How old are you and how long have you been in games?

kwakkie · Dec 2009

Since I started freelancing a few months ago I noticed something odd about the people working in the game industry.

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!

Ill go first:
I am 24 years old myself, and started my first internship as an artist 2.5 years ago. Technically speaking I only have about a 1.5 years of experience in the industry.

HonkyPunch · Dec 2009

I'm 17. I've never been in Game development, but I've been playing them since I was 5. Watching my parents and family play them since I was a baby, and I've made a shitty Qbasic game or two with my friends. (I don't think I really count)

Matabus · Dec 2009

27 years old. 6 of those years makin' art fer games, 1 freelancing right out of SCAD with Liquid and 5 here at Mythic.

ebagg · Dec 2009

26, 3.5 years working for game developers, before that was a year and a half of advertising art, including 3d.

Rens · Dec 2009

20 here,

started focusing on art since i was around 16, and now im a free man, portfolio time

Kevin Johnstone · Dec 2009

I'm 35, started in '97 (officially) thought I was active through contract work on professional and amateur stuff since '95 from qtest1 onwards.

skylebones · Dec 2009

I'm 25. Started working as a 3d modeler the day I graduated high school. did that for two years then spend five years at disney interactive as a world builder, and this year I'm all freelance.

samgriffiths · Dec 2009

I'm 18, been working on my skills for about one year.

Applied for internship, but havn't worked in the industry/freelance yet.

I do character art for a popular game mod www.pvkii.com (plug), which I enjoy and learn alot from.

Hope to break in before i go uni.

MoP · Dec 2009

25 here too, as of last month. Been in professional game development for 6 years, started out freelancing in 2003 when I was in university.
Worked a couple of small studio jobs for a short while, then joined Splash Damage mid-2006 and been living the dream ever since!

I have been actively modding/editing games ever since Quake and Warcraft 2, though. Probably started when I was about 14 or something crazy like that. Not having a TV will do that to ya...

lefix · Dec 2009

26, i slowly slipped into this job over the past 2 years or so. been doing it as a hobby, also worked in advertising and went to art school prior to that.

Yozora · Dec 2009

24, wanted to become a game artist since around January 2008~

System · Dec 2009

23, Likes walks in the woods, especially in the spring and autumn... Reading books and playing games are also great... wait, what?

Left Uni about a year and a half ago and been playing with myself since then.

Ruz · Dec 2009

41 - been in games on and off since 2002, though started making mods on unreal 1 engine back in around 1998 I think it was.
Did illustration before that- first freelance job in '95 for lucozade sport.

previous jobs included being in the army ( RMP) in 1988 and a Metropolitan Police cadet (1986). lastly junior accountant for a local authority- that really sucked.

bounchfx · Dec 2009

23 / been in the industry for 3 years. wish I started art younger than 19. bah. damn you video games, wasting my youth! and.. uh, giving me a direction in life!

doc rob · Dec 2009

31, been making games for 8 or 9 years. 7 at Mythic.

Justin Meisse · Dec 2009

29 - just shy of 3 years at Mythic and I did mod stuff on and off since '98

00Zero · Dec 2009

21. i guess ive been working for about a year now. relatively young crowd here

Jaco · Dec 2009

20 here, been freelancing for about 2 years now. I worked on an indie project for the first year and mostly with liquid and SiD this year. Guess I started when I was about 13/14, mostly just messing around in max

moose · Dec 2009

28. 6.5 years in NC (2003), first at Scion then Epic. Started in 99 with mod stuff and very crappy learning art

dejawolf · Dec 2009

24, 6 years experience on a backwater military tank simulator for esim games, where' i've been pretty much the only artist.
well, at least i get paid for it.
wanted to make games since i was 7.

JDinges · Dec 2009

28 - graduated in 04, freelance till 07 then Raven ever since.

DrunkShaman · Dec 2009

26, been a gamer freak since I was around 6 year old when the first Prince of Persia came out.

