No rest for the wicked...
At least once a week, a particular Bungie Producer likes to stop by the Community desk and ask the same question: “How are the natives, DeeJ?”
It’s one of those rhetorical questions, like when someone asks if it’s “hot enough for ya” when the temperature reaches heights that make asphalt soft. I tell him the same thing every time: "The natives are restless." Fortunately, he’s not the only one who cares about the mental health of the fine people who faithfully control territory here on Bungie.net.
Here are the other concerned citizens who paid us a visit this week…
Derek Carroll, Designer
Mike Forrest, Engineer
Zeke Garcia, Artist
David Gasca, Test Lead
David Johnson, Engineer
Luke Ledwich, Test Engineer
Alex Loret de Mola, Bungie.next Engineer
Lorraine McLees, Graphic Designer
Marty O’Donnell, The Elder
Travis Pijut, Test Engineer
Cameron Pinard, Artist
Tom Slattery, Localization Content Manager
Jason Sussman, Artist
Michael Williams, Engineer
Thanks for stopping by, you guys. Let’s open the Sack.
Viperconn How are you doing?
“Super, thanks for asking!”
Derek Carroll
Doing great! I just got a lot of work done today, so I don't have much to complain about.
David Johnson
I feel fantastic / and I never felt as good as how I do right now / except maybe when I think of how I felt that day / when I felt the way that I do right now / right now / right now
Alex Loret de Mola
Really well, thanks! Every day is an adventure!
Michael Williams
Excellent. Tomorrow I am going home to Australia for a short holiday.
Luke Ledwich
Not too bad, though knowing there is amazing weather outside is making me terribly anxious.
Cameron Pinard
Still Standin', Still Strong.
Zeke Garcia
Great! Just took a train up to Vancouver last weekend and gorged myself on amazing eats.
Tom Slattery
Enough with the pleasantries, already. Can anyone throw the panel a tough question?
KilteDKilleR93 What's the best way to get into writing code if you have zero experience?
Now that’s more like it. Allow me to make a suggestion: If you add a one to that zero, you'll have taken your first step into a larger world. I know, I know, I’m not helping. Pardon me while I yield the floor to my smarter friends…
I pretty much followed the Java Tutorial to teach myself Java (since that's the language I needed to know first). It was pretty good (and also free). These days, I'd still recommend learning C# over Java, but I don't know if there's an equivalently good C# tutorial out there. Besides, the languages are so very similar that your knowledge in one will drastically help your knowledge in the other.
David Johnson
Try doing some of the incentivized tutorials hanging around on the net! For instance,
4clojure is a totally fun way to learn functional programming in a "casually competitive" environment.
Alex Loret de Mola
I tend to do the same thing with each new language I learn. Find the most simple tutorial/example of code that is visual and remotely interesting to you (I always liked Triangle render tutorials). Run it and see that it is possible and then play with what is already coded to see how it works.
Luke Ledwich
Just do it. I'm old school so I’ll tell you to learn C, learn data structures, write quick sorts and bubble sorts, learn about hash tables. After you've got that foundation, jump right into C#.
Cameron Pinard
Khan Academy just launched a whole new computer science series. Don't worry too much about which language to learn or what you're doing with it - just jump in and start trying to figure things out. What you do in one language will translate pretty easily to others as you become comfortable with the concepts.
Mike Forrest
Taking a class from a local community college is a great way to start. Another great option is downloading
Visual Studio Express for free, and getting a book on programming.
Michael Williams
Code Academy is a neat little site that my girlfriend has been using to learn Java.
David Gasca
Get adopted by a childless programmer.
Tom Slattery
Now
you’re not helping, Tom!
triggerhappy964 Who is the best poker player on the Bungie team?
Poker night was just last night, actually. For now, at least, the best poker player at Bungie is Chris Owens.
Leprechaun209 Are any people in Bungie trained in the ways of the Force?
Halcylon thinks he’s a Jedi, and we love to indulge him. Whenever he makes that “Force Choke” gesture with his hands, we lay on the floor and gasp for air. Later on, we’ll have a good laugh watching him try to levitate stuff on his desk.
TrogDor404 What is the craziest thing you've done with your coworkers outside of work?
Sometimes we go deal some lead.
Our panel might prefer less violent forms of craziness.
What is this "outside of work" thing of which you speak? I find your ideas interesting and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
David Johnson
Played unhealthy amounts of Magic: The Gathering!
Alex Loret de Mola
Vegas.
