Hi,I believe Freelance Game Programming is the way of the future for new hopefuls, as it gives them the experience needed.

I am looking to create an massively multiplayer online role playing game which will have the theme of Pirates in the 1600's. I already have a team of around 10 people, however I need some more programmers to help me. Graphic Design is also needed.

Basically I need some people who are passionate about what they do and are willing to commit to a project which you may or may not be paid for (depending on how successful the game is) but you will get some more experience from working with some fantastic individuals to reach a common (and very exciting) goal.

If you are interested in helping make this game a reality we are more than willing to listen to you and take your suggestions, we are all getting together on a chat to discuss what can be done and who is going to do what.

We have people from all over the world helping us.

Message me if you are interested. adam@eagelgroup.com.au or visit http://www.freeforum101.com/forum/admar.html

Thanks for your time and have a great day.

It's kind of a tough equation. The number of developers on a project is going way up. I know of one next gen game that has 300 people!!! A few more with 150+ people. Granted, those aren't all programmers, and the ratio of programmers to content creators is going down, but there's still lots of room for coders. But, with teams that large, there will be less games made in the future, at least less AAA titles. So there are a lot of variables. Frankly, I don't know if the market can sustain titles with that many people on them. They'd have to sell 2 million copies just to break even. Of course, once programmers have a firm grasp on the technology, those numbers should come down.

From what I hear, the next-gen consoles are a bitch to program for, and take a lot of programming effort to write efficient code for. Middleware will help, but who's going to string together all that code cooperating on 7 cell processors? It makes my head spin just thinking about it.

When the company I worked for started using middleware, we didn't stop hiring programmers, our games just got that much better. The bottom line is, people usually don't lower the budget when they find they can save money by using middleware. They just use that money to add more features. (and hence hire more programmers, artists, etc...)

Just my 2 cents.

One day you'll be able to speak to your computer:

- Computer, I want a game: with lots of monsters, with big guns, creepy places and chicks, well lots of chicks, lots of chicks with big boobies, well, all of then naked... uhm... well there should be only chicks in this games... only blonde chicks with huge boobs... well the game should be consisting only of huge boobs!

And the computer will print you out the newest Playboy.

Quote: Original post by wall
I've been thinking a bit as I've studied recent development in the art of game making...

All the big companies that are pushing the technology forward talks about making better and better tools for game designers and artists to reduce workflow bottlenecks (naturally). Designers can set up game scenes with complex physics and scripting without involvement of a programmer. Artists can create realistic shaders without writing a single line of code. And with the increasing number of graphics and physics engines (and various other code libraries) available, will studios have time and money to develop their own technology? This is getting less feasible as todays game technology rapidly advances.
So, what are your thoughts on how the programmers position in the game development process will change in the future? Will technology advance to the point where programmers won't be needed to develop a high-end game? Also, how are "fresh" game programmers going to get their foot into the industry when the companies are only looking for people with 5+ years of development on all platforms etc?

Sorry if my rambling doesn't make any sense, I just wrote down my thoughts, hope it got through...:)

No, you are totally missing the boat here I think. The use of middleware technologies is a result of a LACK of enough qualified programmers, and also time to market issues, not a general replacement of the software engineering discipline. Basically, companies are using middleware not for cost savings reasons so much as general staffing problems and risk managment (e.g. they don't have the right people to do the tasks). Quite frankly, most development houses are desperate for top talent right now.

The problem is that the techinical requirements for a developer are very high, and the certainly is no shortage of jobs. Just take a look at gamedev.net job postings. The # of programmer positions is twice that of all other positions combined . 97 job postings, 64 are programming. even though the ratio of programmers to artists is only around 1 to 4 these days.

When you get to a more senior level (like myself), their are even more open positions.