as it is, many mods have sprung up, many more than there will be coders to fulfill the mods desires. Most will eventually give up as it is a bit depression trying to find a motivated, friendly, skilled, and CREATIVE coder. Or a coder at all for that matter.

Best thing you can do- in my experience, is to just keep producing what you can, maybe you will learn useful skills such as organizing, concept documentation, hone your personal skills, and have quite a bit of content for when a coder does join the team.

Atleast that's what I've got to keep telling myself, and if it comes down to it, you can always hire coders. If your mod means THAT much to you, Id say it's a worth while investment, but far from cheap.

I wrote this for any one who has been following the topic, as who-ever reads this will most likely be in need of a coder and suffering the burdens of being the leader with out the proper tools.

Keep marchin' on guys!
 
Yeah coders are indeed worth their weight in gold for HL2 mods. Especially when the rest of your mod is looking so... damn... good... :p

I haven't read the whole topic yet, just the first page. That's why I jumped to conclusions.
 
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