Original Post
Hello everyone. This is my first post, so take it easy on me.
Some of my earliest memories, in my life;
It was 1981, I must have been 5 or 6 years old (Yes, which makes me 25 now). My father had bought a new Commodore Vic 20 with a tape drive. He hooked it up to the TV, and before he could finish leading the first program from tape, I had taken over the operation. I was hardly old enough to read, but the Vic 20 caught my attention immediately, and set my life in motion.
Before long I was loading games from the Tape Drive or typing in the samples in the manual, playing them, and even learned that I could save them back to a blank tape (A novel concept, but I thought I was onto something big). It was pretty much then I knew what my destiny would be. Computers. To this day they fascinated me beyond my wildest dreams and have given me direction in life and career.
I went through the C64, C128. I had a PC JR, a PC AT, and even a Commodore Amiga, on top of mounds of PC Clones. I’ve had an Atari Pong, Atari 2600, Colecovision, Master System, NES, Genesis, SNES, PSX, and now a Xbox. All great systems, literally thousands of games passed through my life.
Ever since those earliest days of rational thought and memory I’ve always said, “I want to be a Game Programmer”. Pretty much everything I’ve done career wise has been a step in that direction. I currently program business/enterprise apps, however I do what I can to survive as I learn and sharpen my skills. 3d Modeling, Learning C/C++, Studying DirectX, reading books on game architecture, design, and publishing. Above all. Playing games.
That is the fuel that feeds the fire. Passion for games and gaming. Playing any quality title is enough to set me off on a rampage. It makes me want to go print out a bunch of storyboard pages, and start scribbling down ideas or dive into the latest game development theory, or read a bunch of “words” that somehow relate to 3d engine algorithms. I can’t say I learn or absorb any of it, but surly it has to be swirling around in my subconscious waiting for the day to shows its head in a rage of creativity.
So what is the point of all this blither?
Well, I was recently speaking to a good friend of mine. He is one of the most talented C/C++ people I know. He’s the kind of guy who writes device drivers (If you know what I mean). The guy could code anything. So I keep pretty close connections with him (Not to mention he is a superb person).
So I asked him. “*&#*&, why have you never gotten into game programming? You’re an immensely talented individual and I would imagine have little problem getting a foot in the door with your level of experience and understanding of Visual C/C++.”
He replied “Well Bill, I’ve got a few good friends who work, or have worked, in that industry (He named a few big development houses). Truthfully, much of that industry is run like a sweatshop for talented kids much like yourself. It seems that you are one of MANY people wanting that position, so for the most part you’ll be underpaid, overworked, and all but used to profit the 4-5 people high up the latter driving the Jags and BMWs.”
This has plagued my thought a lot lately. Currently I make a 50K+, 9-5 doing simple business programming that any noo-b could do with no more than a few VB tutorials, and SQL books. Not to say my job is easy, but well. It is for me. I’m just paid well because I have the experience and most of the world has not caught onto how simple VB & SQL really is.
I’m not saying I don’t understand the fact that Game industry is a hard industry. I know many projects require long hours, and immense dedication. But does it ever change? Not to say everything revolves around money, but well. Everything revolves around money. Creativity can be rewarding only so far before you realize that your getting paid $50K, and your boss is now driving around in a new Jag directly being paid for by your long hours and creative efforts.
More than likely, I’m going to pursue this no matter what, but it would be nice to know what to look out for. My current plans are to devote 2 years of my life to this, once my wife graduates and begins her career (2003?). So some lucky development house will get a creative bullet, for little of nothing. I figure if I can’t do it in 2 years, without a strong financial need, then it’s not worth my doing. Like I said, you can only do so much, for free.
Quite Simply, what is your view of the Game Industry? Is it as bad as I fear, or am I blowing things out of proportion? What are average salaries for beginning, intermediate, and senior level developers? What kind of workweek do you normally see? Above all, is it as fun and as rewarding as I have always dreamed it might be or am I setting myself up for a huge disapointment?? Serious replys only.
Thanks for you time, and good luck.
Barista T. Bill
And let's get it straight that this is how I feel, I'm not saying all of you should feel the same, cause we're all gonna have our own feelings about this.
