Normally, I like to be informative and share something I’ve learned. And I’ll being doing that, but in a slightly different way. Today, I want to share my plan to get into the gaming industry. Feelings and emotions don’t get talked about too much in the game development world. (At least, not that I’ve seen so far.) At the end of the day, game developers are people, too. And lately, I’ve been experiencing a lot. I want to share what I’m thinking and how I’m feeling in hopes that others can relate (and possibly learn from my situation).
My Position
I’ve been making games for a little more than a year now. And they’re more just prototypes, rather than full games. My games aren’t great. I have a ton to learn.
But it’s important to be able to recognize progress. And I CAN recognize that I’m making good progress (my opinion, of course). Just compare these side-by-side images of my first and most recent game jam entries.
Left: Prisma | Play the original on Itch
Right: Shilo | Play the original on Itch | Read my Shilo post mortem
I have a full time career (not game development). I have a wife and 3 kids (all under 10). Right now, I focus on making games late at night or early in the morning when everyone else is still asleep.
I’m pretty sure most of you can probably relate to this. Substitute job for school, or maybe you don’t have a family you have to support. But most of you probably have limited time to work on your games.
My Goals
Ultimately, my goal is to run my own game development studio. We’d likely focus on the platformer/metroidvania genre (though occasionally experiment with others). My team would be a group I personally hand selected for their talent, passion for story-driven games, and the ability for me to learn from them. All of them would have a full time salary and would be able to support their families.
Realistically, that goal is pretty far away. I haven’t put out a “real” game or made any money. Right now, I think the better goal is just breaking into the game development industry as a career.
As much as I would like to just make the jump and try it, it isn’t realistic for me. I’m the sole breadwinner for our family. Without my full time career, my family suffers. I can’t risk that. And with a limited amount of time to develop games, that means I need to be much more focused on what I’m doing if I want to go in the right direction.
My Plan
To get into the gaming industry, I need to prove that I can provide value in some way. With what I’ve currently done, I don’t think anyone would hire me (even as a freelancer). Truthfully, I wouldn’t hire me.
So for the next few months, I’m going to focus on building up a small portfolio. And it doesn’t have to be big. Just enough to show quality and that I can do the job.
The skill I’m most confident in (and likely the most marketable) is game programming. And I think that’s the best place to start. I’ve already found a good project. I’m not fond of Unity’s autotile system and think it could be improved (especially setting up rule tiles manually). A template system would be useful for myself and (I think) other developers and artists.
Next, I want to showcase game programming within the context of an actual game. Since I want to focus on 2D platformers/metroidvanias, I think an interesting project would be a little sandbox environment where you pick up/swap abilities and just traverse the level. It would give me a fun little way to experiment and learn, while also showcasing that I can make player movements feel good. (Bonus, it acts as its own little library for future projects!)
Finally, I think it’s important to show that I can complete projects. And this is something that my focus on game jams has really hindered. I have no completed game. (Something I think a lot of game developers have trouble with.) So I’m going to complete my first game and release it to the world.
Conclusion
While your story my not be exactly the same, I’m sure most game developers can relate to this at some point in their career. Trying to make the switch and get into the gaming industry is incredibly scary to me. If I mess up, it’s my family that suffers. To try to counter that, I’m trying to achieve my goal in a very patient and methodical approach.
Ultimately, I think focusing my time on a marketable portfolio is a good move. It may not be exactly the right one for my goals. I don’t even know if I’m doing it the right way. But without knowing exactly how to get to my goals, it feels like its a good step in the right direction. And hopefully, it will be enough to get me into the gaming industry.
If you are currently going through something similar (or have in the past), I’d love to hear your thoughts. It’s important for game developers to be able to talk about their fears and insecurities just like anyone else. Share your story, give recommendations, or just give your thoughts on my plan in the comments below.
