Game Developer Magazine Call for Submissions: Dirty Coding Tricks

Author: by Staff

Sister publication Game Developer magazine is now accepting submissions for a new feature tentatively titled "Dirty Coding Tricks" – a "coders gone wild" retrospective, if you will. The magazine focuses heavily on best practices and so-called "right ways" to code your game. This feature comes in from the other side. The feature, planned for the highly-viewed March GDC issue of the magazine, highlights what happens when a coder, under pressure of deadline, through snarky office politics, or simply because it’s the easiest way, will ignore best practices, and just “get it done.” Anecdotal examples include shutting artists out of major parts of the engine, embedding jokes in code, or simply last-minute heroics that squashed an un-fixable bug in the eleventh hour. Submissions should be between 300 and 500 words (code quite welcome), and sent no later than Friday January 23. The game must be commercial, or at least initially intended for sale (canceled games are acceptable). Anecdotes need not be absolutely current, but should be absolutely interesting. Preferred submission format is a word document, or simply in the body of an email, also either providing your name and title (or your title when the event in question took place), as well as the game’s title if possible. Authors may choose to remain anonymous, but in such cases, the game’s title would be necessary to ground the submission in reality -- that is to say, you may submit your name, or the game title, or both, but not neither. Interested parties can send submissions or questions directly to Game Developer magazine editor-in-chief Brandon Sheffield via bsheffield at think-services.com, or via the reader feedback form.