What is a Game Developer - Questions by xzamplez | Forums

[xzamplez]

Will any question be answered by anybody other than Community Managers? We appreciate your help, Shifty; but I know there are important questions here that you don't have the answer to. What happened to the days where the game developers would actually interact with the fans who give the game the life it has?

Shifty Edit - I have split this discussion from the Trials Fusion Q&A because it was off-topic for the OP. However, it is an excellent chance to discuss the community side of game development as the field is relatively new. xzamplez has posed an excellent question about a relatively unknown field to most people.

I had thought much the same things that he seems to think when I was offered a role as RedLynx's CM. That it would be reading the forums, using Twitter and Facebook, and that's about it. I also thought that a ComDev's most important/prolific role was to make videos. I was mistaken.

If you have any questions to ask a Community Developer, a Community Specialist, or a Community Manager, then please, feel free to do so in this thread. Community roles are becoming more and more in demand in the video game industry, so it can be an excellent entry position for those seeking a career in the less technical side of game development.

I have noticed that some of the replies from RedLynx staff seem a bit stand-offish, which is not the intention. We really are just trying to understand xzamplez point of view and offer insight into a lesser known portion of game development.

[RetiredRonin]

Will any question be answered by anybody other than Community Managers?

It's a community manager's job to do this, but there are answers in this thread that didn't come from community managers.

We appreciate your help, Shifty; but I know there are important questions here that you don't have the answer to.

Not posting an answer is not the same as not knowing an answer. There are quite a few questions here that will be answered in the days/weeks to come.

What happened to the days where the game developers would actually interact with the fans who give the game the life it has?

Blue, Cannibal and I are developers. We work for the RedLynx, which is the development studio, as part of the community team.

[xzamplez]

Blue, Cannibal and I are developers. We work for the RedLynx, which is the development studio, as part of the community team.

That's like saying nurses are also doctors because they both work in hospitals.

Game developer: A software developer that specializes in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games.


This is what I hate about "professionalism".

[RetiredRonin]

Ok, I see where it might have gone off track: RedLynx is a software developer specializing in video game development. Shogun, Blue, Johkr, Xhane and I, while working on the community side of things, work for RedLynx. There are aspects of our jobs that don't need to be gone into in great detail, but we aren't all forums, twitter and streaming. A lot of what we do is behind the scenes, but if you would like to send me a PM we might be able to set up a time to talk about the community aspect of game development over Skype or something.

[mutetus]

There would be no answers at all if these guys weren't here. At this scale the game is now and the "real" developers still working when regular people already watch tv in bed, I can honestly say that they don't have time.

[BlueBadger400]

Then some really hardcore guy comes along and says "Well you didn't do ENOUGH for the game. I want someone who did more to answer my questions because you didn't do enough things to make you a dev enough in my eyes." It's all about where you draw the line.

[xzamplez]

Then some really hardcore guy comes along and says "Well you didn't do ENOUGH for the game. I want someone who did more to answer my questions because you didn't do enough things to make you a dev enough in my eyes." It's all about where you draw the line.

I was going to leave it alone, but 'by definition' you are not a game developer. You are someone hired by a game studio to keep their gaming forum organized.

Instead of getting a solid answer like: 'They have been told not to answer these questions', I get two community managers whose rebuttal is that they are game developers, and a level designer making shallow excuses about them "not having the time".

Just forget I asked.

[RetiredRonin]

I was going to leave it alone, but 'by definition' you are not a game developer. You are someone hired by a game studio to keep their gaming forum organized.

Instead of getting a solid answer like: 'They have been told not to answer these questions', I get two community managers whose rebuttal is that they are game developers, and a level designer making shallow excuses about them "not having the time".

Just forget I asked.

If you think Blue was hired to keep the forum organized, then you are woefully misinformed.

Blue isn't a Community Manager...

Just for my clarifications here:

Is a tester a game dev?
Is a designer a game dev?
Is quality control game devs?
Does sound design count?

If your only definition of a game designer is the above definition that you are using to describe individuals and not the studio, then anyone who does not code software does not count as a developer. Which is totally inaccurate. My previous offer of a verbal discussion through Skype still stands.

[llDumptruckll]

Take the offer exzample. I think Shifty will much better explain this to you than I did the other night. And don't argue . Lol

What about a group skype?

[willyums]

At this scale the game is now and the "real" developers still working when regular people already watch tv in bed, I can honestly say that they don't have time.

Yeah when all the lazy people that work 40-50+ hours a week in manual labour, retail outlets, restaurants, banks etc etc are at home just playing video games, maybe building or testing trials tracks?... the REAL hardworkers are still out there doing bizniz - building and testing trials tracks


and Max unless youre actually looking for dismissive, pedantic, corporate knockdowns from our community chieftains I wouldnt bother with this thread mate.
Was worth a try though.