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cubytes
Up and Coming
May 4, 2014
Question

I am an aspiring Game Designer :)

Hey Forum,

A bit of soul searching.....

Personally I consider myself to be a very creative mofo :) I am an idea guy and right now (for the time being) that is all I am really good at. Sure ideas may be cheap... I get that. This is the whole reason I am soul searching in the first place. In the past I have been written off as a troll from many forums, because my pure creative enthusiasm completely lacked the insight and wisdom that I have now.

just google search for "cubytes" you will see what I am talking about. But know that some of my past idea posts are a bit far fetched and completely lack insight and consideration; which is kind of embarrassing....

As an idea guy I don't just conceptualize obvious ideas/features anymore like I used too. I conceptualize experiments with a keen eye on the big picture. I back up my ideas with lots and lots of consideration and thought processing before I even share them with you (which is what I failed to do in the past).

Honestly the whole reason why I love being a part of this forum is that for the most part you guys have embraced my creativity and haven't completely chased me off. And I greatly appreciate that. For the time being I will continue to check this forum regularly. I am always on the look-out for new insights and ideas to add to my repertoire.

I am certainty capable of conceptualizing my own ideas from scratch, but my expertise is that of organizing ideas into something amazing. I am also skilled at taking someone else's idea and running with it as far as I possibly can. Then just work my way back to the present keeping only the key insights and use that to base my ideas on.

As of right now I am probably not cut out to be a game developer/designer/creative director. At least not in the short term that is and most certainly not on my own. I would need a mentor.

I had thought If I could just get my foot in the door on some ambitious VR project, my work ethic, positive attitude, and pure creative enthusiasm would take care of the rest. But who would hire me considering I lack the skills?

On the flip side, I'd had hoped I could get started on something, and inspire a team to help me build it so I could just learn as I go. But I realize that is nothing but a pipe-dream now. For how am I to convince someone (or recruit a team) to work on something with me... when I myself don't have the expertise, necessary tools nor the funds required to afford such an endeavor?

    47 replies

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    Twitchmonkey
    Up and Coming
    June 27, 2014
    I think the going to school thing is a big load of nonsense. If you start working on projects and release good stuff you can get a job in the field, or just go the indie route and put your work up on Kickstarter. School is one way to learn the necessary skills, but you still have to put in the time to hone those skills. Results may vary and I'm sure some schools are good, but I went to an art school and spent a good chunk of money and learned very little of value in an outdated curriculum. I've learned a lot more and gotten a lot more proficient just putting in the time and making use of the tools and education that is freely available online. It's debatable whether you even want to work in the major games industry, why be a little cog contributing to some small part of making Call of Duty 57 when you can be a major force in making games you're passionate about and get your funding directly from the people that are passionate about your work?
    renderingpipeli
    Up and Coming
    June 27, 2014
    "dboxvr" wrote:
    You can download Photoshop CS2 from the adobe website, do a Google search if you can't find it. It's old, but it will work for what you will be needing it for in the near future.


    Better go with GIMP if you don't want to spend money as the CS2 version still requires you to have a license, Adobe made it clear that this is not a free download.
    cubytesAuthor
    Up and Coming
    June 27, 2014
    "dboxvr" wrote:
    Hey Cubytes, I've read enough to see what's going on here, but I haven't read everything so if someone has said this already, sorry for the repeat. I'm also an aspiring game designer who is just starting out. School isn't an option for me right now because I have two kids, a wife, no money and I don't live anywhere near a school that offers a game design program so I would have to move. This will not always be the case and someday I will go to school for this (I hope.) In the meantime I'm doing what I can to learn on my own. There are all kinds of ways to learn things without going to school and they don't cost anything. Keep your expectations realistic and give yourself a lot of time and you may just reach your dream.
    I'm trying to learn everything. That may prove to be stupid, but I'm brand new so I'm allowed to make mistakes. First of all, download Unity Free Version. Then download Blender. You can download Photoshop CS2 from the adobe website, do a Google search if you can't find it. It's old, but it will work for what you will be needing it for in the near future. Then, start using Youtube to learn the programs. There are all kinds of tutorials. If you want to learn coding there are free sites like Khan Academy where you can learn javascript (the basics anyway) and some pay sites like Code Avengers, Team Treehouse, Lynda.com, or Gameinstitute.com. All of these will get you started down the path but the general consensus seems to be, you want to do this for a living you must go to school.


