Javier Ojeda

🎉 Jellyfish AI Impact now supports Windsurf, a leader in AI-powered coding solutions, offering tools like the Windsurf Editor that blend collaborative, continuous AI assistance with developers' workflows. Together, Windsurf and Jellyfish are changing how AI and humans work together.  Through our robust integration with Windsurf, Jellyfish AI Impact allows joint customers to:  🤖 Measure Windsurf’s impact on overall developer productivity: Analyze how Windsurf solutions like Windsurf Editor impact different engineering workflows and use cases – whether it's building new features, reducing technical debt, or reviewing for code quality and security improvements. 📈 Scale Windsurf adoption across the organization: Identify teams with high engagement to further accelerate development, automate testing, and streamline deployment, then replicate these best practices and implementation strategies company-wide. Learn more about what this integration means for your engineering organization here: https://lnkd.in/ghNguE47

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🎉 Two New Career Resources Just Landed on Our Community Site - With Huge Thanks to Scott Millard and Tim C.! https://lnkd.in/d3z__2sV If you’ve ever wanted to understand how video game publishing actually works - not the surface-level stuff, but real, on-the-ground global strategy - you now have one of the best free guides in the world, permanently, thanks to Scott Millard. Scott is a veteran industry leader, best known for his time as Managing Director of Bandai Namco Southeast Asia and Korea. He helped launch Tekken, Dragon Ball Z, and even brought Skyrim to market in the region. His publishing knowledge spans regions, formats, and decades - and he’s gifted our community his Guide to Video Game Publishing for all to access at Amir Satvat's Games Community. Also, I’m thrilled to welcome Tim Cullings as a contributor - someone I’ve admired for years. You may know Tim from his leadership at Global Game Jam, Seattle Indies, or his earlier work with Oculus VR and in engineering. He’s kicked things off by sharing a curated list of top game dev events and jams - something many have requested. But this is just an amuse bouche. Tim has big ideas, and we’re excited to build this space with him and for him. We’ve heard your feedback loud and clear - you want more Tim in the community, and so do we. 🔹 In sharing these, I also want to recognize the 20 amazing individual contributors behind the career resources on our site, in addition to our Discord moderators and 2,400+ community coaches. I’m proud to say that 10 of the 20 are female - 50%, which is double industry gender representation. And we’re equally proud of the diversity across many other dimensions, which we take seriously in every aspect of our work. Here they are - please join me in thanking them: • Sarah Thomson (Mentorship Guide) • Alex Gombos (Interview Guide) • Jasmine Coppin (Art Portfolio Review Guide) • Hailey Rojas (#OpenToNetwork) • Mayank Grover (New Games Roles Partnership) • Eva Tucker (Support Your Indies) • Alexander Rehm (MVP Resources) • Johnathan Vance (Indie Marketing Guide) • Aïda Figuerola (Early Career Guide Lead) • Ali Farha (Early Career Guide Lead) • Chris Mayne (Games Art Resources) • Seth S. (Guide To Games Startups) • Corey Neuman (Homelessness Resources) • Michelle Fuzari (Mental Health Resources) • Jessica Lindl (Career Resources Suite) • Renee Gittins (Game Dev Foundry - External Resource Partnership) • Lex Parisi (Ask Lex Career Questions) • Tim W. (LinkedIn Premium Trials Resource Ownership) • Tim C. (Events And Jams; And More To Come) • Scott Millard (Guide To Video Game Publishing) • Thank you also to Fitzgerald Lewis, Tim Wood, Will Morgan, Max Bowser, Alex Gombos, and Michelle Voillot for their contributions to the Early Career Guide 💙 Never forget - this is a total team project of 10,000+ lifetime contributors. "We Help Gamers Get Hired. Zero Profit, Infinite Caring."

