Love the craft or it’ll eat you alive.
So much of game development in the last decade has been COVERED in this goo like quicksand mess of fame, money and the need for validation. It’s genuinely tainting the aspiring game devs views because we spend so much time giving that the do or die model where your life changes or you failed.
What are we doing? lol
If you are here to make a game that will buy your parents a house, pay off all your debts, and stand on stage at the game awards accepting something, you are most likely going to end up depressed.
Video games is art. We get it. Creatives often want or “need” 1 of these 3 things. We get it. Yes there are one offs that really make the game pop and change their entire lives. We get it.
But at what point do we acknowledge most if not all of the games you know and love were made by folk who (for lack of better term) quite literally love the craft of game development. The literal process. The real deal shit that fuels you to see it through the end. With that comes sacrifice, we’ve all seen and heard the stories time and time and time again. But we only acknowledge the end result and not the mental fortitude to find the love in the process and the will to go all the way.
You (need) to love doing this. I cannot emphasize that enough. You have to be inspired/passionate about the work itself, literally. Motivation at the start will die at the 2nd failed prototype 6 months in. Now “game dev is hard”. It’s been hard for 30 years.
Game development is the pretty Rollercoasters name that looks nice all lit up and has a long line.
Andddddsddd it does NOT give a fuck if you enjoyed the ride or not at the end nor does the park owners (industry).
Find beauty in the ride itself. Love and learn from the thrills and literally the nights of tears lol it’s a lesson to be had in all that. I feel like we are losing the core of what we really had at the start of all this.
Because if not, as a director at my last studio said “see ya never”.