Portfolio Preparation confusion?

#1 Professionalism - one word to describe it.

Many people including me interpret incomplete projects as a lack of commitment.

You can see tons of people talking about how they are passionate about game making, have awesome ideas but when it comes to the execution their enthusiasm exponentially wears out.

Hence you pay for what has more value.

And this goes to all aspects of game making, be it art, programming or music department.

#2 What I figure what would be the model to shoot for is someone who knows how to use the tools given to make something worthwhile. Don't have the tools? Well then I'll make them. Now, obviously not everybody can be that.

The problem is there are millions of programmers in the world but there are not millions of GOOD software programs etc. Build a complete program that stands out from the rest and impress someone. THAT usually involves advanced code and smarts and the know-how that people want.

Personally I think source code snippets and tech demos would kinda be useless unless you use them in a useful program or share them.

#3 Exactly what Vlad said. Tech demos are nice in that they can show that you that you are technically proficient, but they're downside is that most are tech demos are things that you're interested in. An employer will be looking for whether you can see a project through to the end, especially when it might not be that exciting.

#4 @sean I find it Interesting, how you just shit on designers, engineers and builders with your starting comments.

Sure, if you are looking for a job as a programmer then samples of your programming expertise are needed, but if all you want to be is a programmer then you will never be more than *an assembly line monkey*.

I you want to be more you have to do more and show more, its pretty simple really.

#5 @ Vlad

Fair enough. Personal interpretations and interpretation of value remains purely subjective but I cannot change the programming of the majority. I just value different things. I will have to accept it and move on. Cheers. Great response. Pretty much nailed it.


@ Alpha-Kand & Scott Burns

Couldn't be more right. My thinking was incorrect and blurred by other factors.


@ Bloodknight

I don't know where this aggression is coming from but I was not 'shitting' on anyone just stating the way I see things and my perspective regarding it. I didn't realise my opinion or thoughts had so much weight considering I have accommopolished nothing in comparison to the majority. I personally don't how someone can value doing similar steps with slight variations again and again and again (evident in almost every career on the planet) and then believing that they are great because of it or because someone else says so but they do. It turns out from this I interprete things differently. It's not a personal attack on anyone. I see things different that's all and trying to understand.

The rest of the response... cheers for that. I want to do more but it has been drilled into me to specialise and I am not content with doing only one thing. It's boring. It knocked some common sense back into me. Thanks again.

#6 As for the "assembly line monkey" - this is complete nonsense.
It is not even "Welcome to Capitalism"

If I ask an artist to make a lightning sprite to use in my game, and then he says.

"Okay, let me create an effect with flashes in 3ds Max or Maya then I'd render it out then add alpha channel, then take it to Photoshop and do post work because I can't make sparks in 3d application. So in 3 days I'd email you."

I'd fire that guy immediately. An obvious and faster way would be to create it straight in Photoshop. But for some high moral reasons he wants to do it in a philosophical way.

You need to be fast, efficient, professional. You must use alternative ways to achieve the same goal.

This is business if people invest good money in you, in return they expect an equal value.

We are all "assembly line monkeys", I'm glad I am.

#7 Sean c'mon cheer up mate :)

Any job sooner or later will feed you up.

#8 Sean, I get where you're coming from, but seriously, you don't need to create entire projects to be recognised as a pro. All I do is make terrains, and I'm becoming quite sought after because of it. When you focus a skill and market yourself properly, people notice you and approach you with work.

What Bloodknight said wasn't off the mark at all. I noticed that your whole post was just a rant. In fact, in the last month all your posts have been rants. Code monkey or not, that isn't going to get you anything but grief.

I'd listen to Vlad.

#9 @Vlad, cheers lad. That has helped alot.

#10 The gap between a tech demo or even a really solid prototype and a released product is *huge*. Far more than "primarily over-hyped block building that any code monkey with half a brain can do"!

Are you familiar with the truism that "the last 10% of a project will take 90% of the time"? While it is a gross over simplification, there is a lot of hard won experience in that statement. When all you do is a tech demo or a prototype, you are actually only completing somewhere around 30% or so of the project.

There are things like installers, localization, marketing, bug fixing, scalability, data persistance, upgradeability, monetization, community management, support, metrics, download size optimization, overall pacing, replayability, hardware configuration variety, TCRs, business deals, distribution platforms, large scale team management, and a whole host of other things that you need never consider when just doing tech demos and prototypes. Experience with these things are all extremely valuable (there are a lot of wrong ways to each of these).

All of that doesn't even factor in knowing how well you will handle the portion of the project where things get longer and more tedious or what you will do when faced with a hard deadline (as most real shipping projects have). These are things that are much more rare when just building tech demos or prototypes (although doing lots of varied prototypes under tight time and content constraints is a very useful skill to have as well).

#11 @Sean,
The structure of the program is more important than the cool tech in the program. If you have ever run into poorly structured code you will know exactly what I am talking about.

I ran into this on a project for a customer last year. The code was a mish mash and while it had some structure to it you could tell it was added to and added to and added to. So I told the customer this needs to be rewritten. A month later it was faster, better structured, logical boundaries between data input, GUI, and database. It also was something way more important. It was now maintainable. Any piece can be independently replaced without rewriting the code. These things matter more than some cool shader or new 3D model import.

No, I don't think any code monkey can write good code. So yes, there is way more value in completed projects than code snippets or tech demos. Most employers would ask: Can this person solve a problem I give them to solve? Do they have the mental capacity to think through the process? Are they able to use the libraries to assemble maintainable and effective code? Completed projects show that this is true.

Also, let go of any allusions of awesomeness and ego. I learned that a long time ago that ego gets you nowhere. It will hurt your career. Treating all professions with respect will take you very far. If you don't know your janitors name then learn it and say hi to them.

#12 @Matt Fairfax & Frank Carney,

Lost for words here. Thanks for great information. Also looking back my attitude was disrespectful in every sense of the word, almost borderline shameful. The learning never stops...

Cheers.

#13 Mostly your ability to get something done, anything really from start to finish.

I have a good grasp on how hard it is for me to actually complete any given projects, I see why it would be more valued.