This Will Make Someone Happy

Today I read a blog from Sean McCown that encourages developers to be professionals when it comes to interacting with a database.  In a nut shell, (Go read his blog for more) he says that coders should not write code a specific way to make the DBA happy.  They should write the code that way because it is right way to access a database.

I appreciate Sean’s sentiment and would like to take that a bit further.  This paradigm should be applied to all disciplines surrounding an application developer.  Whether it be the DBA, the QA analyst, the Build Engineer or the Automation Engineer. They all have the “right” way to access or to test or to automate. These are not because they want to make things hard for the app dev, no. It is because each discipline has specific knowledge about how their systems work the best. 

Just as a DBA can say this way to code will retrieve the data you want faster and more reliably than the other way, an Automation Engineer can and should say, coding this way will make the automation work more efficiently and have a higher quality return rate.

A coder will have a greater understanding of where efficiencies can be gained in his application if he can reach out to these disciplines and understand the “whys” instead of just making someone happy.

Till next time…

Fan of Deduplication!

It has been about 4 months now since we have implemented our new backup solution. I must say that I am a fan! Deduplication is eliminating the redundant data in a given set of data being backed up.  For instance, we have several VMs with Windows on them.  These VMs take up very little space because the Windows bits are only stored once.

We purchased from EMC their Avamar backup solution. We have two replicating nodes, one here in Chapel Hill and one at our data center at Peak10 in Charlotte. These nodes are currently backing up more than 2.7 TB of data and is only using about 1.5 TB of space.  Now you might say that “that's not that great”, but wait.  That includes 4 months of additions, changes and restore points. Our retention policy is fairly conservative and the backup times are amazing.

Avamar works seamlessly with our VMs, Exchange, SQL Server and our users directories.  Backing up in both locations, it gives us a very easy restore scenario. Also, one in which we had to act on just recently with our web server having issues.

I use Microsoft’s Windows Home Server at home which has its form of deduplication as well.  And if you read this blog from time to time you know what a fan of Windows Home Server I am.

Till next time…

Veterans’ Day

I would like to thank those Veterans close to my family and me:
Retired:

• Roland F. Chapman (Grandfather -b1910-d1987 - Navy)
• Robert D. Boss (Dad - Navy)
• Michael J. Boss-Hill (Brother – Air Force)
• Stephan J. Hill (Step Dad – Navy)
• Fredrick R. Chapman (Uncle – Army)
• Mark Hanson (Uncle – Navy)
• David Bishop (Navy)
• Charles W. Hobbs (Navy)
• Dawn Meiers (Navy)
• Chuck Norris (Navy)
• Arthur Pignataro (Army)
• Dodd Schock (Navy)
• Ronald Steele (Navy)
• Rick Kolde (Navy)

Active Duty:

• Kevin P. Boss-Hill (Brother – Marines)

There are many more in all of our lives.  Thanks to you all.
Till next time…

Industry Shake-Up?

Some of you know that I work in the Video Game industry.  See my last post.  I do not work for a company that makes games.  I work for a company that makes what is called a “Game Engine”.  If you are not a gamer you have no idea what i am talking about.  If you are a gamer then you are familiar with the term. The company I work for is called Emergent Game Technologies.

Yesterday, another game engine maker Epic (Makers of the Unreal Engine), decided to offer part of their engine to developers for free.  Yes, that’s what i said, for free.  Most around the office here, upon hearing the news, were a little pissed off.  But then most of us started to really look at the announcement to try to understand what it meant to Epic (the makers of Unreal) and to us as a game engine company.
What does this mean to Epic?

1. Sales leads
2. Sales leads
3. Sales leads

When you download the engine from Epic, you supply all the standard info.  Epic then follows your progress. 

Then there is the gotcha.

