#gameplay programmer

[askagamedev]

Is Gameplay Programmer some form of specialization? I always see people who work as gameplay programmer have some secondary skill, like tools, graphics, etc. In order to create a game you need these guys, but when it comes to layoffs, are they considered high-priority?

Yes, Gameplay Programmer is a specialization. Gameplay Programmers are the engineers who work directly with designers to make the designs actually work in game. This primarily means writing code to make the systems and rules that the designers come up with work.

Gameplay programmer goals tend to be building systems that allow designers to create new content. This often involves building and supporting tools to allow the designers to create, edit, and tune many different individual instances of a specific kind of content - abilities, spells, items, enemies, quests, etc. Thus, a gameplay programmer might build an item editor that would allow an item designer to create many different items. This can scale up to enormous core gameplay-driving systems, like Shadow of Mordor's famous Nemesis system, Prince of Persia's Time Rewind system, or Street Fighter's combat.

Gameplay programmers are not particularly high priority when it comes to layoffs. Engineers tend to be more expensive and marginally more difficult to hire and vet than other fields like QA or production, but gameplay engineers are absolutely not the kind of unicorns like technical artists, engine programmers, graphics programmers, and the like. There's always a need for senior gameplay programmers when it comes to standing a game up at all, but you only need as many gameplay engineers support the designers to build the content that production has scoped.

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[lockedtowers]

stop a/starion has a BRAND NEW SIM AVAILABLE ON MODTHESIMS FOR THE SI/MS 2

[bitbotwomp]

finding out I'm plural is the funniest shit ever like you're telling me my solo game dev project was really done by an indie dev team

[plumbogs]

the empty room that jenna moved out of has been filled by chester gieke. he and lilith actually get along pretty well.

[vespidwasp]

aaaand one more random thought i guess. I like friendship test for a lot of reasons, but one of the big ones is... it feels exactly like the sort of game i have always wanted to make? i was 12 years old dreaming about making an rpg maker game set in a laboratory with scientists and robots and experimented-on people and animals. I never got around to it cuz i hated my middle school years so much, not to mention my long-lasting fatigue and executive functioning troubles. But I would have loved friendship test soo so much at that point in my life.

I watched Mar's Q&A yesterday. It's kind of amazing how FT went from being, well, literally a "test" game into such a long and thought out story. I think when I think of making a game, I feel like I have to have the story pretty well planned out before I can start programming or making art for it. But thats not true, is it? I'm just holding myself back that way, getting myself stuck. I think my workflow will be best if I have many things to switch between anyway, between the programming, story, writing, artwork, gameplay, music, etc. I always hate doing the same type of stuff for too long.

IDK. seeing that bit of Mar's process makes gamedev seem doable. I don't have to have a plan going in. esp if planning isnt really working for me.

[breedabletrait]

They're posing the same way... twin brain type shi

Lawrence rolled: Geek 🤓 and Overachiever 📚

Lillian rolled: Scribe ✍ and Snob 🍷

[gxldencity]

u know maybe it is a bit embarrassing that a game director who is talking to journalists about the game doesnt know who zevran is but truly there are ppl saying that everyone should know the lore about bioware games before being hired and idk asking a company of 300-400 or so ppl to know the ins and outs of the lore is a bit ridiculous. some of these ppl just treat this as a 9-5 and that's fine and Good actually lmao.

[ot3]

genuinely gotta give okami props for having some of the most iconic design in the entire history of video games because i saw this post and immediately went 'is that from okami' despite the fact that i have quite literally never played this game or seen any gameplay footage whatsoever. that's a level of cultural saturation any AAA studio executive would ritualistically slaughter 80-100 programmers and visdev artists to achieve but they'll never get there because they're allergic to tasteful stylization

[recipherva]

!!Exciting updates!!

This friday (EST) is the release date for Homicipher. Me and my friends who are helping me on the voice acted mod project will be playing it. We strive to translate the full dictionary (both in english and japanese, the original language.), to then make an understanding of the language's structure, and be able to give it a sound. (It will be very loosely based on japanese, as it's clearly not a latin based language, and japanese is the original language)

This game's language gameplay is unique and stands out so immensely, this project has been on the mind since we first played the demo. We hope to bring it to life.

The mod will be free!! Wether i will fund it out of my pocket, make a crowdfund, or rely solely on the generosity of people willing to help the project is yet to be determined. But i plan on making the mod accessible to all.

You can support this project for free by sharing this post/blog. Any interested in participating (wether it be dictionary notes, linguists, voice actors, programmers, or simply sharing what you think they should sound like) are free to contact us via inbox, most importantly i want the community to enjoy this as much as i enjoy undertaking the project

[lilyware]

contract signed 🥲👍 ya girl isn't unemployed anymore

JUST GOT OUT OF AN INTERVIEW AND THE GUY SAID HE'S SENDING ME AN OFFER TODAY AHHHHHH

[askagamedev]

What kind of portfolio is good for someone becoming a mid-level gameplay programmer? Is only job projects enough or should I make some games on my own as well?

