STAFF PROFILE: TOM, STG PROGRAMMER (cont.)
What do you do day to day?
I work in Rare's STG department, primarily on the animation system. I spend a lot of time implementing new features (joint mapping, compression and decompression algorithms etc.) or requests for changes from the game teams and optimising existing code to run as fast as possible. I have used my assembly language background to write a lot of the animation system in native code.
What is it like to work at Rare?
The people:
Everyone is very like-minded, professional and focussed. Newcomers to the company are always helped to settle in, and are looked after. I was given time to get to grips with the new console (although this was not my first experience with Xbox) and the STG software. After settling in, I decided to stay with STG, although if desired I could have moved onto a game team as many people do. As we are a single self-contained unit in the middle of a field (almost literally!) there is a very good sense of community.
The environment:
The offices here at Rare are superb. Although it's a good drive to get to civilisation, everything you need is here on-site. There's a very good subsidised restaurant, with many different meal options per day (incidentally Thursday is my fave as it's curry!), as well as 24hr security and ample allotted parking space. The offices are spacious, with comfy chairs and good equipment to work with.
As I am a country yokel, I love the open fields and scenery here, with fresh air, badgers, pheasants and squirrels to keep us company! |
