Eric Jordan

Laws of game Dev (Proposed) #6: Do your own ports In this day there is significantly less reason for any teams to not be doing their own console ports. Once upon a time porting meant: - Acquiring rare and very expensive console dev kits and their even more expensive and rare profiling hardware version. - Rewriting large chunks of your engine in custom assembly after learning a brand new CPU's instruction set. - Learning completely new pipeline of custom compilers, converters, packaging, burners, OS's, quite often it involved building entirely new workflow per console. - Writing a completely new rendering path for a custom (read 10 years behind) and under performing graphics chips with limited memory. - Doing instruction pipelining in your head because compilers were 1 offs and had the optimization abilities of the DMV, or CPU didn't even have L2 cache. - Trying to transfer your audio engine over to the least expensive chip they recycled from returned Sony camcorders. - Packing and compressing all your data into a single 1GB continuous files so entire game could be read off a DVD with only 3 seeks. - Testing against 100's of unique TCR's and packaging your submission just right to not get a tech Failure. These were the days when the port team was 1/3 - 1/2 the size of the original team and it was were you sent the hardcore or the people you were trying to managing out. Crunching full sized PC games down to something that would even fit and run well on consoles was not exciting or glamorous. It was just waking up every day and eating glass until all the bugs had been filed on the new SDK, the code was a sea of #ifdef's and you stripped enough out that the game is no longer effectively a slide show. Today things are very different:   - All consoles are supported by Linux or Windows.   - The CPU / GPU is almost all AMD.   - The memory delta is no longer 20x but now 2x.   - Middleware is a thing on consoles.   - Most commercial engines natively support all platforms, their workflows, submissions and TCR's. Thus the majority that is left for the developers now is:   - Select new platform in project type.   - Make the games' input system still feel intuitive on controllers.   - Pick a bunch of LOD and detail setting until game runs at desired FPS.   - Hack on the UI until it fits inside TV safe zones & still looks good.   - Maybe add in support HDR. It is no longer entire teams but often just a few people can now kick out the console versions if the game is designed with porting in mind.   And there is the crux of the issue, if the team making the game has never done the ports, they will not understand the impact their decisions are making on it. These teams often do create hack projects that are significantly harder to port than they should be. Thus unless your working on a custom engine that has never been ported to the platform, train your team up and have them do their own console ports.

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Would you like to learn more about the Unity Memory Profiler? Next Thursday (November 21) at 5pm GMT Martin Tilo Schmitz will host a webinar talking through the features and some recommended profiling workflows. Register here if you're interested: https://lnkd.in/eXqx-wK2 Hope to see some of you there! #unity3d #unity #gamedev

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Destroy an object after a set time in Unity: IEnumerator Despawn() { yield return new WaitForSeconds(5f); Destroy(gameObject); }

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🖐 5 Questions with EA SPORTS FC’s Head of Engineering! ⚙ Jinsong Li, Head of Engineering for EA SPORTS FC, discusses the making of EA SPORTS FC 25 and careers in tech! ➡ Check out the full Electronic Arts (EA) article here: https://shorturl.at/P04QK

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This is a very cool looking utility. I feel like the problem in learning modern real time rendering is that it's two specialties crammed into one: 1) Expert level C++ and game engine programming to make the CPU side of modern APIs work. 2) Making pretty pixels, including all the statistics and calculus topics needed for photorealistic rendering (monte carlo integration and sampling). Starting with number 1 to get to number 2 is an enormous task. You can use an engine to skip 1 and go straight to 2, but engines take time to learn, they are quirky, and they have a lot of overhead like long compile times. I've made a lightweight thing that aims to let people focus on number 2 and then code generate number 1. It was made with professionals, researchers and hobbyists in mind, but it should help students as well. https://lnkd.in/ggTYW9pC My 2 cents on the topic!

