Gabe Newell Promoting Neal Stephenson's New Project

[Mana 3,867]

I don't know who Neal Stephenson is, but Gabe sent this email out:

Hi.

I haven't posted to this alias before, but I thought this was an interesting enough subject that it would be worth a post.

I've been talking with Neal and his team about their project, The Mongoliad, for about a year now. They are starting to come out of stealth mode. There are a bunch of super accomplished people involved in the project, not least of whom is Karen Laur who was part of the original Half-Life team.

They are very ambitious, and are trying to figure out what entertainment is going to look like in the post-brick and mortar world. Two of those pieces are cross media authoring, and peer-to-peer entertainment.

Every time I talk to them, my brain comes away buzzing.

One thing they asked me to help them with is to find some more coders, and I thought the people on this alias would be able to help. I've CC'd Neal and Jeremy, so if you have questions you can direct them their way.

Here's one of the positions they are looking for someone to tackle:

Lead Game Programmer

Subutai Corporation is looking for a Lead Game Programmer. We are building a studio to create games that are driven by the deep, involving stories fans expect from some of the greatest writers working today, and which will draw players in with truly innovative, visceral, and realistic game mechanics. The Lead Game Programmer will be a generalist - we are a startup, and we all do some of everything - capable of wearing many hats (often simultaneously).

Subutai Corporation is an employee owned (but solidly funded) startup, founded by Neal Stephenson, the author of Snow Crash and other bestsellers, along with a crew of seasoned game industry veterans. Our team includes multiple best-selling authors, the creators of some of the biggest game franchises of all time, a few legendary programmers, and some of the world's greatest living swordsmen. Subutai's first product is The Mongoliad (available now at www.mongoliad.com), which has been hailed as "the future of the book" by Fast Company magazine. We offer competitive salary and benefits, a generous financial stake in the products you'll be helping to create, and a creative environment that you won't find anywhere else. We are based in San Francisco and Seattle.

Principal responsibilities of the Lead Game Programmer will include:

* Collaboration in pre-production and ongoing design, along with designers, artists, writers, and production

* Providing innovative ideas across all aspects of the game, and for the Foreworld universe in general

* Development of technical requirements and implementation management

* Actually building stuff (prototypes, game, UI, and controller integration programming)

* Hiring, development, and management of junior staff

* Engine modification, scripting system tweaks

Requirements:

* Experience with middleware / 3rd party engines (preferably Source)

* Substantial experience with a range of animation solutions

* C++ fluency

* Experience in rapid prototyping and iterative design.

* Comfort working in an agile development process.

* 5+ years experience in technical leadership.

* Keen understanding of game mechanics and an appreciation for the role of story

* Self-motivation, results orientation, and a positive attitude

* Great communications skills, particularly with non-technical teammates.

Desired:

* Credit on a shipped AAA game in a lead/senior role.

* Experience in integrating custom controller hardware.

* Experience with scripting languages.

* Startup background.

* Passion for games and speculative fiction.

* Background in any formal study of body movement or body mechanics, including martial arts or dance (any styles)

* Bachelor's or equivalent in CS / Engineering.

Please submit resumes and brief cover notes to jobs -AT- subutai.mn

Note to Forum Citizens: please forgive the boilerplatiness of the above - all that stuff that's obvious to our forum participants is there in case people want to repost it.

Gabe

(You can always confirm email is actually coming from me by emailing my Valve address.)

I liked this part "* Experience with middleware / 3rd party engines (preferably Source)". This old engine sure is sticking around for quite some time now.

[Josh 18]

Interesting, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Stephenson

Hasn't released a real book since 1984, he has a publication in 2003 but nothing recent. There are also no ties around Valve and him mentioned elsewhere on the internet.

[James Tyrgglidaar Quall 69 0]

"Anathem (2008) – British Science Fiction Association Award nominee, 2008 [16]; Hugo and Clarke Awards nominee, 2009 [17]"

I read Zodiac in like 2005 and it was pretty interesting and my dad tried to get me into more of his stuff so I flipped through Cryptonomicon, but never really got into it. Guy is smart and pretty out-there, using a lot of really in-depth knowledge and jargon.

Not too sure if I'm excited about the idea of "interactive fiction"

[kammy 2]

I finished reading Snow Crash a week ago, which was a great read, and starting to read The Diamond Age. I had no idea he was a working on a game. If he can pull something off similar to the immersive feeling of his books, I'm looking forward to it. Them talking to Gabe and Valve gets me excited even more.