Let's consider things from the hiring manager's perspective. As a hiring manager, I have a bunch of specific tasks I need to hire and pay someone to do for me. My ideal candidate will have the necessary skills to do these tasks in a timely fashion and be able to work with and communicate with the rest of the dev team. I am looking for candidates who can show me that they can do the work. The most persuasive way to do that is to show me that they've done that kind of work already.

It is obviously most persuasive if a candidate has demonstrated those skills in a professional environment - it means another company was willing to pay them to do that kind of work. However, it is still pretty persuasive (if not most persuasive) if the candidate can demonstrate those skills elsewhere - in an amateur environment, on a volunteer basis, etc. If you have work experience to show - by all means show it. If you have hobbyist experience to show - show me that too. Relevant hobbyist experience (e.g. building your own mod) is still much more persuasive than irrelevant work experience (e.g. two years as a barista).

If you're aiming for a mid-level position, you need to understand the difference between junior and mid-level. Junior positions are usually technically proficient but do not have the understanding to do things on their own. Juniors need direction and mentorship. We rarely leave them to their own devices. Mid-level programmers need to have more autonomy and less oversight. This means that your lead can assign you a task and you'll generally be able to solve the problem through code without a lot of direction. An ideal mid-level gameplay programmer candidate has built at least one or two robust gameplay systems on their own and can talk at length about the problems they had to solve, the benefits and drawbacks of code solutions they wrote, and the things they would do differently if they had the chance. Those gameplay systems should be performant, self-contained, and stable at the minimum. Gameplay systems that are data-driven and have built-in extensibility for adding new functionality are even better - that's starting to creep into senior dev territory.

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[echotunes]

Pac's talk about Arkanis

(disclaimer: I'm not fluent in Portuguese so I may have missed or misunderstood something but this is what I gathered)

It's going to be a "survival and RP" series - there's also going to be enigmas and mysteries, but it's also going to have regular Minecraft gameplay like building houses and such

The "first season" of the series will begin very soon ("not like, next week, but soon")

Pac wanted a studio for the series so he, Batista, Tayr, Himaru, and Guhzera made one - Boiss Studios. They've been working on the project for a couple of months now

They have a team of programmers, artists, and actors(!) for the server

There'll be new mods that we haven't seen in Minecraft yet, they're being made specifically for the series

It's going to be a completely original story

There's going to be 20 participants total! So far people who have been revealed (via Twitter here and here) are Meiaum, Bagi, GabePeixe, Guaxinim, Maethe, Choke, Matt, Felps, Pac, and Coreano.

Pac emphasised that "for now" there's only going to be people who speak Portuguese in the series, which made a lot of people in chat wonder if there's gonna be Portugal-Portuguese speakers there, but he didn't say anything else. He also trailed off mysteriously about the "for now" part

Pac said he'd be streaming basically every day. the people are doubtful of this but who knows

There will be "probably weekly" events, maybe some related to specific dates as well

Regarding the story: There's a city called Valigma and it has a mayor named J. The mayor has a Twitter account and "he's very suspicious honestly". He wants to recruit "experts" for their talents, for a purpose that is currently unknown

"What talent does Pac cubito have? I don't know, we'll have to find out."

(paraphrased) "If you're upset that your streamer isn't participating: Who knows, maybe there'll be an event in the future and they'll appear, who knows."

There'll be one central story but every member can create their own story as well

There won't be subtitles like there was with the Qlobal Translator in QSMP because that mod was made for QSMP specifically. Maybe other people will have the Twitch subtitle extension like Pac does, but there won't be anything in-game

It's a mainly stream-focused SMP, and people can make stream highlights if they want. Pac said there'd probably be things posted on his own clips channel

There'll be an official Arkanis Twitch channel that'll "go live sometimes"

"Is Pac on Arkanis going to be the same Pac cubito as in other universes? I don't know! It's possible!"

It's been a very cool thing for Pac to be part of the team working on it, he's very excited and hopes people will enjoy it

It's called Arkanis from Latin "arcanus" meaning "mysterious"

There might be a fanart museum like in QSMP

and then he ended stream. I may have missed or misheard something so if anyone else wants to add on feel free but that's the general gist I got!

[nightisawkward]

"Another challenger… it has been ages. Perhaps you have forgotten how this game is played. Allow me to remind you."

Happy halloween fellas!!! Hermitcraft/Life SMP inscryption AU ft. Boatem gang I cooked up awhile ago but never got around to posting B-) Wild life smp has reminded me how mentally ill I am about putting these Guys in Situations so here I am

Mild to major inscryption spoilers under the cut!

