XDefiant is an upcoming free-to-play, first-person arena shooter from Ubisoft and it seems they need a bit more Linux talent. In an advert on their careers website there's one noted for "Linux Systems Engineer - XDefiant", with the option to work remotely too.
The placement reads:
We are looking for a highly talented, motivated, and experienced person to work with us on XDefiant, a new multiplatform online multiplayer action game based in our San Francisco studio. XDefiant is a free-to-play, fast-paced arena shooter that combines intense gunplay with personalized loadouts and specialized factions, as teams of gunfighters battle for domination.
You’ll be working to extend and improve our game’s services running on Linux. You’ll be adding functionality and features, improving performance, and improving the Snowdrop engine’s support for Linux. As we all know, Linux is an extremely stable and performance-oriented OS, and you’ll be able to make XDefiant really shine there. You will work on a small, collaboration-oriented team where you will have the opportunity to contribute in meaningful ways.
You’ll also be part of the diverse Ubisoft San Francisco team. We embrace a variety of work situations based on what is best for the team, and we welcome people working in our SF office, remotely within the continental US, or some combination of the two. We put a priority on supporting our team members and what makes them happiest and most productive.
What you'll be doing:
- Expand and improve the Snowdrop engine’s presence on Linux.
- Optimize engine and game code.
- Debug and refactor systems as needed to take the best advantage of Linux.
- Work with the rest of the engineering staff to help them expand their cross-platform mindset.
- Coordinate with other developers to ensure smooth roll out of new features.
- Create and maintain technical design documents and best practices.
Could be a good one to try for some of our more experienced readers perhaps. Who knows, maybe it will even result in getting it working on Steam Deck and Linux desktop.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
To be honest, I'm not sure this will lead to native anything. I think all they're trying to do here is make their stuff run better on the Deck.The thing with Proton and the Deck is that if you really want your game to work (rather than having it work by accident and maybe break by accident) then you need a Linux testing pipeline even without a Linux build. Valve have provided debugging tools to help with that part. The making of a Linux build is much less work than setting up the Linux testing pipeline, and makes it much easier to fix should the game accidentally break. How many developers do the first part, and how many go on to do the second part, time will tell.
But by the way, if they want to higher 1 (one) Linux developer, and they want to port the game, wouldn't the job description contain knowledge in some Linux graphics API? Or do they already have some of those?
The graphics API part is a different job : https://gamejobs.co/3D-Graphics-Programmer-Snowdrop-at-Ubisoft-3802
Intimately familiar with various graphics APIs (DirectX 11/12, OpenGL, Vulkan) and associated shader languages
But wouldn't I want to have someone knowing Linux and OpenGL/Vulkan?
Not necessarily, game engines like this are huge pieces of software so you might be working on making it work better on say the Switch without ever having to touch the graphics part of the system at all. Or you might work on Vulkan and never once touch parts of the engine that have anything to do with which platform it runs on.
So that will lead to native Ubisoft Connect… right? That's something that I've always wanted.
To be honest, I'm not sure this will lead to native anything. I think all they're trying to do here is make their stuff run better on the Deck.
That and Amazons streaming platform and they are also most likely planning ahead in case any one else is going to introduce a new Stadia and they want to be ready when that happens (and knows full well that such a platform will be Linux based).
They could also be interested in having at least internal Linux builds ready for that one day in the future when there might be a market for it (just how ID had a native Linux version of Doom inhouse).
When someone says Linux Systems Engineer, it can be so vague sometimes. A lot of times, it's a role I could fill. But then they say "Optimize engine and game code." That means developer, and not something I can do professionally. Ah, sigh. It was a fun fantasy for 2 minutes.
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