what to do?

Lee3dee

If someone were to leave the gaming industry as an artist and goto a different industry say simulations would they have a harder time getting back into the gaming industry as an artist down the road, say in 1-2 years? Would this hurt their chances down the road to make next-gen games again?

Asking for a friend, what are you thoughts?

Richard Kain

I don't think it would be hard to get back in. If you've already got experience working in games, that's usually what most companies are concerned with. It's true that you will probably be a tad behind the times in terms of what's expected. But that is always true in the games industry, and it isn't that hard to catch up. Besides, traditional art skills never really go stale. I wouldn't worry about it. You should be able to hop right back on. You might need to take a slight pay cut so that your employer can catch you up a bit, but nothing too serious.

You probably have to worry more about whether or not you're going to want to get back into games. What I hear from most people in the inustry is that once they leave, they never really feel the need to return. The job you get making simulations will probably be less stressful, and may actually pay better. A few years of that and you run the risk of being comfortable and satisfied with your new profession. If that happens, I hope you will at least continue working on game-related material for fun.

sonic

As long as he keeps up with the gaming news and does a little bit of game work on the side I'd say he's fine.

Prs-Phil

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As long as he keeps up with the gaming news and does a little bit of game work on the side I'd say he's fine.

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agreed, once you've acquired a standard to keep it should not be to hard to maintain, unless the artistic demands rise that drastically, which as you can guess, they won't, you should be fine and the rest is staying knowledgeably informed

3DRT

If you have a talent, nothing can stop you to jump back and force wherever you want.

Joshua Stubbles

I haven't made any production art in about a year and a half now. Been doing nothing but scripting on slot machine games.

But I still get emails from game studios, looking to hire. As others have said, as long as you keep up with things, there's always a way back in.

If anything, doing something a bit more expanded will increase your chances of being re-hired, as your skillset has increased.