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What is the medium to contact and discuss problems with Game devs, and engine hackers? Any irc, forum, mailing list?

Note : Somehow, I did not like gamedev.net

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I don't think this is a useful question. It'll just generate a list that isn't likely to stay relevant for long. Wouldn't it be better to ask what your problem is here and perhaps the prominent game devs can come to you? Much better than you trying to seek them for help. – Byte56 Dec 1 '12 at 6:23

closed as not constructive by Byte56, Josh Petrie, Trevor Powell, Nathan Reed, Laurent Couvidou Dec 3 '12 at 10:06

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2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

I find that e-mail and SMS can both be effective. Telephone can yield more immediate responses, but can also annoy people if you interrupt them during dinner, so probably should be used very sparingly.

If they have their headphones on when you go over to talk to them in person, that means they're trying to concentrate and don't want to be disturbed, so unless you are literally on fire, either come back later or else leave them an e-mail, rather than disturbing them.

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I would advise never cold-calling someone, period. Even if it's not during dinner, it's putting them on the spot with the need to respond immediately to an unexpected and possibly unwelcome request from a complete stranger. Some people may be fine with taking such a call, but frankly, I would consider it intrusive and impolite (and I likely wouldn't even pick up the call). Use email instead. – Nathan Reed Dec 1 '12 at 7:28
Do any prominent game devs receive messenger pigeons? I have extra of those, but not many minutes on my cell phone. (Or messenger kookaburra if you're down under) – Byte56 Dec 1 '12 at 7:42
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I assume the OP is already friends with the prominent game developers he mentioned, and was not asking how best to barge in on busy strangers and demand that they deliver him answers to his questions. That would be quite self-centered and rude and presumptive, even if delivered via e-mail. – Trevor Powell Dec 1 '12 at 7:47
up vote 0 down vote

Sounds to me as if the "prominent game devs" over on gamedev.net perhaps didn't live up to your projections / expectations.

They're people, like anyone other. They also just happen to be damned good at what they do. It's up to those who seek the knowledge, to woo the experts in the field. Perhaps you didn't try hard enough over there. Or perhaps you were seeking a John Carmack or a Peter Molyneux and didn't find one. That doesn't mean the people who frequent gamedev.net aren't very experienced indeed. It probably just means that those who really are at the very pinnacle of their game usually don't have time for internet forums. But as for those experts you will find: They speak like normal people, act like normal people, and like normal people, expect thonly dispense knowledge if they see fit.

So if you couldn't obey the rules of this site (hence the downvotes), you probably didn't obey the etiquette of that site, either. Maybe you should go back, apologise if necessary, and try again.

Re chat, this site and gamedev.net have browser-based chat forums, and I don't doubt that a quick google search would turn up tons of results on developer IRC channels (pretty much every IRC server I've ever been on has had a #hackerz channel).

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