2020 Update – Plague, Riots & Wasco


Hi friends!

Welcome to the year of the plague, riots and… well also the year we released our 2nd in-house game under the Gray Lake Studios banner.

Wasco Unit-42 is a sci-fi jrpg featuring a short story. I (Tunc) have been working on this project on and off since 2017 and finally we’ve wrapped up development and pressed the button. Wasco is available on Android and iOS and you can find more about our game at wascogame.com If you’re a member of the press proceed to our presskit here.

Below are some screenshots from the Turkish localization. The game’s original language is English however we’re still localizing it as we go.

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And the traile of course:

Here’s a bit I really wanted to share… Erhan wrote the story and developed the prototype for Wasco many years ago… I believe somewhere before 2010 and the first time I played this prototype I was struck with how much fun the game and its story were. Then we already had an agreement we would release it and it took us what… ten years. Better late than never. I had a blast developing it anyhow.

Hope you enjoy the game and before I let you go let me remind you that Black Lives Matter because fuck racism and police brutality that’s why.

Cheers and here’s to hoping we survive this bleak and horrid year!

Tunc

We needs critterss for the Dungeonsess !


It is that time of the year again, and we need interns. For dungeon making purposes. You will be expected to lay bricks, and tile the ground, and spread moss and slime around, deal with skeletal remains and such…

 

You wanna be cool like Tobi? Then apply.

[here you can see Tobias, the traveling intern (level 17),  making dungeons several months ago, and enjoying every bit of it, becoming the eternal model for intern conscription efforts]

Requirements are as usual with some extra:

  1. Currently pursuing a Computer Science/Programming/Game Development oriented education.
  2. Preferably university level or higher education.
  3. Extensive portfolio/code/devblog of mad stuff that you programmed in your free time with good explanations. (We cannot stress enough how important this is.)
  4. Knowledge of C# is a must, but if you got your thing going on with Java or C++ also nice.
  5. Good knowledge of Unity 3D engine.
  6. Preferably living in Utrecht or willingness to travel to. (we cannot provide for lodging but or rent compensation, however we will try to help you find a room)
  7. Good communication skills and English is a must.
  8. Dedication and willingness to learn, and a plan of things you want to focus on.
  9. Ability to read and understand scientific articles, books, papers, notation, and skills of the mathematical nature.
  10. (extra) a love for dungeons
  11. (extra) understanding and appreciation of pen&paper/tabletop/rpg/frp.
  12. (extra) world generation, procedural algorithms, fractals

 

 

Q: What is Gray Lake Studios?

A: We are an independent game production company that focuses on technology and aesthetics. We got cool tools like random dungeon generators, wind simulators, reinforcement learning algorithms, etc. that you can use/learn during your internship.

Q: What are you working on?

A: Check our projects here. Currently we’re working on ProDnD, a random dungeon generator for tabletop rpg players on Android.

Q: The working environment?

A: Our office is at Kanaalweg 17 in Utrecht which is pretty close to the central station.

Q: Fun and Food?

A: We make sure people eat well, and have a friendly environment.

Q: What is the interview process like?

A: We will ask you a bunch of programming related questions. Mostly to measure your ability to think on the spot as well as your knowledge of programming. No need to worry much. We do not expect you to know every programming related thing. That’s what google is for.

(ALSO IMPORTANT) Make sure you bring a laptop with all the nice stuff you want to show us and you will be fine. There often is a second interview.

Q: What are the working hours?

A: We want you here at 9:00. You are free to go at 17:00 Usually we have to kick out everyone from the office after 18:30 because it is so much fun working with us. Rarely if ever we deviate from these hours. You have a right to use national vacations. If you get sick we will expect you to make up for the missing hours when you’re feeling better.

Q: Assignments? Workload?

A: If you are a good intern we will even sit down with you and work towards an assignment that you are mostly in charge of. You have to be prepared to do research on your own, read scientific papers, and books. If scientific notation and mathematics look like gibberish then you have a lot of distance to travel before applying to us.

Q: Burnout Policy?

