@\NightandtheShape/@

I'm bizzare, I liked Arx Fatalis's inventory system.

*Speechless* *Still speechless* *Frown of confusion* ... I best just keep my mouth shut in regards to that one... Anyone for cookies?

Nick_I_arn't, is most certainly correct. It's been far too long since a good solid space sim in the vain of Wing Commander etc... Was released.

And I'd love to see good one. Nothing worse than having to stop to reorganise ones inventory. That's very subjective. As demonstrated in this thread, a lot of people enjoy the inventory system. Why? Because it works fine? A good designer should be trying to think of innovative things, not designating old systems need to be reworked simply because they are old. You've just said yourself it's subjective. I don't like the "Traditional" inventory tetris approch. You don't rework something because it's old, you rework it because the design is flawed. The perspective of if it as being flawed is subjective. I just wanted to add my bit

You ever met someone who is absolutely T-Total? It's scary... Very scary.

I had a 3 hour interview yesturday... I'm wondering if that is excessive, previous interviews have lasted between 1 and a half to 2 hours.

Not a reason to not attend Digipen, from all accounts Digipen is a top place. Perhaps you should think about oppertunities which will lead to a more acedemic, researching role? A good computer science degree would probably suite you, you would most likely be able to learn anything else that interested you from books alone.

I love a good inventory! And I'd love to see good one. Nothing worse than having to stop to reorganise ones inventory. Inventory systems need an overhaul and a rethink.

On what are you basing this? For all appearances, many of the niche market games in computer gaming that existed a few years ago are pretty much gone. European developers which up until now have really been the last developers of niche type games seem to be moving toward the same develpment paradigm as US developers. Flight sims, racing sims, sims of any sort, TB games of any sort, hard crpgs, have all apparently been deemed too complicated for gamers to enjoy and are therefore dropping or have been dropped altogether. I'm not terribly optimistic that the current trend of reduction (aka streamlining) in games is going to end or even slow down anytime soon. Dissapointment apparently follows you around like the plague. Racing sims certainly still exist, and I must admit I haven't even been near a Flight sim since I was about 12. The problem with TB, something I particularly like, is that basically it's almost impossible to get a publisher to pick up such a title. That said, as long as Team 17 exist there will always be Worms love it or hate it, you've also got games like advance wars. This leads me to hard crpg's, what constitutes hard? It's a very subjective matter, but I would agree in some sense, gone are the days of perminant character death ala original bards tale series, but they've been long gone for quite some time. I don't think that the genres are deemed too complicated for gamers, I think it's more a matter of unappealing to mass markets and hence considering the required budgets and investment for cross platform games, the differences required in the technology. As an investment they're risky, they're less likely to break even, and it's certainly to be thought that those are the reasons why.

Diablo - I've decided that this is the ultimate hangover game. Age of Conan.

I read that too. The issue is actually more to do with the obsession Universities have with teaching Java (A shower of ****e if I ever saw one), and the general "shying" away from low level control. Making a degree hard by having an emphisis on low level control, hence alienating students. It's not just the games degree's it's CS degree's in general. Universities are interested in "getting students", and "passing students", this ironically ==

True Neutral Human Druid/Sorcerer (2nd/2nd Level) Ability Scores: Strength- 11 Dexterity- 11 Constitution- 16 Intelligence- 15 Wisdom- 16 Charisma- 13 Oh how I so wants to roll my eyeses

I read that too. The issue is actually more to do with the obsession Universities have with teaching Java (A shower of ****e if I ever saw one), and the general "shying" away from low level control. Making a degree hard by having an emphisis on low level control, hence alienating students. It's not just the games degree's it's CS degree's in general. Universities are interested in "getting students", and "passing students", this ironically ==

Just about to give Age of Conan a try...

