Why didn't you pursue a game development career?

Yanocchi

This question could be relevant to surprisingly many people here.

Many people who play games have probably thought about that question.

DKLond

I tell myself it's primarily because I live in a country where the gaming industry is all but non-existent. Meaning, if I ever got into the industry - it would be a miracle, and I would be making the kind of game I have almost no interest in.

That said, even though I'm 39 years old - I haven't entirely given up the idea of becoming a game developer - and I'm always working on one project or another.

I'm conceited enough to fully believe I have everything it takes - except perhaps the nagging ambition.

I so envy people with something to prove.

ceratop001

I just didn't have the drive or ambition to do it. Plus, I wanted to keep my sanity which wanes daily. For some reason I gravitated to the hardware side of computer technology. I'm only 46 so who knows maybe in the future.

filmoret

Goto any of your games folders.  Then click on the file with extension .dll    Then click on show programs and select notepad.  See all that crap on the screen?  Thats what a coder did and it somehow makes sense.

DKLond

filmoret said:

Goto any of your games folders.  Then click on the file with extension .dll    Then click on show programs and select notepad.  See all that crap on the screen?  Thats what a coder did and it somehow makes sense.

Might work if it wasn't encrypted

Ramajama

I  am too old to start  

When I see 13-year olds being light years away I just give up and go to my 9-5 job 

ceratop001

Ramajama said:

I  am too old to start  

When I see 13-year olds being light years away I just give up and go to my 9-5 job 

Not sure your age but never too old

Tofke

Was more interested in network engineering. Outside of Larian Studios there weren't any game companies I would look up to (In Belgium) so that would mean moving countries... In the end I moved countries anyway xD

I did enjoy some modding and testing but never was really interested to create games professionally.

IdiNahuiPidar

I love to play the game and realized that game development neither game testing isn't fun tedious repetitive work ...very fast you will hate your job and you favorite hobby gaming . Plus often you will work on stupid games even worse if you are lucky to  test Some pinky unicorn game  for little girls . Be ready to shoot your self in head !

nariusseldon

Because that is not I want to do with my life?

I like to watch movies, and read novels too. You won't see me becoming a director or a novelist. 

DKLond

Hey, if anyone is near Denmark and wants to take it seriously - just let me know

Nanfoodle

Consistent pay and also like to pick where I want to live.  

GrayPhilosopher

Lack of opportunities where I live, I don't know a thing about programming and I don't have the patience or drive to learn it. It frankly seems like an impossible ambition to pursue realistically, and I'm not sure I'd be passionate enough about it.

That said, I certainly have thought about it and do enjoy thinking up game mechanics and concepts and such. In fact I'm working on a theoretical videogame project that I go back to every once in a while as a creative outlet. 
Who knows, if I finish the damn thing some day I may try pitching the idea to a developer

sunandshadow

I did have a paying job making 2D game art for a while.  But design is what I really want(ed) to do, not art.  I'd take teaching game design as a second choice though.  I applied and interviewed for 2 jobs teaching game design, but the one boss guy decided he actually wanted someone with _development_ experience to teach _development_ and the other decided not to offer a game design class at all.  I taught a free online course in design, but with pretty much all free online courses you have the situation where the students are 90% unwilling to do any kind of homework, and what you can teach is really limited when the students won't put any effort in.  I donated work to three different indie MMO projects but they all fizzled.  I tried being the lead designer of a single player RPG and discovered that I just don't have the temperament to be a leader or manager.  I've publicly floated half a dozen game or shared world concepts to see if one would gain enough popularity to have a hope of getting some momentum going, but nope. 

Warzod

I was a game developer for a while. Watched as the studio brought in talent from all over the nation and work tirelessly for years to create and launch a game only to have the company lay most of them off post launch. As I sat there after the meeting watching people I had become friends with shuffle back to their desks to pack their things there was a sort of quiet reservation as most of them that had been in the industry longer than I responded, yeah, this is normal... They had moved their families here. Their children had changed schools, only to get uprooted again.

After that I just really couldn't see myself working in a field where employees are completely and utterly expendable. I was a kid that grew up with dreams of becoming a developer and when I finally realized that dream, like so many adult moments in our lives, the rose glasses were shattered and I saw the game industry for what it can and often truly is. It's cut-throat, it's who you know, it's at the whim of the publisher too often, and it can swallow you and spit you out. It is sitting their having to listen to gamers call you and the company you work for every name in the book for some decision that often isn't even yours. It is thankless, endless nights, and the money in not that great unless you are some high profile dev at the head of one of the few successful firms. Is it fun at times, you bet your butt it is. The people are amazing, and there is really nothing better than seeing something you dreamed up become a reality. It can just be difficult to live with what happens after the prom.

olepi

Although I lived in Austin a long time and am a programmer, I can make a lot more in the IC design industry. From what I've heard of game development, it doesn't pay that well and the working conditions are not that great.

I do like to fiddle around with modding and with game engines like UE4. I'd like to eventually write a Wild West RPG/MMORPG type game. Just a hobbyist.

Sovrath

I think it's because, like anything, there is the public "romantic" view, the one that players get caught up in. Then when someone actually enters the field they realize it's updating excel spreadsheets all day (that was told to me by a friend whose co-worker's husband worked in a larger studio).

I only have so much room in my life to dedicate to such things so I chose writing and writing music. I think working in the game industry would be soul crushing if I didn't run my own studio.

