Software used by game programmers

[FrozenSnake]

I wonder what kind of programs & tools are used in game development(only the programmer not level design, audio etc) aside from a IDE. Anyone knows what the dev-teams on places like Blizzard, Grin, EA etc are using? I guess not every team uses the same software but similar ones. Guess some of them are using some kind of SVN and stuff like that.

I am asking because I do not know and in a semi-near feature(3 years) I will go to school and study to be a game developer so I might as well start to learn how to use the tools that might come up both in school and at a job.

If you know what commercial and open-source programs & tools are/might be used please tell me both. I don't know if so many Swedish companies uses open-source so it would be good to see the commercial options too.

Preferably with links to the programs/tools or a name on the company that develop the programs/tools.

Best regards!
If this is the wrong forum please move it

[WingedPanther]

Version control systems (SVN, CVS, etc)
C++ compilers/editors/project files
Various libraries (DirectX, OpenGL, OpenAL, Boost, etc)
Build tools (Make, BJam, etc)

A lot of it will depend heavily. If you go to SourceForge.net: Find and Build Open Source Software, you can find a lot of game engines, version control systems, etc. Boost C++ Libraries is really good, too.

[FrozenSnake]

Thanks for the reply. Maybe you can describe what a build server is. It sound to me like a good tool(?) to have available.

I am reading a article in Game Developer Game Career Guide, fall 2005 it say this:

"2:12 PM The build just broke! The build server detected a failed build and notified us through a system tray application. I bring up the latest build log and I see that one of the unit tests failed in release mode. Tyson, who is sitting at the station next to ours, says, “Oh yeah, I know what that is. I’ll fix it right now.”
In less than 30 seconds, he makes the change and checks it in. A few minutes later, the build system reports a passing build, and everything is back to normal.

2:17 PM We identify the memory leak. It was a misuse of reference counting. To find it, we first wrote a unit test that showed it failing, and then we fixed it in the physics library. We check in our code."

Is there any open-source options there that a normal developer/develop team can use. I guessing a commercial system would be quite expensive.
About the "check in our code" do they refer to a SVN then or what do the refer to?

[WingedPanther]

A build system can be something as simple as a bash script that syncs code to the latest version, calls make, runs unit test programs, on a failed unit test calls an alert program, etc.

There are non-free programs such as FinalBuilder that can help with this process.

[zeroradius]

Just as a warning most people who study game design as a major end up developing things such as flash games as a career. Most employers want a specialist, if you want to be a game programmer take programming and do a LOT of self study at home. At least that is what it said in interviews with people from big huge games (age of empires), Cliffy B. , and a few others a year or so ago.

[FrozenSnake]

I am working on my own game at the moment :] and study C++ at home at the moment,
with DX and OpenGL

[rerichardemmanuel]

A game programmer is a software engineer who primarily develops video games or related software. Game programming has many specialized disciplines; practitioners of any may regard themselves as "game programmers". A game programmer should not be confused with a game designer; many designers are also programmers, but not all are, and it is rare for one person to serve both roles in modern professional games..............
you should have some knowledge in common used software. Many companies probably uses some type of SVN or similar, if I cannot use it they probably that hire someone.............