• No Support - To quote Epic directly "Epic Games, Inc. will not be providing direct support for this product. "
• If you develop an internal application, you pay Epic $2500 per seat, per year.  To quote Epic directly "If you are using UDK internally within your business and the application created using UDK is not distributed to a third party (i.e., someone who is not your employee or subcontractor), you are required to pay Epic an annual license fee of $2,500 (US) per installed UDK developer seat per year."   Did I say free above?
• If you develop a game and that game is sold with revenues greater than $5000, you pay Epic $99 plus 25% of your revenue.  To quote Epic directly "If you are creating a game or commercial application using UDK for sale or distribution to an end-user or client, or if you are providing services in connection with a game or application, the per-seat option does not apply. Instead the license terms for this arrangement are US $99 (Ninety Nine US Dollars) up-front, and a 0% royalty on you or your company's first   $5,000 (US) in UDK related revenue, and a 25% royalty on UDK related revenue above $5,000 (US).  UDK related revenue includes, but is not limited to, monies earned from: sales, services, training, advertisements, sponsorships, endorsements, memberships, subscription fees, rentals and pay-to-play." Did I say free above?
• Only available for PC development.  If you want consoles, you pay Epic their normal price for the engine.  Did I say free above?

So, to my untrained eye, what this means is Epic will get money from you some way or another. This is great for Epic. A smart move. You could basically say that this is just a glorified, extended evaluation of the product. A single AAA license that comes from this move could mean Epic brings in a half million dollars. And that is conservative.

This is not necessarily great for game developers. It limits their choice because they will immediately go for FREE. I equate this to Microsoft offering Internet Explorer for free back in the 90s. I started using it, because it was free. But, the industry paid for it in the long run. Now we have less choice. Sure there is Firefox and Chrome. but those are relatively recent. It took a long time for competition to get were they needed to be to break Microsoft’s hold on the market. They are still trying.

What does this mean for Emergent Game Technologies?  We differentiate ourselves in a couple of ways.

1. Our support to customers and evaluators is second to none.  Does Not Change!
2. Our product, Gamebryo LightSpeed, addresses the rapid proto-typing, rapid iteration areas of game development like no other product. Does Not Change!
3. Sales – This is the change – We now have to address the gap.  Those startups looking to evaluate an engine that will grab the first one they can get their hands on.  I can assure you, our Sales and Marketing Team is already implementing a strategy that addresses this space.

Will Emergent become the Netscape of game engines and fade away into (made with Gamebryo) Oblivion? I wouldn’t count on it.  Will Epic continue to dominate the market and grow market share?  In the short term, yes.  But who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Till next time…

What do i really do?

So, over the past few weeks my organization has been going through lots of restructuring and planning.  It occurred to me that a lot of my readers don’t know exactly what it is I do at my 9 to 5.  One of the exciting things the organization I work for is going to be doing in the next couple of weeks and months is expanding its presence online via blogs and youtube videos etc.  the idea is to generate a little excitement about what we are doing leading up to the most important industry event of the year.  So in that vain, let me introduce myself:

Me:
My name is Robert David Boss Jr.  Everyone calls me David.  In college I was mostly called “R.D.”  I am married to a wonderful woman named Holly and have two of the smartest, loving, caring children in the world (every parent should feel this way.)  I am originally from the Northeast but call Raleigh/Durham, Triangle area of North Carolina home.

My Work:
I work for a company called Emergent Game Technologies.  I am the Development Technology Manager and IT Manager.  “What the heck does that mean?” you may ask.  Well I have two main areas of responsibility.  First, I am in charge of the group responsible for building and packaging my company’s product, Gamebryo LightSpeed.  Second, I am responsible for IT.  This combination may not make the most sense in some folks eyes but within Emergent, it is related in so many ways.  Mostly in the area of networking and server hardware.  Because we are not a large company, these duties overlap much more than one might think.

What is Emergent Game Technologies?
from Emergent’s web site:  Emergent Game Technologies has one goal: innovation in game development. We provide game developers with all the tools they need to make games that break new ground in every field: graphics, content, player experience, genre and technology. Emergent develops flexible technology that supports the needs of game designers, artists and programmers, and integrates easily with other tools and applications in today’s game development pipelines.

You can read more at the web site.

Emergent has some of the smartest people I know employed in the industry.  Here are some links to their blogs:

Beautiful Pixels - Vincent Scheib
Online Game Techniques – Darrin West
What Makes You Think I'm Not – Dan Amerson
Shaun Kime's Blog – Shaun Kime
Nick Darnell's Blog – Nick Darnell

So there you have the pertinent info.  Expect to read more about Gamebryo LightSpeed and Emergent in this space and the blogs above.

Till next time.