Like every high school nerd who is passably decent with computers, I once thought “I want to be a game developer.”
So I once had an opportunity to meet members of the team at Irrational Games right here around Boston, a studio I once thought would be nice to work for, right around when development of Bioshock Infinite was in full swing. And…yeah, it was definitely my scared straight moment. The poor devs I spoke with were so overworked and underpaid, being very frank about how much their passion had just drained since they entered the industry.
Doing a little extra research later on is when I learned about the standard industry practice of studios hiring the bulk of their devs as contractors and laying them off shortly before launch so they don’t have to offer insurance, benefits, or bonuses. This also leaves most developers in a perpetual state of job hunting and relocating, and NDAs prevent you from even putting projects you’re still working on on your resume.
Hell, even Irrational “closed” and laid off the bulk of their FTEs before rebranding as Ghost Story Games not long after Bioshock Infinite released, so I’m guessing those devs I met ended up out of a job, and I could have been one of them if I didn’t decide to settle for a stable IT job at a nonprofit (hah, as if I’d even get to start at a studio like that without a killer portfolio/crawling my way up from shovelware).
My wages now are higher than I’d be making in game dev, I get benefits, it’s stable, and when I go home every day I can actually enjoy playing games without resenting them, getting overly critical, or feeling bad about my own work. While I am proud of the work I do and the humanitarian work that enables my employer to do, it is incredibly tedious and I can’t say I wake up every day thinking “Yippee, I can’t wait to close more tickets!” But it respects my time and pays for my passions, which I know makes me a lot more fortunate than others out there who can’t say the same.
I’m making solidly twice what I could as a game dev right now and the hours and benefits eclipse anything I’ve heard of in a game studio. Still though games is all I’ve ever wanted to do so I’m strongly looking into dropping my savings into college again brush up on what I need and hit the industry stumbling. I don’t know what it is about making games even in my thirties now I’m still starry eyed about it
You could always make games as a hobby, best of both worlds. Here’s a great little tutorial site on getting started with a small indie game. If it really is your passion, treat it as such. Keep getting your decent paycheck and make something interesting on the side.
I don’t think it’s quite like that, I dunno. The feeling just dulls abit for awhile. Like…I spend to much time working because I enjoy it, then never have any passion left for a own project. But if I have some time away from work I will start on my own things again.
Weird. I enjoy developing software and this is an insanely large field. My job at work is focused on a specific area of the field so in my free time I still feel passionate about other areas of the field. I guess as an analogy imagine you love playing video games and you are a professional FPS player. So you might be tired of FPS games in your free time but you can still enjoy MMORPGs in your free time.
That’s why you should just make furry porn if you are an artist. Make 100+ per drawing, and if you don’t mind drawing the super, super weird shit you can make even more.
Oh god it all makes sense now. AI-generated art is being driven by techbros who are dissatisfied about how much they’ve been paying for their OC furry porn.
Oh god it all makes sense now. AI-generated art is being driven by techbros who are dissatisfied about how much they’ve been paying for their OC furry porn.
This is terrifyingly accurate, at least in the case of Pony Diffusion.
I’ve been doing what I love for 18+ years now. There have been ups and downs, but I’ve always loved it no matter what. I am starting to feel like it’s time to branch out and see what else there is for me out there, but I will probably always love programming.
I tried doing that for a brief stint while in college. It was awful. It didn’t make me hate what I love, but it definitely put a damper in it for quite awhile.
Always wondered if you made a living doing what you love if you’d just end up hating what you love.
Seems to be the case more often than not.
Like every high school nerd who is passably decent with computers, I once thought “I want to be a game developer.”
So I once had an opportunity to meet members of the team at Irrational Games right here around Boston, a studio I once thought would be nice to work for, right around when development of Bioshock Infinite was in full swing. And…yeah, it was definitely my scared straight moment. The poor devs I spoke with were so overworked and underpaid, being very frank about how much their passion had just drained since they entered the industry.
Doing a little extra research later on is when I learned about the standard industry practice of studios hiring the bulk of their devs as contractors and laying them off shortly before launch so they don’t have to offer insurance, benefits, or bonuses. This also leaves most developers in a perpetual state of job hunting and relocating, and NDAs prevent you from even putting projects you’re still working on on your resume.
Hell, even Irrational “closed” and laid off the bulk of their FTEs before rebranding as Ghost Story Games not long after Bioshock Infinite released, so I’m guessing those devs I met ended up out of a job, and I could have been one of them if I didn’t decide to settle for a stable IT job at a nonprofit (hah, as if I’d even get to start at a studio like that without a killer portfolio/crawling my way up from shovelware).
My wages now are higher than I’d be making in game dev, I get benefits, it’s stable, and when I go home every day I can actually enjoy playing games without resenting them, getting overly critical, or feeling bad about my own work. While I am proud of the work I do and the humanitarian work that enables my employer to do, it is incredibly tedious and I can’t say I wake up every day thinking “Yippee, I can’t wait to close more tickets!” But it respects my time and pays for my passions, which I know makes me a lot more fortunate than others out there who can’t say the same.
I’m making solidly twice what I could as a game dev right now and the hours and benefits eclipse anything I’ve heard of in a game studio. Still though games is all I’ve ever wanted to do so I’m strongly looking into dropping my savings into college again brush up on what I need and hit the industry stumbling. I don’t know what it is about making games even in my thirties now I’m still starry eyed about it
You could always make games as a hobby, best of both worlds. Here’s a great little tutorial site on getting started with a small indie game. If it really is your passion, treat it as such. Keep getting your decent paycheck and make something interesting on the side.
I don’t think it’s quite like that, I dunno. The feeling just dulls abit for awhile. Like…I spend to much time working because I enjoy it, then never have any passion left for a own project. But if I have some time away from work I will start on my own things again.
Weird. I enjoy developing software and this is an insanely large field. My job at work is focused on a specific area of the field so in my free time I still feel passionate about other areas of the field. I guess as an analogy imagine you love playing video games and you are a professional FPS player. So you might be tired of FPS games in your free time but you can still enjoy MMORPGs in your free time.
That’s why you should just make furry porn if you are an artist. Make 100+ per drawing, and if you don’t mind drawing the super, super weird shit you can make even more.
Look out. Pony Diffusion is coming for that $100+ per drawing.
Oh god it all makes sense now. AI-generated art is being driven by techbros who are dissatisfied about how much they’ve been paying for their OC furry porn.
This is terrifyingly accurate, at least in the case of Pony Diffusion.
But like… Actually yes.
Tech bros just are antisocial and weird and don’t want to have to interact with people for what they want.
So you replace the person with the digital slave, and sell it to a company that wants the free labor.
I’ve been doing what I love for 18+ years now. There have been ups and downs, but I’ve always loved it no matter what. I am starting to feel like it’s time to branch out and see what else there is for me out there, but I will probably always love programming.
I tried doing that for a brief stint while in college. It was awful. It didn’t make me hate what I love, but it definitely put a damper in it for quite awhile.