30 years old. Been doing mod crap & whatnot for the last 8-9 years or so. Done a little freelancing, but have yet to pick up that elusive first in-house gig.
Started doing level design at 11 (duke 3d , thank god for parents buying you mature rated games)
started working on mods when i was around 18?
Got my first job when I turned 20, kind of unexpected because I had no plans of taking my hobby to the professional level.
I've been loving it ever since, still feels like I'm getting started considering all the stuff there still is to learn . I really like seeing the ages here, gives me good hope I'll still love this when I'm older!
27. Started 2 years ago. (1.5 in-house and freelancing for a little more than 6 months now)
Thinking of trying to find a full time position again, so i can rest my mind a little , freelancing can be exhausting, even when you don't work much (especially then, i'd say)
37 here, started with Threewave CTF mod for Quake3, finally finished my degree in Animation early in 2008 and got a job out in Dallas doing 3d for World War II Online. Started playing games on my old Atari 2600 though.
Annnd... not had much time in the industry. Just a few months interning for a start-up company doing TV-based online games, and been working the last few months on an iPhone game. (So far, all unpaid work... :P)
4 years of Giant useless tuition bill
3 years exp in the industry
Since I was in kindergarten I had said I wanted to make video games for a living. Was lauged at about it all the way up to the age of 18 when I left high school and persued into it. Still had my mom to that day saying that you will never get anywhere with those "videos.
22 with about 2.5 years exp in games. did 3d printing R&D at Offload studios before that right after highschool. super nerdin it up since grade 8 though.
So I guess I've been in and out of this industry for 15 years.
2 titles on the SNES around 1995 for Ocean / Vivid Image as an intern, didn't bother with Uni - Ran various Mod teams with various levels of success - and landed a gig in London around 1999. Made most of my games during 2001 - 2005 in Tokyo and the UK. Still working on game assets or promotion.
I'll be 22 in a few months. I guess I could be "in" right now, but I've been holding back. For a while there I was building my portfolio to apply for places and the next week they would be shut down. I'll probably start looking for remote work again soon; as it is, I don't want to move thousands of miles just to have the hiring company explode soon after.
Meanwhile, I don't think I'm good enough; ie, I want to be super badass when I "get my first job."
Just turned 26 on Monday. Been working professionally for about three and a half years now. Had a bit of prior experience in 3D with the editors for Descent II and the original Unreal back in the late 90s, but nothing contemporary when I stumbled into that first internship. It was funny to see most of the old sprite icons still around in UE3! After landing that internship I knew what work I wanted to do for the rest of my life and haven't looked back since.
22, been in a games company for little over 2 years. Started playing games with my gameboy I got one summer. Did not start with fps seriously until 2001 when I discovered CounterStrike in lan cafes in Brazil. I love the work environment, especially love seeing so many different types of people work together and contribute towards a project, seeing the puzzle pieces being built and then put together.
I would have guessed most people here were older At Massive we have some people with more industry experience than my life (in terms of lenght) :P
24, been working in the industry for three years. Time flies... feels like i started doing 3d for real just yesterday... started modding when I was 10yrs, back in 95 or something. Marathon for mac, had an awesomely confusing physics editor. I made floating exploding enemies!
I'm 25 -- seems to be pretty close to the average. I will have been in the industry for 3 years as a concept artist this coming February. I think I always knew I wanted to be an artist in some form ... was always pretty good at it. I was playing games since I got my Sega Genesis/Megadrive (I think I was under 10 years old O_o) and when I found out about concept art -- I must've been 16 -- I figured it would be a good fit. I seem to have been correct!
Did a 4 year BFA back in Canada before starting at Splash Damage in early '07-- during which I did freelance illustration to make sure I had enough money for coffee and pencils. Kinda want to get back into it in some fashion part time, but dunno if I have the narrative chops to make it work as well as I'd want.
28, been messing with modding and stuff since 94 but only started getting into 3d in 06. My first mod I think was wall textures for wolfenstein 3d. Ah the joys of messing with tandy sound drivers to get my PC speaker to work like a sb16 lol.
Hey, I'm 19. Since 17 teen I've been doing some freelance CG stuff for commercials and some logo design. I got a fulltime position in the industry at 18 as model/texture artsit so I gues this leaves with a year and maybe 2-3 month of industry exprience.
I've been into games since like 2-3 maybe, I don't remember clearly.) I was first introduced to 3dsmax when I was around 13. Plus I've done 3 yeasrs of C/C++ studies even tried a bit of directx work and made a small darkbasic game.
It is almost as if the majority of the people working in the game industry are either 40+, or younger than 30. There is hardly an in-between. So I was curious if my experiences are just coincidental or slightly true!
Mid-30's is usually when people make the decision to leave or stay in the games industry. That's the time when you have to start living a fully adult lifestyle.
The 40+ people are the lifers who don't want to do anything else. I've only met two artists that were in their 40's and still grinding out models and textures.
34.3% of developers expect to leave the industry within 5 years, and 51.2% within 10 years.
Only 3.4% said that their coworkers averaged 10 or more years of experience.
