Yes, I have a dream. It's the only dream I've ever had, and that is to become a Game Director, much like Tom Hall.
I study at a school where I have to learn alot about computers, electronic stuff, programming and such, but it feels I'm drifting away from the world. Fading like a memory.
I study about 5 - 6 hours every single day after school, and I always go to bed when I'm done with the studying. At weekends I study too. It may not seem too much, but my life seems to dissappear. My friends have stoped calling me when there's something fun going on, becouse they know I can't participate becouse of studies. I quit my piano lessons becouse I need more time to study. I am also the keyboardist in a very serious band, and I want to be just as serious about it as the other members are, but I can't becouse all my free time goes to studying so I can't practice on our songs between our training sessions.
What should I do? I'm so tired of this, I feel like garg and I'm loosing all my friends. Is it worth doing all this? I might not even get to work as game director. Thus, it's not the programming I'm after. It's the ideas, the "creative part" so to say, which means my education isn't necessary because there is no way you can learn to make up good stories, sub-plots, plot-twists, cool gameplay, etc. It's something you've got inside you (I believe).
Any tip on what I should do?
Well, this might not be the right forum for this discussion, but it feels like PCKF is the only serious forum left. (Feel proud!)
I have a dream, but how far should I go?
A difficult question, yes. I don't think it's worth giving up the dream, especially if it's the most important one you have, or the only one. How long it's going to be like this? Studying won't last forever (I hope!). But do you think that 5-6 hours after school is absolutely necessary? As you said, you need plenty of creativity and that is something you can't get by studying (at least not much). Do you think you've got that? If you think you do, then you could take it a bit easier, and instead try to nurture that creativity on your too little spare time. At your age, I wouldn't give a garg about losing friends, those change many times during one's life anyway, and even if you tried to keep them they could abandon you in a few years, just as well. For all I can see, don't let something like that stand on your way. As for band, damn, can't say anything about that, as that would be quite important to me. But if you have to go on on your current pace, studying so much, perhaps giving the band up too is worth the main goal. If you never got to be a game director, and why couldn't you?, well, you could return to music then. This is perhaps not very helpful...
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
I'd say never ever put all your hopes in one single defined dream. I know they tell you this crap in shows like american idol, but if that one dream doesn't work then you end up with nothing. I'm not saying you should give up studying what you do, keep that up, and when you got your degree or whatever, it will reward your, I'm sure. But even though you might or might not be a game director. You can't tell now.
I'd say to study every day and also on weekends is bound to give you a nervous breakdown. Man needs some time for recreation, thats his nature. You got to reload your batteries from time to time, if you set some defined free time in your schedule, I think the time you study will feel less of a burden. And then maybe you could still play in your band if you like.
I agree with what KeenRush said about friends, unless you have them since you were 3, I wouldn't count on them staying with you no matter what.
All in all, I'd say don't give up, but be prepared that not everything will work as planned (dreamed) and be open for opportunities.
I know that sounded awfully cliche but I guess that's my opinion.
I'd say to study every day and also on weekends is bound to give you a nervous breakdown. Man needs some time for recreation, thats his nature. You got to reload your batteries from time to time, if you set some defined free time in your schedule, I think the time you study will feel less of a burden. And then maybe you could still play in your band if you like.
I agree with what KeenRush said about friends, unless you have them since you were 3, I wouldn't count on them staying with you no matter what.
All in all, I'd say don't give up, but be prepared that not everything will work as planned (dreamed) and be open for opportunities.
I know that sounded awfully cliche but I guess that's my opinion.
You crack me up little buddy!-
MortimerInBlack
- Vortininja
- Posts: 276
- Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 1:57
Here is what I have to say. First of all, you do not need perfect straight A's to be what you want to be. Of course, it does help. But the truth is ppl's job and salary are not determined only by their grades.
Something like Creative Director sounds like a leadership kinda job. If you want it, u have to be the kind of person who can lead, give ppl orders, etc. But perhaps I am wrong---maybe its just like story writer for movies or something.
To be honest, you will most likely not get the Creative Director position right away. It sounds to me like you are working for all the experience and criteria before you even get one programming job.
Instead, consider just getting a job for now, and working your way up. You'll get the experience and expertise on the job, instead of trying to do it all beforehand. And u'll get paid for it.
Also, do some games on your own, and release 'em one way or another. That will really help getting hired, when u can show them your work.
Something like Creative Director sounds like a leadership kinda job. If you want it, u have to be the kind of person who can lead, give ppl orders, etc. But perhaps I am wrong---maybe its just like story writer for movies or something.
To be honest, you will most likely not get the Creative Director position right away. It sounds to me like you are working for all the experience and criteria before you even get one programming job.
Instead, consider just getting a job for now, and working your way up. You'll get the experience and expertise on the job, instead of trying to do it all beforehand. And u'll get paid for it.
