Game Programmer - Chris

[shaolin88]

Introduction:
I have been playing 0 AD for about a year or so, and have always loved the game. I used to like the old school Age of Empires games when I was a kid (granted, I may still be a kid trapped in a 25 year old body) and really love playing 0 AD... I happen to like a lot of games that have great gameplay even if they don't have the best graphics (you can still catch me playing Diablo 2 or Half Life 1 mods).

I have a bachelors degree in Computer Science and Business Administration from the University of Rhode Island, although most of my work experience is related to System Administration and a little bit of web development. However, my schooling was mostly related to programming (and I self taught myself programming since a young age) and that's the direction I really want to go with my career, so this would be a great opportunity to work on those skills. I live in Rhode Island (the state with the highest unemployment rate in the country) so this year I have been making ends meet with a physical labor job, so I really need to keep my skills sharpened. Moreover, I got into a head on collision a week ago and therefore won't be working for a while, giving me plenty of time to help work on your game.

One issue - I don't have internet at the place that I currently live, it's a rather ghetto living arrangement. I can use wifi at public places or go to my mother's house to use it. However, if I don't respond to emails the same day, it's not because I'm trying to ignore you.

On to the application....

Application:
Position: Game Programmer, although I'm also interested in helping out in other areas, such as creating maps.

Non-Commercial/Volunteer: Yes, I'm aware of the nature of the work. I'm not a materialistic person anyway. I also believe that it's honorable to create free and open source software.

Distribution of Work: Yes, I agree to distribute all of the work that I do on 0 AD under the Creative Commons Attribute Share Alike License. This doesn't include work I do outside of 0 AD, but that should be a given.

Name: Chris C

Email: ccoscina@gmail.com

MSN: I don't currently use it, but if it's a big deal I can get it. I won't mind giving my phone number to people on the development team to discuss issues over the phone as well, particularly since I don't have an internet connection at the place I live.

Location: Rhode Island, USA.

Availability: Outside of my basic daily responsibilities (eating, sleeping, exercise, and cleaning) I am willing to donate a significant portion of my time as a game slave. Once I heal up from my injuries a bit I will be looking for a job again, but I will still contribute even if I get hired somewhere. I shouldn't mentally strain myself too much for another week or so due to the concussion I got from the car accident, but I'm recovering. I should be able to put in 20-40 hours a week without much of a problem.

Occupation: I was previously doing physical labor, but won't be able to for a long time since I'm recovering from back/neck injuries. And by the time I recover, I'll hopefully have a decent IT job again.

Skills and Experience: I have done my share of programming over the years. I started learning HTML when I was about 10 years old and was learning C++ by the time I turned 12. I usually would zone out the teacher in high school in favor of reading programming books while he/she gave the lecture (they didn't appreciate this). After high school, I went to the University of Rhode Island where I earned a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Business Administration. I wish I had more work experience in the field, but there aren't many IT jobs here and I'm currently trying to save money to move to a state where there are more opportunities in my field. In the meantime, I would like to gain some valuable experience helping out Wildfire Games, which would help me build a better resume. One hand washes the other.

Motivation: I love programming and I love video games.

Personality: A funny, sincere, and intense old-school Italian guy.

Short Essay: I feel like the issues meant to be covered here have already been covered in my intro and other parts of the application. I'll avoid redundancy.

Interests and Hobbies: Cooking and Martial Arts. Like most Italians, I really love good food and I always keep my fridge well stocked. I'll be making a lasagna later tonight using homemade meatballs n sausage. The sauce is homemade as well and I spent seven hours working on it to make sure it's perfect. I've also been fascinated by the art of combat since a young age, and before my injury I would spend up to 20 hours a week training. I've trained under some of the best teachers around since I was a kid and have built friendships with many other martial artists to cross train with people from various styles.

Staff: I don't know any of the staff. That may be subject to change.

Favorite Games: Computer games - Diablo II (I think 3 is overrated - the graphics are better but I prefer D2's gameplay)
Half Life 1 mods (particularly Science and Industry, Team Fortress and Counter Strike)

Console games: Hitman, Mortal Kombat, and the GTA series

Work Examples - My old laptop really sucks (it takes about 10 minutes just to turn on) so I try to avoid the thing. Most of my work is on there. This new laptop I got only a month ago so there isn't really any valuable work on here. I have done work on some half life mod's in the past (most of them failed), but outside of that my experience with programming is mostly with non-gaming stuff. Although I did take a course on AI, in which we programmed bots that ran on the quake engine.

Please email me or respond to this thread if you're interested in having me work on the game. If there are any tickets that really need to be worked on more than others, definitely let me know and I'll get started. Thanks,

-Chris

[sanderd17]

You don't need to make an application as programmer. You can just start with a ticket you like (our any feature/bug, even if it's not part of a ticket), send in a patch for it, and we'll review it.

All our tickets (also a small list with beginner tickets) and some guidance to get started can be found on trac.wildfiregames.com. If you have questions or you just want to discuss something related, you can normally find some of the devs on the 0ad-dev irc channel on quakenet.

[sanderd17]

Also, there are many features still needed in this game, but the most important ones require a thorough knowledge of big part of the codebase, as well as a very good knowledge of all related algorithms and solutions. So that's not something to start with. The most important thing is that you get acquainted with the code first.

[shaolin88]

Sounds good. I was aware I didn't need to create an application, although I figured it would be polite to properly introduce myself. I have MS Visual C++ 2010 (not what I normally use, but I'll start toying with it) and I'm getting the source code to 0ad right now. I'll be messing around with it this week to get a feel for it and I'll start working on patches in about a week or two.