Thread by @delaneykingrox

#Gamedev advice for students.

Your passion for games can and will be weaponized against you by companies.

You desperately want to be part of the magic of the thing you love, and will work yourself to burn out point.

You need to keep perspective.

If you are serious about working in the games industry, it will serve you to remember it is an industry that turns passion into profit.

Trade your time wisely for a fair compensation.

My advice is work hard at the start to secure a "NO fund". Savings that you can live on so you can say NO and walk away from a company that is harmful and find a better job.

This can be hard, but resist spending your early earnings on cool stuff until you have this.

I got ahead of the pack because I was a workaholic. My hobby was games and 3d art, film making and special effects.

Ergo, I never stopped working. Even when I got home I was cranking out designs for the studio who hired me (for, it turns out, less than minimum wage).

A workaholic escapes their problems by throwing themselves into work. This is good for companies bottom line, but destroys your life as you do not deal with your problems.

You work for free because it help you cope.

Throw on top of that video games addiction and you rise.

Here is why you want a studio job earning money for others.

1) Experience. No school can teach you how games are actually made, day to day.

2) Steady pay cheque. You get paid in bricks, which you can use to build a foundation for your life.

3) Community.

You won't get rich working for big studios, unless you cross the line up into top management.

You won't.

You are just the means to the end.