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We've been implementing Neural Texture compression in #Assassinscreedmirage. The overall benefit results in better quality textures for less GPU memory usage (links in the first comment). If you followed the topic since our GDC2024 presentation ,this a very practical application of La Forge's mission to bridge the academic world with Ubisoft. #ubisoft #ubisoftlaforge #innovation 👇 "If you've been thinking, like I have, that we're still some way off seeing AI being used in games for more than just upscaling or frame generation, then it's time to think again" (...) "Enter stage left, neural texture compression to cut down on that memory demand. Given the state of the DRAM and SSD market right now, you can bet your last dollar that a whole heap of game developers will be looking closely at what Ubisoft has done to see if it can help out in their games, too"

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🎮 Gaming is for everyone. Always. 💙♿ Long before “#inclusiveDesign” became an industry buzzword, #Nintendo quietly created something extraordinary: the Hands-Free Controller for the NES. Released in 1989, this device was developed in partnership with Seattle Children's Hospital, designed specifically for gamers with limited or no hand mobility. It strapped around the player’s chest, used a chin-operated joystick for movement, and even featured sip-and-puff controls to press buttons. Nintendo didn’t mass-market it. Instead, they sold it at cost through customer service, because the mission wasn’t profit—it was access. Today, when we celebrate advancements like the #XboxAdaptiveController or ongoing strides in #accessibility across the #gamingindustry, it’s worth remembering: • Accessibility is not new—it has always been part of the gaming journey. • Inclusion comes from listening to real users and building with empathy. • Small steps toward equity can create ripples that last for decades. It reminds us that gaming should be for everyone, always. Accessibility isn’t an add-on. It’s the heart of play. #GamingForEveryone #VideoGames #GamIndustry #RetroGaming #Inclusion #AdaptiveTech #HumanCenteredDesign #TechForGood

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As a freelance rigger, I need to make sure my builds have a lot of flexibility. So I've recently reworked my lid modules to add variable joint counts. By utilizing a curve-based output I can changed the amount of joints used based on the needs of the project. Higher joint counts for fidelity and control, lower counts for simplicity and optimization. Or I can test and iterate to find a happy middle ground. So animators using my rigs on film or game projects can enjoy the same features, such as: - Automated lid follow with eye movement - Main controls to position the lids through translation and sculpt the curvature with rotation/scale  - Secondary controls for finer detail (If there are enough joints to support it) - Manual or automated blinking. Animate controls, or activate the automated meet point between your posed lids for a perfect seal I've been using iterations of this system over my last few projects, both commercials and games. The core elements of this system have been floating around in my head since 2018, so it's been great to finally put it to the test. 

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Games aren’t just about mechanics. They’re about emotions. Here’s how to design games that evoke emotions: 🎮 𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬   • Systems: Mechanics, core loop, difficulty • Emotions: Fun, curiosity, and mastery 📈 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 • Systems: Unlocks, skill trees, rewards • Emotions: Anticipation, joy, and the drive to push forward 🎨 𝗔𝗥𝗧 & 𝗗𝗘𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗡 • Systems: Cohesive style, animations, characters • Emotions: Immersion, exploration, and game feel 🖥 𝗨𝗜 & 𝗨𝗫 • Systems: Screens, user flow, icons • Emotions: Intuitive understanding and smooth navigation 📚 𝗧𝗨𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗟𝗦 • Systems: Soft & hard tutorials, visual hints • Emotions: Competence and those satisfying “aha” moments 💰 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗧𝗜𝗭𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 • Systems: Offers, ads, in-game currency • Emotions: Balancing "pain" with fairness and value  𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗢𝗣𝗦 • Systems: Events, leaderboards, challenges • Emotions: FOMO, excitement, and social engagement Don’t just build game systems.   Build experiences players will feel.  

