I admit it. I’m young by you guys’ standards (27). Others have been through worst - definitely never been starving in Africa. I’m here for honest advice; and by definition of advice, it means that I will not hold anyone responsible if I follow it and all hell breaks loose. Oh yeah, look at my location for a sense of context but feel free to tell me how things are different in the US or Chanda or whever you are from
PS. Warning. Geeky situation ahead
(Man, I am good at beating at the bush).
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I want to take a stab at making board games (not Monopoly; think Tickets to Ride). But my country has at most 1 publisher and I think it has gone down. I am quite willing to pay for the prototypes. Even ship them to publishers for reviews. However there’s the copyright, legal issues, being present at conventions to demo. Which makes this like a dead end. This is not “I wish I want to do” - I have already spend hundreds over on the mock-up and testing, but this hurdle is too high for me to cross.
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I want to join a international game competition. My coding skill is more of data structures, logic, software engineering and etc. Hardly the stuff you need to make Gears of War. I tried to put together a team. The usual reasons surface - school work, greener pastures and etc.
One team manages to make it and win big time. However, those guys, though students, are paid by a government-sponsored organisation. But I have no money, no clout, no big industries name backing me. Again, this is like another dead-end.
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So I want to publish a PnP role-playing game on a print-on-demand basis. Think I got a good idea. I write decently well. An artist is willing to draw the illustrations and has connection to layout. However, the exposure and play-testing is the problem. My country probably has little market for PnP role-playing games and 99.9% are just on-to D&D 4E. How do I get play-testers in the US? Should I fly to DragonCon? How about NDA, IP and stuff? What a headache. It looks like another dead-end.
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I thought hey, maybe I should do casual games. Well, I can program, but I can’t do funky special particle effects, physics, animation, AI and the artists want money. Dead end. Yah I can bite the bullet for all those, but I hate working alone. It overwhelms me till the point of stress and I would just play games and escape.
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I tried to start an organisation to promote creating games (computer, board games, etc) but it just falls flat. I burn an entire year, suffer a drop in GPA, spent an extra semster and end up unhappy, bitter, burned-out. Then I go on to see other people winning competitions, working in groups which they are happy with and I out there alone trying do my best and no one gives a damn. Again another dead end.
I don’t want to end up as an application/database developer grunt forever. And I can tell you that we can paid 5 times lesser than programmers in the US.
Sometimes I really wonder if one’s future is craved in stone. You come from a decent family where dad and mum instill confidence (no matter what type) and you find a good network of friends and buddies, life looks rosy for you.
Me, at my age, don’t have a network of friends, and would only earn enough to get by day by day. I don’t know if there’s an expiry date on aspirations, but mine are feeling rotten enough.
I have been trying to find some other outlet, but I get distracted all the time when I have failed to get any of those done.
I’m sure many dopers have been through worst. A young grasshopper here is to seek advice.