My Background
I am a 23 year old living in North Brunswick, NJ. I have about 5-7 years experience with the flash platform. After getting a degree in mathematics from Rutgers University, I worked as an as3 game programmer for an mmo children’s game. I am a member of Mensa high IQ society, and I have a passion for learning. I am very creative and love building things from nothing, but I am also extremely analytical, technical, and pragmatic. I’ve always been super driven and determined, and I live a healthy, balanced lifestyle that allows me to push myself all day, every day.
My Craft
I want to be a master of flash game development. Adobe has made it pretty clear that they are putting all their eggs in the gaming basket, and for 2d games like farmville, candy crush, etc. there really isn’t a better platform. I love online multiplayer games with a passion (playing them and building them), and I also really enjoy developing on the Flash platform. I aspire to be the greatest mmo game creator to ever live. I know it’s a lot of work and learning, but I am willing to put in whatever it takes.
My Skills & Training
I consider myself a very good programmer. Not only have I been developing flash applications personally and professionally for about 7 years, but I have studied and analyzed theories, practices, and methods for optimal development of of many different forms of software all a long the way. I have watched tons and tons of hours of videos, read blog articles, and followed tutorials to the point where is wasn’t satisfying my cravings for more knowledge. I would go to bookstores all over NJ looking at every book on adobe creative suite programs, programming languages, and software development. I’ve traveled all over NJ and NYC going to presentations about to game development, trying to meet other developers like me, and trying to learn new ideas and ways of achieving my goals. I’m always looking for new blogs from other developers, listening to announcements by Adobe, and trying to learn from the successes of others.
The Need for a Coach
I recently began doing ‘Crossfit’, a high-intesity workout program where every day you do different functional strength and conditioning exercises with a group. The whole time you have a coach watching you and giving you tips to improve. Having a coach watch and give me feedback has really helped me tremendously in improving my technique in a small amount of time, and it just proves that practice with perfect technique is far superior to practicing alone with whatever form you would naturally do. I want to have a similar coach-athlete relationship to further refine my coding skills. I want someone to critique me, to be able to logically shoot down my concerns, and to give me praise and confirmation when I finally do get something perfect.
About You
I’m looking for an expert actionscript 3 programmer and game developer. You should be a stellar flash game developer with big titles under your belt, ideally someone who led the way or was a critical player in a successful, profitable hit game. You should not only understand but be a master of common design patterns like MVC, singleton, factory, etc… You should also be aware of best practices in loading swfs, using state machine pattern to manage them, and monitoring performance of the game. I need someone who will keep me on track. You should be a board for me to bounce ideas off of, keep me in check if I start doing something weird, and help with the formal ‘project management’ pieces of managing the project.
The Project
Without giving away to much top secret information, the project I am currently working on is an online multiplayer PvP game based on the classic blackjack casino card game. It employs a very common ‘lobby system’ where players get randomly matched up to play each other via a ‘matchmaking’ button. I have the adobe creative suite, and the client side is being developed with flash professional and flash builder (with some other fringe programs for creating the graphics). The server side is powered by the 'Yahoo Games Network’ (formerly owned by Player.io) which is a serious, awesome platform for running online multiplayer games. Using their hosted clustered servers and NoSQL databases, I’ve developed the basic beta version of this game which works great. I’ve put a lot of work into this game already and think I have it all figured out, but I’d really like to get input from someone who knows what they are talking about. Honestly, I think I have all the technical details figured out already. I want someone not to tell me that I’m right, but who can tell me where I’m wrong. I like being told why I'm wrong and why an alternative is better, and if you convince me I'll convert to your way of thinking immediately. I might seem arrogant at times, but I am actually very humble and open minded. Doing crossfit and being constantly watched and corrected has made me realize that I need a coach, a great coach, who can train me in being the CEO / as3 programmer/ designer/ tester/ subject matter expert/ server side C# programmer / database administrator that I want to become and help see this project through to become possibly a hit game, hopefully at least something that people want to play.
Compensation
I am a relatively recent college grad and don’t have a lot of extra money. However, I do work full time as a software engineer, and I’m willing to pay the right person. I could probably afford a few hundred per month. Depending on how deeply you want to be involved or if you want to take some tasks on yourself we can hopefully work it out. Once you prove yourself that you are the real deal we could also work something out with equity. What’s really important is that you have a passionate for flash development, master proficiency in as3, and a love for teaching. Who knows, maybe this could teach you something knew or being a stepping stone to something better. Thanks for reading all this. If you are the right person don't hesitate to apply! : )
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Thanks!
- Jim Lynch
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