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Layoffs, studio closures and cautious publishing pipelines have dominated headlines (and conversations at GDC this year). But behind the doomscrolling, the last 12 months have quietly seen billions of dollars flow into gaming from VCs, government programs, crowdfunding campaigns and corporate deals. 🎮 Venture funds are still backing early-stage devs. 🏛️ Governments are doubling down on creative sector grants. 💡 Accelerator programs are popping up globally. 💰 Crowdfunding is booming again (especially for tabletop and indie). 🤝 And the biggest publishers and platforms are still making big bets. That makes me optimistic. I’m not blind to the challenges but convinced that the next wave of breakout studios are already being built. Here’s a snapshot of recent funding and investments that caught my eye… Play Ventures – Fund III – $140M – Announced Nov 2024 Kickstarter – Games crowdfunded – $270M+ in 2024 BITKRAFT Ventures – Fund III target – $275M – Apr 2024 Griffin – Fund III target – $500M – Jun 2024 Transcend. – Fund II – $60M – Nov 2023 A16Z GAMES – Games Fund II – $600M – Apr 2024 a16z speedrun – Accelerator – $1M per startup – 2024–25 cohorts UK Games Fund – Grants up to £150k – £5.5M committed for 2025-26 Canada Media Fund – Game project grants – C$7.8M – Aug 2024 Creative Europe – Game development funding – €5M annual call Screen Australia – Indie game grants – AU$1.6M – Mar 2024 Saudi Arabia / Merak Capital – Exel by Merak – $81M fund – Nov 2024 Tencent Venture Lab – Indie support program – Ongoing Scopely acquires Niantic, Inc. - $3.5B - Mar 2025 Playtika acquires SuperPlay – $2B deal – 2024 EQT Group acquires Keywords Studios – $2.8B – 2024 Miniclip acquires Easybrain – $1.2B – 2024 CVC Capital acquires Jagex – $1.1B – 2024 Modern Times Group MTG AB acquires Plarium – $820M – 2024 Just in those points above that’s $13.5B and I’ve certainly missed a ton. If you're building, job searching or fundraising don’t lose heart! There’s capital out there and plenty of people still backing bold creative bets. 📧 joe@play.vc

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𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗨𝗦𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗨𝗻𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹. Understanding it is the first step to clean, modular actor logic in Unreal. What is USceneComponent? A transform-only ActorComponent that stores location, rotation, scale and lets you build parent–child hierarchies—no mesh, no collision, just pure pivot power. 📩 Get all Unreal Cheat Sheets and other game dev resources weekly: https://lnkd.in/gUidw_gC You'll get resources like: Unity2Unreal Guide, Unity & Unreal Cheat Sheets, Hacks, Game Breakdowns, Roadmaps, Project Ideas, and more. ✍️ Pattern #1 – Local vs World AddLocalOffset / AddLocalRotation tweak space relative to the component, while SetWorldLocation / SetWorldRotation teleport in the level. 🌐 Pattern #2 – Dynamic Attachment AttachToComponent + DetachFromComponent let you grab & drop items at runtime; use FAttachmentTransformRules::KeepWorld to avoid popping. 🔒 Pattern #3 – Mobility Matters Mobility = Movable means animation-friendly but costlier lighting; Static is fastest—pick wisely. 📦 Pattern #4 – Quick Hide/Show SetVisibility and ToggleVisibility cascade to children when bPropagate is true for instant stealth or reveal. 🧪 Pattern #5 – Direction Vectors GetForwardVector() / GetRightVector() turn your component into a cheap orientation sensor for AI and projectiles. *** Mayank Grover, Mridul Agrawal, Malhar Devasthali, Aryan Khera, Aryan Saxena #gamedev #unrealengine #cpp #cheatsheet #USceneComponent

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Is 2025 the year of the Western RPG? Games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, the Oblivion Remaster, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 show that Western RPGs remain ambitious, adaptable, and in high demand. - Kingdom Come: Deliverance II isn’t just a bigger sequel. It raises the bar for historical RPGs with its grounded storytelling, large open world, and complex systems, and by all accounts a big success. - The Oblivion Remaster brought a genre favorite into the modern age. With new visuals, improved animations, and all DLC included, it captures the spirit of the original while smoothing its rough edges. It saw almost 200k concurrent players on Steam on its launch day. - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from Sandfall Interactive offers something different. Its Belle Époque fantasy setting, mix of turn-based and real-time combat, and striking style are earning praise. It’s proof that the genre still has room for innovation. This momentum didn’t appear overnight. Western RPGs trace their roots to early computer games inspired by tabletop systems like D&D. Titles like Ultima and Wizardry introduced choice-driven gameplay and open worlds. In the 1990s, Baldur’s Gate, Fallout, and Planescape: Torment added deeper narratives and moral complexity. The Elder Scrolls later expanded the genre’s scale and interactivity. At their core, Western RPGs emphasize player choice, exploration, and narrative freedom. 2025 is showing how powerful that formula still is.

