State of the Industry: Why you should or should not give up.
polycounter lvl 18
I thought maybe a thread on the positives of this career might be in order to help us all feel a little better, and possibly keep us from attacking one another. As there seems to be so much glum about the layoffs, all the new people trying to enter, and all the veterans jobless. While the shift to hire is to elsewhere.
So.
A: What positive keeps you in this career or wanted career? Even with all the doom and gloom.
Me: The idea of creating new worlds and people from nothing. To giving people an experience they can enjoy and/or take a lesson from.
B: What do you do to overcome the negatives?
Me: The idea that there will always be smaller shops and indies. That not every place will have this faceless management who can't sympathize with their employees beyond the profit margin. That eventually, these other nations will demand better living conditions and government that will equal out with the rest of the world.
So.
A: What positive keeps you in this career or wanted career? Even with all the doom and gloom.
Me: The idea of creating new worlds and people from nothing. To giving people an experience they can enjoy and/or take a lesson from.
B: What do you do to overcome the negatives?
Me: The idea that there will always be smaller shops and indies. That not every place will have this faceless management who can't sympathize with their employees beyond the profit margin. That eventually, these other nations will demand better living conditions and government that will equal out with the rest of the world.
Replies
I'm not in the business (fortunately? unfortunately?) but I can say that everyone here has the strong admiration of someone who is still working a 9 to 5 in an office taking tech support calls.
I love the creative aspect of the job. To be able to create something from my imagination and then to be able to interact with it, this never gets old for me.
I love to solve problems both technically and artistically for myself and others. Each new piece of work will have it's own unique solution to it's own unique problems.
I also enjoy the challenge of perfecting and learning the skills involved with doing this work. It turns into a sort of personal growth thing where when you put in enough effort you witness yourself getting better as time goes on.
B: What do you do to overcome the negatives?
This question is tough to answer. Having been more or less unemployed for some time now it's definitely a struggle.
Some days I just try to get excited about learning or making something new.
Sometimes I find inspiration from other peoples work and success and become motivated to do the same.
Or I imagine myself in the future with lots of success, where everything has worked out for the better.
I also look forward to working with a good team again this drives me as much as anything else. Working from home has some advantages but I miss the camaraderie of working with other people.
(seriously, one morning at the daily scrum meeting i looked down and noticed that no one in the circle was wearing shoes, including my boss)
The aim to make lives better by making them smile or relax, think or escape.
The personal gain I receive is my motivation. There is a lot the career has to offer me, which makes all of the effort I put into it, worth it. I work hard to work harder, so I can support myself, learn, and grow. The work is extremely rewarding from any other type of work I've done.
Regarding the doom and gloom, there isn't much one can do about that. Times are hard, and people will complain and moan. You simply choose to rattle your own thoughts or listen to the complaints or stay busy.
B: What do you do to overcome the negatives?
I just hang in there, stubbornly. Try to be productive. Wait for something to come my way. Complain if I feel like it, pretty much do whatever's natural.
- well, I don't know anything else - seriously. I'd be totally lost in a normal office job. Filling out forms and paperwork'n'crap...screw this.
- I like having a job where it's easy to see the world and not just as tourist. I lived in the US, England, Norway and now China. It's an incredible experience to expand your horizon, get inspiration and grow as person
- I like needing no excuse to play games :P (hey I'm doing research here! now let me finish this level!)
- I never really grew up I think, so games is the perfect job
- I technical artist I got to work with technical people, artists, etc. having different problems all the time. I like this variety.
B:
- heck I'm China right now! How awesome is that?!
On bad days I just venture to some exciting location or I treat myself to a really good restaurant and I know it won't cost me an arm and a leg.
Or I just think of the poor sobs who still never made it out of my hometown. While they may be happy there right now, still just thinking about this makes me happy where I am and how far I've got.
Location actually plays a very important part for my overall happiness, because I try to have a life outside work
color be dumb for getting such a smile out of that but to really be able to pull a child out of a day to day life and make them feel a bit bigger was something that always made me smile as a small child.
And was a big driving force in me wanting to recreate that feeling in games years later.
And I will do that weither If I have to claw cry of bleed to get there. (which seems like it now days)
[ame]
This is the sort of people we make games for!
It's true that negativity wont take you anywhere, but you gotta stand for what you deserve. Not only game artists, vfx artists as well.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lee-stranahan/open-letter-to-james-came_b_451922.html
That, or jousting!
Did I sound so down beat like this years ago? Glad I wised up with that much.
Anyway that said This is hitting the realm of
"Polycount is not your blog" section of things....
Its always darkest before theres a ray of light, even if the only hope was a fools hope
lol are you maybe refering to drawing like jouste does? that would be a full time job for most haha
It's the best job in the world man. Even with all the extra work hours we have to put in, I don't mind it. At least for now. I work in a great company, on a great project with really talented people. And I walk to work with a smile on my face, every single day.
