Portfolio for internship, lang ?'s

dzeligman · 07-10-2008, 06:42 AM

Currently my only real game that I will be putting up is a 2d shooter I've been working on the past month and a half with XNA. I'm getting quite comfortable with the API and C# overall. I feel that my game is shaping up to be alright and decently polished so I'm trying to decide on my next step for my next project in the coming months.

My goal is to have a 2-3 solid projects that show a decent variety of skillsets to help me an internship next summer in the game industry. What I'm really trying to decide is whether to continue with XNA with 3D or switch to C++/DirectX and/or one of many engines available such as OGRE3D.

The advantages of sticking with XNA is I'm more familar with C#, XNA's api and it allows for faster development allowing for more "polish" (some feature creep) on some areas of the game. The disadvantages are that from atleast the 10 or so different positions I applied to last year, none of them used C# or something along the lines of XNA.

The advantages of switching over to C++ is that its the industry standard, its whats requested on basically every position that I'm interested in. The disadvantages is that I haven't worked with C++ for about a year and even then I didnt advance past console applications. The development will be much slower with C++ and a new engine and/or API, but it might provide greater future benefit. I am also lacking in experience with memory management, optimization and other aspects that one most worry about when using C++ (well C# to, but not as much ).

So, basically I'm just looking for some advice and what other people see as other possible advantages/disadvantages.

yaustar · 07-10-2008, 07:59 AM

I believe you are missing the most important factor in this decision and that is what the company giving the internship excepts from the applicant. If they are expecting the applicant to have a decent grounding and experience in C++, then no matter how many C# projects you do, your inexperience of C++ will count against you.

If I was you, I would finish the current project in C# and XNA, then do my next one in C++.

dzeligman · 07-10-2008, 10:26 AM

That's what I was leaning towards. I think my def lack of experience with C++ would count against me almost anywhere I would apply.

Do you have any recommendations on what engine to use?

I've read good things about ogre3D and http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/ this one appears to have decent support. What I really want would be one that has the easiest transition from C# to C++ to aid with many things that XNA does for me.

yaustar · 07-10-2008, 11:26 AM

Irrlicht, Ogre3D, Torque, DarkGDK all come to mind.

Claxon · 07-10-2008, 02:36 PM

I've not used the other engines before, but I would say that if you're going for C++ experience, torque probably isn't what you want. It's a good engine (particularly Torque Advanced with it's shaders), with a strong comunity, but the majority of the code you write will be in Torquescript, rather than c++.