Rockers Delight

An Interview With A Rare Software Engineer

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 10:55 am in Interview · Comments

Today I bring you an interview with Dave Herod, a software engineer who gets paid by Rare / Microsoft to “press things”. Dave is 28 years old, hails from Leicestershire, is learning drumming, and likes heavy music. I’ve never done this before, so be sure to leave feedback and let me know what you think, or if you have any questions I’m sure Dave would swing by to answer some of them in the comments. Also, make sure you follow Dave on Twitter.

You’re a developer at Rare, the game studio responsible for Viva Pinata and Perfect Dark (amongst others). What’s your specific job title, and what does your job role entail?

“I’m a software engineer, and one of the gullible fools who believed that programming multiplayer gameplay would be fun. I focus mainly on synchronising Xbox Live gameplay across the network, which means a lot of tying my head in knots trying to think of every possible timing issue that could arise from having to program asynchronously.”

Can you talk me through a typical day at work?

“After fighting my way through the crowds of cheering fans (lie), and weaving in and out of the hundreds of suicidal rabbits that desperately try to fling themselves to squishy death beneath my wheels on the driveway (true - but I’ve been successful in avoiding them so far, don’t worry), it’s pretty much just a desk job for the most part. That has changed a little recently with the introduction of Project Natal, which I can’t say too much about, other than that my job occasionally now involves standing up and dancing around in front of a TV, looking like a complete idiot to anyone who happens to walk by. All of this while trying to debug code at the same time and realising how difficult it is to press F9 with your toe from halfway across the room.”

Rare is owned by Microsoft. Have you ever met Bill Gates, and if so would you praise him or pie him in the face? I would pie him.

“I haven’t met Bill, and I’m less likely to now that he focuses his efforts on running his charity rather than running Microsoft. I don’t really know all that much about him to be honest, other than he’s very generous to good causes, so I can’t really say I’d go for the projectile dessert approach.”

You were involved with the launch title Perfect Dark Zero on the Xbox 360. What’s the difference when working on a launch title? Is everything notably more hectic?

“There’s a lot of uncertainty when working on a launch title, as the platform you’re working on - both hardware and software - is undergoing constant changes and half the features your game relies on don’t even have support until quite late on. On the other hand we got quite a lot of opportunities to contribute to platform features as they were being developed. For instance, I was in frequent communication with the research team who were designing the TrueSkill ranking system. Things became hugely busy towards the end of the project as launch day approached, but everyone on the PDZ team put in an incredible effort to get the game on the shelves on day one. The end of any game project is hectic, but I’ve never worked quite so hard as I did in the final months before the Xbox 360 Launch. Everyone on the team wanted our game to be the first game many would play in the next generation of consoles, and we pulled it off with very little room to breathe.”

Steve Ballmer, what the fuck is he on?

“Hah. He’s quite an enthusiastic character. He visited Rare some time ago, although unfortunately I was away at the time. It would have been an interesting experience to meet him.”

How did you get into this job, and can you give anyone interested in going into the video game industry some tips?

“Lots of satanic rituals, extortion and other shady behaviour. Seriously though, I just planned well in advance. I’ve wanted to be a games programmer since I was a kid, although I only began taking it seriously when I was doing my A-Levels. I learned C++ in my spare time, and took advantage of the huge amount of resources on the internet to get into DirectX and OpenGL programming. I took a degree in Computer Science at university and made a game as my final year project, which also served as a good demo to send to employers as part of job applications. Apart from the technical skills, it’s vital to demonstrate a passion for games, and it’s hard to go wrong if you show them a ton of stuff you’ve done in your own free time.”

Being a multiplayer programmer, I’m naturally going to ask you what your favourite multiplayer game is. So, what’s your favourite multiplayer game?

“I’d have to say the Unreal Tournament series. It was a toss up between that and Counter-Strike, but the lightning pace of Unreal suits my play style more. And as much as I love the Xbox 360, I’m afraid a control pad can never compete with a mouse and keyboard in first person shooters.”

