Finding my place in the Gaming Industry

BlackAceZero777 · 2021-06-25T22:32:11

Hello Everyone, I am a person who is going through a situation where I am not sure what position I should aim for within the Industry I am working to eventually join school-wise. To give my background: I recently have been going to Southern New Hampshire University as they have offered online courses within Game Art & Development since the other schools within my location are too far out to try to go to. My goal was to become a Game Developer and for about 2 years I was set on this. As time went on, there was always a lingering question in the back of my head where I would question if this is the right career path for me. I would ignore it and continue to push forward until one specific course made me start to question how much the instructors are out to help you along with the advisors. To make a long story short, I was in a script writing course and the instructor came off as though he was fine with what we would give him because it was about being creative, but was severely picky once you turned in your assignments which made it hard to know what to do with each assignment. I told my advisor, but he just went silent and wasn't much help like he was suppose to be. I started looking towards other schools, but stayed after some time went by. The kicker for me that made me leave the school was when I talked to someone in their Career Advising center to get a head start on what I have to have together before I graduated in 2 years (i.e. portfolio) and was basically told that to be able to get into Game Development I would need to take a Minor in I.T. because they are looking for people like that, would have to gain a social media presence and possibly look towards other things relating to art (if I remember specifically him saying doing work for Rolling Stones magazines for some years) to get the years of experience before being able to get into Game Development. Now I am sure these things will help me, but I did a quick search on Blizzard and nowhere is there any requirements that he listed. So basically, even for a school that prides itself on setting the student up with a career after you graduate, I may have to take an additional 5 years before I can land the job of my dreams, making the degree kind of a waste. One night a few months ago when thinking about the conversation, I began to come to the conclusion that this career path is not the right fit for me. The last course that I took was one of the most exhausting courses ever, and considering that the instructor didn't tell me that I could take it a bit easier until halfway into the course, it really caused me to consider my time with this school altogether. In real life, I sketch and I enjoy doing this immensely; I am even now trying my hands at creating my own characters. I find that I really enjoy, not only sketching, but creating worlds and stories around these worlds. I took a creative writing course back during my first year at the university and I enjoyed it so much. I even noticed that when we got on subjects like that throughout the courses, I could tell I was much more focused on it in comparison to learning about how to create 3D models of characters and animating them. I have noticed in the past that I can think of stories and worlds on the fly, and have even talked with friends and have thought of ideas along with reworks that I have in mind for certain series and how I would write it to "correct" what I felt was wrong with the series. The 3D Modeling and Animating part I found to be severely exhausting and where I struggled at the most along with the fact that many of the teachers in those courses were not helpful in guiding the student through the development process. Right now, I am working on some fanfictions that I would like to post on the internet for people to read to get my name out there and eventually start working on my own original stories. Not only this, I recently revealed some mental health issues to my family that I had been struggling with in secret for some years (severe anxiety, depression, etc.), and I have heard some stories, not sure how true, about how the development process can be, and now that I am really taking more of my own health into account (not to mention that I suffer from Crohn's) I'm not sure if the development side of Gaming is truly right for me. I was going through training some years back for H&R Block and I cannot tell you how much stress I was under with this job. Considering that the course barely got you ready to do people's taxes and some of the stuff they hit you with is complicated and will start to stack on itself information-wise, along with the fact that after the course is over and the training begins that they want you to basically be working at this job 24/7 and, even though we were new to it, you were told you would be hit with a fine if you get someone's tax return wrong. I experienced stress bumps, a moment where I woke up in the middle of night for no reason and couldn't understand why I was dealing with these things until I left the job entirely. I say this because I recognize not all careers will be a walk in the park even with my issues, but I know that one won't be bothered with it as much if they are in a career that they enjoy. With all that has been said, what career within Gaming sounds more like a fit for me? I keep thinking Storyboard, but I am not sure if I am limiting myself with this. I know I want to expand and be able to write comics, mangas, graphic novels and possibly collaborate with animators and movie producers to create animations and movies. I also am trying to figure out what I should do since I plan to go back to College. The pacing of the University was tiring and I have found that I have exhausted myself over the years, plus with some of the certificates that I found, I am not sure if a degree in Game Art & Development is necessary, but I will keep an open mind. Let me be clear in what I say: I feel Gaming is the right career for me, I'm just not sure Game Development is the right fit and am trying to see with my talents what would work best for me. As well, considering that there are certain certificates being offered at Colleges that can allow me to start somewhere in the industry, I feel that a Degree may not be necessary, but would like more concrete information before I start any certificated program. As well, I am new here, so if I made any mistakes in how I made this discussion thread, please do not hesitate to tell me so I can correct it.

Games Career Development Business

Started by BlackAceZero777 June 04, 2021 11:22 AM

19 comments, last by KevlarGolem 3 years, 7 months ago

KevlarGolem

June 25, 2021 10:32 PM

I had no idea that these things existed and how there can be multiple ways to enter into the entertainment industry.

In the show Louie he meets an aspiring actress, and he says he respects her bravery because she's basically set out to do something impossible. That it's kind of like she's set out to be a cartoon dog with a jetpack.

So if you want to be want any tips about what breed of dog to be, or what kind of jet fuel to use, I'm happy to help :p

I am currently looking to join a project that needs a writer! I have around a decade of writing experience, including four years working in the film industry in Los Angeles. See my bio for more info. You can also DM for writing samples, or for any other reason you feel like.

Finding my place in the Gaming Industry

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Finding my place in the Gaming Industry

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