For those familiar with the game, the general roles are:

Luke Carter - "Challenger"/Grian

In this AU Grian is still a trading card-based youtuber who's recording all this nonsense going down real time as in canon, but has closer ties to the GameFuna company equivalent, named "WatcherCorp". His old college roommate/best mate Jimmy went to work for them, but mysteriously passed away in a fire at their headquarters. He found the Inscryption cards in Jimmy's leftover personal belongings a few years after his death, and decided that the best way to honor him would be to make a video featuring the project he put his heart and soul into... in more ways than one.

Key difference from canon Inscryption: Grian's mind is sucked into the game of Inscryption whenever he is playing. He is able to enter and leave the game at will, but he doesn't realize this until he first dies to Leshy/Pearl and ejects himself unconsciously out of fear of dying. The only reason he realizes he isn't hallucinating is because his camcorder footage proves he actually enters the game. He obtains the "Watcher's Eye" during Act 1, which he keeps for all future acts and allows him to see things he shouldn't see as a Challenger.

P03 - "Scarred Stoat"/Scar

Despite being the one who convinces Grian and the other Scrybes to stand up against Pearl, no one seems eager to spend any more time with the conniving conman than absolutely necessary. This may have something to do with Scar's history of backstabbing and cheating both Scybes and Challengers whenever it benefits him most. Which makes it rather unfortunate that Grian is must spend time with Scar in order to gather as much information as possible.

In the beginning, Scar and Grian do not get along in the slightest. Grian finds Scar's attitude too "fake", while Scar finds Grian's "cowardice" to be irritating. At some point, the two go from passive-aggressive fighting, to a grudging truce, to more friendly, lighthearted banter. Neither person seems to trust the other, but it doesn't seem to stop the two from being ✨saddled with unnecessary feelings✨. Scar's Act 3 world is much like Leshy's Act 1 world, with much more emphasis put on environmental storytelling and general Vibes than actual gameplay. Even if his game is a smokescreen for his true goal of Ascension, he feels strangely obligated to give Grian his best shot.

Scar in his proper Scrybe form appears more steampunk than canon P03. Think of a Grumbot with Scar's boatem base aesthetic and tons of missing nuts and bolts. P03's bastardous tendencies+ Scar's steampunk base made this role perfect for him.

Magnificus - "Horned Wolf"/Impulse

Impulse is a talented artist and an even more talented programmer. His future sight stems from his literal sight: His eyes are able to see read the code veil behind Inscryption, allowing him to predict likely futures based on what code is running. He often laments his status as an NPC, claiming that if he were given administrative privileges and the actual ability to modify source code he would have been able to escape Inscryption long ago.

He is rather absent in Act 2, focusing on finishing his "artwork" as soon as possible. He uses his brush to create a menagerie magical creatures with strange abilities in hopes that using one in battle might trigger a unfixable bug, allowing him to rip a hole through the source code. It is unclear whether he was able to accomplish his goal before Act 3 roles around, but it seems like Scar's method of Ascension seems awfully similar to Impulse's... perhaps a sneaky spy was able to steal Impulse's information?

As a proper Scrybe, he resembles a walking mop or a yak with overgrown fur. Most of his features are indistinguishable, save for his small horns and his glowing goat eyes.

Lemora - "Distinguished Stinkbug"/Mumbo

Mumbo is by far the most easygoing Scrybe in the cast. While he would greatly prefer an eternal slumber over yet another temporary ceasefire amongst the Scrybes, he is willing to work with the others in Act 1 simply because he finds his stinkbug form too uncomfortable to sleep in. Mumbo's goal is simple: to delete the game of Inscryption, and therefore himself, and finally rest. However, finds the constant power struggles in the world of Inscryption rather tiring and simply can't be bothered to make a grab for power himself to achieve this goal. This hasn't stopped him from asking Grian to destroy floppy disk of Inscryption. Unfortunately for him, the temptation of the o̷l̵d̷ ̶d̸a̶t̷ [REDACTED] mysteries within Inscryption are simply too powerful for Grian to resist.

As a proper Scrybe, he looks almost exactly like Mumbo's minecraft skin: A pale, mustached man with blood red eyes who resembles a vampire. Mumbo denies all vampire allegations. While he is the most "normal" looking Scrybe, Grian would still hesitate to call him "human" ...there's just something slightly off about his appearance that sets him on edge.