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At Uncapped Games I'm helping to develop my favorite game I've ever worked on professionally by far... and surprisingly it's an RTS. This is surprising because I (unlike nearly the whole team who are RTS powerhouses), have basically no RTS experience at all. Fire up Super Smash Bros and I may have a shot to impress, but RTS has been a huge - and fun - mental shift for me! ...and somehow, I've gotten pretty good! (At our game at least 😅). Very excitingly, we're on the schedule to say more about our game at SGF ( https://lnkd.in/e5uDTwZp ) in June, but now, kicking things off so to speak, we've put out a really cool documentary that explains some of our philosophies, hopes, and goals. If you're an RTS nerd - or just curious to learn more, check it out: https://lnkd.in/eQpxP3WZ

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I used to have a hard time understanding LinkedIn. 🧐 I don’t like seeing my extended family’s views on social media, why would seeing my coworkers opinions be any better? 😬 It really clicked for me with this latest ABK layoff. I watched the #Gaming community rallying to support each other and saw genuine altruism coming through in the posts. If you are using LinkedIn as a completely self-focused tool, you’re doing it wrong. LinkedIn is about meeting kindred spirits. Folks who care deeply about what they do - not for personal gain, but for the love of the craft. LinkedIn is about helping people. Treating people the way you hope people will treat you. I get way more satisfaction sending a job link to a new friend or having a casual conversation than anything else on this site. It takes very little effort to be kind and to help people. Be a force for good. 🌟 #LinkedIn #Networking #Kindness #Community #Support #Altruism #Gaming #PayItForward

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Gigi v0.99.2b released https://lnkd.in/gp-MqKXR Shader asserts are in. Thanks Alexey Gladkov aka @Rewlion! Example: /*$(Assert: i < 5, "i was %f", i)*/ See UserDocumentation/GigiShaders_Documentation for more info. Functionality: * Set Variables have support for min and max * Subgraph loops can use CONSTANT variables for loop count. Dynamic variable support coming later. Compiler: * Better error messaging when subgraphs fail to inline. Says what the problem is. * Large graphs were having slow downs due to ReferenceFixupVisitor scanning the graph too deeply too often. A visited flag cleaned this up. Viewer: * Variables can have a UI scope to group them better in the UI * Conditional Copy Resource nodes now say whether their condition is true or false in the render graph window. * Better protection against using bad formats for depth textures * Better explanation when a texture can't be created (like, when it has an invalid size specified) * New snapshots interface to be able to save and load cameras, variable values, imported resource settings, or what window is being viewed. Generalizes a couple pre-existing features that needed more functionality. Techniques: * GigiJam2024 techniques added * A depth of field comparison demo at Techniques/PostProcessing/DepthOfField/dof_demo.gg

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I don't know who needs to hear this, but let's say hypothetically speaking that you're applying to a large US tech/game company where they are being very obscure about their salary ranges. You can leverage the fact that every US company must publicly report the wages of their H1B visa employees. You can search one of the many databases online by the year, and see how much you should be expecting to negotiate at minimum.

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At the heart of EVERYWHERE is ARCADIA! ARCADIA is our building tools, self-publishing system, and library of assets and community-made content. Check the basics of building in ARCADIA out in the video below! #gamedev #UGC #gamedevjobs

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It is awful. Truly awful. Around 15% of Intel Corporation's staff (meaning over 15,000 people) are facing layoffs this year. I want to provide as much support as I can about this happening. I know that Intel is not a games studio, but the amount of support they are giving games studios is not to be under-estimated. When I worked at other games studios in the past, we had wonderful working relationships with them, getting support through driver optimisations, supporting technical tests, even offering to feature our games on their network and providing exclusive access to gamers to our closed alpha or closed beta tests. This kind of relationship was special. Regardless of which areas of Intel are going to feel layoffs, with 15% of the workforce, that will be felt everywhere in the organisation. Those of you who worked even remotely in gaming, please make use of my resources below: 🥇First, reach out to us at People Can Fly Studio, we have many roles open right now in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Europe, please check them out here: https://lnkd.in/eWpV5PbA 🥈Next, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past months I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines, and I would urge you to check them out, if anything just to see what would be available to you: https://lnkd.in/eWvkdYjk You can find over 6,000 jobs there. 🥉 Third, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ I urge you to check out the areas in particular about CV support and mentoring, as these will help you no matter what industry you are hailing from or are looking into going next. 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #intel #layoffs

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Not mentioned in this post, but you could also not ask for a better manager and advocate than Emily!