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🧮 De-mystifying the Pixel Processor in Substance Designer Chapter 2: Grid Generation Recreating a grid like the Tile Generator can do inside the Pixel Processor is a great practice to understand fundamentals of image processing. By scaling your UVs and taking the fractional part, you repeat a pattern across the surface. Then, by centering and stepping the result, you get a clean, evenly spaced grid, fully controllable in both X and Y. 🧱 Horizontal? Vertical? Brick layout? No problem. However how to get there with different shapes is going to be a different chapter. #madewithsubstance #substance3d #substancedesigner #pixelprocessor

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Hello Friends! Another training series is released! Welcome to Automatic PreRoll Generation: A Studio Level VFX Workflow. Training Series link: https://bit.ly/4hIUDjK Duration 8 hrs ----------------------------- In this Training Series, You'll learn the secrets behind automatically creating PreRoll Animation for Characters in Advanced Visual Effects Simulations. For years this has been a Manual Human process. We're going to learn how we can procedurally generate and adjust this with simple sliders. Not only are we going to learn how to retarget animation from differently proportioned characters to any asset, but we're going to learn how to start our simulation from any part of the animation using the Automatically Computed Best Rest Pose, Ramp up, and Pre-Animation Momentum. This means if you have a shot that's 2000 frames long, you can now start at any point and choose where and how to blend in your simulation throughout the whole shot. We'll also discuss Neutralizing and Restoring Locomotion to fix Super-Hero-like movement that moves too far and too fast over the course of our timeline. The best part is this network can be used for Cloth, Hair, Muscle, or any of your Character Effects needs. We'll set up an efficient, reusable pipeline including large networks with multiple file checkpoints so you can easily jump in at any point along the way. While this training series primarily focuses on Automatic PreRoll Generation, we're going to cover foundational Houdini knowledge and concepts useful to Everyone. This is a valuable introduction series to programming and tooling in Houdini covering Python, Vex, HScript, and UI Design. At the end of this training series, you'll be able to simulate any Animation from any Part of the Animation with the click of a button. Training Series link: https://bit.ly/4hIUDjK ----------------------------- Main Takeaways: Build a flexible, reusable PreRoll Generation pipeline from scratch. Automate complex workflows for faster iterations. Create fully procedural setups without extensive coding. Understand advanced Houdini tools and scripting. Apply the pipeline to Video Games and VFX projects at a studio level. ----------------------------- Target Audience: VFX artists and technical directors working in studios or as freelancers. Intermediate to advanced Houdini users aiming to optimize their simulations and pipelines. Character FX artists seeking efficient workflows for large-scale productions. ----------------------------- Prerequisites: Basic/Intermediate knowledge of Houdini and experience with CFX. Familiarity with animation and simulation concepts and 3D character design. Basic understanding of Python, VEX, and HScript is a plus but not required. #houdini #sidefx #muscle #simulation #cfx #characterfx #charactereffects #character #fx #vfx #videogames #games #pythondeveloper #studio #level #pipeline #rigging #preroll #generation #tissue #skin #physics #reconform #topnet #subnet

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Creative Freedom: The Career Essential for Sound Professionals. 💚 Insights from Dallas Taylor, founder of Twenty Thousand Hertz and Defacto Sound. 💚 In the latest episode of Pro Audio Secrets, Dallas shares why maintaining an independent creative outlet—completely free from client input—is crucial for longevity in our industry. 💚 We also explore how strategic social media usage has evolved beyond simple self-promotion into a powerful networking tool that connects sound professionals with previously inaccessible opportunities. 💚 Dallas's journey from sound designer to podcast creator and studio owner offers a masterclass in career diversification within audio. 💚 Experience the full conversation in our latest Pro Audio Secrets episode. Follow Dallas Taylor to continue learning from one of our industry's most innovative voices. 💚 #AudioProduction #SoundDesign #PodcastProduction #CreativeEntrepreneurship #AudioIndustry