I’m going to be hypocritical and think of all game developers as ugly, fat men (except for you, of course). Are there any women in your workplace? If so, do the men know how to interact with them like normal human beings?

“There are ladies in the games industry, but they are largely outnumbered by men. On the whole when they walk past we either hide under the desk or cry until they go away, it’s quite a frightening ordeal really. Or maybe that’s just me, I’m not really sure.”

What’s your opinion on the 360’s competitors, the Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3?

“I share pretty much the same opinion as you expressed in your chat a while back with Los Havros, that playing on the PS3 feels very disconnected, with its lack of party chat across game titles, even though it’s a very nice piece of gaming hardware. For that reason, as well as its lack of what I believe to be quality exclusives, I very rarely turn my PS3 on for anything other than watching a Blu Ray. As for the Wii, I never purchased one, since I know I’d find it fun for five minutes and then get bored of it and never touch it again. As a hardcore social gamer I find the Xbox 360 is far more suited to my needs.”

When a Doctor who’s been delivering babies all day returns home, the last thing he is in the mood to do is… Y’know, see to his wife. After you’ve been programming and testing games all day, are you still inclined to boot up your 360 when you get home?

“Very much so, I can’t wait to get home and fire up a game. It’s a completely different experience to play a game as it is to program one. I’m just as passionate about gaming as I’ve always been, and I don’t see that changing for a long time.”

Will we see Goldeneye on Xbox Live Arcade, like, ever?

“Hah, I wouldn’t hold your breath.”

As a hardcore gamer myself, you are pretty much a rock star to me. Do you have women falling at your feet?

“Thousands of them. I have to employ bodyguards to hold them all back and give them their underwear back wherever I go. After I wake up though, I find it’s not really the career that drives women wild with lust. Or maybe that’s just me, I might be doing it wrong. As long as you’re impressed, that’s good enough for me.”

What game that you’ve been involved with have you had the most fun making, and why?

“Perfect Dark Zero was probably the most fun, as it was my first commercial game, and with it being a launch title, we got to see all the new technology and previews of the new console long before anyone else. I also saw the game go from the original Xbox to the next generation. We also used to have great fun when the whole team joined in for regular multiplayer testing sessions.”

What’s your take on Project Natal? Are you developing for it, and how does it differ to developing without motion sensing?

“I am currently working on Project Natal. I can’t really say much about it, other than it is very different from developing for a regular game. Since I share an office with a tester it does also mean I have to dodge the occasional flailing limb while I’m typing.”

You must go through a lot of 360’s at work what with the dreaded Red Ring of Death…

“I’ve not had much of a problem with it actually, despite having 3 on my desk running all day long every day.”

Are there any game studios out there you really admire and think release consistently high quality games?

“Definitely. I’ve been very impressed with Monolith’s output ever since Aliens vs Predator 2, and Condemned being one of my all time favourites. I’ve loved everything Epic have released over the years, and Irrational have released two of the best games I’ve ever played, System Shock 2 and Bioshock.”

I’m interested to know if making video games changes how you play video games?

“It does make you pick up on a lot of things you might have normally ignored, and makes you far more critical (and slightly pedantic). I tend to play games and pick apart every design choice in my head. I think it makes you slightly more appreciative of when games are done “right”.”

And finally, can you tell me where you see the future of gaming headed? Where do you want it to go?

“Personally, I’d like gaming to become more about design than technology. I think we’re already getting to the point where advances in graphics, physics are becoming less of huge leaps forwards as incremental steps, and I look forward to a point where things begin to plateau, and focus goes more into good gameplay design and storytelling. I’m a big fan of narrative in games and I still find it disappointing that the games industry is still fairly immature when compared to movies, or novels. There’s also new input methods, with the Wii being a success and Natal sure to follow, but I always see these as variety in the games industry rather than replacements for the hardcore games that people still love.”

Oh, and when is the next Xbox out?

“You know as much as me!”

Thanks Dave for taking the time out of whatever game you’re currently working on to be a part of this. Remember to follow Mr Herod on Twitter.

Tags: Interview, Rare