Sculptors of dreams, sowers of delight, the geeqs work tirelessly to bring new and wondrous creations to life, investing countless hours in their respective crafts, combining the fruits of their efforts into the games we know and love.

As a sign of our respect for their contributions, and in the spirit of irreverence we try to maintain, all geeqs are assigned a “geeq name” by which they are known within the community.

Dirty Geeq : Our resident MUD aficionado, Dirty prides himself in his programming aptitude, especially his penchant for writing reusable code and utility libraries, making the jobs of his fellow hackers easier and saving time on the schedule. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, and his history of game development spans the multiplayer text-based adventure games from which his moniker is derived, adaptation of board games to video games, including strategic AI, and a mobile training game for the U.S. Army, provided to troops deployed in foreign countries. When he’s not busy showcasing his development skills, he plays a lot of FIFA, assaults Icecrown Citadel, and straps on a bunch of padding to practice stabbing other fencers with pieces of pointy metal.
 

OCD Geeq : Always the one making sure we reason out our strategies and decisions, OCD doesn’t miss a beat. The moment someone hand-waves their way through an explanation, he’s there to catch it. With a Master’s degree in Computer Science and years of professional experience, his knowledge of advanced techniques and best practices make him a key asset in any programming project. His love of classic JRPGs (really, anything by Square/Enix) is exceeded only be his desire to one day make an even better one.
 

Passion Geeq : The creative spark finds outlets in each of us according to our interests and abilities. For Passion, it manifests most clearly in her writing, music, and art. A superb storyteller, she develops engaging plots and characters, creates concept sketches to illustrate them, and composes themed music to accompany them in-game. With a degree in Linguistics, she is our expert in communications, using all the tools at her disposal to bring the game experience to the player.
 

Penguin Geeq : Versatile and quick to adapt, Penguin is our jack-of-all-trades. His history of working on small teams has helped him build up a wide array of skills; the only thing he can’t really do is fly. So whether the task is designing a community website, creating 3D models of game pieces, or programming in any of a dozen languages, Penguin is the bird to call. Unless there’s a hockey game on, in which case you’ll just have to wait.
 

Queen Geeq : While individuals might accomplish great things on their own, a team of any size cannot stay organized without a leader. Within our hive of busy workers, it is Queen’ job to set the direction, provide the resources, and take the blame if anything goes wrong. He is the visionary, the director, the scapegoat. An experienced entrepreneur and Gulf War veteran, he knows what it takes to get things done, and leads by example and inspiration. He is an old-school gamer, logging far more hours on Ultima than Halo, and strives to bring the magic that was once present in games to today’s players.
 

Unknown Geeq : Who are we missing? Is there someone else who can help us develop great and innovative games? Is that someone you? If you dream of working in the video game industry, we can give you a foot in the door – visit our Contribute page to find out how you can get started!

If you love video games and are excited by the idea of making them, you’ve come to the right place!

GeeQ Studios was founded to give you a way to break into the game industry. We provide the resources, experience, and organization to help you establish yourself as a professional video game developer. It’s free, and you can get involved in any role – programmer, artist, musician, tester, designer, project manager, writer, modeler, audio engineer, even voice actor.

Regardless of your level of experience, we’ll help you develop the skills and portfolio you need to be a success. Join other developers from around the world in creating new and innovative games. Get your work released and take pride in seeing your name in the credits of a published game!

Can’t wait to get started? Email contribute@geeq.com and introduce yourself. Tell us what you’re interested in and any special experience or skills you have, and we’ll try to find (or create) a project for you to get involved with!

F.A.Q.

1. (Aaron’s Ping-Pong) Will you be adding network multiplayer support?

Yes! This is our most requested feature, and it’s our top priority for the next release.

2. (Aaron’s Ping-Pong) Why does it look like the ball sometimes passes through the corner of the paddle?

Because the paddle always moves a little bit faster than the ball, it’s possible to miss the ball and then “run over” it with the paddle before it leaves the screen. The next release includes a completely new physics system, which solves this problem and also adds some interesting strategic options.

3. (Contributions) I would like to send you some of my work to be included in a game. Can I just email it to you?

No, all contributions have to be accompanied by a special form that gives us the rights to use them and ensures that you get credit for your work! See our Contribute page for more information.

]]> http://geeq.com/?feed=rss2&p=41 0 http://geeq.com/?p=28 http://geeq.com/?p=28#comments Fri, 28 May 2010 15:38:58 +0000 Queen Geeq http://geeq.com/?p=28

History

Once upon a time, nestled in a wooded college campus in Virginia, there lived a small group of geeks. They led simple lives for the most part, trudging along the red brick pathways from class to class, bags of textbooks slung over their shoulders, thinking only of their next exam. When they had a bit of free time, they eschewed the ubiquitous keggers in favor of Farscape marathons, LAN parties, or SCA events. You see, these weren’t just any geeks. They were gamers.

Drawn together by their common interests, they spent many hours in each other’s company, watching shows, playing games, studying, and talking about their plans after college. Inspired by the creations of those who had come before them, they decided they wanted to find jobs making video games. After all, what better way to earn a living than by creating new and innovative ways for people to have fun?

If there’s one thing college students know, it’s how to research something. So the geeks set off across the interwebs, looking for information about how they might get started on their new career paths. What they discovered, however, was disheartening.

In the world of professional video game development, it seemed there was little room for anyone who didn’t already have several well-known games to their credit. Most ofthe companies they wanted to work for didn’t seem interested in unproven college graduates, which left the geeks in a bit of a dilemma.

Unwilling to give up on their dreams, these enterprising gamer geeks set out to solve this problem not only for themselves, but for all the other aspiring game developers as well. They believed it should be possible for geeks to follow their interests and build the games they were so passionate about, rather than suffer discouragement and frustration in their attempts to pursue their dreams.

Thus, in 2003, they founded GeeQ Studios as an independent organization dedicated to being a platform for aspiring game developers everywhere to showcase their work and build a portfolio. As word spread and the organization grew, more developers contributed their time and work. In 2005, GeeQ Studios LLC was formed to provide a legal entity to hold the intellectual property rights to contributed material.

GeeQ Today

True to its founding mission, today’s GeeQ Studios provides the infrastructure and organization for aspiring game developers to contribute their resources to the creation and publication of commercial video games. We maintain the servers and software necessary for developers to work from anywhere in the world, provide project management services for games in development, and present completed games for publication.

GeeQ Studios also operates as a traditional independent game studio, contracting with publishers and intellectual property owners to create new games and assets.

Finally, GeeQ Studios offers custom software development services and experienced professionals for corporate and government contracts. Many of our contributors do their game development work in the evenings and weekends while doing professional contract work during the week. Since the skills and aptitudes for successful video game development are frequently more advanced than those required in corporate contract work, they tend to perform very well in these roles and are always in high demand.

Recent and upcoming games:

Cower
(in development for Xbox 360 and Windows)
[New concept music available]
The Space Cows of the Milky Way Galaxy used to be at peace, going about their bovine lives quite contentedly…until one day Momma Dairy and her minions invaded the Milky Way in order to set up giant milk factories for a hefty profit.  Many cows died protecting the Mootherland.  Of those that remained, all the Space Cow Boys were banished, and all the Space Cow Girls were enslaved for their milk. Now it’s your job to stop Momma Dairy!  Band with your fellow Space Cow Boys to take back the Milky Way.

Aaron’s Ping-Pong
(available for Xbox 360)
Retro-style black and white table tennis, for those of us who like playing old school games on new consoles. Download the free demo from the Xbox Live Marketplace, play against the computer or a friend.

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