I’ve received all kinds of answers from both there and from people I know in real life.
Trying to narrow that question down to pure productivity / ability to work in a team here in this thread, here’s the question I’m asking : what truly makes a professional game programmer different from an experienced “amateur”, as in someone who’s never had a true paid job but that has worked on personal projects and perhaps a few team projects, say for game jams or whatnot. After all these years of self tutoring, and paying for online courses on programming, 3D art… and a year of study, I fail to find true meaning when some people tell me “you don’t have the level to start working now !”.
So here you go, just post your thoughts, what you think makes you (a pro or an amateur as I describred) different from the other category, other of course than the obvious elements such as getting paid, or working in a large team and all the other common working-in-a-company stuff you could hear from anyone who’s been paid a salary once in their life. I’m more interested in actual productivity, knowledge…
I think only a lucky few if even get to do what they want when they want and still make money. I have been my own boss. My boss at the time was a slave driver.
I think everyone is a bit of each. You never stop learning (student), you probably make a mistake once in a while (amateur), you probably have some specific area you’re pretty good at (pro), you enjoy what you’re doing, or at least enjoyed it a long time ago (hobbyist).
People that have a lot of the pro-element, tend to have less of the hobbyist-element since they do what they for a living, and things get serious. Having the amateur-element is inevitable, and having the student-element is a good thing to have.
“Pro. Hobbyist. Amateur. Student. Long ago, the four types of developers lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the bugs attacked. Only the true Certified Unity Developer, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Certified Unity Developer, an indie-developer named Unity-Chan. And although his coding skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he’s ready to save anyone. But I believe Unity-Chan can save the world.”
If I had to sum up the difference in mindset in one sentence it’d probably look a lot like this: A pro does what they need to do, an amateur does what they want to do.
On this, noone in games is going to hold your hand and say ‘You are ready for this job now’*. You have to claim you are ready yourself, and go out and take the job. Game dev has far more people willing and able to do the work then there is work to be done. So you need to create your own opportunities.
Another interesting difference from chemical engineering.
There are alternatives. I find that if I indulge my wife in her waste of time hobbies, she is more likely to indulge me in my waste of time hobbies.
Although if I am being honest her hobbies have generated slightly more income then mine. But neither of us are anywhere near close enough to financially viable for the time investment.
Hard skills are actually a small part of your value to a venture. How you apply those in a team environment given real world concerns like deadlines. Learning to make smart decisions. Learning what the difference is between an effective and not so effective team.
The game industry is very competitive as has been pointed out.
The better route is you go work for someone else for at least 5 years. Get a clear picture of what’s actually involved.
Do you even have anything specific? If not it’s a fools errand.
I got my start co founding a company. Never finished college. But that was a right time/place kind of thing where I was propositioned and had an opportunity knocking at the door. If you get one of those, that’s another story. But if your reason is you just want to start making games, don’t do it.
This is pretty much the best answer so far. Regardless of your qualifications or work quality if you do it professionally then you most likely are doing what someone else wants you to do. To be picky, the indie does what he wants professionally, but toward the end of a project virtually no one is doing what they want to do.
It’s just worth noting that in most cases there is a vast chasm of difference in skill level between pro and amateur, because it’s very rare that someone can afford to work on something for many years without getting paid.
A pro can specialize in one area for 10 years and be a true expert, while also learning and working with other serious experts.
It is very hard for someone to match that skill level as an amateur since like, everyone needs to pay the rent and stuff.
“Indie” is kind of a meaningless term, as it doesn’t accurately or definitively describe a person/studio or product, at least in any way that matters.
Pro and amatuer are just two ends of a spectrum. You make a living doing it or not (yet). Though yes, typically it there is a correlation between that and skill level.
As to “doing what you want”, that really only applies the amature level, usually if at all. The higher you progress professionally, the more likely you are doing exactly what you want. And it also important to understand that not everyone has the same wants or desires. Someone can being doing exactly what they want, even if it is a game/genre they don’t particularly like or whatever. Highly specialized engineers often fall into that area. For me, (though I love my current games), my passion falls in the area of polish/ux/experience. I love taking something and making it more awesomer or making a better experience for the player. It doesn’t really matter to me what type of game it is, only that i can provide a better experience. I am good at it, and as such, I get hired to do exactly that. So, 90ish% of the time I am doing exactly what I what I want. Certainly not so earlier in my career, but I have progressed to that level. I have a buddy who is the lead concept artist on a pretty well known fantasy game. He was hired because (besides the fact that he is just one of the best in the industry) his style is exactly what they wanted for the game. He is doing exactly what he wants, because he was hired to do exactly that. Many roles up and down the spectrum are like that. Unicorns are moreso, but usually all folks are hired because they are specifically good at something a studio needs.
The reality is that the game industry is highly competitive and is made up of a ton of diverse roles and skill sets. You almost never find someone working (non-entry level) professionally who isn’t doing exactly what they want. No one is punching the clock or doing stuff they don’t want (at least not for very long) If they aren’t passionate about what they are doing, they aren’t going to be great at it, and will be someone who is. I have worked with passionate riggers, animators, UI, FX, UX, artists of all types and engineers of all types. Another friend of mine is a numbers/economies geek, and excellent at it. He could care less what the game is as long as it has a complex economy to design. The trick/magic is when you get a well balanced team who match/compliment all the required areas.
(Note: the above excludes producers. Though there are passionate best in class producers for sure, there are also ones who are not or who are tourists.)
