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Why can't you just work IN the games industry and compromise it that way?

You could probably become a tester with the skills you've learnt or even manage teams of devs without actually devving yourself but at least having a baseline knowledge.

Not being willing to compromise is rather the problem I think.
 
Try making your own game and publishing it on the side as a hobby.

The gaming industry for young people is also terrible and exploitative, but no one will see on e.g. Steam that it's a 40+ dude releasing stuff, and they won't care as long as it's good.

The problem is always gaining market traction, there are a handful of companies that dominate the industry since there is not that much time people can play and the product can be duplicated infinitum for every client.
 
Einstein said something along the lines of when you stop thinking/dreaming, you start dying.

Either way, go read some help myself books. Life starts to boil down to this eventually lol.
 
crocopede said:
My entire life I wanted to become a game developer or working in a similar artistic field. However, like many of us, I landed in a different career path and became good at that. Now I'm almost 40 and want to finally pursue my dream. So, I started investing about 7 hours every day in my portfolio and one night decided to do market research of the feasibility of someone my age going into that career and realized it is unrealistic and downright impossible due to ageism and the fact that the gaming industry prefers early twenties employees as they can more easily be exploited and paid less than us senior counterparts with families.

Now I am studying C# and Java to rather switch careers into the development path as I maxed out my progression in this field.
However, I cannot help but feel utterly depressed thinking I have been spending and will be spending the rest of my life doing something I never really care for. It pays the bills and occasionally there is some upside but most of the time it's just a job.

I have to switch to development as its the closest thing I can do that will scratch my need to create things while still not throwing away 18 years of experience in the IT industry.

However, since I made this decision to stop pursuing my game development dream I feel suicidal. No, I will not commit suicide... I just feel empty. As if life lost its meaning the moment I officially decided to give up on my dreams. Having an awesome family is the other side to it, which is why I will continue with a development career. So that there is still some form of stability for my son and future children. But man. Actively thinking about it and then making the decision hits so much harder than just watching your dreams fizzle away through the years.

I just wanted to share this profound and sad experience to let others know who might be contemplating their career choices that yes... you are alone in the suffering. Just like I am alone in my suffering. we are all alone in it. It is our own suffering.

So basically, giving up on your dreams = spiritual suicide.

Good times.
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I am coming back to you just now to reply, just driving.Don't give up your dreams
 
Creative endeavours are a all or nothing affair. Count yourself lucky that you have employment and a roof over your head
 
Not to diminish your feelings or anything, and you don't want to hear this, but you're going through your midlife crisis - just earlier than many others but it's not too late for you! It's common among people in our age group (45 - which also happens to be the age group with the highest suicide rates). Don't give up on your dream but don't place your identity and happiness in life on regrets. You actually never know, maybe if you had done game dev you would have hated it! You'll come to terms with what you never did, we all have regrets about choices we never made, but life is unexpected and amazing as it is. If you want to pursue it then do it - do it for enjoyment and you never know. You can google about people who only achieved success later in life, so don't let ageism and such stop you from trying to do what you want to do.I know fame is not what you're after but hey, https://www.lifehack.org/370180/20-people-who-only-achieved-success-after-age-40
 
Ok so it sucks discovering you are too old to do something. I have had this moment a few times in my life, and sometimes by the time you realise you might want to do it, it is already too late. At that point, you can either throw in the towel and give up, or redirect the passion.

I admit that I had to let go of the notion of being a ballet dancer, gymnast, model, astronaut, pirate, circus performer, Indiana Jones, and a few other things along the way because well reality bites but I redirected the passion into other avenues that are just as satisfying.
 
Maybe start smaller. You have the advantage of being in SA, so your overhead isn't so high. A lot of game companies, started as small indie upstarts. Indie game development and mobile game (very saturated) are much better than AAA game development (stress and exploitation.)

Some times all it takes is one man with a dream.

Notch Minecraft.
That Five Night at Freddy guy
Hotline Miami guy
Cuphead guys
etc etc

The Broforce game is very indie but quite popular and also made by SA devs. So there is hope. I'd suggest starting small and working your way up. Maybe make it a passion hobby while you work for funds towards development.
 
crocopede said:
My entire life I wanted to become a game developer or working in a similar artistic field. However, like many of us, I landed in a different career path and became good at that. Now I'm almost 40 and want to finally pursue my dream. So, I started investing about 7 hours every day in my portfolio and one night decided to do market research of the feasibility of someone my age going into that career and realized it is unrealistic and downright impossible due to ageism and the fact that the gaming industry prefers early twenties employees
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My man,

Some advice, and you can tell me if I am wrong somewhere or missed something that you haven't, but your first game doesn't have to be Halo or something incredibly breathtaking. Stardew valley was designed by one person who did EVERYTHING himself. Undertale is another game where someone took a very basic concept and turned it into something incredible without ever expecting it to.

