General / Off-Topic PSA: Frontier is hiring a lot of people for Elite Dangerous and a new game.

[Cocalarix]

Source: https://www.frontier.co.uk/careers or https://i.imgur.com/nsYJ5vy.png

In the Principal Animation Systems Programmer position you can see it being described:

Frontier is looking for a Principal Animation Systems Programmer to take a leading role in the development of an upcoming AAA title. You will work with programmers, animators and technical artists to take our in-house animation technology to a new level, and help us to stay at the forefront of visual quality in games. This is a very high profile franchise, which enjoys a global fanbase, and you can expect to be involved from the ground up in making a title that everyone will be talking about when the time comes. You will need to bring both player and non-player characters to life in a large and varied environment, and to do this you will have the exciting remit to explore a range of technologies, including current and next generation systems for procedural and physically driven animation, and leverage those that are most appropriate.

There are some positions that are meant specifically for Elite, like the Principal Network Programmer, but most of them are flexible between all their games.

 

[Andovar]

hmmm... very interesting.
I wonder if that "upcoming AAA title" is a new game, or ED season 4?

 

[SystematicChaos]

Did you see the bottom bullet point for the ED job?
'Familiarity with Linux development is a plus.'

 

[playfuldreamer]

So yet another title that will fragment Frontier's focus even further.

 

[Whiterose]

AAA is Astronomy for Alcoholics Anonymous. Its based around the elite universe but the graphics are fuzzy and speech is slurred.

 

[rootsrat]

Ah, great opportunity for all the forum armchair developers to apply and make Elite into this great game they all talk about on the forums

 

[Conch]

Ah, great opportunity for all the forum armchair developers to apply and make Elite into this great game they all talk about on the forums

i think it would be a good idea if they hired NeilF

 

[askavir]

Did you see the bottom bullet point for the ED job?
'Familiarity with Linux development is a plus.'

That is because ED's servers, like pretty much nearly everyone else who is minimally relevant in the world of servers, are linux or other unix-based.

 

[verminstar]

Ye know those undiscovered things that frontier claim have always been in the game? Maybe they lost the notebook with the system names were wrote down on and they need a fresh crew capable of staying awake while searching fer them again...

Just spitballing ideas here...Ill get me coat ^

 

[Toumal]

Source: https://www.frontier.co.uk/careers or https://i.imgur.com/nsYJ5vy.png

In the Principal Animation Systems Programmer position you can see it being described:



There are some positions that are meant specifically for Elite, like the Principal Network Programmer, but most of them are flexible between all their games.

It's a bit of a weird one. The animation systems programmer could be a lot of things, from a first person expansion for ED, to some completely unrelated game that is based on a third party licensed franchise.

I'm more worried by the principal network programmer bit. Either some ED resources had to be pulled into other projects and they need to fill the void, or someone left or was fired. Either way it's not a great place to be dropped in to, because you have to work within an established framework that has a lot of things that work well, and a lot of things that work not-so-well, and rocking the boat may result in fundamentally game-breaking issues.

That said, I think it would be a really interesting challenge to work on getting persistent NPCs as well as procedurally generated but scanner-discovered persistent POIs into the game.

 

[Shadowdancer]

"Advanced understanding of C++ and object oriented programming"… does having read and agreed with the FQA (not a typo) and basic familiarity with Java and C# for the OO part cover that point?

 

[Factabulous]

Can't be for ED, I hear the game is dead, and they need to new business model, etc etc etc

Seems they need some new bodies to fill the office they were building on yesterdays livestream - are they advertising for a pianist

 

[Deleted member 38366]

Ah, great opportunity for all the forum armchair developers to apply and make Elite into this great game they all talk about on the forums

Pretty telling if alot of everyday basic Forum suggestions and ideas are lightyears ahead of what's been delivered by the supposed professionals on a payroll so far, right?
It's okay though. Why implement or build upon solid concepts delivered for free if you can spend alot of time&money on sub-par simplistic design...

The new upcoming AAA Title (doesn't sound like the soon to be relased JWE to me?) just means ELITE will remain on extended life support for another unknown duration.
Could develop synergies though if the tech used fits ELITE, can never know that. So in theory it could be beneficial in the long run.

 

[Mengy]

Ah, great opportunity for all the forum armchair developers to apply and make Elite into this great game they all talk about on the forums

I'd love to, but I'm not a good enough programmer and my art skills are laughable. I'll just keep working on my own little crappy indie game that I'll never actually get done instead.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Why implement or build upon solid concepts delivered for free

Because most of them suck

 

[Roybe]

I'm more worried by the principal network programmer bit. Either some ED resources had to be pulled into other projects and they need to fill the void, or someone left or was fired. Either way it's not a great place to be dropped in to, because you have to work within an established framework that has a lot of things that work well, and a lot of things that work not-so-well, and rocking the boat may result in fundamentally game-breaking issues.

First bullet point:

Holding the vision for how the game servers interact with each part of the game

They ain't changing the 'modes'! <snicker>

 

[Ziljan]

You will need to bring both player and non-player characters to life in a large and varied environment, and to do this you will have the exciting remit to explore a range of technologies, including current and next generation systems for procedural and physically driven animation, and leverage those that are most appropriate

Don't want to get my hopes up, but this definitely sounds like it could be space legs. "franchise that has a global fanbase" can only be Elite. Unless they're just talking about animating the mission givers in their windows, and having us gesticulate from our pilot seats, then "Player and non-player animations" would only really be useful for non-ship driven interactions: Elite Feet, space legs, FPS, whatever you wanna call it.

 

[Cocalarix]

It's a bit of a weird one. The animation systems programmer could be a lot of things, from a first person expansion for ED, to some completely unrelated game that is based on a third party licensed franchise.

I'm more worried by the principal network programmer bit. Either some ED resources had to be pulled into other projects and they need to fill the void, or someone left or was fired. Either way it's not a great place to be dropped in to, because you have to work within an established framework that has a lot of things that work well, and a lot of things that work not-so-well, and rocking the boat may result in fundamentally game-breaking issues.

That said, I think it would be a really interesting challenge to work on getting persistent NPCs as well as procedurally generated but scanner-discovered persistent POIs into the game.

Honestly, I thought that networking position is related to the Q4 additions (squadrons, fleet carriers) that would need more people working on the servers. And I remember Sandro saying something about more persistent NPCs, then he also mentioned tracking limpets might be on the way.

I also have 0 experience in programming/networking and I'm kind of an optimistic.

 

[PhanttoM]

This one intrigues me. (Although keeping any hype in mind that's that it's only concept artist, not final 3d modeler)

CONCEPT ARTIST - VEHICLE AND WEAPON SPECIALIST

Elite Dangerous brings the player a vast host of ships and weaponry which must not only follow the iconic styling already in place but also broaden the Elite visual canon ready for technological developments coming our way in the near future.

The successful candidate will take an idea from rough sketches through to final 2d concept while at all times working with the vision holders. The specialism in vehicles and weaponry means the design must not only look good but make functional sense as a machine.

The final concept will perfectly describe the new hardware to the art team tasked with authoring the final ingame asset. With this in mind we expect the successful candidate to have some experience in 3d software, ideally Maya, and use that as part of the concept process to communicate the idea and ensure smooth transition from final concept to in-game model.

While the role is initially focused on Elite Dangerous we fully expect the successful candidate to utilise their keen concept skills on the breadth Frontier’s diverse and growing catalogue of games.​

 

[Cocalarix]

This one intrigues me. (Although keeping any hype in mind that's that it's only concept artist, not final 3d modeler)

To be fair, I remember that position being open back in December as well. So they're either really picky, or they opened it multiple times.