However, 26.6% said that their leads had 2-5 years of experience, while only 9.8% answered "more than 10 years". On the positive side, very few industries provide so many opportunities for advancement so early in a persons career. On the other hand, the fact that [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]fewer than one lead developer in 10 has over ten years of experience [/FONT][/FONT]indicates that we lose a depressingly high proportion of our senior people to rival industries before they have had a chance to do their best work.
But I dont entirely agree that the industry itself is still young. As I said, I visited studios nearly 15 years ago packed with 20 and 30-somethings. By now they should be in, or nearing, their 40s but where are they?
The good news is that there will always be openings for the guys in their 20's as the guys in their mid-30's move on to other things.
29. First industry job @ Mythic for 5 years.
Playing games since 1987 (SMB & Metroid on NES)
Writing own games in BASIC on a 286 (1990)
Hypercard games and graphics on mac (1993)
Doom2/Warcraft 2 maps, gfx and the beggining of the end (1995+)
I think the reason most people leave is because crunch doesn't go away, but now they have kids, plus other industries pay better and have saner hours. I love it though, my dream job.
Replies
I've dabbled in art since I was a kid.
Started playing games around 12.
Got into computers around 17.
Got a two year degree in programming by 21.
Started to learn CG at 22.
Started learning game art at 26 making stuff for Unreal Tournament 2003.
Got hired by a small games company at 27, company closed just after I turned 30.
Started freelancing a little later.
Currently working on skills + a new portfolio to find full time employment.
been doing 3d stuff since I was 9
Started doing level design at 11 (duke 3d
started working on mods when i was around 18?
Got my first job when I turned 20, kind of unexpected because I had no plans of taking my hobby to the professional level.
I've been loving it ever since, still feels like I'm getting started considering all the stuff there still is to learn
Thinking of trying to find a full time position again, so i can rest my mind a little , freelancing can be exhausting, even when you don't work much (especially then, i'd say)
Modding since early 1999 though (yay CounterStrike weapons! :P)
3 years in school / 3 years in the industry now.
Started doing level design when I was like 11 too (haha fuck yeah peris you know whats up!)
37
Environment Artist since 96
Annnd... not had much time in the industry. Just a few months interning for a start-up company doing TV-based online games, and been working the last few months on an iPhone game. (So far, all unpaid work... :P)
3 Years college
3 Years Industry
4 years of Giant useless tuition bill
3 years exp in the industry
Since I was in kindergarten I had said I wanted to make video games for a living. Was lauged at about it all the way up to the age of 18 when I left high school and persued into it. Still had my mom to that day saying that you will never get anywhere with those "videos.
20 years of being awesome
So I guess I've been in and out of this industry for 15 years.
2 titles on the SNES around 1995 for Ocean / Vivid Image as an intern, didn't bother with Uni - Ran various Mod teams with various levels of success - and landed a gig in London around 1999. Made most of my games during 2001 - 2005 in Tokyo and the UK. Still working on game assets or promotion.
This is easily the most depressing thread I've ever read.
Meanwhile, I don't think I'm good enough; ie, I want to be super badass when I "get my first job."
Artist, but I'm an 'all-rounder' so really I'd rather go for design, will pull thumb out and try to learn that more next year.
Still very badly chasing dream of being the next Hideo Kojima. Live in Australia... so it's not just me holding back opportunity.
5 years games development, 4 months film effects. I kinda miss doing games, but film is where the jobs are at.
I would have guessed most people here were older
Did a 4 year BFA back in Canada before starting at Splash Damage in early '07-- during which I did freelance illustration to make sure I had enough money for coffee and pencils. Kinda want to get back into it in some fashion part time, but dunno if I have the narrative chops to make it work as well as I'd want.
Here, here!
I've been into games since like 2-3 maybe, I don't remember clearly.) I was first introduced to 3dsmax when I was around 13. Plus I've done 3 yeasrs of C/C++ studies even tried a bit of directx work and made a small darkbasic game.
so 6 almost 7 years, i am 29, almost 30.
i totally miss hand painting textures
Just gotta find the right studio, broseph! I find that if I can't paint during the day at least once my brain starts to 'splode.
Mid-30's is usually when people make the decision to leave or stay in the games industry. That's the time when you have to start living a fully adult lifestyle.
The 40+ people are the lifers who don't want to do anything else. I've only met two artists that were in their 40's and still grinding out models and textures.
Other people have noticed the same trend:
http://www.igda.org/sites/default/files/IGDA_QualityOfLife_WhitePaper.pdf
http://www.develop-online.net/blog/55/They-shoot-horses-dont-they
The good news is that there will always be openings for the guys in their 20's as the guys in their mid-30's move on to other things.
Yeah, working on Daredevil, all of our textures were hand painted. Not many studios want that look anymore.
You youngin's make me feel like such a slacker!
Playing games since 1987 (SMB & Metroid on NES)
Writing own games in BASIC on a 286 (1990)
Hypercard games and graphics on mac (1993)
Doom2/Warcraft 2 maps, gfx and the beggining of the end (1995+)
I think the reason most people leave is because crunch doesn't go away, but now they have kids, plus other industries pay better and have saner hours. I love it though, my dream job.
High five Ruz!