First, thank you everyone for your time.

You've given me quite a bit to consider and more material to go through and read up on.

To be honest it still looks better than the architecture industry and probably even pays better at frst glance.

One of my biggest concerns is salary/pay. With my son being 4 months old I find myself worried about being financially stable. Currently me and my wife are living on one salary so times are a bit hard.

I've read somewhere, your posts say otherwise, that there's money in game development. I figured that it may be a good move and maybe I'd be able to combine my passion for games with a career - a job I'd be happy with for once.

I've been exploring several options but this one I thought would be the one I'd actually enjoy. Perhaps it's back to the drawing board?

I've read somewhere, your posts say otherwise, that there's money in game development. I figured that it may be a good move and maybe I'd be able to combine my passion for games with a career - a job I'd be happy with for once.

There's money for seniors, but it has the lowest entry salaries I've seen.

When I transitioned to this industry I basically lost half my paycheck, and I was a junior at what I did before, so it tells you how bad the drop can be.

6 years later, I'm still recovering from the loss and am almost at the level I was originally...

I'm probably not the right guy to say 'there's money in video games' to ;)

What can I typically expect for pay, atmosphere, hours, etc?

Atmosphere like any company depends on the company, I've worked at companies with great atmospheres where team building is crucial and other companies where you feel like you don't even matter and you could be replaced and nobody would notice or care. The game industry wages are usually lower than their software counterparts but can still be worth doing.

You also have to watch out for layoffs, ive been laid off 4 times in the last 5 years, it happens all the time in the game industry for multiple reasons(not enough money, downsizing, end of project)

I've a kid so working round the clock may not be ideal.

Then the game industry might not be for you as most companies have crunch periods where they expect extra work from you to get things done on time. Hours of overtime/crunch depends on the company and their release structure( web games are a little less strict for this as you can push updates when you want as opposed ot console games where you purchase a release date and that's your release date no ifs or buts about it. You can also find working at a company that is under a publisher deal to be stressful as the company usually doesn't get paid unless it hits milestones.

What advice can you give me if I were to seek a job in the industry?

Don't go work for a startup if you want free time. Also do research on the companies you want to apply at beforehand. I know some people who have ended up at some pretty crappy game jobs. Consider moving to somewhere were there are more game companies if your having trouble finding a job.

If you are looking at one of the industries top companies like bliz, ea, ubi I would suggest a different company as larger game companies like these tend to have less than great work atmospheres and you get hired as part time/full time so you don't get benefits.

Are there any niche jobs that'd help my career along?.

Your architecture background is probably enough, look at some game tutorials and get a demo going that you can show to possible employers

I live in Ontario, Canada - What's the industry like here?

There are quite a few game companies in Toronto, check out gamedevmap.com to get a feel for what companies are around you, do some research.

Any advice for schooling in my location?

Why do you want to go back to school? Your architecture background is it a CS degree? If so you are fine.

If you do end up going back to school dont go to a "game" university/college go to a proper university with a proper CS degree that is accredited and will be accepted where you plan on going to school.

I've worked on teams ranging from 5-500 and as various programmer and designer positions. The hours vary honestly. I've worked 9-5, 9-7 and 8-6. Crunch can mean anything from 10 hours a day for a week to 80 hours a week for months. Things can get really depressing honestly.

Depending on the company you may lose your job at any time. Your team could get shut, the game could get canceled or the company could go under. Everyone has stories of awesome games that never saw the light of day.

The money has always been good to me, I have a MS in Computer Science. Comparing to my jobs outside the industry, it only trails a bit.

The atmosphere also greatly varies from a hanging with your friends feeling to a everyone getting drilled and turning on each other due to the stress.

The industry can be amazing but it can also be absolutely terrible. It can be creatively fulfilling and soul-sucking. I honestly wouldn't recommend it at this point. The high end of the industry is rough. If you are "considering" it then don't. Try making some indies games and get educated in game development that way.

One of my biggest concerns is salary/pay. With my son being 4 months old I find myself worried about being financially stable. Currently me and my wife are living on one salary so times are a bit hard.

I've read somewhere, your posts say otherwise, that there's money in game development. I figured that it may be a good move and maybe I'd be able to combine my passion for games with a career - a job I'd be happy with for once.

If you feel as though you have enough experience, try not to go for an entry level position this might help bump the salary up. There is money to be made in games but you also have to look at the amount of successful gaming studios to unsuccessful ones.

