Software Styles (was: Re: [MUD-Dev] Is database access a bottleneck)

[Mike Shaver]

On Dec 13, Sean Kelly wrote:

> There are some incredibly talented people in the game development
> industry, but the lack of professionalism in most cases is a real
> put-off.  I'd much rather work for double the money at a business
> where I can walk out the door at 5pm than in an office where there
> are cool toys.  Still, as the MMORPG thread indicates, I think the
> times they are a-changing.  As production costs rapidly approach
> hollywood level, some more structure is going to have to make it
> into the industry or companies will start to fail.  For either
> good or bad, the times of garage studios is nearing an end.

I think the growth of the amount of "system software" in games is
also pushing the industry towards hiring-and-compensation sanity.
MMOGs, especially, have complex software requirements that are
probably at least as similar to OS and network-server development as
they are to writing the AI for Perfect Dark.

Some companies -- though not all that many, based on the number of
ads that still want explicit game experience for _anything_ -- are
realizing that there are good software people outside of the game
industry, and that they can't pay them like interns just because
it's the candidates first "gaming job".  I had a wonderful
experience with the Sony Sovereign team along those lines (I have no
game experience, but I've worked on a lot of software with complex
interactions and high levels of dynamism) and I took away a very
good impression of them.  The negotiation fell apart over
out-of-band issues, but they really do seem to realize that they can
do well by expanding the field of their search.  Now, it does seem
that it's a team-by-team thing, so other parts of Sony might be less
enlightened, and some teams within Evil Places like Blizzard or EA
might "get it".

Maybe a little bit of cross-pollination will help break some of the
shameful NIH and primitive-software-process habits that are also
rampant in the game-development industry.  Ah, to dream.

Mike
(Hi, Brian!)

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