Luke Ledwich
Paintball. While 7 weeks from delivering my first child. Granted, I was the "war photographer", but I was still in full gear with riot shield.
Lorraine McLees
For a few years, we've had a chance to help out with the
Fight Like a Girl Tournament. It’s a huge amount of fun to play with fans while making money for a good cause.
Michael Williams
We all feel like real heels now, Michael. Thanks for that.
A Pimpin Lady I'm going to ask the same question you haven't answered for the past 3 weeks...
Let me stop you right there. Did you know that the definition of “insanity” is doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different result? I’m not saying that you are crazy or anything, I just love to define things.
relliK42 What's your favorite computer/console indie game?
I'll just go ahead and answer for the studio. Minecraft.
Travis Pijut
Minecraft. PC Game of the Year for several years running now.
Derek Carroll
Minecraft has easily held the most of my attention for the longest time.
Luke Ledwich
Hmm… The most recent game that I really enjoyed was Sword & Sorcery EP. I'd recommend it for iPad.
Cameron Pinard
I'll nominate the Commander Keen series.
Mike Forrest
I am really fond of Sequence, a rhythm RPG on both Xbox and PC.
Michael Williams
Skulls of the Shogun. I can't wait to play the final version. Just saw Super Amazing Wagon Adventure for the first time at the Seattle Indies Expo a couple of weeks ago, and it was super amazing as well.
Tom Slattery
Gravitronix, of course.
Alex Loret de Mola
CheckedBRUTES Is Jerome the only Security Guard that works At Bungie? Is there a night time Security Guard or does one of the Bungie Employees stay there?
It sounds a lot like you’re trying to identify gaps in our security. You won’t. There is a peacekeeper defending our front door at all times. Jerome is their Sheriff, but he has many deputies.
MightyMarcher01 School is starting up for some people soon. What is your favorite school memory?
Class is now in session, Panel…
Finishing that last exam each semester.
Luke Ledwich
One of those days where you're pouring yourself into something and look up and realize it's 2AM and you were supposed to have left the lab 4 hours ago.
Cameron Pinard
One of my favorite memories is the dinners with the community we formed there. We would cram so many friends around a dining hall table that trays would have to be removed to fit everyone. One of my favorite things about Bungie is that it reminds me of those days so often.
Michael Williams
What is it with all these incriminating questions?
Tom Slattery
How I missed getting my highest grade in Fundamentals class by 1/32 of an inch.
Lorraine McLees
Marching band! Actually, that's about the only high school memory I'd even consider living over. I miss playing music on a day-to-day basis (I played xylophone), especially the thrill of marching in the now-demolished RCA Dome in Indianapolis.
David Johnson
Winning a scrimmage against the #1 ranked Counterstrike team. I had an interesting first couple years.
David Gasca
Habah Would you quit your job at Bungie to be the President of the United States of America for 2 terms?
I can’t think of a better way to fast-track world domination. I accept. Thanks for the vote of confidence, man!
SPRTN One One 7 If you were to ever leave Bungie and have a new job, what would it be?
I don’t know if you’ve heard, but a grass-roots movement has begun that will have me elected to the office of President of the United States through a groundswell of write-in votes. If elected, I promise to be tough on forum shenanigans, and reform the way we play games.
Oh, and barbequed ribs will be served with everything you order anywhere. DeeJ in 2012!
SkilPhil What was your most recent Xbox LIVE purchase?
Spelunky, which is brutally hard, but super-addictive.
Derek Carroll
Duels of the Planeswalkers
Alex Loret de Mola
Orcs must Die DLC pack.
Luke Ledwich
Downton Abbey Season 2, or did you mean games, Bastion, I'm a little behind on the games
Cameron Pinard
Fez.
Mike Forrest
Dawnguard.
Lorraine McLees
That would be Fez. I had a lot of fun playing that game, even though it turned out to be a very different game than the one I had been waiting for years.
David Johnson
Duels of the Planeswalkers. It's like Magic, except you don't have to buy cards! Except that it makes you want to buy cards... And then you do. And then you feel bad about yourself as a person. You try to keep your wife from finding out what you've been doing, but she figures it out. She's a quick one. And how do you talk your way out of that? You don't. You just apologize. You get down on your hands and knees, and you pour your heart out. You tell her that you're weak and that you'll never do it again. And then they release a new version, those insidious bastards.
Tom Slattery
robby118 Might we see a return to the Average Joe/Know Your Ninja articles?
Once we have a new game to discuss (or even play together), I’ll be ravenous about recognizing the enthusiasm of people who (want to) play it. When that happens, I’ll probably make up my own brand new kick ass names for those interludes. The last time I let Urk name a feature I had in mind, we ended up with the Mail Sack.
