Hello! I am new to Tek Syndicate, and already I can tell I won't have much free time anymore. So, to ranting:
I am a student of sorts; I always am trying to learn more about programming, mathematics, computer science, physics - I love to learn. This is especially true with programming. It turned out to be one of my true passions and is now what I hope to make my career. So, I naturally seek out people of similar interest. I have tried the larger websites, such as CodeProject, but those are not suited for the kind of interaction that I want. I prefer a more personal interaction, such as that of the smaller Tek Syndicate army (or is it a militia?) So, with that explained, let me carry on.
I started programming on Java, which I now know was a bad idea. I did that for about a year before transitioning to web development. Java had gotten me interested in graphics - the Java code I made was always heavily represented graphically. Naturally, as a gamer, I wanted these graphics I made to be beautiful, stunning, and pretty much the product of a 200 person team gaming industry leader. I sufferred a harsh reality soon after that - getting those pretty looks took work, even with the high level programming languages. All of the drudgery associated with low level code didn't interest me - it seemed menial, unrewarding. I spent so much time blogging and ranting about how I was going to make this game, and the MMO I was working on, the project that was going to be a 1 man made Skype, the file sharing service I was working on; I was ambitious. I would open up PhotoShop, draft a concept, and make up an elaborate plan and post it online. People showed interest - that was great, I thought. Finally, after much blogging, I found what I wanted to do - make a 2d game.
I had just played Bastion and was riding on the inspirational tidal wave into the horizon of failed dreams. I spent 2 months developing the story with my closest friend, contacting composers and artists, hiring programmers - this was looking like it could be real. We had just set up the KickStarter when our "employees" stopped responging to our emails. This was strange. We realized soon that a lot of our poorly assembled team was, well, no better than the group of teenagers that they turned out to be. That was depressing - extremely so. But we decided to carry on - I could program pretty well and my friend was a great graphical artist. We went on for a few weeks, got a piece of music from our composer and were generally peppy. Then, reality punched us in the gut. All of my code was failing, the concept drawings were looking ugly now, the logo was terrible - everything that had looked good at the time was crashing and burning.
My programming skills at the time were no better than Googling the answers to any question I hadn't found in my book - I was a noob; everyone we were working with was. We immediately shut down everything, including the website, the KickStarter (which nobody had donated to), and deleted all of our files relating to the project. That was early last year. Since then, I have switched from the terribleness of Java, tinkered with C#, and finally come to the cozy home that is C++. It is antithetical to my original beliefs, those of arrogant, egotistical me from the past. I realized that the high level languages are useful, and have their place, but are slower and, ultimately, shield you from the actual programming.
C++ is my passion now - OpenGL my weapon, and game programming my enemy. I will conquer my enemy and dominate the compiler. I have been newly revived from the ignorance of a high level developer to the perfect combination of high level functions of those languages with the low level managment and optimization of the low level languages. I have found my passion, and now -- thanks to Tek Syndicate -- found a home to help fuel and inspire my passion. Having just joined this forum today, I needed to make an introduction post to these forums and figured why not make it in my my area of interest? So, hello Tek Syndicate - I look forward to learning and sharing my toils, triumphs, and thoughts with you. It's good to be home.
-Brennan Riddell, Warrior of Light