10 ms·
I think most people don't enter the games industry because they see it as a subset of programming. They learned to program or create art to make games, not vice
by yzzxy 12y ago
I think most people don't enter the games industry because they see it as a subset of programming. They learned to program or create art to make games, not vice versa. Many programmers began coding because they wanted to make games, including myself. But I think most people don't find game code interesting after they make some initial demos, outside of a few areas like computer graphics, which is pretty centralized nowadays in engine vendors like Unity and Unreal.
But there are those who believe in games, who live them day and night, who idolize famous developers like rock stars. They would like nothing more than to work at $GAMEDEV.
As a result, they might not be comparison shopping with other company types like other programmers between financial, startup, BigCo, and others.
I myself considered entering games for a long time, but growing fear of entering such a predatory industry, as well as a growing interest in PLT and other CS topics, led me away from that path. I still would consider joining or starting a small indie team, and participating in game jams or game hackathons. But I personally don't see the appeal of AAA jobs - the artistry isn't there the way it is with indie games, and the pay isn't either.
One note - the movement to F2P games like Dota2 and LoL seems to be improving this trend. These games ship features when they're done, like a SaaS product, and can avoid the crazy crunches and turnover that a release cycle perpetuates. Riot and Valve also have some of the highest industry scores on Glassdoor.
- jarcane 12y agoAs a result, they might not be comparison shopping with other company types like other programmers between financial, startup, BigCo, and others. Indeed. This is a good point. If you grow up and go into the game industry wanting to make the next Halo, you're not even going to look at anywhere else, and often don't have any idea that things even are better elsewhere.
- pjmlp 12y agoI am on the same boat, was a IGDA member for a few years and even attended GDCE from my own pocket. But as I discovered more and more what it would mean to work in the games industry, I eventually gave up. Life after work is just too precious to invest it into games. Although consulting can be hard sometimes, it still is way better than any game studio.
- aubreykilian 12y agoSurely passion for games outweighs the other things? Perhaps the Indie Game Dev movement is a better way to go... AAA games companies should stop over-promising features and over-working their staff, and go the Blizzard route of "It'll ship when it's ready", I'm sure that will make for a much happier working environment for game developers.
- jarcane 12y agoPassion doesn't pay the rent.
- LBarret 12y agoyep, but it does feed the soul.
- pjmlp 12y ago> Perhaps the Indie Game Dev movement is a better way to go... For every Indie game that makes the charts that are hundreds that die along the way. Those people also need money. Even those that do make the charts happen to be 1-hit success leading to studios closing down. If you follow Gamasutra or magazines like RetroGamer, most in games development community either eventually leave it, or embrace it and switch cities, countries every time a studio goes down. There are people that enjoy living like that, me not.