Developer Spotlight: Darryl Davis
Get to know Vertigo Gaming Inc.’s Lead Programmer
Hey chefs! It’s Ryan.
Darryl Davis, AKA babyjeans, has an impressive background in the gaming industry, having worked on many popular games including Saints Row 2, DOOM, and Halo: Infinite. Last month we proudly announced that Darryl is now a full-time employee at Vertigo Gaming Inc. As such, I thought this would be a great time to feature him in our next Developer Spotlight newsletter! Read below to learn all about Darryl’s history in the gaming industry, his expertise as a programmer, his extensive board game collection, and more!
What Drew Darryl to Programming?
Darryl credits his interest in programming to two childhood events: getting a Nintendo Entertainment System, which began his love of video games; and watching his cousin make a game on an Apple IIe, which is when he realized it was possible to make games by himself at home.
“I had no idea what I was doing, but we had a Tandy IBM compatible computer at home,” Darryl explained. “So I started making silly little games using batch files in a DOS prompt before figuring out that we had BASICA and QBASIC on the computer, and then I started messing with those.” From there, Darryl moved on to teaching himself C++ as a teenager, which he continued to learn and practice at Full Sail University.
Darryl specifically attributes adventure games by LucasArts (then known as Lucasfilm Games) and Sierra as what inspired him to create his own interactive worlds, such as his all-time-favorite game The Secret of Monkey Island.
How Did Darryl Get Into the Gaming Industry?
After graduating college, Darryl applied to over 50 companies in search of a job and eventually heard back from Shiny Entertainment. The studio flew him out for an interview and hired him on the spot. While employed there, Darryl worked on The Golden Compass as a Junior Gameplay Programmer doing level scripting—though he also designed a level when the designer he worked with got sick and didn’t work for three months. Darryl then moved on to work at Volition on Saints Row 2 as part of the User Interface (UI) team.
Though most engineers that Darryl knew hated working on UI and warned him against it, he found that he really liked it—in no small part because he started to develop motion sickness while playing or watching 3D games, and working on UI (which requires looking at menus all day instead of gameplay) helped him to avoid getting motion sick while still allowing him to contribute to the industry he loved. As such, he decided that UI would be his specialty. Since then, Darryl has worked on games such as Red Faction: Guerrilla, Rock Band 3, DOOM, and Halo: Infinite.
How Did Darryl Join Vertigo Gaming Inc.?
Before joining Vertigo Gaming Inc., Darryl would often develop and release extensions for GameMaker that added new features to the engine. Creative Director David Galindo came across some of these extensions, including one that allowed for Discord integration. David reached out to Darryl for help with one of the extensions, and then later reached out with a paid offer to make an extension for use in CSD2.
A few months after that, David asked Darryl if he’d like to work on the UI for CSD3. “I had been working as a UI Engineer for a decade at that point,” Darryl said. “I thought that might have been why David wanted me to help with UI, but David actually had no idea that I was a UI Engineer and was just pleased with my work in GameMaker.” After completing work on the CSD3 UI, Darryl became the Lead Programmer on ChefSquad.
How Will Full-Time Be Different for Darryl?
Darryl said that one thing he especially looks forward to as a full-time employee is the ability to continue working on features that excite him. “Before, I only worked on Saturdays,” he said. “So if I got excited about a feature and wanted to keep working on it, I just didn’t have the time.”
He’ll also be able to complete tasks five times faster since he’ll be working five days a week instead of only one. As such, he and David are excited to see how that will impact the turnaround time and quality of future projects—perhaps they’ll even have time to try out some more experimental game concepts!
Does Darryl Have Any Fun Stories To Share?
He sure does! One story related to CSD3 that Darryl shared with me exemplifies just how much effort goes into the smallest of details: David approached Darryl with the idea that the CSD3 menus, represented as a big monitor on the side of a truck, should have a glitch effect when the player changes from one menu to another. “I had absolutely no idea how I was going to make that work,” Darryl said. “I knew it was possible, but after looking into it I almost told David we’d have to go with plan B and just not do that. After some serious tinkering with shaders, I was able to get it done, but it’s so subtle. It took so much work and I don’t even know if people notice it. I tried to make gifs of it to share with my friends but it’s so quick that gifs don’t even capture it.”
Also, near the end of ChefSquad development when the team was testing the game, Darryl programmed an effect for the system where viewers vote on one of two items to unlock—when voting is complete, the item that loses fades out and the winner slides into the center of the screen. David didn’t know about this until he saw it in the middle of a test stream. “He was really excited when he saw it,” Darryl said. “He told the people watching that he didn’t know it was there and that it was really cool. I liked that moment. I was like yeah, that’s what your game does, David!”
What Tips Does Darryl Have for Programmers?
Darryl said that to be a good programmer you don’t need to have spent your whole life working toward that goal. He suggests that anyone interested in programming go to school for computer science or to a game development school (as long as it offers a Bachelor of Science degree) to get their foot in the door. A degree isn’t always required to land a job, but it does make it easier. Meanwhile, he suggests that programmers build their portfolios with their own games and projects.
Darryl also said that, while he’s fortunate enough to be in a position where he uses GameMaker Studio and GML, he recommends that people learn C++ or C# (particularly popular now thanks to Unity), especially if they’re aiming to work for a AAA studio. Furthermore, he recommends working at a big studio before going the indie route, as there are a lot of valuable lessons to be learned from the industry from working at a big studio.
What Are Some Fun Facts About Darryl?
“I just want everyone to know that I absolutely love board games and I have a fairly sizable collection lining my office,” Darryl said. “I’m also pretty open to playing on Tabletop Simulator and Tabletopia when I have free time.” Darryl currently has a total of 186 tabletop games, most of which he plays solo, with his all-time favorites being Agricola, Caverna: Cave vs Cave, and Arkham Horror 3rd Edition. Darryl frequently shares photos of the board games he’s playing on his Instagram account.
Darryl is also the proud father of three cats: Soup, Salad, and Sandwich. Additionally, one of the hamburger recipes in CSD3 is actually named after his dog, named Bacon, based on a burger cake that Darryl’s wife made for Bacon’s birthday.
Thanks for reading! I’ll talk to you again in the future world of 2022!
— Ryan Matejka
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December Discord Challenge
Our November community challenge is up and running on the CSD Discord — this month: share something festive or meaningful to you during this time of the year! Post your entry for a chance to win great prizes like game codes, the iconic Sundae plushie, or replicas of CSD3's in-game bronze and gold medals!