Trying to get back into this as a career, but I have a few questions now. Help?

Silver Chaos

I went to the Art Institute of California - San Diego for Game Art and Design but had to leave in 2011 due to personal problems.  I would love to go back but unfortunately don't have the money, nor do I have my old networking contacts anymore.

I just recently (FINALLY) got a new computer, and wound up buying Clip Studio Pro and a new Wacom tablet, but...now everything is subscription based.  Hence why I didn't get Photoshop instead.

What 3d modeling/software should I work towards getting?  What game engine?  Back in school I was familiar with Max, some Maya, and kinda sorta Zbrush, and took level design courses using Unreal.  Found myself being mostly interested in animation, sfx, and cinematography, as well as general character design and story writing.

Also How do most companies feel about fangames?  Would I get in trouble if I made, say, a Digimon fangame as a project to practice game design with?  

Do any companies do entry level positions or am I out of luck due to no network?  

Would I be better off trying to do an indie stuff instead of trying to get into the industry proper, considering I remember most places wanting like 6-8 years experience prior to hire?

please help.  Really want to go back to this stuff but starting from scratch is...discouraging.

Stuart Campbell

What is that you really want to do? Do you have a specific role in mind?

I find most people starting out jump around trying a bit of everything and this is where it gets overwhelming and feels like an impossible task. Its much better to choose one area and get really focused on that first. 

Silver Chaos

Stuart Campbell said:

What is that you really want to do? Do you have a specific role in mind?

I find most people starting out jump around trying a bit of everything and this is where it gets overwhelming and feels like an impossible task. Its much better to choose one area and get really focused on that first. 

well back then and since I've found that what I enjoyed the most was the more dynamic stuff.  Animation, cinematography, special effects, as well as character designs and storytelling/writing.  Like my "role model" game companies right now are Cyberconnect2 and Platinum Games.

Does that help explain it a bit or does that still sound too vague/generalized for me to work with?

Stuart Campbell

Its still a bit vague tbh. Each one of the items you list is a different discipline. You could specialise in any one of these but not all of them at the same time. There are no roles in the industry for someone that ticks this combination of boxes.

When you are starting out, you will have a much better chance if you can narrow your choice to one and then really learn that.

Ged

smaller studios might need someone who can do a lot of things, characters, vehicles, backgrounds vfx, animation etc but its rare that anyone is actually genuinely excellent at all those things. It is far easier to concentrate on leveling up one set of skills and make youreself employable eg stick to your animation and cinematography or instead stick to just nailing awesome specail effects, or instead be an amazing character concept artist/designer. It takes years to get genuinely excellent at any of these disciplines.

Silver Chaos

Ged said:

smaller studios might need someone who can do a lot of things, characters, vehicles, backgrounds vfx, animation etc but its rare that anyone is actually genuinely excellent at all those things. It is far easier to concentrate on leveling up one set of skills and make youreself employable eg stick to your animation and cinematography or instead stick to just nailing awesome specail effects, or instead be an amazing character concept artist/designer. It takes years to get genuinely excellent at any of these disciplines.

Okay, so what programs would you suggest I practice on?  All I can do is get a 30 day trial (I don't have a spare 3-600 dollars a month for the subscription fees) at the moment and I basically have to teach myself everything from scratch).

Like would Maya or Max be better for animation, camera work and special effects?

Silver Chaos

Tidal Blast said:

If you want to do everything. You'll fail hard. Avoid that. You'll need to focus on getting good at one thing to then get a job. That will give you an income, experience and then more time to work on other skills if you still want to do that. If you want to get into 3D animation more than the rest, maybe you can focus on that. For that, you might want to focus on using Maya.

What I don't like about that is that it can be an unstable industry. I think it's wise to do a job that isn't limited to games or films, like programming or 3D modeling.

well i don't have hundreds of dollars to spare on 3d programs so I guess i'm stuck focusing on basic drawing stuff since all I have is Clip Studio Pro.  Being broke is so much fun! frustrating catch22 haha. gotta spend money to make money.

I can't do programming to save my life, unfortunately, and don't have any way to practice 3d modeling at the moment.

RyanB

If you have a school email account, you can get free versions of all Autodesk products.

More free programs:
Blender
Houdini
Nuke
Krita
Xnormal
Krita

Lots of other programs you can get for really cheap around Christmas on Steam (Substance, 3DCoat, etc.)

You can also get free training from various sites.

Silver Chaos

RyanB said:

If you have a school email account, you can get free versions of all Autodesk products.

More free programs:
Blender
Houdini
Nuke
Krita
Xnormal
Krita

Lots of other programs you can get for really cheap around Christmas on Steam (Substance, 3DCoat, etc.)

You can also get free training from various sites.

THAT helps a lot, thank you!  I'll look those up when I get home.