June 28, 2012

Let's Talk About Code

Programmers Need Love Too

One of the new mods and I were discussing the AQW engine and I realized that even the MODS don't really know a whole lot the AE programmers. I feel that I should correct this and quickly.

First, I want to introduce them.

• Zhoom - Fearless coder who can come up with a clean solution faster than just about anyone else. Also a genius. Also a pilot. For real. He has his pilot's liscence.
• Yorumi - AQW's current lead coder. Programs all the class skills, special monster code, special map code, makes engine changes, ads new functions just about every week, data-base structuring, spear-heads the guilds project. Motto "ANYTHING can be coded. It's just a matter of how long it would take."
• Dumoose - More of a game designer than programmer but still has considerable skill. Currently working on AQW Trade skills and Guild Layout. Also Lead Coder for HeroSmash.
• Titan - One of the co-leads of EpicDuel. Powerful coder with a good head for flow and design as well as functionality. Also one of the few people i've ever met who is taller than I am.
• Rabblefroth - Code SNIPER for ED. Clever, fast, flexible programmer. Thanks to his efforts Titan has been freed up to do some more managerial work that is required of any game lead.
• Rolith - DF's Lead Coder, MQ's relief coder, Pony vs Pony ONLY coder. Also handles a LOT of back end projects dealing with server issues and terrifying database stuff. Flexible, grumpy, a lot of fun. Also DM's our current D&D game. 
• Kraken - Our newest hire. He is the guy behind all that makes Heromart function and is currently writing a brand new Content Management System for AE from scratch. From what I've seen he's creative and his wife is a pro desert baker. 
• Warlic - You guys all know this guy. An amazing musician with a formal education in music but a lot of gaming experience and able to pick up new programming concepts at the drop of a hat. Currently the lead coder on OverSoul.
• Llussion - Former AQW coder, Former HeroSmash Coder currently lending a hand to the AQ3D team doing concept art, modeling, creating textures and a small amount of programming. Heck of an artist, puerto rican born and raised and one of the nicest guys I've ever met.
• Captain Rhubarb - AE's oldest professional programmer. Captain Rhubarb started on AQ classic and his talent and flexibility have him currently helping everywhere. HeroMart, the games, Ad Department, Sales department. A pirate at heart but the good kind. 
• Korin - Primarily an artist who is currently working on a split between MQ and AQ3D but as quick witted as he is insane. Able to code himself out of most jams he encounters.

We also have off-site programmers that code for us as well including Kalanyr & Zephyros on AQ Classic and Vivi who is the week-to-week coder for MQ and of course Artix who started this all. I have picked up a few tricks over the years, enough to get by but not enough to call myself any kind of programmer and I'm sure there are others like me in that respect.

Part of being a Game Lead means that we get to talk to you guys, listen to your feedback and represent the team. For the most part the programmers are too busy to do this so they can often get overlooked, which is INSANE considering that they are a HUGE part of the team without whom NONE of this would be possible.

Each of these amazing people does the work of two or more normal coders, and almost all of them are called off projects multiple times a day to fix bugs behind the scenes that you guys never even hear about. They have spent years at their craft and can logic their way through entirely new programming languages in a matter of days when we need them to.

You guys think the ART is impressive, you should see Yorumi add traces to the engine when a brand new class skill is freezing the player animations or tossing a heal on the monster instead of damaging it or causing some other insane bug that is caused when two TOTALLY UNRELATED snippets of code within TENS OF THOUSANDS of lines of code are interacting and doing weird and unexpected things. It's like magic. Unless you've had some actual experience programming then you really have NO idea how much work goes into this stuff and it's a LOT more than you think.

AE programmers, I hope to speak for myself, my team, my company, my game community and my culture as a whole when I say THANK YOU for making things just.... work.

175 days until Just Another Day