The feeling or personal grow is there every single day, I always learn something new both artistically and technical.
I can't see myself doing anything else right now, and just the thought of it frightens me. I love Level / Environment art, and the feeling of seeing an environment bloom in front of me is great.
B: What do you do to overcome the negatives?
I don't know man, I guess I do the same as everyone else do, get distracted by something you enjoy doing. Play game, watch movie, gather inspiration somewhere, go take a walk with your girlfriend, etc.
It's a fucked up industry for some people to work at, but It's a beautiful world we live in, seize it!
I guess I would ride into villages, recruiting squires, or if that fails, pull a Don Quixote and battle windmills for money.
no comments...
miserable on-topic bit: the key to conquering negative thoughts is jousting. and not only jousting them right off their imaginary thought-horses, but setting those imaginary horses free to graze on the green grasses grown from the decaying corpse of one's defeated pessimism.
also love, and sunshine. edit: literally.
actually to be honest, i don't want to joust ... really dangerous. I want to be paid to sit in the royal box and chew on a massive turkey leg
because even if some snot nosed kid says the game i make is shit, he still paid for it, so did his freinds and relatives.
and i don't live in some 3rd world country where everyone has aids and is dying of starvation.
Seriously? Making games, for money, I mean it's pretty sweet!
Do a reality check and remember that A is the case! I have worked many shitty jobs before I went this route and none were as satisfying or in tune with my nature. It's not just the art side of games which is so satisfying, it's the interactivity, the making of something people will put hours of their time into enjoying, it's awesome!
Mind you, my luck has been good so far (touch wood) so I may have a skewed viewpoint?
*cue guitar*
Thats depressing, its an albino cat, it'll have a ton of genetic defects, like easy sunburning and epilepsy or ADHD.
sometimes i think about changing industry but i'm getting old, and this is the only thing i really know at this point.
I'm glad I work in a small studio that is weathering the down turn pretty well. I'm glad I choose stablity over less pay and contracts at bigger named studios. I'm glad the job I do lets me do a lot of different things and use programs in ways I probably wouldn't be doing if I was working some place else.
B: What do you do to overcome the negatives?
There's a lot still to learn and it doesn't look like I will ever get to learn it all. I know that bums some people out but for me its great to know that it will never get stale. I've worked a few jobs that would have been good careers on paper but where not very challenging and had very little creative growth.
I'm happy I make games that not only encourage women to game, but also think.
That being said, I think we artists should allways cross train. I feel bad for guys who can only Model, and Don't want to learn how to texture. Or guys who Can model texture but can't be creative enough to make their own concept. The Triple threat in my opinion is a guy who Can Model , Texture (straight up paint) and Animate (at a professional level). A guy like that will allways be able to find work imo.
I tend to be chronically positive, so this isn't really my kind of thread
If you want to be established. Its a bit more complicated than just going to school. Its almost like medical school where your a underling for so many years until you reach full establishment.
I do it for fun, all my life I wanted a way to realize my visualizations, and when I found 3d, I found my medium for doing so. I get much more satisfaction from learning something new than I do from beating a game or playing a game. I'm not saying that working in 3d is always more fun than gaming, but at the end of the day, I feel much better about the day and about myself if I learned something than if I spent the whole day gaming.
I just graduated college, and I'm looking for a job, but I know that, for now, my portfolio isn't up to snuff for even an entry level position, so I keep the above mindset, do it for fun, let the job come in time. (meanwhile I work a shitty job to stay alive)
Also this is what it's going to feel like when I actually get a job:
You'll watch me hop on my pegasus, girl
10000 angels singing for me as I ride my pegasus through the city to the edge of the city and then out of the city and into the fields
Fields thick and strong like the beard that I'll grow
you'll watch as I ride through the night
You'll see, I'll set the night on fire with my burning heart and my glorious man beard
And everyone will love me and I'll be a man
I'll finally be a man.
If that isn't enough motivation to keep going, I don't know what will help you...
But seriously though, a quitting attitude is just going to make everything worse. There are 1000's of people who want it more than you, and they will more than likely get it if you stick with negativity.
That was my whole plan with this thread...
The upside is that the opportunities for small teams or individuals to make a living in indie development have improved greatly over the past few years. I'm seriously considering developing my own indie title using some of the fantastic tools that have been made available. I've managed to learn enough about game art and programming to actually put together a small title on my own. I'm even attending the GDC this year where I will pitch my wares and try to meet as many contacts as I can. (and maybe get some advice from people who have been where I am)
Times be tough, but I'm seeing more potential now than ever before. Very exciting changes are ahead.