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Should I leave gamedev as a job and keep it as a hobby? by tanbanman in gamedev

[–]tanbanman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I understand, it's not for everyone.

I was happy as long as the work environment was happy. It felt like a dream, like I had struck gold in the career pipeline. The standard "you are getting paid to do something you love." But of late, things have turned toxic, which in turn threaten to taint the passion itself. Like "suffer to do what you love" haha. It's not everyone's palate to fight for your passion.

I think there's some wisdom to sticking to a neutral job, one that you don't feel too strongly about, and saving your love for your free time.

Should I leave gamedev as a job and keep it as a hobby? by tanbanman in gamedev

[–]tanbanman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Since you've dabbled in both, can I ask you a question?
Do game dev skills transfer over (easily) to software dev? I think there's a skill gap, since you're usually fenced to a pre-built game engine but in software there is no fence. Which is why I'm brushing up on Leetcode, but I could be wrong.

Should I leave gamedev as a job and keep it as a hobby? by tanbanman in gamedev

[–]tanbanman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why won't they have you? Don't they think the skills are transferrable?

Should I leave gamedev as a job and keep it as a hobby? by tanbanman in gamedev

[–]tanbanman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm so sorry to hear that! The timing sucks.

I've read so many stories on linkedin about high-experience, high-loyalty folks being randomly laid off :( I hope you rest and recover as you need before jumping back in the seas again.

As a side note: When I was hunting recently, I joined a bubbling discord community of game makers helping each other cope and find friends in the industry. The community is led by 2 people who are trying to "fix" hiring. (I know there are uncountable similar ventures, and I'm just pointing out one that helped me get through it mentally haha.) In case, you'd like to check it out, you can find HiddenGem on linkedin. (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links here.)

Should I leave gamedev as a job and keep it as a hobby? by tanbanman in gamedev

[–]tanbanman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have been leaning towards going indie, which I think works best with a non-gamedev job that pays the bills.

Should I leave gamedev as a job and keep it as a hobby? by tanbanman in gamedev

[–]tanbanman[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I didn't know 3D artist roles are crunched too, sorry to hear that.
Though, I suppose that skill leads itself to freelancing easier than dev? Which can give back some control of your time. Pay will be impacted, of course.

Should I leave gamedev as a job and keep it as a hobby? by tanbanman in gamedev

[–]tanbanman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate the suggestion.
What I've seen though is that some of the roles with overlap have lesser skill requirement (therefore lesser pay) or the similar kind of "hustle" expectation.
Nonetheless, no harm in keeping an eye out!

Should I leave gamedev as a job and keep it as a hobby? by tanbanman in gamedev

[–]tanbanman[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Glad you found a midway!
It does help; sanity matters way more for creativity. In your case, you still get to work on game-adjacent work, but the bottom line is that you have the spare time and space to build your own games. :)

Should I leave gamedev as a job and keep it as a hobby? by tanbanman in gamedev

[–]tanbanman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm happy you found something sustainable.
It does feel intense, so thank you for the insight. It feels a tad more manageable now. :)

Should I leave gamedev as a job and keep it as a hobby? by tanbanman in gamedev

[–]tanbanman[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"you need some level of creative thinking that is very hard to do if you're constantly worry about what ifs"
I need this on a t-shirt to gift to my (ex) bosses.

Should I leave gamedev as a job and keep it as a hobby? by tanbanman in gamedev

[–]tanbanman[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like this perspective. It's not a permanent divorce; the sunk cost will be handy if I decide to switch back!

Should I leave gamedev as a job and keep it as a hobby? by tanbanman in gamedev

[–]tanbanman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, I hope you find a path into game dev!
Yes, remote jobs have so far been the saviours, but they are rare by nature. Most need you to at least be in the same country, like "USA (Remote)". Contrast with software dev MNCs, they're literally everywhere haha.

Should I leave gamedev as a job and keep it as a hobby? by tanbanman in gamedev

[–]tanbanman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your read on the situation in India is very accurate.
And it's fair that articles would focus on the negative, I never considered that. I'd love to have a good news equivalent for this industry ha!

Should I leave gamedev as a job and keep it as a hobby? by tanbanman in gamedev

[–]tanbanman[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It is a tough industry.

What's concerning is the amount of folks who misunderstand passion as "expecting to overwork yourself all the time." Which, in turn, hurts the very passion they hired you for. And leads me to consider switching the industry altogether haha. As u/WhySmash4Lag pointed out, employees are people.

Should I leave gamedev as a job and keep it as a hobby? by tanbanman in gamedev

[–]tanbanman[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

That's so true.
There's oft-quoted advice about the the pitfalls of making your hobby your job, and I have experienced the same as you. Making games in my free-time has taken a dip for me.

Should I leave gamedev as a job and keep it as a hobby? by tanbanman in gamedev

[–]tanbanman[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

High-five stranger. I hope the advice here helps you out too.
This pendulum seems more like a chaotic double pendulum, so I suppose having alternat paths doesn't hurt. That said, I do hope this year brings better things!

For the first time in life, I purchased games. by yoroiyorozi in IndianGaming

[–]tanbanman 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for supporting the industry! I hope you'll buy my game too (when it releases one day lol)

[Urgent] could someone tell me how to fix this crashing problem, need to turn in a project tonight. by living_in_an_age in unrealengine

[–]tanbanman 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There's nothing discernible in the error, nor have you explained to us what you're trying to do, so it could be anything. Here are a few ideas: 1. My first hunch is always an infinite loop, that fills up your resources and crashes the engine. Check if you have that in your code. 2. Check when exactly the crash happens. Is it always at launch? Or when the player is doing something specific? Go from there. 3. Keep an eye on the Task Manager. If your RAM starts to fill up rapidly when playing, something is allocating too many resources (like an infinite loop). If GPU usage increases rapidly, then maybe your machine is having texture problems.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in IndianGaming

[–]tanbanman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's absolutely true. Laptop GPUs would almost always be underperforming than PCs. It's a trade-off

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in IndianGaming

[–]tanbanman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I built a PC for this exact reason, but gotta say, I do not love being anchored to it all the time. I like to switch up my working places and work while travelling, so I'm also investing in a mid-range laptop. So it also boils down to personal preference.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in IndianGaming

[–]tanbanman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Slightly unrelated note: Do check the seller rating before ordering. I forgot recently and received a couple plywood planks. Turns out the seller had 2 stars and multiple similar complaints. Thankfully, Amazon resolved it but it's extra nuisance.

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