STAFF PROFILE: NICK, GAMES PROGRAMMER (cont.)
What do you do day to day?
I am a Senior Software Engineer on a game team and have worked on many aspects of game development during my time at Rare, from gameplay logic to AI and now technical graphics programming and graphical polish. I have the enviable position of producing most of the eye candy and effects for the project I'm working on. Things like explosions, lighting and environmental FX which I then put together with the fantastic artwork our guys create to produce the finished look for the game. This allows me loads of creative input into the project, but does mean I have responsibility for the final highly polished look our games are famous for. I also mentor less experienced programmers and am involved with University visits and recruitment, so I get to deal with lots of different people every day.
What is it like to work at Rare?
The people:
Everyone I work with is professional and highly skilled in their own field, each day I work with Modellers, Animators, Designers, Musicians and lots of other programmers all working on different aspects of the project. The whole team works really well together with everyone being responsible for their own area of development, it's very satisfying to know so many other people depend on your work and in turn you depend on them.
The environment:
Our site at Manor Park is a state-of-the-art campus with fantastic facilities right in the heart of the English countryside. The development barns are bright airy places with wonderful views, just look out of a window and see foxes, pheasants, rabbits, the list goes on. This helps generate a great team atmosphere and a company-wide spirit of fun and creativity. We also have a football pitch, a basketball court and are hoping to add additional facilities to these very soon. |
