My JOBS Before GAME DEV Sucked

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My Game Lost it's G Rating
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In this devlog I share with your my indie dev process, lifestyle and updates on my indie game Blood and Mead

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[LostRelicGames]

I hope my journey can inspire and motivate those who are just discovering the dev life. Keep pushing

[gbraadnl]

I have worked for 5 years (from 14yo as intern) in a supermarket, dealing with restocking shelves (FIFO), ordering, to eventually running the floor during evening shift, deal with people/customers (develop 'social' skills), become responsible (manager) for the fruits and vegetables department; ordering, visual merchandise (making it look good) and winning prizes for this, until I quit and moved on... Now I am a software engineer, like I always should have been, leading two teams and teaching others the craft. I am proud to have been doing all kinds of jobs before this... and wonder why it is looked down upon in most Asian countries. You take the good with the bad.

[dangrygames]

I'm 39 and it took me 9 years to become a game developer in a professional manner. I've had many different jobs, from paper boy, petrol station clerk, data entry clerk, locksmith, delivery driver, windscreen repairer, supermarket worker and before game developer I worked in advertising. Keep working hard towards your goals and you will get them. It takes time, but if you want it, then you need to work for it.

[stonegolemstudios]

Absolutely feel you here.
10+ years in restaurants, blue collar jobs, absolutely soul draining.
Decided at 27 to finally go to college for game design. Been deving ever since. Still not full time (35 now) but love what I do everyday.
Fingers crossed this is the year.

[Elucidator]

I've pushed carts, cooked, washed dishes, unloaded cargo from planes, sold vacuums, construction, worked at call centers, now I'm an analyst in a comfy job, but my end goal is game development I'll get there soon.

Perseverance is the path forward.

[erkfx]

This definitely feels relatable! I worked at McDonald’s for 4 years myself unfortunately, then worked at a movie store for a year, then did data entry basically what you described but without having to call people for 5 years. My last 2 years there I went to school for animation and man was that tough! I enjoyed it, but wanted it didn’t work out for me. I unfortunately wasted 2 more years after that and didn’t work on improving anything in my life, now for the last year I’ve been learning web development and I’m hoping to move that knowledge over to game development where I can also use some of my animation knowledge where that wouldn’t completely go to waste! I just have to get over the fear of starting on my own and not allowing myself to sit in tutorial hell.

[orangelimesky]

I actually remember a time when talking about video games as a career was unfathomable by anyone around me. It made me really admire Japan and America a lot because they somehow figured out commercial ways to release video games and worked together often back in the 90s. I used to think maybe the first path was to be an artist, animator and then you only get taught how to code games within those companies.
But then i learned about Adobe flash, and a few years later, Unity appeared. And now here we are. With many game engine options to go for.

[iAmCodeMonkey]

As a visually impaired solo indie game developer (and fellow gamer), your videos are great to learn from. This one in particular is very inspiring. I was lucky enough to get a college diploma in software development, but landing a job in that field was difficult since graduation 10 years ago. Now I volunteer at a local thrift store in their warehouse (along with some social media work from home) and have one Gdevelop platformer under my belt. My next projects are most likely going to use Godot, as I am loving the engine so far. Wish me luck, and I hope your own game ends up being as good as it looks on your channel.

[_noize]

Thank you sharing your very personal experiences. I am in my early 20s and I worked in a few different, very shitty jobs after finishing school to bridge the gap until starting university.
I started the journey of becoming a gamedev about 3 years ago and your insights really help to settle my own expectations. At the same time it is very uplifting and motivating to see how you managed to find your own way in the past years. Probably I am one of those you mentioned in the video - "the next generation" as you called it - and any expertise from people who have been part of the industry for quite some time is very valuable.

[PingsGolf]

Thank you for this video John. My situation is almost the opposite of what yours was. I knew exactly what I wanted. I love technology and wanted to learn programming. Went to college, graduated half a year ago.... and can't get a job. I thankfully have a nice home, good parents who work to keep my life comfortable. So i spend my time working on projects and becoming a better programmer each passing day. Making games, websites, scripts, etc. But apply all I want, I don't even hear back.

[troyharris]

Wow, man... I think this is the one. This is THE one video that has finally pushed me to the edge of the things that I've been intending to do for so long, as you mentioned! I can't thank you enough! You're an inspiration to say the least.

[JacqueCricket]

I just really needed to watch this. I'm not gonna explain too much but I went through alot these last 8 years since high school from alcoholism and smoking to having to go to funerals for a couple close friends I lost and an abortion a couple years ago that still affect me and my girlfriend, and I watch these game dev videos since discovering this field November of last year wanting to do what all you guys do. I don't have a computer yet (currently saving up), but when I do I can finally work on getting good at game deving and hopefully make a great game one day that alot of people will like. Thank you for posting this :)

[portablecloudsYT]

