Hi everyone,

I would like an advice about my "career path". I'm currently working as a test development engineer in automotive industry. I use there Canoe / CAPL. I don't like my job. I don't feel like I'm growing in my own development. I can't quit the job, because I need money to live. :D My passion is SF(all about space: nebulas, spaceships, galaxies etc..) and graphics. I started to learn game development because I saw that game, Limit Theory and in combination with my passion I said that I would like to make something like that. Also I would like to create my own games from scratch, to make the graphics by myself, the physics engine and so on.Without a game engine.
Now, with my career, in my town there are not companies with games development. In another town I don't really want to move because I like the town where I am and also here I have friends.
I tried to make games for mobiles in Java.I thought that maybe I will have success, and maybe I will not have to work in this company. Or ever. :D But I didn't enjoy. Because I don't like Java to be honestly.So I told my self that I can't do something that I don't like.(working with Java).So I came back to c++ and OpenGL.
I would like also to have my own business. But I don't know what kind of business. And again, maybe I wouldn't succeed in it, if I would do something that I don't like.
So my question is, what would you do if you would be me with my SF passion ? Here on gamedev, I found many good people, and I said that maybe you could give me some advices and encourage me. :)

Thank you!

Also I would like to create my own games from scratch, to make the graphics by myself, the physics engine and so on.Without a game engine.

That's going to be very daunting unless your game is very small/simple.


You said you started with C++/OpenGL. Give it some time, get something rendered on screen and make a very simple game. Do it many times and then you'll realize that you can't do everything yourself and that's why engines exist. If you simply want to make games, then use existing engines. If you want to know the technology behind the games, then you should probably start from scratch.

What I wouldn't do is drop a career that I know can make me money, to take on a new career in a saturated market.

You shouldn't gamble your live on making games.

You can make games while keeping your job, if you are starting out it's a good idea to make a few small games to learn how. You can then sell these games and get a much better understanding of how the market works.

If I where you and wanted the job in the game industry I would first find out if any company has a opening and if I fit; it would be a nightmare to leave a good steady job only to find I have no where to go.

My last bit of advice is this: doing what you love for work, is not the same as doing it for fun.

I work as a 3D modeler and I hate it, I don't get to do things the way I want, time constraints is always a pain, the pressure of getting things done on time has lead me to make some unhealthy choices.

The funny thing, after a day of work I go home and relax by doing my 3D exercises; what I am saying is that working on games might not be the dream job you think it is.

OMG, we are in a similar position and similar interests and I am about to post a similar topic. I hope people here don't mind because I'd like my topic to revolve around my particular particularities but I am definitely following this one.

Wanna be friends? :)

Thank you guys for reply.
@Scouting Ninja: I heard that making games in a company is not as funny as it is making games as a hobby.Maybe I will try to find another job as a software developer. :P

@newtechnology: I already started to make snake, pong..now I want to make a particle generator. From my opinion, making games from scratch is more interesting and fun. :P

@Mustey: Yes, I want to be friends.Why not. :P

I worked a year as a game designer for Ubisoft.
1. You feel deprived, as your own ideas, your own creativity, is given to the company for a mere salary
2. It's hard to be consistently creative and it's hard to be creative in a corporate environment
3. Your creativity is never free. It would either be put to a peer review, or maimed by marketing. The worse is when your idea is accepted but given to someone else to develop!
4. Once you know how games work from the inside (including game design and the science/art of making people want to play) - it's not as fun!
5. Once you've been in the game industry, every next game you will play, you will inevitably dissect and criticize. You'd expect more of games.
6. 99% of the time you'd be working on stuff that comes directly from marketing. They want to sell a game with the "XXXX" brand, they ran a study group that concluded the most sales will be achieved by a game that does this and that... No room for your own "startup", free-roaming creativity
7. Money in the game industry is not the best
8. If you rely on making games for a living, you'd have to make ones that sell, not ones that are what you want to relay, artistically, to the player

Stick to your guns, make money, enjoy games as a habbit.

I promise to play your game :)

No need to be nasty Mustey, without dreams what's the point.

I'm nowhere near where I thought I would be by now trudging through the quagmire, learning a million processes and design models and theories and roadblocks. And I have a million more, but I'm loving every bit of my journey, because the achievement outweighs the feeling of despair when I just can't stay awake long enough to see that I've referenced a none existent variable or passed an array incorrectly.

Alx119, you pick up that sword, and you hack through the shit that's going to get thrown at you. You keep smiling and telling yourself that you can do it, because no one else will.

It's definitely hard, anyone saying otherwise is a fool. But nothing is impossible.

<screams in 300 voice> "THIS IS DATA, AND TONIGHT WE DINE INTEL"

Moving to the job advice area of the site.

Many of your questions are covered in the Job Advice FAQ. It looks like the remainder are covered in Tom Sloper's amazing FAQ collection, which has several links in the forum FAQs.

My recommendation is to read those articles in the links, then follow up with any specific questions that remain.

Thanks a lot guys for your encouragements.I knew that I can find help and answers here.Nobody on other forums helped me as here.I will continue to learn c++ and opengl as a hobby. And who knows, maybe in one day I will come up with an idea and I will make an application that will help/entertain people. If somebody else is or was in the same situation, is welcome to share his / her thoughts.Thanks a lot again!

@frob, Sorry for posting in another area.Thank you for moving it. :P

I'd give TheChubu all the money I have. Just a thought.