ESG Employee Spotlight: Steven, Senior Software Engineer

So what do you do here at ESG?

I’m a senior software engineer. That means I make computers do things. Sometimes poorly. Sometimes not poorly. I work on the game client and stuff like that.

What’re you working on today?

I’m helping one project with their development and also trying to get Friday’s stakeholder build finished.

When you were growing up, which game inspired you?

Oh, growing up… Oh man… I think I have to go obscure and go with Lost Odyssey. It was an Xbox 360 game that was so big it had 4 discs. I actually went back and played it two years ago, just to open it up and see what it is. The setup of all the art in that game is so well done. It doesn’t look like its aged as much as it actually has.

What about it had such an impact on you?

I think it was the first game that actually felt like it was a saga. There are a lot of epics, and you have your Final Fantasies, and your stuff like that, but they feel a little bit rushed, or cookie cutter, or cliche in their own ways. Lost Odyssey was the first game that was like I’m playing a movie, but I also get to play some gameplay in between. It is a long, long game.

Which coding languages do you use?

C Sharp. If I’m doing a build pipeline, it’s Groovy. If I’m making native plug-ins, it’s Java or Objective C.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Groovy before…

Most people haven’t. I’m jealous of them…

What is your daily goal in the studio?

I’m a tools guys, and I like to make things that always work. Personally, my goal is to come in and fix something, make it better and more usable. But actually, my goal is more to get our game an inch closer to going out. Sometimes you go an inch backward.

What is your overall Industry Goal?

It would be cool to be able to do things that are pure code architecture for a company. Sometimes I think I’d like to go into being a build pipeline guy in something that’s not in games. I wanted to be in games long enough to the point where I’ve seen it all, and I can go on to a different industry.

What do you mean by code architecture?

So, it’s a little bit of a pretentious position. *laughter* You’re the person that might do a bit of coding, but a lot of the time you’re dealing with the structure that everyone else is going to code for a specific feature. So you handle which patterns you’re going to use, how big features will be or how small, and how much work you want to put into it. It’s kind of like caring about the future, but taking into account the business costs, while understanding code enough to make those decisions.

Where did you go to school, and do you have any advice for people seeking education in your discipline?

I went to the Art Institute of Vancouver for visual and game programming. Which was a very short year and a half course. After that, I just learned on the job.

You need to decide if you’re going to play while you work or play after work. Because if you want to play after work, games probably isn’t where you want to be. Making games is hard, and if you just want to be paid a lot, work whatever expected hours you’re meant to work, and then go home and do whatever, then you’re probably better off in business or banking. If you’re dead set on being in a fun and artistic field like games and animation, hopefully you’re happy with playing while you work, because those are often longer hours and harder work.

So play while you work, or work to play.

To you, what makes working in games so unique?

Probably that a lot of the problems we face are much more unique. I see a lot of solutions to similar problems I have on the internet, and the way you have to tackle these issues are extremely unique. There’s always little cheats and little ways to make this move faster or not take up so much processing. On top of the fact that it’s kind of cool to be able to say “yeah, I don’t just play them now, I make them too!”

Spring boarding from that, what is the strangest, wackiest, thing that you’ve seen happen in the studio.

Oh man, does it have to be one? I have a lot of them that we don’t want on this tape…

What is your number one tip for people getting into the industry?

Make stuff! I mean, I went into a formal education, where it was just a small little trade school for people wanting to get into the media industry. I finished that and sure, I learned a bunch of stuff, but the main thing I learned there was how to learn. I don’t think that’s a skill you necessarily need to go to school for, even if it can totally help a lot. But, if you really want to make games, just go online, learn, and do it. You can download game engines for free now, and there are free courses. If you can go into a college, or even an interview, and say “here are the four games I’ve made on my own time”, you’re already so ahead of the curve at that point.

What are, if any, common misconceptions about your role?

There’s a classic misconception that we’re all overweight neck-beards, but I think most people have gotten over that. Another is that we’re all just sitting there typing lightning fast all day. There is so much more thought and planning going into it.

Is there an engineer you look up to who inspires you?

Mostly teachers that I’ve had and classmates. There aren’t many famous coders. You can look at John Carmack as a very famous one who has a lot of funny quotes. And then you have Bjarne Stroustrup who created C++, but those are the main two names you can really drop.

Any final thoughts you’d like to share?

Back to the hot tip: just make stuff! The hardest part about making things is starting things. So don’t wait for motivation, use discipline. Just do it! And after you’ve done the first few hours, it only gets easier.