On 7/01/12 7:29 PM, Nick Sabalausky wrote:
IMO, Indie gamedev is really the only way to go if you want to make games.
All the way until college I was convinced I wanted to work for a major game
company. Then I started learning more about the nature of the industry at
the time (around 2000-2001), and that was also the point where the industry
itself was starting its slow descent into becoming into the
Hollywood-wannabe cesspool it mostly is today. ("Fuck actual gaming, we're
gonna be cinematic storytellers!" Too many Pixar rejects in the industry
now, I guess...Not to mention all the "packaged-goods" managers...)
Whether or not you'll enjoy the industry depends a lot on why you want
to be in it in the first place. If you want to be in because you enjoy
playing games and thinking up cool games to make then I think that's the
wrong reason. If you enjoy the technical challenges of producing a
finished, quality (software quality, not design quality) product then I
think you'll enjoy the industry more.
Of course, you should care about the overall quality of the product,
including its design, but as a programmer it shouldn't be your focus,
and it shouldn't be the reason you want to be in the industry.
Going indie is great too. Lots of good stuff happening there. I would
recommend that people work for a major studio first before going indie
though, because you'll learn a lot in a very short amount of time about
the reality of how games are made. It's a very instructive experience
even if it's not where you want to be.