I'll agree with Nanfoodle about "consistent pay" and wanting to pick where I live. 

CrazKanuk

I worked in a designer capacity for a little while, in a former life. Apart from one minor snippet that I'm able to find on the net, as proof to my kids, I have no problem leaving that behind. Granted, I worked with an indie, so the amount of work was probably more than at most larger companies. That being said, it's grueling, long hours, constantly grinding towards the next milestone, next show, lots of tedious work, etc. In the end, I found that I could make more money in the software industry, work normal hours, and not be consumed with work at home. Granted, I did go on to work 60-hour weeks at an e-Commerce company after that, but it almost felt like a break sometimes, lol.

However, it's definitely an experience, and I'm actually teaching my kids game development, and it's not even because I hate them There are actually a lot of really valuable skills you can pick up by building something from the ground-up. Even if it's just a 2D Platformer or something simple. 
 

Nanfoodle

Sovrath said:

I think it's because, like anything, there is the public "romantic" view, the one that players get caught up in. Then when someone actually enters the field they realize it's updating excel spreadsheets all day (that was told to me by a friend whose co-worker's husband worked in a larger studio).

I only have so much room in my life to dedicate to such things so I chose writing and writing music. I think working in the game industry would be soul crushing if I didn't run my own studio.

I'll agree with Nanfoodle about "consistent pay" and wanting to pick where I live. 

My cousin works as an artist making games. Its the same thing always for him. 3-12 month contract. The deadlines are crazy, he works to many hours. Does not always get paid for all of them. If they make or beat the deadline the job is over. He worked like that for just under 10 years. Moving from city to city chasing work. He finally got into a good studio and works as a Lead Artist and is making steady money with only slightly crazy hours. Its like he poofed from our lives the min he started working in the field. We see him once or twice a year for a few hours. His only friends he has are the ones he works with. Its a good thing he married a co-worker or they would not see each other lol. Was a good friend, I miss him alot. 

Ammon777_new

I can understand C++ but I cannot debug ANYTHING. Thats why.

Redsalt

Starving and financial ruin  was not on my list of potential  accomplishments.

SEANMCAD

I got into programming because of scripting in Neverwinter nights, I decided to not go the game route because I heard they work way hard and dont make as much money for the same amount of effort.

This was 10 years ago mind you

Dullahan

Nanfoodle said:

Consistent pay and also like to pick where I want to live.  

I'd say its a combination of what everyone has said, but mostly this.

I too went to school and took every programming and game design class available. The truth is though, you have to leave everything behind and move across the country to work for a studio, as there is nothing even close to where I live.

Its becoming more possible to work remotely every day, and I sometimes hope I can one day find a job as an entry level programmer or something for a studio making games I enjoy.

scorpex-x

Yanocchi said:

This question could be relevant to surprisingly many people here.

Many people who play games have probably thought about that question.

If I was female I would of, you can be the worst programmer in the world and still get a job.  These companies are legally obliged to fill quotas so you're a shoe in if you have a VJ.  That's why the vast majority of college placements now are going to females and males are a shrinking minority in higher education.

In all seriousness though, because doing what you love for a living stops it being something you love.  When you're forced to do it, it's not longer something you do for fun.  It ruins it.

I ran a fairly successful let's play channel as a job for a while and the pressure to play the games to put content out and it being my job totally killed it as my hobby, I would be trying to find stuff to do that "wasn't work".

Yanocchi

Ramajama said:

I  am too old to start  

When I see 13-year olds being light years away I just give up and go to my 9-5 job 

My uncle was a complete stranger to computers until he was 31-32 years old. He never even owned any kind of computer before that and didn't know anything about them. When he was younger, he almost dropped out of high school. After that he went to a vocational school and graduated as a cook. In his twenties he worked as a cook and did physical labour jobs cleaning buildings, working at construction sites and such. He got his first computer when he was 31-32 years old. That was in 1995-1996. After a few years he got into the business IT industry and has been working in it ever since. He has also taught some IT courses at a college or university on week-ends during some years.

It seems he is quite good at what he does in the business IT industry. He has been employed even during hard years during financial crisis and I've heard from other relatives that he started getting around $10,000 monthly salary already a few years into his IT career.

Until I visited him in New York in 2005, I had always wondered how he got into the IT industry from a completely different professional background at such a late age and without attending any educational institutions or even courses.

During the visit in 2005 I finally understood when I saw all the books in his basement. In the evenings he had read at least 50-100 books on different programming languages and other IT stuff, practising, applying and experimenting with all that knowledge on different computers and software. I realized that he had organised an intense education program equivalent to no less than a bachelor's degree or even a master's degree for himself at his home in the evenings after physical labor work. That year I was keenly aware what it takes to graduate with a master's degree from a university because I was in my final year of studies myself. Maybe he even gained more knowledge and skills that way because he was actively engaged in reading and practising on his own.

Unfortunately, all that transition and dedication to IT combined with smoking has also taken its toll on his health. After going into the IT industry he has gained a lot of weight and developed diabetes.  

Yanocchi

Torval said:

Because I learned my lesson in the medical industry which is almost as screwed up, but not quite.

Six years ago I was surprised to learn that original founders of Bioware, Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, had been medical doctors. Ever since I have wondered if responsibility and scrupulous approach generally associated with that medical profession was one of the reasons why they were able to create such great games during the early years of their game industry career.