Leshy - "Game Master"/Pearl

Pearl is an unforgiving gamemaster that puts more emphasis on providing the player a challenge than her canon counterpart. After her self-proclaimed "tutorial", there is no more handholding and she gives Grian an absolute hellish time. Grian is only able to get a slight edge when he discovers all of the Scrybes, who provide him with stategy help to even the playing field. It is unclear whether Pearl actually enjoys running her Act 1 game or not: she seems to derive an animalistic pleasure from defeating Grian, but there are times where she seems tired and fed up with the endless gameplay loop and intentionally throws during key fights. She switches between manic and depressed at the drop of a hat.

During Act 2, she barely even tries to give Grian a challenge, allowing him to progress straight to her boss fight without any side quests to "get it over with quicker". She seems to hold a deep grudge against Scar for some reason, which is the only thing that motivates her to take action to stop him during Act 3.

Mysteriously, Grian finds a burned and unusable Unicorn card within her Act 1 cabin. Upon discovery, Scar immediately suggests that Grian leave it where he found it. Some things are best left forgotten, after all...

[marmaladeinlemonade]

Ppl will complain about Pressure updates and devs while forgetting Pressure is NEW.

Ik tumblr has more users with common sense but the amount of tiktoks and tt users say that the game was at its PEAK two weeks after the game's release just bc you could climb Sebastian, he wasn't (visibly) married (it was always written into his character), and tolerated the players slightly more is INSANE.

Most games, at that, aren't at its peak gameplay and story a month after release!!

"The anti-climbing mechanic doesn't even fix anything!" Yeah because you climbed Sebastian several times over ofc at SOME point you're gonna get softlocked bro. Maybe try playing pressure for a reason aside from harassing seb.

I genuinely feel like the pressure fanbase tend to forget that Pressure is from roblox programmers in a small developing group. This isn't Hoyoverse or DevSisters where the game is fully polished with information on all characters and a finalized world building upon release because the company has more time, money, and skilled labor to develop that. It was made in ~1 year and a rushed release.

Not only that, but Pressure is a passion-project. It isn't driven by money, which means there's not much of an incentive to please the playerbase with fan service content that changes lore/characters so people can buy it. (Fan service as in any content made to make ppl happy) So, developers are going to choose what they want to do with the game bc they don't care whether or not you play. Zeal said so first thing in his interview with Breadian.

Amazing features that enrich gameplay and world building such as Sebastian killing walldwellers and the DiVine being able to kill you, Navi-AI turning into a new character, and several new room types are hinted to come to Pressure but nooo!!! Its somehow cooked and unsavable because of ONE form of characterization YOU deem incorrect not even knowing the character's lore. Right.

Edit: Pressure has a future as a roblox game that values storytelling and immersing the user in it's world. We need rblx games like it that put work over profit so people stay on the platform. Especially when older and new games have become money hungry over time.

Its really crazy how people be biting the hand that feeds them. Seb could easily be replaced with an expendable or unknown void like jeffery as a merchant npc if this continues. Online users will really be out her acting like the person who wrote and designed their favorite character is all of a sudden BAD!! And their favorite character is RUINED!!! And TAKEN AWAY FROM THEM!! Because their personality wasn't made to please the fanbase.

Yes, Sebastian hates you. Not pouty tsundere hates you, he is literally keeping you alive against his own will by mr. Lopee. He not tryna fuck bro 🔥

[platypusundercover]

Datv is a great game.

It's got it all: dynamic gameplay, a strong story, great companions, immersive banter, awesome skill tree and companions skill, easy loadout management, narrative consequences and choices, visuals, fantastic character creator, new developing lore from previous games...

Sure some things could be improved, not every game is perfect and you can't please everyone. But tbh it's doing a lot more right than it's doing wrong. And for the chaos that production was, the devs did one hell of a good job.

I'm especially thinking about gameplay and the fighting mechanic which has improved SO MUCH. Do you remember playing mage in any other games??? you stay put and auto attack until you had enough mana to cast a big spell. That was it. Now?? 2 weapon choices, you can dodge, parry, combo?!! And it all feels amazing. I need people to realize it's insane and that must have taken a shit load of time to tweak and I am so grateful bioware chose that path. Dragon age isn't only the lore, narrative and romance. It's not a movie. It's not a book. It's not an interactive visual novel. It's an ACTION rpg. Action. And they did a damn good one. Shout out to the people in the back that are less in the spotlight but just as important to make a great game. Programmers, Testers, Game designers, level designers, animators. The ones that get into the thick of it to make the creatives' dream come true as best they can with the time they're given. They're the one in the trenches, and I appreciate their work so much.

Next time you play take time to notice the little things. How the camera feels when you move it, how your character moves and respond to your inputs, how the attacks chains depending on the direction you're aiming at. Notice the decor, the way the environment is shaped, how it feels to navigate it. Those things are really really hard and take years to perfect.

Dragon age the veilguard is an amazing game.

[zorciarkrildrush]

What the fuck are you talking about that's the best thing I heard

I want a cooking game with the gameplay of Doom II