Wikked Navajoe If you could learn a second language, what would it be?
I already know two languages other than English! Well... kinda. I studied Spanish for 4 2/3 years in high school and university, so I'm still rather proficient, though my knowledge is rusting with each passing year. I also took Japanese classes for about a year and a half, though that's hardly anywhere close to being fluent. I'd love to pick up Japanese again whenever I find time, though if I had to pick a new language to learn, it'd probably be French or German.
David Johnson
Mandarin.
Alex Loret de Mola
Chinese, I would love to know what all the characters mean.
Luke Ledwich
Japanese. I took a few years of it in High School, and a year in College, but I've lost far more than I would have liked. The little bit I learned ended up helping a lot on a recent trip to Japan, and I'd love to be stronger at the language.
Michael Williams
Like, in an instant? I'd love to learn Klingon.
Lorraine McLees
Probably Japanese, since it would be the language I get the most use out of. I already know knew some Spanish from school, but I haven't used it in years so can't say more than "mi pantalones es rojo." (Enjoy the grammar correction emails Deej!)
Travis Pijut
Please
do not send me grammar correction emails. Mr. Red Pants there is baiting you.
defnop552 How different does "Bungie.next" look compared to "Bungie.net"?
A lot less finished, but the differences between the two visions are striking.
Neanderthal 487 If it were determined that an asteroid would smash into the surface of Earth next week, what edible substances would you stash in your subterranean survival chamber?
Chicken Teriyaki and lots of water. What more do you need?
Travis Pijut
Lots and lots of whiskey.
Cameron Pinard
Plentiful canned goods, seed-stock, dehydrated meals and meats, and twinkies.
Michael Williams
A couple thousand gallons of red wine vinegar, soy sauce, and several tons of garlic, black peppercorn, brown sugar and heaps and heaps of bay leaves, and good clean water. These would need to be accompanied by a few pots, knives and chopping blocks and large measuring cups. And of course, I will need access to a lot of meat and a very safe way to get at them so I can make adobo ‘til the end of days.
Lorraine McLees
What a minute. Don’t we get hit by asteroids all the time that don’t extinguish all life on the planet? Didn’t that happen last weekend, even?
Malfar How did you enjoy the Perseid meteor shower?
Yeah. That’s what I was just talking about. Did anyone venture outside to look up? I know
Jason Sussman took some sweet pics of the night sky. Anyone else?
Missed it. Thanks for waiting until after it ended to remind us.
Mike Forrest
It was pretty nice! I always love seeing the Perseids. My weekend was pretty busy so I wasn't able to head over the Cascades to get away from the light, but lying out on my apartment complex's boat dock still made for a pretty decent setting, all in all.
David Johnson
It was beautiful! I hung out at the base of Tiger Mountain to see it.
Alex Loret de Mola
I watched it in the best possible way: from atop a giant stone tower, while clad a medieval outfit. (Seriously)
Michael Williams
In pictures the next day. I'm old now.
Tom Slattery
Sitting up on our side deck until my neck ached, then curled up on top of the floor cushions under a blanket.
Lorraine McLees
I slept nicely, thank you for asking.
Travis Pijut
Not enough explosions.
Derek Carroll
Speaking of explosions…
SilverBulitt82 What's the atomic weight of Plutonium?
244 u.
Why? What’chu makin’? And yeah, I’m totally dispatching the NSA to your house. Remember, kids, no matter how pretty it might look when it glows in the dark, Plutonium is not a toy.
GoodBritinusa I am a wizard. I wear a blue wizard hat most of the day (even when sleeping) and practice my powers upon the many children I have in my cellar, mainly my fire ball spell...
I stopped reading that question and called the cops. Fireball spells are not toys, either. You people really are restless.
Dr Von Strangle If there was one thing you could take home from Bungie HQ, what would it be?
The arcade room (does that count as one thing?)
Alex Loret de Mola
As I just got a new beast of a PC I'd take that
Cameron Pinard
The Burnaroos! Who wouldn't want a multisceened, force-feedback Forza sim pod taking up all the space in their living room?
Michael Williams
The rad fireplace.
Tom Slattery
If I could just grab the theater in whole, and plunk it next to my house...
Lorraine McLees
Probably that sweet, super gigantic TV that we have in the conference room upstairs. I have no idea where I'd put it since my apartment isn't that big, but a guy can dream, right?