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Does anyone have opinions on authN or authZ work in k8s 🤕 I've been crawling the web and talking to my AI buddies too much. Proxied OIDC in open source seems pretty straightforward (looking at dexidp) although I could be wrong - internal authN is a zoo of different solutions. Should I just pay for something at this point? I want something simple for bootstrapping that can plug in or migrate later. considering kanIDM or ory for proving ground. If you have experience or opinions hmu #idp #authz #authn #kubernetes #boostrapping

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Today I came down with a bad case of "someone is wrong on the Internet." It started innocently enough on LinkedIn, commenting on my usual friends posts, doing some PR reposts, commenting on some other thought leaders' posts. Unfortunately the algos got me. Those evil algorithms that are trained to measure engagement... clicks, likes, comments... rather than conversations... ideas, different perspectives, insights. I found myself commenting on more vitriolic posts, going from trying to reframe a problem someone was raising to just saying dumb stuff. And my network loved it! They see me active, I'm correcting someone, go Serge! Fortunately after <large number> years of falling into this trap, I'm faster to find my way out. I notice faster when my amygdala is fully online... people are responding not to the post but my comment about the post... and likes on the tangent of a tangent that have nothing to do with anything. I can disengage quickly once I spot it. Hope you have a great week and stay clear of correcting the Internet. And in completely unrelated news, Sora is now available as the latest GenAI product.

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After over 10 years as a Technical Director in the video game industry, I’ve realized that real progress often comes from questioning old habits and exploring new frontiers. I’ve worked on everything from small indie gems to AAA blockbusters, taught budding devs, and guided teams through complex technical challenges. Now, I’m ready for a fresh adventure, maybe in a new feild, or maybe still in gaming, if it sparks my curiosity. The size of the company doesn’t matter; I’m driven by the thrill of tackling tough questions, working with curious minds, and never stopping my own growth. I’m also up for relocating anywhere, new horizons keep me inspired 🛩. If you’re looking for someone who blends hands-on tech expertise, leadership experience, and a thoughtful approach to innovation, let’s chat. I’d love to see how I can help your team tackle its next challenge 🙌 #NewHorizons #TechDirector #OpenForOpportunities #KeepGrowing #HeadHunter #VPTech #TechnicalProducer #OpenForWork

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Yesterday, I fell victim to a sophisticated hack that resulted in an account takeover of my Facebook profile. Fortunately, I was at my computer and managed to shut it down quickly. I want to share this new type of attack I hadn't seen as a warning to others. TL; DR: I totally got socially engineered! 🤐 The Setup: - I listed some items for sale on Facebook Marketplace. - An account local to the area messaged me about an item I had listed (~$50 item so non-high worth item). - We had a brief, seemingly legitimate conversation about pickup arrangements. The Conversation: - Buyer: "Is this still available? I want to come pick it up today if that's possible. What time is suitable for you?" - Me: [I suggested a time] - Buyer: "That might be tough for me with traffic, can you do a little later?" - Me: [I agreed to the later time] - Buyer: "Great. Do you have a preferred payment method?" - Me: "I prefer cash, but I'm open to other digital payment types." - Buyer: "Sure, I can do cash." The Trap: - Buyer: "For my safety, do you mind if I send you a code to your number to confirm you're real and this isn't a scam?" - Me: "Sure." [I gave them my Google Voice number, which links to my phone] This is where things got weird. I received an SMS with a 6-digit code that read: "<#> 784732 this is your Facebook code LaZ+szosl" I would assume a real message would look something like, "This is your account recovery code. Do not share it with anyone." Thus, I provided the code to them. The Hack: It turns out this WAS a code from Facebook, likely part of an account recovery process. By giving them this code, I unknowingly granted them access to my account. The Aftermath: The hacker used publicly available information to find my personal email address. - They were disappointed to learn it wasn't my main Facebook account but an alt account that use for video game logins (to protect some privacy). - Being an early adopter of Facebook so my main account uses a different email. This was a complex attack. The hacker pieced together information about me from various internet sources. They found an email account associated with my alt-Facebook account to execute the hack. Lesson learned: Always be cautious with verification codes, even if the situation seems legitimate. My biggest takeaway was that I'll be happy to provide people with a code in the future, but I'll dictate the terms of the code (e.g. sure but send me a 1 random digit and 1 random letter like 3P). Any who.... any of my friends over at Meta can help me recover my account I locked down? I sort of don't use my real name so providing a government ID isn't going to go anywhere with the outsourced help desk folks :P #CybersecurityAwareness #PhishingAlert #FacebookSecurity #OnlineSafety #DigitalFraud #TechSecurity #SocialMediaSafety #IdentityProtection #InternetSafety #SecurityBestPractices #LinkedInLearning #TechTips #CyberHygiene #StaySafeOnline #DataProtection

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