Recruiter Hot Seat We ask Crytek’s Richard Semmensfor his advice on impressing employers and what the triple-A dev can offer applicants
Why should developers work for Crytek as opposed to other studios? We think Crytek UK is a fun and fulfilling place to work, where you get ownership of the tasks you’re working on. The Nottingham Studio has a very low turnover; people come here, enjoy it, and stay. You get to work with and help drive the development of some of the best technology in the industry, and see the bleeding-edge work being done throughout the Crytek family.
What other perks do you offer? We have a whole array of perks available to our team in Nottingham, including a bonus scheme, contributory pension plan, gym membership, cycle to work scheme, childcare vouchers and not forgetting the most important of them all, pastries and doughnuts on a Friday morning!
How many people are you looking to take on this year? We are looking for a mix of new and experienced programmers, designers and artists. We still have more than 20 positions to fill.
Which professions in particular are you looking to take on? We’re looking for a number of game play coders at experience levels all the way from graduate to senior. Our game coders work in concert with designers and artists and have input on the final direction of game features, so it’s important that they have enthusiasm for the task in hand. We also need talented and enthusiastic artists who are looking to
BIO
Name: Richard Semmens Title: Lead Programmer
www.crytek.com
make beautiful games that will take the player to well realised and technically excellent new worlds, people that have a passion for art and that are ready for all the challenges involved in creating triple-A games.
Which interviewee has stood out to you the most as the best applicant for the job and why? Interviewees that, when a programming test or an interviewer poses a problem that they don’t know the ‘correct’ solution to, offer suggestions and talk through potential approaches
GET THAT JOB
We ask recruiters how you can score that promotion or move to a new role
THIS MONTH: WEB DEVELOPER
“For the client end of browser-based games, candidates should understand client side web technologies of HTML, JavaScript and JSON data format and specifics in the newer HTML5 features including canvas tag rendering and WebGl. “For higher performance games a knowledge of PC and Mac API’s such as DirectX is important, as is an understanding of scalability issues. “For social, networking and back end server
aspects, you need knowledge of which database solutions are needed for specific data usage scenarios. “An appreciation of network infrastructure options and the fundamentals of latency, bandwidth and compression are beneficial too. An understanding of concepts of Model View Container frameworks and Object Relational Mapping libraries is valuable.”
Richard Hackett,
Studio Technical Director, Blitz Games Studios 58 | APRIL 2012
to solving it. It’s important that applicants have enough confidence to be willing to give things a go, even if they don’t know the answer. When we think back to the
interviews of some of our strongest colleagues, what stands out to me is the enthusiasm that they showed. It's easy to tell from talking to people who has a true passion for making games and wants to improve their skill sets to be a better developer. Somebody who demonstrates that
making games is more than just a job, appeals to us much more than
somebody who has well-crafted and rehearsed answers to all of our questions. For artists, a strong portfolio of work is always the best way to demonstrate your ability, whatever the format and style.
What was the worst interview? Where the interviewee has not prepared, or where they are so nervous they are tripping over themselves when trying to get through a sentence. It’s important to be relaxed when in an interview; you need to be able to articulate yourself.
SIX-SECOND STUDIO SPOTLIGHT
Version 2 Games is an India- based developer founded in September 2010.
The studio was formed by Indian army defence contractor Zen Technologies
It currently specialises in creating games for PlayStation platforms, such as its debut PS3 title, Smash ‘n’ Survive
Version 2 is focusing on creating ‘the next level’ of 3D interactive games having previously used similar tech in developing simulators
The studio currently employs 35 developers
Version 2 CEO Rajat Ohja says the studio is looking to expand its headcount, number of projects and work cross-platform in future
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68