Despite you having a background in development too, there are game Development Engines like Unity which simplify the task of making a game. I went through my game making stage and found a tutorial which showed me how to make a shooter(a very detailed shooter) in just 8 hours. They show you how to make loading screens, menus, icons, everything. With virtually no-to-little programming experience, I made a game in just 1 day out of interest if I could. It wasn't very fun to play, but this was just 1 day, following a script and never looking at it again - with someone as passionate as you it could be so much more.

Eventually, take what you have made, how far you have gotten I just throw it on Indiegogo and see what you get back. Look at this:

1554222260728.png

This is go-fund me campaign for a space shooter with Mass Effect-type dialogues. The appeal of this? It simply has sexy ladies in space which you can date/fornicate with, which is why it is doing so well currently. Imagine if you had that kind of money, what you could do and how well you could be off - the best part is, this company has never made a video game before, they usually make movies and have moved onto this project just to try something new.

The point is, even with your work, your family and your goals to move, don't stop working on an idea. One day, when you are mildly happy with it, put it on Indiegogo and see if anyone else believes in your vision as much as you do to fund it.

There are always going to be jobs out there, but nobody is going to make the things you want except yourself. it may take a while to get there, but you will get there and feel better for it.
 
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Good god man. You've contributed some interesting stuff and here I sit fixing bugs on crud screens linked to a db etc.
 
Sometimes life sucks yes. The gaming industry is completely different now than it was during the collapse of the 80's. It was easy bringing good ideas to fruition during the 90's but now there's about 10 big titles a month. To me it sounds like you already did what you wanted to do but just lack the affirmation to your self esteem. But just because you gave stuff away doesn't mean they are worthless and nobody would want them.

When I had the idea of developing it was before Linux and everybody paid for everything. Now almost all apps are free and people no longer expect to pay for software. It's just no longer worth it for the smaller stuff as there's a free solution for almost everything. But it's not like it was ever a big dream of mine.
 
Would put 100% of my energy and focus into the move and reassess things again once settled.
 
To be frank, if skill isn’t the issue, why don’t you apply to EA, Bungie, Rockstar, Ubisoft, Valve, etc.? I know game developers who make $200k+ per year at big studios. :)

The above are of course the survivors - most eventually fall by the wayside and wish that they took regular jobs and feel that the game industry set their careers back 20 years.

I have always found the reasoning behind game developers to be very bizarre. It’s usually something along the lines of: “I love playing games. Therefore I will love making them.” Or “I like to create things, games are my art”. It’s usually crap work and crap art. Then after a few years of actually industry experience, it sounds like they’re trying to convince themselves. “Bl%^}^} EA, and %#%^ Ubisoft and #%^*%# Bungie..., but... games!!!”.

A fairly common trait I have noticed is that much of the appeal comes from the impressed looks they get when they tell gamers that they make games.

I don’t know what your motivation is, but I would do some soul searching to make sure you aren’t seeing the profession in an unrealistic light, or haven’t seriously re-evaluated you opinion of it since your teens.

I like to play games, and I like the technical aspects of engine design - at one point I considered game development as a career, but after writing one or two as a hobby I discovered that I really didn’t like it anywhere near as much as I thought I would. There are far better places to get my technical fix. The marketable game stories are too adolescent for writing to have any appeal to me, and coding game logic is way too tedious.

Overall, I suggest getting into development if you like to feel creative. Find a type of development you like to do. Passion does usually get cultivated, based on what you actually end up doing. If you’re not feeling it yet, try something else. If someone had told me 30 years ago that I would ever love quantitative finance I would have laughed in their face.
 
^^ I largely agree with this. Sounds to me like you had a romantic impression of the games industry formed during your teen years. Now you found out it isn't like that and you had an unrealistic expectation of it. It's not that the industry has really let you down but that you had an expectation of it that it could never live up to.
 
crocopede said:
Thats my future
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What I do like is building solutions though.
From the meetings to planning, creating and rolling it out. I get a kick out of it.

Ironically though, that "how can we make it better" attitude, has made me very unpopular with my co workers. They're more interested in the "free" WiFi at work. Unhindered browsing for hours day after day after day...
Talking about wasting your life, that's it right there.
 
crocopede said:
Ja will re-evaluate later in a few years. As for which part i love. Honestly, making designers life easier. I love creating a construction script and watch a level designer have these awesome new tools that simplifies their life.

What i enjoy more is being able to see the end result in 3d.

Or solving a complex game mechanic while ux being the main focus. Not really game dev that i love as much as i love real time visualization. Which games is but a small part of.

@kolaval ja i see this every day. I attribute it to a lack of pride. I might not enjoy my day jon but im good at it and always go the extra mile. Innovation seems to be an afterthought in todays society.
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Have you considered doing real-time visualization as a career (scientific, GIS, CAD, finance, big data vis, architecture, etc.)? I also enjoy that side of things. It's much more lucrative than game development, less competitive and has much better working conditions.
 
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