Started learning Game Programming and other instances of Game Development (aside from Business Administration) 6 years ago when I finally came to realize my future needs.

CheeseOnToast · Dec 2009

36, coming up on 10 years in the business. Done all kinds of stuff from big budget projects with 100+ staff to small indie titles (much more fun). Also dabbling in rapid prototyping miniatures for a little collaborative side-project.

Josh_Singh · Dec 2009

31 got started in 2003? I think?

Muzzoid · Dec 2009

19, i started about 2 weeks ago full time after turning an internship into a job.

Firecracker197 · Dec 2009

21, just shy of 22, went to school when I was 18 and just graduated. Ive wanted to be an artist since before I can remember, and loved games since I was probably 14 or 15.

my boyfriend is 27, hes been in the industry for about 6 years, he went to a college in Vancouver and worked his first job at EA sports as a character artist for 2 years then he moved to Texas and has been at Terminal Reality making characters for the past 3 years.

arrangemonk · Dec 2009

im 12 and what is games

actually im 23 and never really been into games,
(i wrote some at home but thats it)
im a software engineer (im doing tools related to document creation and embedded systems)

Kwramm · Dec 2009

33 and been earning money with it for almost 7 years now. I always wanted to make games but I never really actively worked towards it. It kinda just happened that I ended up where I am now - especially since I considered pure coding too boring, so I turned to art :P Overall it's been a lot of fun so far and I managed to see the world a bit thanks to my job.

Ferg · Dec 2009

25, employed in games for almost 5 years

aesir · Dec 2009

24, had a few game internships a while back but right now i work at an advertising agency.

Reverenddevil · Dec 2009

32 here and been in the industry now for about 13 years started in QA in 1996 at Sony and worked at various studios ranging from QA to producing to designing, Art Directing and now Environment art at Inxile. Still havent gotten sick of it. Probably never will unless someone kicks me out...

DarthNater · Dec 2009

22 (will be 23 in Feb.), I've been making game art for about 4 years now. Been programming since age 13 but I get bored with it too easily. Started a game company while in college, released CellZenith (sorry if you bought that game) and have been working on mods ever since.

ZacD · Dec 2009

19 and slowly working on my portfolio while taking art classes at my community college.

brandoom · Dec 2009

22 next month, graduated from school last spring. have yet to land a game job. Been playing games as far back as I can remember.

Gav · Dec 2009

25, about 5 years or so in the industry including a year long stint being self employeed.

PeterK · Dec 2009

- 28 now.
- I starting doing basement/fun designs at 12,
- Started 3d with truespace at 14/15,
- Got my first professional contract at 17,
- First studio gig at 22 after college,
- First layoff at 23,
- Still 23, 6 months after layoff I started my own company,
- Been operating Exis for about 6 years now.

low odor · Dec 2009

34......year freelancing..almost 2 years at Netdevil

Muzzoid · Dec 2009

seems like im the youngest guy actually in a company? :O

Mark Dygert · Dec 2009

33 4 years in the industry as an artist/animator.

9 if you count the 5 in Tech Support and QA at Cave Dog/Humongous/GT/Infogrames/Atari (yea 1 company, 5 names in 5 years. What a ride that was).

Wahlgren · Dec 2009

25. 3 years in the industry.

Thegodzero · Dec 2009

26 with just shy of 4 years at monolith. When I started I was the youngest guy there.

Scott_W · Dec 2009

I'm 23. This is my 3rd year in the industry. I had done 3D stuff in my spare time all during high school so when Hi-Rez opened nearby, I applied with my skills at the time and I've been there since 2006 lighting maps and doing effects.

Isaiah Sherman · Dec 2009

gratzb2u Muzz.

23 and 0 years experience!

Xoliul · Dec 2009

I'm 22 and started my first job this september, teaching game-art at the school I graduated from. That should count I guess. Only been doing 3D for 4 years but I was editing Red Alert 2 .ini files at 13 years old.