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Sickhead is hiring!

Name:	Tom Spilman
Date Posted:	Mar 03, 2007
Rating:	4.6 out of 5
Public:	YES
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Blog post

First i'd like to thank the Torque community... we couldn't have gotten this far with our dream without all of you. I cannot count the times that a resource, plan, or forum post has gotten us out of a jam in development. The success of both our Adventure Kit and Torsion is largely due to the ecosystem of indie cooperation and collaboration here.

When it came time to expand the team, i wanted that person to be one of you.

We're Hiring!

So the time has now come.

Sickhead Games, LLC is a small indie game studio founded October of 2002 in Dallas, Texas. Over the last 4 years it has been my business partner, Russell, and i who have been the sole employees at the studio. There are no CEOs or marketing guys... everyone at Sickhead works directly on the games. We've now gotten to the point that we cannot handle all the cool projects coming in ourselves.

Sickhead is looking for a new programmer to work along side us on all our projects. The programmers at Sickhead are required to be well rounded and can take on any task, although not always expertly. The perfect applicant for this position would have a strong background in 3D math with experience with animation techniques and physics (areas that are not my strong suits). Talent and a demonstrated ability to master new things are more important that degrees and big resumes. A passion for games and promoting indie game development is a must. If your easily offended don't bother applying... you must have an open mind, a laid back attitude, and a strong work ethic. This position is on-site in our new Dallas office.

Now what does Sickhead offer you?

First this is an exciting opportunity. This person would be the 3rd employee (we consider ourselves employees before being owners) and would have an equal voice and creative influence in all our projects. We have several new projects from games for motion simulators, a dinosaur simulation, a new TorqueX starter kit, Torsion 2, and a few other projects we cannot speak publicly about just yet. You would be working on all of these things as well as some prototyping and experimental game design. We want people with strong opinions and creative game ideas. Your getting in on the ground floor of an indie studio that is going places.

If your expecting a huge salary, this is not the studio for you. The salary for this position will be closer to that of a QA position, but that will be supplemented by frequent bonuses based on overall company performance. We are a strong believer in spreading the wealth when the company is doing well which is an offer you won't get from many employers. Insurance and medical benefits are planned, but haven't been decided on yet. If you need to move, we can compensate you some for that (and we'll help you move a couch).

Finally we've been indie for almost 5 years without a single loan, missed paycheck, or layoff. Although we're a small indie studio and there are always risks with that, we're extremely careful about being financially stable. We have to... this is my only job and i'd like to keep it. ;)

If your interested you can contact me directly at tom@sickheadgames.com. If you have any other questions about us or this position feel free to ask them below.

GDC

It's time for the Game Developer Conference yet again. This year we have a demo running in the GarageGames booth of an upcoming pack that we have been working on in collaboration with Ben. Not ready to show it off yet... but Tim goaded me into it... a little teaser can't hurt.

If anyone is out at GDC and wants to meet up drop me an email.

Recent Blog Posts

List:	03/03/07 - Sickhead is hiring! 05/31/06 - Torsion Update 04/03/06 - Torsion Update & TelnetDebugger Fix 03/21/06 - Torsion Updated! 02/28/06 - Precipitation for TSE 07/18/05 - Plan for Tom Spilman 05/26/05 - Plan for Tom Spilman 05/21/05 - Plan for Tom Spilman

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Phil Carlisle (Mar 03, 2007 at 21:03 GMT)

Nice one Tom, if I were in the US, I'd definitely think about it. I think you guys are really going places.

I really hope you find the right person for the job! I'm sure there are some great guys out there.

Chris \"C2\" Byars (Mar 03, 2007 at 21:08 GMT)

Finally finishing Ben Garney's Forest Pack up, I see. Took long enough. :P

Claude-Alain Fournier (Mar 03, 2007 at 21:16 GMT) Resource Rating: 3

Your last pic. Ok, I see now, Ben Forest pack...... We are working on same thing you know ?

www.garagegames.com/blogs/34804/12404

Well mine is not soo pretty but guys, give us more info on that forest pack for god sake. I have lot of other thing to do and I will hate spending time on a ressource that's topped by a pack. I work on that ressource ONLY because I don't know if forest pack is still alive. And I hate to see my time being wasted. So guys stop throwing pics and promises if you don't follow them. This pack is on the discussion since what ? more than a year ? And we did not get ANY news on that till today with that promising pic.