SYL - All Hail The New Flesh hey man, I'm going to f**k this **** up no fear, no compromise, I want it all I will never be afraid, and I'll die with what I believe all of you **** can stay rotting here I do no care, I will not be there I have got to save myself and don't tell me there's no one else and all you are is all you are... I'm so sorry (for you) I'm sorry... so all hail the new flesh, because it suits me fine... just get away, you motherf**k and we'll be back if you come for what this means to me, you piece of ****... I'll see you pigs in hell I just know everything's going to be o.k. ____________________________________________ I find it ironic.

Trust you to take such a stance :holds head in hands:.

C++ is priority and focus number one for games programmers. Learn it, inside out.

Ah got ya... Like I said it's only a possible chance, and I'm genuinely not keen on the idea.

i would HIGHLY recommend an MS, but a PhD is a bit of a different story. the MS says to potential employers "this guy is willing to work hard and he's proved the ability to tackle difficult problems" which makes you very marketable, while still maintaining a bit of a broad scope. the PhD, however, is a mixed bag. it says the same thing (to a greater level, obviously), but it also has a tendency to pigeon-hole you into niche areas which may limit opportunities (depends upon a lot of factors, however). the PhD as well is monumentally more difficult in some ways. from a classwork standpoint, it's no different than an MS - just more classes. the hardest parts are 1) picking a dissertation topic, 2) getting a higher score on the qualifier exam than an MS qualifier (which requires, oddly enough, rather broad knowledge) 3) maintaining a higher GPA (often easy since classwork is more focused into your area of interest) and 4) actually writing the dissertation. #s 1 and 4 are the big meat. #4 is the reason i'm on daily zoloft and twice a day prilosec (coupled with what a friend referred to as "the perfect storm of stress" in the past 6 months). the problem with #1 is that as you begin to research, you quickly discover that other people have already done "it," which means you have to adjust your topic. this is an eternal hell while you're writing, too, since you always have the fear of starting over and losing everything you've done. i had two close calls while doing unrelated patent searches that almost scrapped everything. not fun. anyway, hope that helps. if you need any other thoughts, let me know. did 'em both, while working full time to boot. taks Thanks for the advice . It's not likely that I will do a masters, or a PhD, it was merely that I have been approched about the topic and I'm always open. Also I've already done one dissertation at 132 pages in length, on procedural tree generation using L-Systems, with data recorded in terms of geometry shaders based generation and CPU based generation. I don't think another one would really strike any fear into me, it's the kind of thing I'm rather good at opposed to say exam's where in general I suck. I've only ever been interested in programming games, and I intend to continue in that direction for now, I still have some distance to cover on more advanced C++ techniques, and the STL. I just need more practical experience.

I'll bring the pitchfork. Who brings the torch? Flaming and ready! Infact i have some spares...

Smelly programmer. I like that BioWare made the effort to replace that old thing with something that atleast vaguely resembles a game. Ye olde "push the button flashing on the screen" was just plain retarded. Although I wouldnt have made a minigame out of it in the first place, just a simple skillcheck. Oh I may indeed smell occasionally but that is down to the fact I spent X amount of hours/days implementing some half baked designers idea of some lame mini-game which nobody will like anyways. It's taking something which was an occasional inconvenience (those few times you actually fail), and replacing it with something almost as bad as Oblivions stupid lock picking mini-game. NO SENSE, NO SENSE AT ALL! I agree, a skill check just avoids the entire situation. That said I like the way Wizardry 7 dealt with lock picking.

I ain't ever seen this > http://www.demiurgestudios.com/blog/upload...game-786022.jpg Looks like it sucks... BIOWARE YOU TARDS YOU BROKENS IT!

Very true, I was confused about this for a while... Seems like Bioware changed it for the PC, and made it really bad. The ABXY qte style button mash reflex blah is intuative and works, why is it that designers sometimes feel the need to break something that isn't broken? WSAD would have worked just as well.

That certainly seems more reasonable... I'll certainly give it a whirl. Atleast the programmers made sure everything was backed up

I may have a chance to do a PhD, or masters, but currently I'm focused on getting myself a job, in the games industry, get a bit more experience under my belt.