A: Burnout is a touchy subject. Most game development companies work people hard till they bleed their fingers.  Some operate intern farms where interns are expected to abide by full production quality invariably failing at the end and getting blamed for messing up.

We do not like that!

We know what an intern is. You come here to learn, and expect effort from us just as we expect effort from you. Interns are allowed to make mistakes and no amount of excessive work can change that.

If anyone shows signs of burnout/programmer’s desperation we will ask you to take a time-out. However we also do not like grumpy people who easily whine and complain when things get tough. We like the dedication that comes with passion in things we do and expect a similar approach from the interns.

 

Some Programmer’s ground rules at Gray Lake Studios:

  • Always use pen & paper before starting to program.
  • Java sucks and C++ is the best but we all want to learn Lisp yet nothing beats Fortran.
  • PHP is devil spawn.
  • We do not like wearing hats on interviews, unless it is your “thing”. We also take this example as a proof that you’ve read this brochure. So mentioning why you are not wearing a hat is a definite plus in the interview.
  • Cleanliness and hygiene comes before proper code base structure.
  • Listen to Erhan when you are stuck.
  • Comment your code even before thinking about coding. Or Tunc will get you in your sleep.

 

Now, send us your stuff via e-mail contact@graylakestudios.com

 

Gray Lake Wants You! (position filled)


UPDATE:

Ladies and Gents,

The position has been filled. Thanks for all the applications. We got more attention that we expected to have, and to some we could not respond. We’re sorry, and would like to say that it is not intentional if you did not receive a call back from us. Best of luck to you all, and kindest regards.

Cheers,

-Erhan

To send us an application if you are a programmer, details below:

 

Overview

Gray Lake Studios is looking for a motivated and skilled programmer with expert knowledge of C# and the Unity engine.

Mandatory Requirements:

  1. University or higher level education in computer science or a relevant field
  2. 2+ years of experience with Unity engine (knowledge of extending the Unity Editor is a plus)
  3. Excellent grasp on C# and/or C++ (knowledge of additional languages is a plus)
  4. Fluency in English, (Dutch or any other language is a plus)
  5. Extensive portfolio/code/devblog material of your work
  6. Ability to read and understand scientific articles, books, papers, notation, and skills of the mathematical nature
  7. Adept writing skills to log in work journal, Trello cards, code commenting.

 

What’s in it for you?

  1. Working at GLS is an opportunity to grow: We push the limits of the technology we work with. Everyday is a novel challenge.
  2. Valuable input is valuable: GLS, partly thanks to being a small company, hosts a communicative environment. We listen to people we work with and value their ideas.
  3. Member of the Games Industry: We have been around for longer than 4 years and worked closely with others under the Dutch Game Garden umbrella. It means we have lots of connections and experience.
  4. International: We are eternal expats! We have ties to German, Dutch, US and Turkish Universities, game development scenes, and benefit from a unique perspective it offers.
  5. Convenient access: Our office is located 15 minutes with a bus leaving every 8 minutes from the Utrecht Central Station & Dutch Game Garden.
  6. Location location location: We are in a wonderful campus by the canal. It includes the best Cafeteria in Utrecht: La Lotta, also home to the Netherlands’ 2nd best pizza.
  7. Cool gadgets: You will work with strong hardware, hand picked and assembled by GLS people (fair trade).
  8. NOT an evil corp.: We profit as a company while upholding a strict code of ethics; you will not be developing trash, money milking software, you will not intern-farm, you will not work on 10 different projects.
  9. Community is everything: We pay attention and give effort to communities that use our products. We take joy in cultivating the culture of which we are a part.
  10. Insane standards in Art and Tech: We uphold to the highest professional standards and expect no less from our collaborators.

 

Expected Behaviour and Conduct:

  1. You need to be a free-thinker.
  2. Ready to learn and humble.
  3. Acknowledge that Nicholas Cage is our lord and saviour, accept Gaben to your heart.
  4. Ability to take a joke no matter how cheesy it may be.
  5. Withstand repeatedly listening to Skyrim OST
  6. It’s ok, we can turn the music down.
  7. Not wear a hat. This one is important, we ask about this in the interview, it shows you’ve read this far.
  8. Indie at heart. We like visionaries, and are open to creative personalities.
  9. Appreciate good food.
  10. Measure twice, cut once.

