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GameDev.net will be 20 years old on June 15 ?

GDNet Lounge Community

Started by khawk June 12, 2019 12:38 AM

44 comments, last by PalAkiAgg 3 years, 4 months ago

khawk

3,752

Author

June 12, 2019 12:38 AM

Just a heads up a few days in advance: GameDev.net launched to the public on June 15, 1999.

The site started when 8 developers combined our game development sites and communities into one site to rule them all. In a few days we'll hit that magic 20 years so few places on the modern Internet can claim.

It's neat to think about the changes in the industry, the world, and technology we've explored, participated in, and witnessed GameDev.net members impact. The stories are countless. So many names and faces over the years. So many who grew up with us. So many still discovering our community.

Cool things for GameDev.net on the horizon. I'll share more thoughts on this and the 20th launch anniversary as the day approaches.

When did you join? What brought you here? Why do you participate?

Admin for GameDev.net.

Rutin

1,701

June 12, 2019 02:05 AM

1 hour ago, khawk said:

When did you join?

I've actually been off and on since the 2000s back when there was that black and blue(purple??) theme, but I didn't really get involved in the community as a user until July 4th 2017.

The classic theme I remember:

image.png.d7d815f2b83f86a07304a6d8efe93744.png

1 hour ago, khawk said:

What brought you here?

I've always considered GameDev.net as the go to place for developers and a great place to find like minded people and to share our experiences and projects. Even though a lot of engines have their own dedicated communities, I still prefer coming here. I also enjoy the blog and projects aspect of the site and how it can generate some exposure. This also allows people to share ideas and provide valuable feedback which helps us grow as developers. The game challenges are also something I find as a great feature.

1 hour ago, khawk said:

Why do you participate?

I find that posting blogs helps motivate me to push forward on my challenges. I also enjoy helping others, and if I'm stuck on something finding different solutions from more experienced people, and others who see a solution I haven't thought about yet. Another reason I participate here is that I really enjoy seeing all the projects progress through the stages, and I also enjoy seeing that it's not just programmers here, but writers, artists, composers, and designers. There is a wealth of information on this platform and a lot of room for us all to grow and improve if take the time to learn from each other as a community.

Congratulations on 20 years!

Programmer and 3D Artist

khawk

3,752

Author

June 12, 2019 04:23 AM

1 hour ago, Rutin said:

The classic theme I remember:

Oh yeah that brings back memories! I was proud of that one at the time. I didn't realize you lurked for so long either.

1 hour ago, Rutin said:

Even though a lot of engines have their own dedicated communities, I still prefer coming here. I also enjoy the blog and projects aspect of the site and how it can generate some exposure. This also allows people to share ideas and provide valuable feedback which helps us grow as developers. The game challenges are also something I find as a great feature.

I think you hit on a lot of the key things that have made this a great community and sustainable for 20 years despite the ecosystem-based options.

2 hours ago, Rutin said:

There is a wealth of information on this platform and a lot of room for us all to grow and improve if take the time to learn from each other as a community.

Indeed! And hopefully that information becomes more discoverable and easier to create in the upcoming platform changes.

Admin for GameDev.net.

ChaosEngine

5,385

June 12, 2019 04:53 AM

I think I joined in late 99?

I had just started work as a profession dev, and my plan was to use that experience to get into game dev and be the next Carmack or something.

Then I realised a number of things over a few years

programming all day is hard and doing it in the evenings/weekends as well is mentally draining
game dev pays shit until/unless you get really good
crunch time sucks

so I decided I ok with not being a game developer. I still visit this site because gamedev interests me and there are some very smart people here who are very helpful with their time and advice. I genuinely think this is one of the smartest programming communities I've seen.

if you think programming is like sex, you probably haven't done much of either.-------------- - capn_midnight

lawnjelly

2,021

June 12, 2019 07:37 AM

6 hours ago, khawk said:

When did you join?

Like Rutin I originally joined sometime in early 2000s I expect. I can't even remember my original username, I used several on forums at the time. I also remember being active on lionhead forums, flipcode etc. I only started regularly posting here when I created my lawnjelly profile though which was 2012.

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What brought you here?

Probably search engines looking for help on specific programming topics. That's normally how I'd find useful sites.

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Why do you participate?

When I first used forums it was mainly to get answers to questions, but these days as I work at home this is my main contact with other developers, so having things like the challenges and blogs is really good. It is great to get and give feedback on other people's projects, get ideas and also hopefully help others who are struggling with problems we've dealt with in the past.

