1. CRYTEK
GAMES INDUSTRY
HOW DO I GET IN?
David Saltares Márquez | Cádiz University |19th November 2012 © 2012 Crytek GmbH

2. CRYTEK
CONTENTS OF THIS TALK
1. About Crytek
2. Working at a triple A games company
3. The way in
4. CryEngine and Sandbox Editor
5. Q&A
© 2012 Crytek GmbH 2

3. CRYTEK
WHO AM I?
© 2012 Crytek GmbH

4. CRYTEK
DAVID SALTARES MÁRQUEZ
david.saltares@gmail.com
http://siondream.com
@siondream
• Computing Science graduate at Cádiz University
• Games development society (ADVUCA)
• Kingston University (Erasmus)…
• … Haven’t quite come back
• Junior programmer at Crytek UK
• Working on Homefront 2 AI team
© 2012 Crytek GmbH

5. CRYTEK
ABOUT CRYTEK
© 2012 Crytek GmbH

6. CRYTEK
RELEASED GAMES
FAR CRY (2004 – PC)
© 2012 Crytek GmbH 6

7. CRYTEK
RELEASED GAMES
CRYSIS (2007 – PC) AND CRYSIS WARHEAD (2008 – PC)
© 2012 Crytek GmbH 7

8. CRYTEK
RELEASED GAMES
CRYSIS 2 (2011 – PC, PLAYSTATION 3 AND XBOX 360)
© 2012 Crytek GmbH 8

9. CRYTEK
RELEASED GAMES
FIBBLE FLICK ’N’ ROLL (2012 – iOS, Kindle Fire)
© 2012 Crytek GmbH 9

10. CRYTEK
RELEASED GAMES
WARFACE (2012 – PC)
© 2012 Crytek GmbH 10

11. CRYTEK
COMING SOON
CRYSIS 3 (2013 – PC, PLAYSTATION 3 AND XBOX 360)
© 2012 Crytek GmbH 11

12. CRYTEK
ALSO KNOWN FOR CRYENGINE
1 picture > 1000 words
1 video > 1000 pictures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW_gyF69Xto
© 2012 Crytek GmbH 12

13. CRYTEK
UK STUDIO
CRYTEK UK BASED IN NOTTINGHAM
© 2012 Crytek GmbH

14. CRYTEK
FORMERLY KNOWN AS FREE RADICAL
TIMESPLITTERS (2000 – PS2), TIMESPLITTERS 2 (2002 – PS2, GC, XBOX), TIMESPLITTERS FUTURE PERFECT (2005 – PS2, GC, XBOX)
SECOND SIGHT (2004 – PS2, GC, XBOX) HAZE (2008 – PS3)
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15. CRYTEK
WORKING AT A TRIPLE
A GAMES COMPANY
© 2012 Crytek GmbH

16. CRYTEK
DEVELOPMENT CYCLE
Concept Prototype V. Slice Production
Alpha Beta Gold!
ITERATE ITERATE ITERATE
© 2012 Crytek GmbH

17. CRYTEK
TEAM STRUCTURE
• Game director
• Management
• Producer
• Project manager
• Coders
• Graphics
• Gameplay
• Artificial Intelligence
• Networking
• Animation CRYTEK NOTTINGHAM UPPER FLOOR (WHERE C3 MAGIC HAPPENS)
• Artists
• Concept
• 2D
• 3D
• Animation
• Designers
• Levels
• Mechanics
• Quality Assurance
PROTOTYPING ANIMATIONS IN CRYENGINE
• …
© 2012 Crytek GmbH

18. CRYTEK
WE GO FOR AGILE
• Scrum: A flavor of iterative project management model
• Small teams: scrum meetings
• Useful when it’s difficult to plan ahead
• Short iteration cycles: sprints
• Reinforces self-management
© 2012 Crytek GmbH 18

19. CRYTEK
VERSION CONTROL
• Perforce: Proprietary centralized version control system
• P4V as visual interface
• Open source alternatives: SVN, Git, Mercurial…
PERFORCE VISUAL CLIENT
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20. CRYTEK
CODE REVIEW
• Every single commit goes through peer review
• It requires some time investment but…
• Helps preventing bugs
• People give their point of view
• Boosts code quality
• Learn from other coders
© 2012 Crytek GmbH 20

21. CRYTEK
BUILD BOT & STATIC CODE ANALYSIS
• Daily studio builds
• Targeting several platforms is tricky
• We don’t want to mess with daily builds
Better safe than sorry
Build Bot: Static code analysis:
•Open source Python tool •Automatic error detection system
•Continuous integration •Checks: loops, uninitialized variables,
•Build/Test cycle across the net array bounds…
© 2012 Crytek GmbH 21

22. CRYTEK
THE WAY IN
© 2012 Crytek GmbH

23. CRYTEK
DON’T BE A VEGETABLE AT UNI
•
•
Get involved
Team up REALLY, NO
•
•
Build a community
advuca@googlegroups.com
EXCUSES!
“MAKING A PONG WITH SDL” - GAMES DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY WORKSHOP
© 2012 Crytek GmbH

24. CRYTEK
JOIN THE FREE SOFTWARE CONTEST
• Scope: Spanish universities
• Work on an open source project during a year
• Create a community
• Learn from other developers
• Boost your portfolio
• Application deadline: 23rd November
FREE PADEL (DANIEL MARÍN CABILLAS) BALLOON BREAKERS (JESÚS GONZÁLEZ) SION TOWER (DAVID SALTARES)
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25. CRYTEK
THERE ARE TONS OF PROJECTS!
Use the source Luke
ZYCARS (JESÚS MARENTE)
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26. CRYTEK
THERE ARE TONS OF PROJECTS!
Use the source Luke
LABOON (JOSÉ ALBERTO CORDERO)
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27. CRYTEK
THERE ARE TONS OF PROJECTS!
Use the source Luke
OFLUTE (JOSÉ TOMÁS TOCINO)
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28. CRYTEK
JOIN GAME JAMS
• Time limited game making competitions
• Challenge yourself
• Extreme time management
• Can you get things done?
• Dangerously fun!
EVOLUTION (DAVID SALTARES)
Check them out:
•Ludum Dare http://ludumdare.com
•Global Game Jam http://globalgamejam.org
•And many, many more!
CELLULAE (DAVID MARISCAL)
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29. CRYTEK
GET THINGS DONE
• Avoid half finishing projects
• Simple but complete game > Complex but incomplete game
• Be ambitious but realistic
SION TOWER LEVEL SELECTION SCREEN
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30. CRYTEK
READ, READ, READ
• Books and online articles
• Discover ninja coding tricks
• New algorithms and techniques
• Get an insight in how the industry works
• Discuss about what you love
You can’t skip these:
• Gamasutra http://gamasutra.com
• AltDevBlogADay http://altdevblogaday.com
• Game AI for Developers http://aigamedev.com
• Develop http://develop-online.com
• Games Industry http://gamesindustry.biz
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31. CRYTEK
BE ONLINE
• People will want to see your projects
• Show an extended version of your CV
• Specify your role
• Meet other developers
• Share your code sweetness!
© 2012 Crytek GmbH 31

32. CRYTEK
SKILLS THEY’RE LOOKING FOR
• Good communication and self management
• Cross discipline team working
• Very strong C++
• Oh! Finally math is useful
• Being able to read someone else’s code
• Low level optimization: consoles, mobile
• Debugging
• Passion about games
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33. CRYTEK
CRYENGINE &
SANDBOX EDITOR
© 2012 Crytek GmbH

34. CRYTEK
QUESTIONS?
© 2012 Crytek GmbH

35. min g!
f or co
anks
Th