Interview with Valve programmer Dave Kircher: Questions - Developers

Hi everyone. So if you haven't guessed, I'll be doing an interview with Dave Kircher. He's a Valve programmer, who came from Digipen for the original Portal. Now what I'm here for is to ask [b]YOU GUYS[/b] some questions to ask him. This is primarily going to be about Programming and working at Valve. Be it from programming tricks, Physics, graphics, "What do you do", Valve internal setups like what version control does Valve use (They use Perforce) or just what's it like working at Valve. I'm sure you could slip in SOME game questions in there. Most he won't be able to disclose though, so keep that in mind. Of course, no stupid questions and keep the questions simple. I will be both making a separate thread for this and hosting it on my blog.

What is it like programming for Valve in general? Can you sum up your development process? What does Valve think of mods and modders? It seems more difficult now to get their attention, and with games becoming more graphically immersive, indie folks trying to get into the industry and be more than just "an indie developer" is a lot harder. Is it possible to just present a working mod to one of the folks at Valve to see if it gets spread around? [editline]6th January 2012[/editline] Also, how hard is it to get a job there, and what should you be able to present to even be worth considering?

How relaxed is your working environment, For example things like music and such.

Do you use libraries like boost at valve or do you have to write your own? Do you use any open source software? [editline]6th January 2012[/editline] Also, what happened to this? [url]http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=valve_steam_announcement&num=1[/url] :v:

What kind of skill gap is there between the best and least experienced programmers at Valve? How many people work on their own projects as well as Valve's ones? How did you get into programming, and how similar is that to your co-workers' stories? [editline]6th January 2012[/editline] Also, how does Valve divide workload between individuals?

Do you have any people working on the SDK actively anymore? As far as I know Tony Sergi no longer works at Valve, and he seemed to be the only person working on immediate SDK releases.

You are locked in a room with three serial consoles. Each console connects to a computer running a different programming language. FORTRAN, BASIC, and C. You will not be able to escape the room until you code a two player game of ASCII chess. Which console would you choose to code the game on?

How has joining Valve influenced your snack-eating habits? (The "snack bar" at Valve is ridiculous, I would die of a heart attack in under a month if I worked at Valve)

[QUOTE=nikomo;34080019]How has joining Valve influenced your snack-eating habits? (The "snack bar" at Valve is ridiculous, I would die of a heart attack in under a month if I worked at Valve)[/QUOTE] Never forget, Eric Wolpaws giant pink cookie.

What is your favourite band? And if you could be bothered would you make one of their songs using choreographed sounds from Valve games?

[QUOTE=nikomo;34080019]How has joining Valve influenced your snack-eating habits? (The "snack bar" at Valve is ridiculous, I would die of a heart attack in under a month if I worked at Valve)[/QUOTE] I'm going to ask if he can find the famous big pink cookie.

What is your opinion on using .NET for game development? Have you ever tried it? If your into open source, what licence do you prefer? If you decide you could lend a hand in developing one of Valve's games your currently not working on, would they allow you? What is your opinion on games for Linux?

How long did it take you to read and assimilate Source's code to where you had enough understanding of it to start implementing portal-specific features?

When tackling any task in the given game development process what is your first step, how do you progress? In developing a game I think some of the hardest shit is working out systems that can work together in a clever way to reduce redundant code and increase functionality. How would you recommend trying to create systems that are flexible and work nicely, does it come down to experience somewhat? How much of your time as a developer do you spend just experimenting in the code? Has anything cool come out of this?

What's the biggest hack you had to pull to get something working?

Do you ever prank each other in the office, In that case, What is the best one you remember ?

git or svn? [editline]6th January 2012[/editline] Lame jokes aside, can you provide us with any funny or interesting stories from your time working for valve, be it spending hours on the smallest bug ever, accidently coding something amazing or simply tripping up Gabe (:v:)

Do you enjoy working with Source? If not, what other engine would you prefer working with?

How long did it take you(after joining Valve) before you were ready to work on projects with the source engine? What is the best way to catch Valve's attention in an attempt to join them? Does anybody work with Valve at a distance?(somebody developing at home in a different country or something like that)

What advice can you give to people wanting to get in the software or video game industry? Qualifications, software to work with, work experience, personal skills to develop, what makes a game/software company a good company to work for? etcetera etcetera.

No one mentioned anything about pointing a gun in his head and force him to tell you the release date of EP3 yet?

[QUOTE=B!N4RY;34083615]No one mentioned anything about pointing a gun in his head and force him to tell you the release date of EP3 yet?[/QUOTE] I'm pretty sure Steam chat doesn't have functionality which lets you use it as an interface to a gun next to your chat buddies head. [editline]7th January 2012[/editline] Another question: Do you think a university/collage education is required for a person who want's to get in the game industry? OP, are you going to ask him all of our questions or select a few?

How many people at Valve have a degree? Would you say it is essential for working there?

Oh, also, how did you get through DigiPen and pay for it? I wish I could go there, but I have no emone. :frown:

Have you caught wind of any incoming linux ports? :( (They can't ignore us forever!)

Do you use i++ or ++i? Does everyone have the same sized monitor as Gabe? [img]http://www.ultimonivel.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/gabe-newell-wow.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=amcfaggot;34079504] Also, how hard is it to get a job there, and what should you be able to present to even be worth considering?[/QUOTE] Throwing this out there but he got an extremely easy in at Valve since they basically hired him on the spot after watching his final didn't they? From what I hear the process for normal employees is long and extremely hard

Do programmers really have bitches swarm or are my programmer friends trying to look badass?

Btdubs wingless, if this is for sheezy, thanks for giving us the opportunity to ask these questions.

Does the person who wrote this still have their job? [img]http://i.imgur.com/Reqnl.png[/img] [url]http://cdn.steamcommunity.com/public/javascript/global.js[/url]