Thanks for sharing your story! My first job was at McDonald’s when I was 16, which I soon quit to work at the local food bank leading volunteers. After that, I worked at some restaurants before shifting to retail. I did well in retail, and over the years, started working towards a management position. By the time one came up, I was about ready to graduate with my graphic design degree, and then COVID hit. Worthwhile graphic design jobs, including my internship, vanished overnight, so I took a sketchy production art job for a social media management app and started learning some music production. I had gotten back into gaming during the last few months of college, and got a Switch and Breath of the Wild soon after lockdown began. I hadn’t played games in several years at that point due to the busy-ness and stress of college and work. I played a lot of Zelda (both botw and Majora’s Mask) during this time, and it started taking me back to when I made an RPG Maker game in high school. I started having thoughts about what I might do in a game if I were to make one today, and started slowly exploring those ideas on the side. When things started to open back up in 2021, I kept my sketchy production art job so that I could make some money while I saw where this gamedev thing was headed. I showed my little prototype to my friend/coworker, who enjoyed exploring the caves, and that made me feel like I was onto something. In 2022, the company I was working for laid me off, so I took the chance to start learning more about game design for real while I was unemployed. It was around this time that I found your channel and GMTK, and I learned a lot from both of your videos, as well as from recreating the world of Zelda 1. When I showed some strangers and my dad my prototype and they were disappointed by its small size, I decided to put my YouTube learning to the test and expand my game’s world to better suit the range of experiences I had in store for it. I ended up getting another design job working for a “friend” who ended up giving me stretches of 50–60 hour weeks leading up to 16 hour days and paid me less than a fast food worker to do large-scale web design. I ended up leaving her behind to focus on gamedev full time for 6 months, at the encouragement of my spouse. I made a ton of progress on this time, but wasn’t able to build my Patreon enough to make up for my not working, so I got a job at a local shop, where I sold and stocked product like everyone else, but when management got wind of my creative background, I started doing flyers for store events and product photography as well. After I’d taken and uploaded nearly 80 product shots and advertised several of their events with flyers, they opted not to compensate me for that work, denying our agreement that they would. After weeks of them plying games with me over my pay, I took down all my product photos from our online storefront, and that was the end of that. Around this time, my spouse was also experiencing issues at their company, and we decided to leave our struggles in the city behind and move to the mountain town where my grandparents live. The scenery is better, the cost of living is lower, and now it’s easier to subsist on freelance work for both of us. This has given me a lot of space to be productive on my game as well, and I’ve even gotten to take some inspiration from you and begin devtubing as well! Most of my videos up until this point have been for patrons while I figure out how I want to do things, so I’m looking forward to posting more public videos and getting my steam page and kickstarter going in 2024!

[SextonDoug]

Well, this is exactly what I needed. I’m 55 and have been dibbling in Game dev for about 5 years. When I say dibble I mean learning to code. I self taught IOS and released an app. I decided about six months ago to just go for it in Godot. My primary talent is in art, I can draw and paint like a crazy person, but I also have that nerdy side that loves to code. I’m planning on documenting my journey in hopes of inspiring some of us guys who never grew up completely and now realize that’s a good thing. Been following you and Thomas Brush for years now. Please keep posting content, I am extremely grateful to hear honest humble folks sharing their stories. Got my BFA in Web Design, but been an insurance professional most my life. I finally admitted to myself a few years ago I really don’t like my profession and decided to get out, so that’s my plan. Inspiring, thank you sir!

[TheOrian]

I skipped the job part, and now I'm in the figuring how to realize my projects part. It's not easy being fully self taught, but it brings another type of freedom.

[DevGamePlanet]

waooo i got impressed, thank you for sharing your life, i almost have the same experience of work, pack newspaper --> then work in restaurant(cleaning dishes, toilet, chef of restaurant also told me that I'm dog and i need to listen to him and do whatever he said and that moment i quit that job --> then taxi driver --> next metro driver --> then learning programming and now game development . now i have good life and enjoy my life, life is complicated and important is that we don't stop and as long as we can try to reach more higher position in our life :)

[PharmacyBrain]

Nobody cares who I am but I had a similar path; many crappy jobs like dishwasher and factory worker before going back to school. Today I'm almost 40 and I work as a database engineer and my job is paying for my BS in CS. Along the way I picked up many other degrees; PharmD, MBA, BS in Biology, two post grad residencies... Good luck everyone. What mattered most to me is discipline and delaying gratification, planning ahead, and never stopping.

[HumbertoBytes]

This resonates a lot wit me. Before I was a developer, I:

- Worked in a quarry (with my father)
- Worked in a video rental store (remember those?)
- worked in a supermarket
- worked as a tech salesperson
- worked as a mobile phone support person
- worked in a callcenter

[octitawhythisnameistaken]

Started game dev 5 months ago. Working my but off. Gathered small patreon community. Making barely enough to cover the rent in my new place, BUT, now at 33 y.o feeling happy, just to do what i really like and to potentially, make a living out of it, one day, after ~15 years of doing unqualified jobs all over the Europe.

It's worth it guys. You will have to work one way or another. So rather work for yourself.

[Draekdude]

Man, what a fantastic video and story! I love your humor and honesty. I completely agree with everything you’ve said. I got a chemistry degree and then two for two years doing crappy jobs. Took a huge pay cut to get a lab job, went back to school for IT. Then I talked to management and they let me switch to IT and it’s been over 20 years since. Just decided to start my own game studio, so there’s that. I really enjoy your content and can’t wait to pick up Blood and Mead!