Also, do some games on your own, and release 'em one way or another. That will really help getting hired, when u can show them your work.
The Viking II lander actually did land on a 'rock' on Mars.
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/masterCa ... =1975-083C
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/masterCa ... =1975-083C
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Commander Spleen
- Lord of the Foobs
- Posts: 2384
- Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 22:54
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For starters, what kind of game do you want to direct, and what exactly does 'direct' mean to you?
As MiB says, grades will not define you. Many great and influential people didn't do well in school. I also second tulip's comment that you seem to be following a recipe for a nervous breakdown (though many great people have had those too!
)
I had a similar dream to be a game developer (and still do). But my definition covers pretty much everything in the game except music. Honestly, I found high school held me back severely, at least after the first year or two, and particuarly when I moved to a private school hoping to learn more things in relation to game develoment (quite the opposite happened). I was never one for homework, but always did well, until I was forced to spend several hours after school at the boarding house doing the assignments I was given, then I stopped learning and was overcome with anxiety and depression. Of course, the geniuses in charge just thought I was on drugs.
In the end I had to recover from school before I could really pursue my interests. I finished school in 2002, and it was only in 2004 that I really managed to start putting the game development dream into action. I've had to learn and practice a hell of a lot over the years to develop the skills, and while I have a number of projects that are coming a long, there's still a lot more I need to figure out before they'll be ready.
Of course, one of the things that has made my path a lot more difficult is that I choose to program cross-platform software, as I really do not like Windows and only use it when I must. All the games that come out these days force me to use it, and I want to make a contribution for those of us who don't want to put up with that. It took a lot of research and experimentation to forge the way and decide which compiler, libraries and so on to use, and a lot of time was spent learning and migrating to Linux, but it has been worth it so far despite my projects not having seen the light of day as yet.
As for the band, I would highly recommend following that as well. It sounds like you've got some skill there, and it would be a pity for that to go to waste. Maybe you could make a good income from that and use the freedom and resources it provides you to push your game development ahead. Being able to catch up with your friends is important, too. All the success in the world won't add up to a solid social and family life. It doesn't matter if friends come and go, that's just life. It's the stories that you create with them that are important, just like making a game. "Studied for 18 hours a day, made some games and died," doesn't sound like a terribly amusing game to me.
As MiB says, grades will not define you. Many great and influential people didn't do well in school. I also second tulip's comment that you seem to be following a recipe for a nervous breakdown (though many great people have had those too!
) I had a similar dream to be a game developer (and still do). But my definition covers pretty much everything in the game except music. Honestly, I found high school held me back severely, at least after the first year or two, and particuarly when I moved to a private school hoping to learn more things in relation to game develoment (quite the opposite happened). I was never one for homework, but always did well, until I was forced to spend several hours after school at the boarding house doing the assignments I was given, then I stopped learning and was overcome with anxiety and depression. Of course, the geniuses in charge just thought I was on drugs.
In the end I had to recover from school before I could really pursue my interests. I finished school in 2002, and it was only in 2004 that I really managed to start putting the game development dream into action. I've had to learn and practice a hell of a lot over the years to develop the skills, and while I have a number of projects that are coming a long, there's still a lot more I need to figure out before they'll be ready.
Of course, one of the things that has made my path a lot more difficult is that I choose to program cross-platform software, as I really do not like Windows and only use it when I must. All the games that come out these days force me to use it, and I want to make a contribution for those of us who don't want to put up with that. It took a lot of research and experimentation to forge the way and decide which compiler, libraries and so on to use, and a lot of time was spent learning and migrating to Linux, but it has been worth it so far despite my projects not having seen the light of day as yet.
As for the band, I would highly recommend following that as well. It sounds like you've got some skill there, and it would be a pity for that to go to waste. Maybe you could make a good income from that and use the freedom and resources it provides you to push your game development ahead. Being able to catch up with your friends is important, too. All the success in the world won't add up to a solid social and family life. It doesn't matter if friends come and go, that's just life. It's the stories that you create with them that are important, just like making a game. "Studied for 18 hours a day, made some games and died," doesn't sound like a terribly amusing game to me.
First of: Thank you for your kind words everyone! I'll take everything you said into consideration. I might try to take it a bit easy with all the studying.
Maybe you're right about that thing with friends.. But it's gonna be hard since I "value them" so much..
Well.. Tulip, I've actually tried to find other things I want to do. But it simply won't work. I've wanted to make games since I was 3 - 4 years old (That was when my dad showed me Commander Keen for the first time) and I simply cannot let the game-making dream go away.
Commander Spleen: Well, maybe the word "direct" wasn't the right one. (I'm a Swede! Be gentle). With "direct", I mean all the "creative parts" of the process. Much like writing a book. I want to create the story, the characters and everything like that. I think that the best games are those with great stories and a great feeling, and that the gaming industry focuses more on having great graphics and physics.
