I'm quiting my job to follow my dream

[SebastianJ]

Hi. Right now I am writing this from my 9-5 job which I do not hate, but it's not what I want to do. Today is my last day.

On Monday I start my journey towards my dreams. I will start college to become a Game Developer,which hopefully will give me the game knowledge to either start my own studio or get a job doing what I love.

Thanks for reading. Hope to see you all on here as often as possible!

 

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[ZCP]

Publish an app now. Do not wait. Do something WHILE going to school.

 

[SebastianJ]

Publish an app now. Do not wait. Do something WHILE going to school.

That's is what I've done for the Last 4 years.

I have a studio called Rojarstudios.se
https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Rojar+Studios

All those apps are 100% made by me.

The reason I want to go to college is to learn more and to network. Meet people like me.

Does that sound smart or should I just not go?

 

[shedim]

Hey SebastianJ,

your works looks awesome. I wish you nothing but the best on your future journey and hope you'll find your fastlane


I've got a couple of questions for you, since developing games/apps is something that always intrigued me:
Where/how did you learn to code? Books, courses?
How difficult is it to program an app all by yourself?
How long does it take to program a not too sophisticated game-app?

Thanks in advance!

 

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[SebastianJ]

Hey SebastianJ,

your works looks awesome. I wish you nothing but the best on your future journey and hope you'll find your fastlane


I've got a couple of questions for you, since developing games/apps is something that always intrigued me:
Where/how did you learn to code? Books, courses?
How difficult is it to program an app all by yourself?
How long does it take to program a not too sophisticated game-app?

Thanks in advance!

Hi! Thanks for all the kind words and the interest in my work.

I learned to code mainly from YouTube videos, watching others code and of course from my Co founder who has showed me a lot. Haven't used any books at all really.

It takes time when you are all alone doing it, since I have to do all art, design and programming. I think the first game I did (Fall Flappy fall) took 4 month of around 4-6 hours work per day. The other games are based on that one and only took around a month each.

That last question is tricky. Depends on what kind of app/game, how well made you want it to be, and how much you already know vs how much you need to learn to do it.

Hope that last paragraph makes sense

Feel free to ask me if you want to know something else.

 

[ZCP]

Knowledge is power. The friends and contacts you make will be very valuable. Spend a lot of time in the department and talking to professors. Go to grad student presentations. Get plugged in at the school.

 

[SebastianJ]

Knowledge is power. The friends and contacts you make will be very valuable. Spend a lot of time in the department and talking to professors. Go to grad student presentations. Get plugged in at the school.

Thanks for all your advice. I might even print some of them out.

I do plan on being in the school as much as I can. Hopefully get into a good relation with some of the professors.

Going to try and get as many contacts as I can, with people in my class and people around the campus.

Thanks again.

 

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[Luffy]

I wish you best of luck in your game developing future, hope to see you here often and maybe do a progress thread down the line.

 

[Deleted21961]

How difficult is it to program an app all by yourself?
How long does it take to program a not too sophisticated game-app?

With currently available for free game engines like UE4 or Unity, there were never better times to make games.
But programming a game is the easiest part... And even with all those graphics, animations, models, music and so on, it's still insane.
Because what's really hard is getting "fun factor" right.
And I myself found that even if you love to make games, if your taste is different than mainstream gamers prefer, it will be the same grind you are doing at any job.

I have sometimes felt like an artist who is painting the most beautiful thing in the world, just to cover it in the end with a layer of crap that will appeal to masses. This can be heart-breaking, if you treat it as passion, not business.

 

[SebastianJ]

I wish you best of luck in your game developing future, hope to see you here often and maybe do a progress thread down the line.

Thank you!

Yea i will surely do one when I feel I've progressed enough.

 

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[SebastianJ]

With currently available for free game engines like UE4 or Unity, there were never better times to make games.
But programming a game is the easiest part... And even with all those graphics, animations, models, music and so on, it's still insane.
Because what's really hard is getting "fun factor" right.
And I myself found that even if you love to make games, if your taste is different than mainstream gamers prefer, it will be the same grind you are doing at any job.

I have sometimes felt like an artist who is painting the most beautiful thing in the world, just to cover it in the end with a layer of crap that will appeal to masses. This can be heart-breaking, if you treat it as passion, not business.

So true. I will never do a game that I don't want to bring into the world. Games that I feel are missing. Hopefully I will one day do a game that people will love.

 

[Alxander]

I actually transferred from learning on college to working at a company and just work at a company and go to college 1 day per week.
I prefer it because the company teaches me way more about programming then on college..

Wishing you the best of luck, but remind yourself it's going to take a long time to even get your games recognized

 

[SebastianJ]

I actually transferred from learning on college to working at a company and just work at a company and go to college 1 day per week.
I prefer it because the company teaches me way more about programming then on college..

Wishing you the best of luck, but remind yourself it's going to take a long time to even get your games recognized

Hi! I hope you don't mind me asking but, what kind of company do you work with and how can you choose how many days you go to school? For us it's a fixed schedule with classes and seminars.

Yea getting noticed is really really hard!

 

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[Alxander]

Hi! I hope you don't mind me asking but, what kind of company do you work with and how can you choose how many days you go to school? For us it's a fixed schedule with classes and seminars.

Yea getting noticed is really really hard!

It's a cloud based software company. It removes the need of having an IT-Manager but I mainly program small things like an e-learning program for the colleagues. I have to go 4 days per week. It's in The Netherlands so I don't know if it's possible in the U.S. It's like the company is teaching me instead of the college itself.

 

[Imgal]

Great to have you here @Alxander and I totally agree with @ZCP about using this experience as much to build networks and contacts as to learn skills (which appear pretty awesome already!). Learning and developing skills is a great foundation, but being able to engage and learn from people doing it in the real world and coming up across those hurdles they don't teach you about in textbooks - that's invaluable.

The truth is I knew within a couple of months that a degree in Sports Therapy wasn't for me, but I knew my future, in part, would be involved in the fitness / sporting niche and so instead of just giving up and doing nothing for the year I networked the hell out of all the lecturers, professional and professional athletes and sports teams I got direct contact with, many of whom are still on hand to help me out whenever they can.

 

[SebastianJ]

It's a cloud based software company. It removes the need of having an IT-Manager but I mainly program small things like an e-learning program for the colleagues. I have to go 4 days per week. It's in The Netherlands so I don't know if it's possible in the U.S. It's like the company is teaching me instead of the college itself.

Oh sounds like sweet deal. I hope that I can get something like that.

Btw i love how you just assume that I am from USA. Im from sweden so not that far away from you.

 

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[Selena]

Actually, you can get some job or internship in game industry. In this way you will get all contacts immediately and you will be study from professionals. Depends from a game you will know how works international, design, promo departments. You shouldn't pay for this experience and its kind of more useful and faster.
Any way good luck!

 

[STswiss]

Hi. Right now I am writing this from my 9-5 job which I do not hate, but it's not what I want to do. Today is my last day.

On Monday I start my journey towards my dreams. I will start college to become a Game Developer,which hopefully will give me the game knowledge to either start my own studio or get a job doing what I love.

Thanks for reading. Hope to see you all on here as often as possible!

@SebastianJ, thanks for sharing your story!

Once developing a game or app becomes easy for you, you will face the point where you need to enter the market. There are millions of developed and fantastic games out there, of which nobody knows about. Make sure to keep learning how to get people using your games and enter the market as early as possible. Talk to the professors and ask them about students they had before you! I am sure there are some success stories.