informa
2 MIN READ
Blogs

My quest to break into the industry: New approach/Coming out party

I decided today that working on my own in my cave might not be the best of plans. I was on the Dallas IGDA website today and found a post in the forums for an "Ad Lib game development group". The group's mission is to get together every 4-6 weeks and...
I decided today that working on my own in my cave might not be the best of plans. I was on the Dallas IGDA website today and found a post in the forums for an "Ad Lib game development group". The group's mission is to get together every 4-6 weeks and crank out a single game in 24 hours. They use C#/XNA for the games, which is right up my ally since I use C# now in my job.

Needless to say I sent in a request to join the group. I could create all the mods that I want, but without networking, no one will know I exist. This seems like a wide open door that I have to walk through. Right now there are only 4 guys in the group. I'm not sure of all of their professional statuses, but I know one of them works at GearBox.

I'm also going to publish this blog up on my facebook page as my official coming out. I haven't really been too up front with my plans to get back into game development because I wasn't sure if I was 100% committed to it yet. Since I started this a little over a month ago, its really all I can think about. The projects I'm working on at work are driving me crazy because they offer me no challenge. This is what i want to do.

All that being said...I still think I have a bit to go. I still need to get back up to par with my C++ if I want to have any chance at a legitemit game dev job, I need to play more games, and now I need to learn the XNA framework if I want to contribute to this group.

On a side note I did work on my mod a bit since the last time I posted. Another couple of addtions. I got my entity to drain life when it's shot, and to throw sparks and explode when it dies. I don't want to abandon this project, because I'm having fun with it. I'm hoping the next time that I work on it, that I can get my entity to fire back.

I also subcribed to the Game Developer magazine digital edition. The digital edition is really cool because I can view it on my iPhone and read it at work (God bless the iPhone!)

All and all it's been a pretty busy week and I'm hoping next week will be even better!

=================
Quest Progress:
Latest Programming/Design Achievements:
  • My entity can now drain health on being shot and also explodes and throws sparks when it dies
Currently Reading:
  • Code Complete 2nd Edition by Steve McConnell (Currently on Chapter 19)
  • Game Developer Magazine (March 2009)
Currently Playing
  • Bioshock (I'm back in a sub headed to the Metro station)

CONNECT WITH US

Explore the
Advertise with
Follow us

Game Developer Job Board

Game Developer

@gamedevdotcom

Explore the

Game Developer Job Board

Browse open positions across the game industry or recruit new talent for your studio

Browse
Advertise with

Game Developer

Engage game professionals and drive sales using an array of Game Developer media solutions to meet your objectives.

Learn More
Follow us

@gamedevdotcom

Follow us @gamedevdotcom to stay up-to-date with the latest news & insider information about events & more