I want to create all kind of games. Everything from side-scrollers to RPG's and FPS games. I have alot of crazy and wonderful ideas.
About the band, I think I'll continue with it. I never thought of using the income for game making, so that sure inspired me.
Maybe you're right about that thing with friends.. But it's gonna be hard since I "value them" so much..
Well.. Tulip, I've actually tried to find other things I want to do. But it simply won't work. I've wanted to make games since I was 3 - 4 years old (That was when my dad showed me Commander Keen for the first time) and I simply cannot let the game-making dream go away.
Commander Spleen: Well, maybe the word "direct" wasn't the right one. (I'm a Swede! Be gentle). With "direct", I mean all the "creative parts" of the process. Much like writing a book. I want to create the story, the characters and everything like that. I think that the best games are those with great stories and a great feeling, and that the gaming industry focuses more on having great graphics and physics.
I want to create all kind of games. Everything from side-scrollers to RPG's and FPS games. I have alot of crazy and wonderful ideas.
About the band, I think I'll continue with it. I never thought of using the income for game making, so that sure inspired me.
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VikingBoyBilly
- Vorticon Elite
- Posts: 4158
- Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:06
- Location: The spaghetti island of the faces of dinosaur world for a vacation
Oh yes, I too share the game dev dream. But my experience with trying to pursue that professionally made me see the industry in a less glamourous light. I spent one year of college coupled with studying the fields of game design and software engineering. The classes sent me this message: The professional game industry is extremely cut-throat and competitive (much like capitalism XP) and when/if I got a job I'd just be another number in the system for years and years to come, doing bottom-of-the-barrel gruntwork for peanuts, and if I ever scratched my way up to the position where I'd really have the power to execute those dreams, by then I'd be corrupt and all the crazy technology and time-crunching would force me to make drastic compromises in my visions.
The next year, I pretty much dropped game design and dived full-force back into software engineering, hoping that I can end up with a job I can make a halfway-decent living from. Game development isn't my only ambition. I'm also obsessed with archaeology, anthropology, mythology, diverse cultures, etc. and it makes me wonder if I should have chosen the path of a historian or anthropologist. But I pretty much fill out that enjoyment from researching this stuff on my own, I don't need to make a career of it to be an expert. Likewise, the game design dream is not dead, and I feel like I'm at the point where I can research that independendtly. Actually, I've been hard at work on something for quite a few years.
It runs on the gzdoom sourceport engine and uses 2D graphics, but it's true to my vision and I wouldn't have it any other way (heh, I'd also like to make a keen episode with this but it's still very rudimentary at the moment.
) I'd also like to work with DirectX to try to make a 2D sidescroller someday. All of this is quite retro and none of it is at the height of these new-age games with their fancy cell-shading and orchestrated musical scores, but lemme tell ya, the Keen fangames made by members of this community are by far superior to all that eye-candy the corporations are spoon-feeding the kids these days. I feel sad for those kids for not being born ten years earlier 
But most important, if you have the creative juices and come up with amazing storylines but other people do the majority of the artwork and programming, you can't really call it "your" game. That's why I feel a bigwig director title would ruin me, cuz it's all about this massive production line of workers instead of a small team of three or four making awesome titles like it was in the good ol days. I like to get my hands dirty. I want to feel the passion, the sweat, the tears, and bleed from beating myself into the ground by pouring as much as I can into it with my own hands, and see it all finally pay off when I've completed a masterpiece. Not that I'd want to be strictly alone, but if I ever work with people, I want it to be a close bond where I'm sure what we do would be at the height of fun and excellence. I want all my creations to be freeware (I'd make my income from other jobs), probably hosted on my own site somewhere for posterity (but people would be free to make "donations" if they support what I'm doing that much
) I'm really really hoping (and trying) to finish a beta this year. It seems possible and likely, but I've been telling myself that for about 4 years now 
Man, that post rambled on much longer than I wanted it to. I apologize for the giant wall of text but hope you'll glean any sort of value from it
The next year, I pretty much dropped game design and dived full-force back into software engineering, hoping that I can end up with a job I can make a halfway-decent living from. Game development isn't my only ambition. I'm also obsessed with archaeology, anthropology, mythology, diverse cultures, etc. and it makes me wonder if I should have chosen the path of a historian or anthropologist. But I pretty much fill out that enjoyment from researching this stuff on my own, I don't need to make a career of it to be an expert. Likewise, the game design dream is not dead, and I feel like I'm at the point where I can research that independendtly. Actually, I've been hard at work on something for quite a few years.
It runs on the gzdoom sourceport engine and uses 2D graphics, but it's true to my vision and I wouldn't have it any other way (heh, I'd also like to make a keen episode with this but it's still very rudimentary at the moment.