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A tip for younger game professionals going into GDC: If someone experienced offers you an introduction or some of their time, seize the opportunity. These moments are ephemeral and the source is not endlessly renewable. You have a responsibility to yourself to respectfully take what is offered, assuming it is an opportunity you wish to avail yourself of, and follow up on it. This is not to say that you should swarm folks for introductions, or that if you get one, you should be omnipresent on brief acquaintance. It means that if someone in a position to do you a favor thinks highly enough of you to offer that favor, it is both rude and bad business not to follow up. It's rude because you are telling the person who made the offer that you don't value it, and by extension, them. This is not good networking technique. It is also rude because in many cases, they will have already reached out to the person they want to introduce you to and gotten permission to make the connection, and if you don't follow up that reflects poorly on them. This is also poor networking technique. Which leads us to bad business. Turning down something that is offered for free that could help you get better at your job, that could build important connections, and that could lead to further connections or an ongoing professional relationship is not good tactics. It potentially cuts you off from further interactions as well. Furthermore, the well of introductions and free consults does not flow forever. If you don't follow up on things that are offered, sooner are later people are going to stop wasting their time offering them. Your opportunities will dry up, precisely at the time when you most need to establish professional connections. Look, I know it can be hard taking the step and reaching out to someone you don't know. I get not wanting to intrude, not wanting to be perceived as wasting someone's time, not thinking you're worth the connection. All of these thoughts are wrong, just the dreaded vulture working on you from another angle. If a pro thought highly enough of you to offer, there was a reason. Accepting that offer is not wasting anyone's time, it is not an intrusion, and it is absolutely something you have earned. Believe in yourself and claim it as your rightful due. Take the offer for what it is: an appreciation of you and your potential, and a gift of valuable time and social capital. By making the offer, someone is saying they think good things about you, enough to make an investment in your development for its own sake. So when one of these comes your way, take it and take advantage of it, and use it to best potential. And then maybe someday, you'll be in the position to do this for someone else.

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I found a secret way to study games. (This free wiki will save your time) Brett Nowak from LIQUID&GRIT ↳ reverse-engineered Color Block Jam. The result? A huge library with: • Levels 1-200 walkthrough • 10 Obstacles examples • Canyon Chase Event • Offer examples • Block Pass • Profile • Shop BONUS: YouTube videos of Levels 1-200 in action And before you grab the secret link 🟠 ↳ here’s the guide I’ve trusted for 10 years: 𝟭. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 • Read reviews in the stores • Play 3-5 games in the same genre • Grab screenshots of key moments • Note gameplay and retention hooks  𝟮. 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘃 • First run as a player (1-2 hours) ↳ General feel, core loop, progression • Second run as a game dev (3-5 hours) ↳ Onboarding, levels design, monetization, progression, balance, social, LiveOps 𝟯. 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 • D1, D3, D7 retention • Session lengths, No. of active days • Progression, level completion rate  • Churn Rate, points where players drop • Monetization, points where players pay Want the full Color Block Jam breakdown? Happy to share the Figma board: 🟠 Save & Comment “Color Block Jam” and we’ll DM you the link.

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The AAA Job Standard: Unrealistic, Hypocritical, and Outdated Can we get away from the AAA vs. AA standards that are expected on almost every single job application? For years, AAA studios have set an industry standard for job applications that demand near-impossible levels of experience, skill, and specialization. Job postings regularly ask for 5+ years in a role that barely existed five years ago, mastery of multiple complex tools, shipped titles that meet arbitrary criteria, and—of course—a "passion for games" that somehow justifies long hours and unstable job security. Yet, what have we seen over the past few years? Massive layoffs across the biggest names in gaming. Thousands of talented developers let go despite meeting those rigorous hiring requirements. The very companies that demand loyalty, dedication, and excellence from applicants have shown that they don’t provide the same in return. The irony is, these same AAA studios often claim they "can't find qualified candidates," when in reality, their own impossible expectations filter out incredible talent. Meanwhile, they are proving they offer no more job security than smaller AA studios—despite the illusion of prestige. The result? A cycle of gatekeeping that prioritizes inflated resumes over actual ability, all while the industry becomes more volatile than ever. It's time for studios—AAA, AA, and indie—to rethink what really matters in hiring. Talent isn't just measured in shipped titles or years worked at a prestigious company. It's in the creativity, problem-solving, and adaptability of developers. And if the last few years have proven anything, it’s that the AAA job standard isn’t just unrealistic—it’s hypocritical. #GameIndustry #AAA #GameDev #Hiring #Layoffs

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