I am looking for paid work [Programming]

Hi!

Well I'm currently jobless and looking for a normal job, but I figured this was also worth a shot to try! It's my area of highest expertise and it would be a dream to be able to develop for a company or a team and get paid to do programming! I'm not exactly one to "sell myself", so all I can do is just be honest and show evidence for what I can!

I am extremely confident with Construct 2. I use it practically everyday and have been using similar software recreationally for many years (Used to use KnP, TGF, MMF2, now I use C2 ). I know a lot about optimisation, I have a resilient attitude, and I feel confident (if I had a device to test with) that I would be able to create high-performance Android/Win/Mac/Linux games.

I am not much of a marketer or business guy, I just like to develop the logic behind games. I feel that if I made a game and tried putting it out there on any market (Steam, Google Play, ect), I would fail to get anywhere or profit even in the slightest. I'm also not sure what to even expect in terms of payment or amount, I don't know what a good minimum is.

I am not very skilled at creating art or music, but I know how to implement and utilise art/music into games very well. However, I do have understanding in effects, such as some lighting techniques, particles, ect.

Finally, I have previous experience handling online multiplayer things. I used to use "MooClick" on MMF2 (which was weirdly designed), and only using 1 tutorial that existed, I managed to create a functioning "Sonic The Hedgehog" multiplayer game with Dead-Reckoning, and drop-in/drop-out functions. Construct 2 is approaching a release of the multiplayer plugin, which sounds like it has a LOT of great features that handle painful things for us. Given my previous multiplayer knowledge, I feel that I'd be able to implement this Multiplayer plugin very easily and efficiently.

Here are some videos of my work:

This is the first project I worked on when I first discovered Construct 2, "InsaneStory". It uses art/music from another existing game called "MapleStory", the project's goal was to be a clone of the original game but with tweaks to gameplay. I had to efficiently recreate the "Clothing System" from MapleStory, which I managed to do considerably well (I could have around 30 fully-clothed characters, which is around 20 sprites per character, onscreen before the FPS began to drop from 60fps).

This is from my most recent project. I've begun trying to improve my own art skills, so the art in this video is all original. This particular video showcases how I've made some lighting techniques (albeit not perfect in this video ).

This shows how I have created a very modular system in my project, allowing multiple characters to behave individually and have interchangeable control schemes, equipment, colours, stats (though I don't showcase that in this video).

If I have piqued your interest at all, be sure to PM me!

If you want to find a job using C2, you have two possible choices:

1 - make more refined games to put on your portfolio (and do create a portfolio website instead of just showing youtube videos) where Potential Employer could test your game. Doing this, you would sell yourself as a game designer. Showing a lot of original gameplay and how well you can balance them to create a good experience would be the goal of those refinements. Also, you cannot ignore graphics. Even if you're not an art guy, Potential Employer will just skip you if your product is ugly even if the gameplay is good. Presentation is alway important (and after all in "game designer"... you still have "designer"...)

2 - If you want to sell yourself as a game programmer, learn a few programming language (Java, C, javascript, python, ruby,... ). C2 isn't ready to be professionally used in studios (though it happens). For a studio, it's a dangerous bet to make a project in C2 as it's hard to work with more than one "C2 programmer" at a time and because once a project gets past 500 events, it starts to get really hard to maintain. Since C2 doesn't enforce any kind of encapsulation, you'll start to enter the hell of "I change something somewhere, it breaks something somewhere else". Learning other programming languages however will make you a better C2 programmer, and also will make you more flexible in the Potential Employer's eye. For example, if C2 doesn't work out, you could still develop android games (java) or at least create plugins to make C2 behave (javascript). Also you would have more options to solve any given problem (as being a programmer is being a problem solver).

So you can choose either the first or the second... or the two solutions (why not )

As you are now, selling yourself professionnally might still be a bit hard, but you're on the right track o/

Yann

Hey thanks for the insightful post! I guess this post does seem a bit sloppy, I should have better presented videos/website with games to play rather than just a few random videos showing messy development. Your second point about learning a programming language is really encouraging; I always held off learning a language because of "fear of picking the wrong one", but I think Javascript could be a good route to go since it would benefit my usage of C2 as you've said (Though I find myself wanting to write WebGL effects a lot more than write Javascript plugins, I guess I could figure out both!)

Again, thanks, very useful information!

All programming language share a lot of similarities. I don't think you can pick a wrong language (unless a wrong one would be one so complex that it discourages you).

Once you know one language, learning another becomes easier. And little by little, you start to have a glimpse at a bigger picture. And if someone ask you to write something in an hypothetical language Q, you just think "ok, few days to learn the Q syntax and features and I'll get to work"

Javascript is a nice language, mostly because you can just get starting using chrome. It has however a few annoying sides (high tolerance to errors (complicate debuggin), no memory handling (limit optimization), no package/module system, to name a few).

This site could be a good start.

Yann

Great thoughts man. <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile">

Jase00

If you actually want to work for companys etc. I would highly recommend to be more flexible than "just" Games. Currently I´m working on a bigger project for a company, creating a product generator, where you can change colors, shapes etc.

This little tool here : http://beaverlicious.com/2013/06/11/beaverizer/

got me the job, even it´s super simple and was created in just about 2 hours.

C2 is so much more than just a gaming-engine and often little tools or stuff that doesn´t affect performance that hard (relatively easy to develop) gain much more attention from companys and businesses you never thought of.

Hey Man, please look at my post "Paid programming contracts" by emixam23, it may suits you

Hello jason , add me to skype: prince.artanis

we need to talk about this and my project

I am building a database of programers and instructors on my website: http://www.AppCrashcourse.com

send me your contact info, website and profile here and i will be happy to add your services. <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink">

http://www.appcrashcourse.com/contactus.html

E-mail me, pfg215 at hotmail . com

I'd agree with Yann.

One slightly misleading claim about C2 is that it "doesn't require programming" ; it doesn't per se, no, but it does require a lot of similar thought processes and organisational skills. Anything of any complexity will require a similar mindset.