It's the same with Sony and Microsoft.

What is the URL for the RPG Game Maker? I don't find a product exactly matching that title in a search query. I see a couple RPG Maker products and a Game Maker, which my son also uses, but it's not exclusively for RPGs. And it's not based on .NET either.

+1 mercurial. I use it all the time for development. Distributed version control is the future. It's easy to have local repositories for each developer, and then they can push/pull their changes to central repositories. I have backup repositories on my own server account. It's easy to use, and TortoiseHg gives a very useable experience for Windows users. Jay

I would add "The Pragmatic Programmer" to your list. Full of common sense advice. Jay

I don't know exactly what qualifies as "little hassle as possible", but let me plug Git. I'm using it on Windows and it's absolutely easy for the scenario you just described above. First, I'm a seasoned Subversion user. I like it and think it's great, but it's forgetfulness when merging from branches to the trunk have always been a sore point (though this item will be fixed in 1.5.0). Also, I've never cared for having to have specific server software for it, whether it be the Apache mod or its standalone server. If the server was down, you're hosed. Last, I don't care for the .svn directories all over the place. But as I said, it's about the best thing there is. Then I had a fellow dev recommend git. I thought at first it was just a Linux thing, and I'm a Windows guy, so I didn't put much credence into it. Then I saw him demo how the merging and branching worked, and how fast it was, and I was sold. Another great thing is that by virtue of its distributed model, it's easy to push a copy of your repository up through an HTTP server for others without requiring special server software. Lastly, it only has a single .git directory that's a breeze to backup and/or cleanup. However, all is not panacea. Git doesn't have great Windows integration with tools. There is no Visual Studio Git plugin, nor is there anything like TortoiseSVN (a great tool BTW). However, I don't mind, but that might be a deal breaker for you. It does have GUIs, but I haven't tried them. It's CLI is more than sufficient for me. In short, here are the pros and cons of Git over SVN as I see them: Pros: 1) Git is small and fast. 2) It's very easy to backup and doesn't leave .svn droppings 3) It doesn't need any server software because it's a "distributed" source code control system, which also makes it easy to put your code up on the web. 4) git can import and export to svn repositories with git-svn Cons: 1) It has a strong linux heritage, though that is slowly being overcome. 2) Tool integration is not. The GUIs look a bit amateurish from what I've seen, though this too is changing. The web interface though does look pretty good. 3) Subversion does have momentum. Things like Trac are great. Again, I'm not advocating ditching svn. It's great, and I continue to use it for some things, but git is fast gaining my mindshare. Jay -- modified at 15:05 Saturday 22nd September, 2007

I think I would be more intrigued by the former since I've never heard of the degree. I would probably call the school listed and find out a little about the curriculum though, and not necessarily contact the candidate on the basis of the degree alone.

I can't survive without personal projects. It's what makes programming fun when the job isn't. I've been fortunate to work on a number of fun work projects, but when those are gone, it's back to the personal projects to make life worth living. :) As for the amount of time, it really depends. Of course, there are lots of other priorities that have to come first: family, work, community, etc. A friend of mine recommended the 10 minute rule -- "Work on it for at least 10 minutes a day". If you can find 10 minutes to sit down and do something on it, likely that turns into 20 minutes, half hour, etc. and you will get something done on it. Even if you only spend the 10 minutes thinking about it, you're better prepared the next time you do sit down at it. Due to personal projects I've been able to move around in my career by being able to point to these as experience. I was able to enjoy a 10 year stint in the game industry due to some Mac game code I had written as a side project. Now I'm back into databases after writing some web app stuff for a friend. You can get sufficient knowledge to do what you're asked by simply performing your duties, but the ability to do *other* things is what doing personal projects opens up. All that said, if you perform personal projects just to try and get ahead, you probably won't find the motivation to do them. If you do the projects because you enjoy them, then they are their own reward, career changes aside.

I had the same problem with the original SDK, but the Summer Update 2003 fixed this for me. Try the upgrade if you're still using the older version.