We're Still Hiring and How
As our
Jobs page conveys, we're hiring all kinds of folks for a bunch of tasks here at Bungie. But some of those jobs we've posted have been filled. David Aldridge is one of our new engineering hires at Bungie. In addition to his bringing his programming prowess, David brings a steady stream of pastries with him to Bungie; our tastebuds and your online experience rejoice!
What do you do here at Bungie? What does that entail?
I’m a Network Engineer. That means I work on implementing and improving the technology behind current and future Bungie online experiences. That technology includes things like transport (getting data from one X360 to another efficiently), replication (synchronizing a game world across many peers asynchronously while using a minimum amount of bandwidth), and matchmaking mechanics. I’m one of the guys who feels bad every time you experience lag.
What makes a good end user experience when it comes to networking? How can games get better at achieving an optimum experience?
Our goal is to get each player into an enjoyable multiplayer session as quickly as possible. We want the player to experience no lag during that session. On top of that, there are many interesting meta-game elements of the experience that we want to optimize. For example, we want to avoid matching normal players with griefers. We want to avoid matching people who don’t like profanity with people who enjoy a good blue streak with their Halo. We want players to be able to avoid game types they don’t like (!#%& oddball!), but we also want to expose them to new game types that might become future favorites. We want players to be motivated to play their first, tenth, hundredth, and thousandth game.
What did you study in college? What advice do you have to all of lil hoppas out there who want to make games? How can they get into the game industry?
I studied Computer Science. I focused on AI in my undergraduate work, and graphics and AI in my graduate program.
If you want to become a video game programmer, you must first become a great programmer. The most reliable current way to do this is to enter a Computer Science program at a university, don’t skip classes, study and work hard, and become one of the top students in your class. Don’t worry too much about getting into a top-ranked school – the motivation and talent you bring with you will serve you better than all the Ivy League trappings in the world.
Hundreds of top Computer Science students try to break into the game industry every year. How can you separate yourself from the pack? One very effective way is through personal projects. A candidate with a 3.5 GPA and an impressive self-developed game demo is often more impressive than a candidate with a 4.0 GPA and no personal game work. Personal projects show your enthusiasm for and commitment to making games, and can also demonstrate your skill in working in larger systems than are seen in collegiate projects.
Other things that help are playing a lot of games, reading GDC papers and presentations, reading articles on video game development forums like GameDev and GamaSutra, and reading physics books in your spare time.
Was there a single game or moment when you realized that you wanted to make games? How’d you get into this line of work?
When I first played X-Wing, in March of 1993, I knew I wanted to make games. 5 years later, when it came time to pick a college major, I decided my best shot at making games was leveraging my love of computers and math and becoming a programmer (also, I hated creative writing and had no artistic taste, talent, or inclination). I was persistent (and lucky) enough to get an internship with a local game company in Los Angeles in my junior year, and the rest is history.
What are some of your favorite games?
Battlezone for the PC (1998). One of the best RTS/action hybrids ever. Disappointingly unbalanced multiplayer, but an utterly superb single player experience.
BioShock. THE must-play RPG/shooter/System Shock 3 of 2007.
Homeworld. Idyllic space war has never been so beautiful, or so strategically deep.
