I've been trying to develop games since I was 13, I'm 33 now, and after 20 years I've never finished a project, its actually embarrassing. I struggle with many things. I often lost focus on projects, I've never worked on a team project, and life always keeps getting the better of me, I've lost so many files do to not keeping backups and my computers have been stolen, hard drives have failed multiple times,

I started using game maker version 5, learning GML was fun but i was really into 3D Games so I was able to convince my parents to buy me the Registered version 6 of game maker and Carrara 5 Pro by Daz studio, as well as a New PC that had a Core2Duo and my First Nvida Graphics card, i Spent 2 years working on my first RPG, It was mostly prerendered sprites and backgrounds of Boolean “metaball” objects.

Just as my first game began to take shape, my parents got divorced (ON my 16th birthday) and i moved to the west coast with my mother who decided I needed to Focus on graduating school and finding a real job, so i wasn't allowed to have a computer. This began my Nihilistic depression, I Wore all Black and pierced my nose and lower lip with Nails, started Gauging my ears and Skipped School, I was In and out of Juvey and Ultimately Dropped out of highscool, My Father would then send me $1,000 and I used it to buy a computer and hid in a hole playing WOW: WOTLK until the goal of Killing the Lich King on 25 man Heroic was reached. I was kind of Just Coasting after that. I worked a fast food job, my father passed away, and i was Just hoping the world would end in 2012, spoiler :: it didn't.

so on the dawn of 2013 i was kind of forced to grow up, find a job with no diploma, try dating, learn to rent and pay my own bills. I ended up completing job corps to get my diploma and I've worked maintenance ever since, for the last 12 years since Reaching Adulthood, I've been trying to balance a marriage, work, and learning Blender an Unity

game development has been a low priority but i want to change that. I don't know where to pick up the pieces. I've just been laid off and I'm out of money and ideas. if you've read this far, please feel free to start a conversation with me, all my future posts will have significant substance, and not a sob story, I've just needed a place to vent my frustrations.

Hello @mystwander , welcome to gamedev.net. Just so you know, when you posted your tale of your game dev career aspirations in the Game Design and Theory forum, you misunderstood what game design is (What Is Game Design?). In a nutshell: game design is a specialty within the umbrella “game development.” Game design is not an umbrella term encompassing game dev career attainment.

You didn't ask a game design question - you asked about getting a career in game development. Accordingly, your question has been moved to the Games Career Development forum. I suggest that a good way for you to begin is to read past posts in the Career forum and see what others in predicaments similiar to yours had to say, and what responses they got. And read “Am I Too Old? Am I Screwed?”

Before posting again, please review our community guidelines. Good luck with your endeavours!

For one, you're young. Two, you've got time. Three, you've got experience. Have you tried the Godot engine? It'll save you a lot of time.

Good luck.

Game Development is an engineering disciple that requires a lot of knowledge/talent. The unfortunate thing about it is people think “games” so easy even though it requires a college study the same as a chemist, just people don't dream as much about being chemists. This is a tough field.

You need to clarify and decide if you are looking at this as a hobby/indie perspective, or a career. I'd say if you have no money and need to work a day job, then it's nearly impossible to get a job. At a few places I've worked we have hired modders/community members for design and map making positions. There is a lot of info out there to pick up and learn the various game engines. I've also been working since 16 to start my own company and I'm 38 and just about to do so. Things take time, persistence, discipline, saving money.