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ChaosEngine

Related to fatbabies? I remember that site, it was funny but I don't think I had a login after it morphed to chaosengine. :)

Congrats on the 20 years gamedev! :D

Green_Baron

221

June 12, 2019 08:26 AM

7 hours ago, khawk said:

When did you join?

~2 years ago when i started to learn programming. But i got active a few months ago when i started to see the first results and could understand most of the "jargon".

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What brought you here?

A duckduckgo search, i think ?

The huge sites like stackexchange are too crowded and sometimes confusing. They are only good for a specific search on a clearly defined problem. Better small(er) and on the point.

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Why do you participate?

In the beginning to get help. But i quickly realized i had to go through the process of do{ read(); understand(); hack(); fail(); debug(); } while( unsuccessful || unsatisfied ); myself.

Keeping a cold one in the fridge for the 15th ?

JoeJ

4,260

June 12, 2019 01:33 PM

12 hours ago, khawk said:

When did you join? What brought you here? Why do you participate?

Guess i'm here since the start but forgot first account.

Being self taught sites like this (and the internet in general) turned out really helpful - before that there were just some magazines, and books that never covered my interests. Learned a lot here, thanks for that.

So in the last years i thought it's time to give something back and help others as well.

I still miss the page with the screenshots. Just unsorted stuff to watch: Games, debug renders, any kind of random stuff. Would be worth to bring back maybe.

Eck

7,699

June 12, 2019 05:11 PM

When did I join? The tail end of 1999. I was wrapping up college and shared a big rental house with 5 other computer science nerds. It was an amazing time. Up to that point my personal projects were too big for my limited skills and motivation levels. I think at the time I was working on a Necromunda Gang manager, an implementation of Car Wars, and trying and failing to learn how to program a new MUD.

What brought you here? @Xai told me about the site. He was one of my roomies in the big house of nerds, my best friend, and my mentor in computer programming related things.

Why do I participate? gamedev is an amazing site. I originally participated because of all the awesome resources available. I've learned so much over the years from the people and articles. As time passed I started asking less questions and answering more. One of the catalysts for my increased participation was after the Week of Awesome game jam. There was a requirement to have a developer journal and be active in giving each other support in the blogs. I connected with lots of cool people, made friends, and found the blog experience to be very motivating.

Around that time I made the decision to make a serious attempt at becoming a game developer so I buckled down and started pushing my learning. I spent a few hours per day answering questions in the forums. I remember getting more and more profile points (or whatever they're called) and climbing the ranks until I was on page 1 of the ranking. I miss that ranking page by the way.

So I guess I participate mainly for learning and the community. It was also a way that I could demonstrate my passion for game development to potential employers, and when I do get back to indie development I think it will serve as some decent marketing.

20 years??? Happy early anniversary!

- Eck

EckTech Games - Games and Unity Assets I'm working on
Still Flying - My GameDev journal
The Shilwulf Dynasty - Campaign notes for my Rogue Trader RPG

kseh

3,998

June 12, 2019 07:33 PM

When did I join? I joined in fall of 2000 in the days of the blue and black. I think I lurked for a month or two before that. I hadn't joined any online communities before then and I was somewhat resistant to actually sign up and just posted annonamously for awhile.

What brought you here? Word of mouth. A few friends and acquaintances recommended I check this place out after I mentioned that I was trying to make games.

Why do I participate?

Initially it was the discussions in the design forum. The way I remember it, everyone at the time was figuring out how to make their grand RPG and what ways they could think of to make it something innovative that really stands out. Discussions in the Lounge we quite entertaining and hit on a very broad range of topics that aren't approached anymore. I remember following the Four Elements contests which were pretty sizable events. The Lounge went through a number of "eras" where various there was the occasional fad and sometimes moderators and users particularly stood out. I found it interesting how users would emulate moderators in an effort to keep order in the threads. The Lounge at GD.net felt very much like the ideal online community for discussion.

These days, I find some of the project blogs interesting to follow. I'm still not quite sure why I feel compelled to follow any one project over the other though. The Weeks of Awesome and the current Challenge jams have been fun to participate in and follow. I suppose the project centric nature of the site is its current "era". I very much appreciate having the ability here to write about and generally make my projects available. Though game development is more a fun hobby for me, having the ability to showcase things here a bit feels like a gentle push to keep moving forward.

(edit)
Oh, and coming here has been a help to solve issues on my projects though I'm not sure if I've ever actually posted an actual question. On the occasions I started to write something up, I'd figure that someone would ask a question like, "what have you tried", or "why haven't you tried this", and in the process of trying to answer that or realizing that I could do more research first, I would end up finding the answer.