Work Specifications:

You will be working mainly on Pro-D and its sibling project ProD&D. Pro-D is a versatile game development kit in C# designed for the Unity engine. Pro-D’s main feature is giving developers a framework for procedural map generation. ProD&D is a random map generation application on android that supports tabletop role-players. You will be attending design meetings and coming up with UML diagrams as well as getting down and dirty with the code.

Gray Lake Studios is looking for Programmer Interns!


We’ve got openings! Do you think you have what it takes? Do you want to see the exciting world of independent game development?

Well, we got good news for you!

Gray Lake Studios is looking for talented and dedicated programmers who have experience with Unity and are currently undertaking interns with university level education.

 You wanna be cool like Tobi? Then apply.

Requirements are:

  1. Currently pursuing a Computer Science/Programming/Game Development oriented education.
  2. Preferably university level or higher education.
  3. Extensive portfolio/code/devblog of mad stuff that you programmed in your free time with good explanations. (We cannot stress enough how important this is.)
  4. Knowledge of C# is a must, but if you got your thing going on with Java or C++ also nice.
  5. Good knowledge of Unity 3D engine.
  6. Preferably living in Utrecht or willingness to travel to.
  7. Good communication skills and English is a must.
  8. Dedication and willingness to learn, and a plan of things you want to focus on.
  9. Ability to read and understand scientific articles, books, papers, notation, and skills of the mathematical nature.

 

 

Q: What is Gray Lake Studios?

A: We are an independent game production company that focuses on technology and aesthetics. We got cool tools like random dungeon generators, wind simulators, reinforcement learning algorithms, etc. that you can use/learn during your internship.

Q: What are you working on?

A: Check our projects here. Currently we’re working on ProDnD, a random dungeon generator for tabletop rpg players on Android.

Q: The working environment?

A: Our office is at Kanaalweg 17 in Utrecht which is pretty close to the central station.

Q: Fun and Food?

A: We make sure people eat well, and have a friendly environment.

Q: What is the interview process like?

A: We will ask you a bunch of programming related questions. Mostly to gauge your ability to think on the spot as well as your knowledge of programming. No need to worry much. We do not expect you to know every programming related thing. That’s what google is for.

(ALSO IMPORTANT) Make sure you bring a laptop with all the nice stuff you want to show us and you will be fine. There often is a second interview.

Q: What are the working hours?

A: We want you here at 9:00. You are free to go at 17:00 Usually we have to kick out everyone from the office after 18:30 because it is so much fun working with us. Rarely if ever we deviate from these hours. You have a right to use national vacations. If you get sick we will expect you to make up for the missing hours when you’re feeling better.

Q: Assignments? Workload?

A: If you are a good intern we will even sit down with you and work towards an assignment that you are mostly in charge of. You have to be prepared to do research on your own, read scientific papers, and books. If scientific notation and mathematics look like gibberish then you have a lot of distance to travel before applying to us.

Q: Burnout Policy?

A: Burnout is a touchy subject. Most game development companies work people hard till they bleed their fingers. We do not like that. If anyone shows signs of burnout/programmer’s desperation we will force you to take a time-out. However we also do not like grumpy people who easily whine and complain when things get tough. Things often get tough due to near fringe nature of technologies we deal with.

 

Some Programmer’s ground rules at Gray Lake Studios:

  • Always use pen & paper before starting to program.
  • Java sucks and C++ is the best but we all want to learn Lisp yet nothing beats Fortran.
  • PHP is devil spawn.
  • We do not like wearing hats on interviews, unless it is your “thing”. We also take this example as a proof that you’ve read this brochure. So mentioning why you are not wearing a hat is a definite plus in the interview.
  • Cleanliness and hygiene comes before proper code base structure.
  • Listen to Erhan when you are stuck.
  • Comment before thinking. Or Tunc will get you in your sleep.

 

Now, send us your stuff via e-mail contact@graylakestudios.com