David Johnson
Derek Carroll
Anyone else notice that he finds a way to mention the wall almost every week?
Your MOM is MC What do a lot of the engineers and tool devs do once all of their programs and modifications have been made and sent to the artists and designers?
You make it sound like their work is ever done. It’s not. Sure, the guy who makes the hammer can hand over his creation and say “Go hit somethin’ with that…” The developers that make the tools we use work in an environment that is always evolving.
P.S.
YOUR Mom is MC.
Hylebos What was the first program that you wrote that you felt proud of?
When I was 12, I was really proud of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” style game that I'd written in QBasic, even though I never did finish it. Did you know that QBasic cuts you off if your code file exceeds a certain number of lines? I didn't know either of those things when I was 12.
Alex Loret de Mola
I wrote a little visual basic form application that simulated killing an orc. It was awesome!
Luke Ledwich
I wrote a utility program at a previous company that was being used long after I had left, it was my first program to see heavy use outside of a very few people.
Cameron Pinard
I wrote a program on the Apple II that showed a robot zooming across the screen, hitting a wall, and exploding. That's all it did, but I was really proud to have figured out how to do animation and actually show something interesting.
Michael Williams
A sweet Tetris clone incorporating mechanics from Dance Dance Revolution that I made while learning C#. (It was cooler than it sounds.)
Tom Slattery
That's a hard question since I've been programming since back in elementary school. So while this probably isn't the first program I *really* am proud of, programming Blackjack for the TI-83 calculator was the first one that I really remember being proud of. A lot of my friends were downloading games onto their calculators, and my friends played mine quite a bit. I think that experience of sharing my work really made something to be remembered.
David Johnson
H4LO How long do you spend on average making sure the game sounds ok?
It should be obvious whom I would hassle to answer this question.
Marty O’Donnell said: We take the entire time it takes to develop a game to make sure the game sounds great. Almost all of our “polish” and final implementation of sound and music comes towards the end of development, which is due to the fact that the game isn’t ready for final mix or final music until it’s fully playable and design/art/engineering is finished and we can respond appropriately. We’re creating sounds, writing music, and figuring out how to get audio working in our engine right from the beginning.
ankerd123 What do you get most 'stoked' about when creating a game?
I just love concept art, the sheer potential during that phase is awesome. After that, the first playable build no matter how rough is just awesome.
Luke Ledwich
Anytime a new feature comes online that rush to try it out and make something cool with it, and then the point where you get to see everyone's work especially all that cool stuff you didn't even know was there because you've been head down dealing with your own stuff.
Cameron Pinard
Watching it all come together is really the best part.
Travis Pijut
I love deep-diving into the fiction of the games we make. The content our writing team creates always manages to get my imagination going crazy... enough so, that I regularly pester them with crazy ideas I've dreamed up.
Michael Williams
The art of creating new things. There's something about digging in and creating brand new code from scratch. It's like you're inventing something from nothing, and that feels pretty special.
David Johnson
Deloro501 Assuming for a moment there was a studious young lad with his desires set on someday helping Bungie achieve world domination, is Bungie currently accepting internship positions of any kind?
Should I assume that this lad is you? Or is this one of those questions about “a friend of mine?” I get this question a lot in my travels to know the hearts and minds of our community. Right now, the answer is “No.” We are not seeking any eager young minds to earn credits as a volunteer in our march toward world domination. That may change, though. All the paths that lead to our studio are clearly marked on our
Careers page, so keep an eye on it.
Mythical Wolf Give us a REAL challenge!
Oh, I’m sorry. Have my weekly stunts been beneath you?
Just last week, I asked you all to emulate the hairstyle of everyone’s favorite Curiosity Rover
flight commander for a chance to channel your inner rocket scientist. This was the only brave soul who took me up on it.
You want something harder? That’s just fine, but I will not be your riddle master. When you mess with the bull, you get the horns. When you mess with Bungie, you get the mathletes. Earlier this week, I introduced you to
David Johnson. He’s been kind enough to answer your challenge to create a real challenge with a challenge of his own creation. Here you go…
We will call this puzzle: "The Power of Seven." Post your answer on our
forum.
There will be no hints. I will not provide helpful nudges or drop breadcrumbs of any kind. What I will do is gift the winner with rare swag that will intrigue your friends and give you a chance to brag about your problem-solving skills.
While you chew on that, I’ll be planning my exploits at happy hour. The weekend is upon us. For a change, it will be a hot one in our corner of the world. Please join me in staying cool, Bungie Community. Hang in there. We’ll continue this conversation next week.