) I'd also like to work with DirectX to try to make a 2D sidescroller someday. All of this is quite retro and none of it is at the height of these new-age games with their fancy cell-shading and orchestrated musical scores, but lemme tell ya, the Keen fangames made by members of this community are by far superior to all that eye-candy the corporations are spoon-feeding the kids these days. I feel sad for those kids for not being born ten years earlier But most important, if you have the creative juices and come up with amazing storylines but other people do the majority of the artwork and programming, you can't really call it "your" game. That's why I feel a bigwig director title would ruin me, cuz it's all about this massive production line of workers instead of a small team of three or four making awesome titles like it was in the good ol days. I like to get my hands dirty. I want to feel the passion, the sweat, the tears, and bleed from beating myself into the ground by pouring as much as I can into it with my own hands, and see it all finally pay off when I've completed a masterpiece. Not that I'd want to be strictly alone, but if I ever work with people, I want it to be a close bond where I'm sure what we do would be at the height of fun and excellence. I want all my creations to be freeware (I'd make my income from other jobs), probably hosted on my own site somewhere for posterity (but people would be free to make "donations" if they support what I'm doing that much
) I'm really really hoping (and trying) to finish a beta this year. It seems possible and likely, but I've been telling myself that for about 4 years now Man, that post rambled on much longer than I wanted it to. I apologize for the giant wall of text but hope you'll glean any sort of value from it
"I don't trust players. Not one bit." - Levellass
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MortimerInBlack
- Vortininja
- Posts: 276
- Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 1:57
Wow it seems everyone here wants to be a game maker.
You do not have to join the big game companies to make money. You could put together a small team and do something good. If u think you have a great idea for a game, then go for it.
But if u do that, u have to know everything about everything else besides just programming. U have to know how to market ur product, protect it from piracy, etc.
Anyway, good luck Zidane
You do not have to join the big game companies to make money. You could put together a small team and do something good. If u think you have a great idea for a game, then go for it.
But if u do that, u have to know everything about everything else besides just programming. U have to know how to market ur product, protect it from piracy, etc.
Anyway, good luck Zidane
The Viking II lander actually did land on a 'rock' on Mars.
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/masterCa ... =1975-083C
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/masterCa ... =1975-083C
Well, I also was considering being an independent game developer 
.
But I've been too lazy and now I've got a totally not game related job. You may try to find out which thing you like to do most. For example coding, drawing, composing, modeling etc. I was trying coding at first, but found it takes too much time and I don't have the nerve to do all those codes and bug fixes. So much with the coding. I tried composing music, but felt miserably and I wasn't that interested either. So much with composing. I tried drawing, photo editing, etc and level editing. Now that suits me. If I try to be more serious in developing business, it most probably will be with drawing and level editing.
On the other hand... creativity won't come if you put too much effort in working. So, yes, get a life more frequently. Doing this will have more benefits over the time, you'll see. Eventually, doing "directing a game" job or developing for money won't let you have much free time, so now is the time for free time.
.But I've been too lazy and now I've got a totally not game related job. You may try to find out which thing you like to do most. For example coding, drawing, composing, modeling etc. I was trying coding at first, but found it takes too much time and I don't have the nerve to do all those codes and bug fixes. So much with the coding. I tried composing music, but felt miserably and I wasn't that interested either. So much with composing. I tried drawing, photo editing, etc and level editing. Now that suits me. If I try to be more serious in developing business, it most probably will be with drawing and level editing.
On the other hand... creativity won't come if you put too much effort in working. So, yes, get a life more frequently. Doing this will have more benefits over the time, you'll see. Eventually, doing "directing a game" job or developing for money won't let you have much free time, so now is the time for free time
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grafix
- Chilling in Crystalus
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- Contact:
If you really want to become a game director, I'd advise the independent route. Slow down massively with the studying - 5 to 6 hours a day on top of school is unhealthy. Get a part-time job and build up some savings. At the same time, try building your own games. Since you have an obvious skill (being a musician) it'll be easier to persuade other people to join your team. Then build your own games the way you want to, advertise and sell them yourself online (or on Steam, if you're lucky). Maybe someday you'll become famous and get offered a big job making someone else's games. Look at Introversion, for example.
Thank you everyone for everything!
I've decided to change school into another one with which is more targeted into music.
However, I will still aim for the Game-designer jobb... It feels like it's something I've got to do. If I fail, I'll try to use my creativity in the world of movies. Hah. Call me pathetic, but... Well. It's what I want to do.
Once again, thank you!
I've decided to change school into another one with which is more targeted into music.
However, I will still aim for the Game-designer jobb... It feels like it's something I've got to do. If I fail, I'll try to use my creativity in the world of movies. Hah. Call me pathetic, but... Well. It's what I want to do.
Once again, thank you!