Any release data will be welcome.

And by the way, good job, that pic look realy nice.
Edited on Mar 03, 2007 21:18 GMT

Tom Bentz (Mar 03, 2007 at 21:35 GMT)

I'm heading to GDC... Would be great to to meet you.

Tom Eastman (Eastbeast314) (Mar 03, 2007 at 21:48 GMT)

That teaser pic hurt. Now I am more intrigued than ever.

Phil Carlisle (Mar 03, 2007 at 22:05 GMT)

Claude, Tom didnt mention anything about it being the same thing as Ben's old work. He said he had been working in collaboration with Ben, which is a different thing.

Anyway, it will be nice to see some decent foliage scenes in engine :)

Claude-Alain Fournier (Mar 03, 2007 at 22:52 GMT) Resource Rating: 3

@Phil,

Just say 2 + 2 = 4, you got it.
Unless Tom team are working on their own forest pack (but he mentionned Ben, which happen to have mentionned a forest pack). So they may just to the art, or Ben just handed them the code on a silver plate. But again pretty pic, semi non announced announcement, "We can't tell you but here is a teaser". Arrrrgh...

Guys if you have secrets just keep them for yourself, don't tease, it hurt.

Tom Spilman (Mar 03, 2007 at 23:33 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Claude - If i thought i could post more i would. We'll be working out some details at GDC and i'll update here. I have seen some of your plans and your doing a great job with your resource. There is plenty of room in this community for more than one of anything... you should release your work.

Vashner (Mar 04, 2007 at 00:24 GMT)

Congrats on getting the biz up and goin. Go Texas!

Andy Schatz (Mar 04, 2007 at 01:22 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

Hey Tom, let's get together at GDC some time. COngrats on getting to the point of hiring!

Chris \"C2\" Byars (Mar 04, 2007 at 14:55 GMT)

www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=30390

Joseph Euan (Mar 04, 2007 at 17:08 GMT)

Cool looking office... wish mine looked like that.

Looking forward to finding out more info about the thing your working on.

Vashner (Mar 04, 2007 at 20:26 GMT)

Am I seeing things or does the Sickhead computer rack look exactly the same as the GG computer rack.

Argh too bad I don't have pics of my HP T600 to show off (inside the football field sized computer room too).

But anyway I tried to find the GG computer closet screen from a Christmas era blog to compare.

bank (Mar 04, 2007 at 22:06 GMT)

hmm... Forest Pack??

Logan Foster (Mar 05, 2007 at 00:08 GMT)

I will be at GDC all week if you want to meet up Tom. Fire me an email if you like at logan at maxgaming dot net.

Sebastien Bourgon (Mar 05, 2007 at 20:54 GMT)

I have your money Tom, from a bet with Ed you made 2 years ago at GDC. I'll be there with the rest of the MGT crew. (You can bug Ed about it too)

Tom Spilman (Mar 06, 2007 at 02:30 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Sebastien - I'm worried about what sort of bet i made... i really don't remember. It was late and i think drinks were involved. :)

Timothy Aste (Mar 13, 2007 at 22:35 GMT)

If I wasn't already taken this would be a great place to work :)

Christian S (Mar 14, 2007 at 11:53 GMT)

Is there any news regarding those trees ?

Tom Spilman (Mar 30, 2007 at 22:12 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Christian - I'm waiting for one more thing before posting a plan, but i can say that it will be called the "Forest Kit" and you'll be able to buy it in May 2007.

Marcus (Apr 04, 2007 at 06:01 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

I'm waiting on this one. ;)

Ross Pawley (May 11, 2007 at 03:50 GMT)

Hey Tom, are you guys still looking for someone?

Tom Spilman (May 11, 2007 at 05:31 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Ross - Drop me an email at tom at sickheadgames dot com ASAP and i'll send you some info.

Sparkling (Jun 05, 2007 at 19:04 GMT)

So what's the ETA on this pack? Looks mighty useful!

-Sparkling

Claude-Alain Fournier (Jul 12, 2007 at 06:17 GMT) Resource Rating: 3

So any news on this ? May 2007 is far away now.

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