scoz

That's a good plan. I just thought I was doing something wrong when the documentation says one thing and it does another. Thankyou!

From a player's perspective I find the removal of the F4 fullscreen option annoying. Certainly, at the end of the day some games could potentially be ported to another platform, but many of the games made will still go on to have a "life" outside this competition. Regardless of how blurry the game becomes, I'd still much rather play in fullscreen.

linx137520:  Industry standards are that you know 3DSmax and/or Maya (although I prefer 3DS- it's a bit more beginner friendly too) zBrush, any unwrapping/bump tools and UT3.  The best way to learn about models is to check other peoples, you can even check them out in UDK.  Since you're just starting out I'd recommend just keep drawing, work on your proportions and perspectives

In my opinion Blender is the best alternative for beginners, not because it's an industry standard or beginner friendly (because it's not) but because it's free and because of the way it's keyboard key oriented it teaches you "how to learn" better. Skills on how to learn to use software are just as important as learning the software itself IMO, because you never know what will be industry standard 10 years from now.

@linx I don't know about costing, but if you're in tertiary education there are some generous trials under the Autodesk student program. I think it's a number of weeks for 3ds max now. Also, architecture and engineering products like AutoCAD are free, so if you were interested in environment modelling it's not ideal by any stretch but some of these are available. However, I'd stick to Blender.

Great interview, and being a big Ahriman's Prophecy fan it was particularly relevant to me.

What I don't think people understand is that everything is not sunshine and lollipops in game design.  An example: just because you work at a big company doesn't mean instant job security as our family has suffered a lay off last week, there will probably be another soon..

This is pretty much the biggest thing preventing me from studying a games related course. I'm a year into an engineering degree, and whilst I'm quietly enthusiastic towards engineering it just doesn't hold the special place in my heart that games do. However, the concept of poor work to pay ratios and the huge risky time investments of the independent sector scare the whatsit out of me. I may like games, but I like financial security better. It may hurt, but I'd much rather be a bedroom coder with a degree in civil or environmental engineering in five year's time that a fresh faced games graduate with no plan B; especially given the fact that a games degree isn't "compulsory" to bust into the industry.

I meant the ones about rating peoples games and such which I assume still apply to this competition

I hope that they still apply, but I am doubtful that they do, otherwise they would have been posted officially. However, I have taken it upon myself continue practicing that tradition, simply out of good taste. Like I said, impose any restrictions upon yourself that you deem necessary.

Well, TBH, considering the downrating that took place left most people unable to get hits all year, if it isn't brought up I'd consider rating compo games 5 just to combat the overwhelming negative trend