    Thanks for the feedback!

    The main reason I would go back to school at this point would be more for the social aspect then the curriculum itself. I am just one guy. I can't do everything by myself. Besides I work better in a team and I don't care if I am leading said team or not. Enrolling in Florida Tech is basically a decision I would make so I could wander the halls looking for a VR lab/group/club and if there isn't one I would endeavor to start one.

    that doesn't mean I would neglect my studies and get bad grades tho....

    I am an aspiring game designer :)

    but I am also an aspiring;
    -inventor/entrepreneur
    -GUI/UI designer
    -industrial designer

    honestly I am all over the map

    Speaking of which....

    Here lately I have been busy writing a screenplay and it is not something that I planned out either. It just sort of happened.

    but I guess that's how life is when you just kind of go with the flow of things.
    Peeling
    Up and Coming
    June 27, 2014
    The more you describe yourself, the more convinced I become that you should never, ever do anything that involves a team of other people.

    I have no idea if you're a natural polymath or just a congenital dabbler. I'd need to know what your accomplishments have been thus far (and I don't mean vanity projects, I mean successful commercial products/ideas). But your apparent lack of focus makes me cringe. I don't see an aspiring game designer here. Aspiring game designers are out there, right now, sweating over scripting languages and modelling tools, making stuff happen.

    Another word for 'going with the flow' is 'drifting'.
    cubytesAuthor
    Up and Coming
    June 27, 2014
    "Peeling" wrote:
    The more you describe yourself, the more convinced I become that you should never, ever do anything that involves a team of other people.

    I have no idea if you're a natural polymath or just a congenital dabbler. I'd need to know what your accomplishments have been thus far (and I don't mean vanity projects, I mean successful commercial products/ideas). But your apparent lack of focus makes me cringe. I don't see an aspiring game designer here. Aspiring game designers are out there, right now, sweating over scripting languages and modelling tools, making stuff happen.

    Another word for 'going with the flow' is 'drifting'.


    https://soundcloud.com/bassnectar/08-noise-ft-donnis?in=bassnectar/sets/noise-vs-beauty ;)
    theregoes2
    Up and Coming
    June 28, 2014
    "renderingpipeline" wrote:
    "dboxvr" wrote:
    You can download Photoshop CS2 from the adobe website, do a Google search if you can't find it. It's old, but it will work for what you will be needing it for in the near future.


    Better go with GIMP if you don't want to spend money as the CS2 version still requires you to have a license, Adobe made it clear that this is not a free download.



    Gimp is good if you can get it to work. I can't. But yeah, Adobe operates on the honor system that you have owned the program in the past.
    Ordered: June 4th Status: Strapped to my ugly mug ON, Canada
    theregoes2
    Up and Coming
    June 28, 2014
    "Twitchmonkey" wrote:
    I think the going to school thing is a big load of nonsense. If you start working on projects and release good stuff you can get a job in the field, or just go the indie route and put your work up on Kickstarter. School is one way to learn the necessary skills, but you still have to put in the time to hone those skills. Results may vary and I'm sure some schools are good, but I went to an art school and spent a good chunk of money and learned very little of value in an outdated curriculum. I've learned a lot more and gotten a lot more proficient just putting in the time and making use of the tools and education that is freely available online. It's debatable whether you even want to work in the major games industry, why be a little cog contributing to some small part of making Call of Duty 57 when you can be a major force in making games you're passionate about and get your funding directly from the people that are passionate about your work?


    That's encouraging. There certainly is no shortage of places to learn how to do it for free or at least very low cost. I have a game in my head that I want to make but I wouldn't mind the paycheck of working for a company either. Mind you, at the rate they are getting shut down, perhaps they aren't steady either.
    Ordered: June 4th Status: Strapped to my ugly mug ON, Canada
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