Join a startup - Low pay - Higher chance of a bigger payout later down the road. ( expect tons of overtime)

Big company - Lower pay unless you are a senior, expect lots of overtime and probably get pigeon holed into one role(my friend has been drawing jersey, shorts and shoe textures for the last 5 years)

Smaller company - Higher pay most likely and you get the chance to broaden your skills( you will get a lot of opportunities to pickup new task and takeover new responsibilities as well as climb the ladder)

This forum is really strange to come back to when you've been frequenting game art sites. Entirely different attitude...

I know a handful of ex-architects making a reasonably happy living off being environment artists or level designers. They like their jobs, but the nature of the industry is that it's quite difficult to weather.

A teacher of mine (who left the school last year to go work at 2K Australia) said switching to games was one of the better decisions he'd made, even with the depressing reality of getting cut at the end of big projects and working on so many games that just never come out. See, the reason he'd wanted to be an architect in the first place was that he wanted to make buildings, interesting ones. He didn't realise how much hard work would go into doing things he really didn't care about. Then he discovered environment art, and to him, it was all of the things in Architecture that he wanted to do, but were unviable and not what you ended up spending all your time on. He could cojure up any crazy design he wanted, no matter how improbable, and it would actually be viable for the project. That was about when he jumped ship and took up a mid-level environment role at a reasonably sized studio.

Thats not to say that any of this is applicable to you, but to give you a real world example of this kind of situation working out.
But especially if you have a family, it's important to warn that the industry doesn't always treat it's employ well; the example of getting cut every time a big project is finished and similar are uncomfortably common stories.

Games may actually hold the ideal job for you, but it's best if you make it a passion project. Don't quit your day job, but spend your free time exploring jobs in the industry you could see yourself doing eg, environment artist, technical artist, level designer... If you really enjoy it (the task, not the idea of making games), and you want to persue it (meaning, you love it so much you wouldn't mind slaving away on it day in and day out), THEN consider it. You say you like games? Keep in mind that if you're serious about wanting to make them, you may very well not have that much time to actually play them. And making them isn't playing them. Kinda sucks the fun out of a lot of the ones you do play, too.

Plenty of people make it just fine in the industry, but it's a combination of luck and passion. You may not want to rely on luck when you have a family to think of, but if you like it enough, it's certainly possible to give it a go with all that fire in your belly and the hard work that comes along with it. Just actually figure out if you like it that much, first. Because you may find it holds the same issues as your previous career choices.

Good luck!

You also have to watch out for layoffs, ive been laid off 4 times in the last 5 years, it happens all the time in the game industry for multiple reasons(not enough money, downsizing, end of project)

That's some serious bad luck you've got there?

I've worked on teams ranging from 5-500 and as various programmer and designer positions. The hours vary honestly. I've worked 9-5, 9-7 and 8-6. Crunch can mean anything from 10 hours a day for a week to 80 hours a week for months. Things can get really depressing honestly.

I absolutely second that. Personally, I've seen 80-90h/w for 6 months straight. I've made it clear when I came to my new employer that this would never happen again (they can get either from me though, either 6 months of crunch time, or a single week of 80-90h).

Smaller company - Higher pay most likely and you get the chance to broaden your skills( you will get a lot of opportunities to pickup new task and takeover new responsibilities as well as climb the ladder)

Higher chances of layoffs though. I used a small company as a stepping stone. We had people laid off monthly at best...

I would recommend making games as an indie as well. In fact, I feel a significant portion of the people in the industry that are in because of their passion end up leaving bigger businesses because of irreconcilable differences and start their own indie business later down the road.

That being said, you'll probably need industry experience at some point, if only to compare your way of doing things with the industry standards and see where you might err, and where they might.

Again, everyone thanks so much for the input. I want you all to know that your advice, comments, and experience isn't falling on deaf ears. I'm seriously listening and trying to take in everything being said.

Perhaps you've a good point about trying the industry out via indie projects instead of jumping right in.

so i've a few more questions then:

First, in the broader view of the industry, which jobs are highest in demand? In architecture the industry is swinging over to new software called 'Revit' so having experience/skill with that program almost guarntees you a job. is there something similar to this in the gaming industry?

Second, how exactly does the indie scene work? A broad question I'm sure but a quick summary would help. Where should I focus my attention to if I were to try and make an impact there?

First, in the broader view of the industry, which jobs are highest in demand? In architecture the industry is swinging over to new software called 'Revit' so having experience/skill with that program almost guarntees you a job. is there something similar to this in the gaming industry?

Programmers are always the highest in demand, There's usually anywhere around 4-10 programmers per designer and maybe 1-3 artists.