Before, I started developing mobile applications to earn more money, working for 1 hour felt like death to me. Then I tried game development and when I got up from the computer, 5 hours had passed and I never understood it and then I decided that if you do what you love well, you will achieve much greater success and of course that much money :D
@@renashamid1137 I had a dream of game development since my childhood, but I never wanted to enter because my priority was money, then I realized that the game industry was on the trend and that the industry would grow with new technology and I started. I had to do an internship to graduate from school, a lot of software companies offered me an internship, but I was stubborn that I would do an internship in game development and I couldn't find an internship. If I couldn't find an internship after 1 week, I would stay in school and I found an internship in the last 2 days, I was working hard before I found it and I worked in a company for 9 months and now I am doing projects to improve myself. The reason why game development is enjoyable for me is that because I am a gamer, I can have an idea about what mechanics should be in games and sometimes I can make mechanics that are not in games but the kind of mechanics I want, this is very enjoyable for me and I improve my algorithm because I code different mechanics and this process makes me happy.
It's hard for me as a Spaniard to understand how a yearly 140k pay does not reach for a house and a amazing level of life-style, here in Spain we are able to live by our own and even start a mortage for a own house when we reach the 30k-40k point a year. The rent cost there must be insane. Hope everything ends up well, and that you both end having your goals fulfiled!
140k in a high tax area. 100k. minus rent 35k = 65k. minus basic living = 45k. He's only been on it for short term aswell so whats that 100k after 2 years assuming no furniture, large electronic purchases, holidays etc... GL buying a house
He mentions at around 3:15 that he does indeed live in California. If you know anything about America, you'd know that California is by far the WORST place you can be, even without factoring in the astronomical rates of rent. The job opportunities in California don't outweigh the neverending money troubles!!
@@Rhino1004 I didn’t hear him say that. I live in seattle and travel to Cali for work so I know how expensive those cities are. I was just pointing out that they’re not the norm and most Americans live in places where they’re fine on that much money.
I think there’s definitely two types of people. Those who would rather work in a job they love for less pay and those who would rather do what earns them more money. Both are completely justified as well and neither is better than the other. I'm definitely in the former group though, some of my happiest times were earning 18 dollarydoos an hour on a farm and I'm considering going back to it (to slightly higher wages now lol)
Couldn't agree more. I've found over time people are more infactuated with a high paying job position, rather than a position that's enjoyable and sustainable. When having a partner that works as well - 2 incomes no children - there's more leeway with finding a fulfilling position in life!
Prey is one of my favorite games ever. It's so cool you worked for that project. I have been thinking about going into game dev and hearing more about how much you made makes me think it can be worth it but I would try to avoid high COL areas. Thank you for sharing.
This is super useful information as an aspiring software/game dev. I'm at this weird crossroads right now. I graduated from a computer science program last year in and unfortunately did not have the foresight to do co-op to gain some experience in the field. I did some traveling for some months after that and decided to give game dev a shot. During a 4-month period of job hunting with no luck, I took some courses online and made a few portfolio pieces in unreal and unity (and a game jam). I had fun and I think I could be good at it, but I wouldn't say I'm excited to create something new every day. I'm constantly blown away by the creativity of new indie games coming out and I now realize the amount of work that it takes to make games. I love playing games and dissecting mechanics, coming up with new ideas/implementing them, story, etc., but I think my other passions in life are equally as important to me if not more. All that being said. I'm lucky enough that very soon I'm moving to Montreal with a good support system and some connections, and I have to make a choice between putting all my eggs in game development, or doing something else. My questions for you are: 1. Would you say that a programmers working in the games industry all have a fiery passion to make games? 2. Do you think that working in the games industry generally leads to less, more, or similar flexibility with travel, working hours, etc than other fields? I'm glad you're feeling some economic stability and wish you continued success in the future!
1) I would say so, everyone I know wouldn't want to be doing anything else. We all still play games, and will chat about what we've been playing over lunch breaks or after work, and I've been to a few friendly fighting game parties/tournaments that were filled with industry people. It's pretty common for everyone to exchange Discord usernames and Xbox/Playstation IDs so they can play together. Just like any job, it can be stressful, but we love the end result. 2) It varies by company. Both Blind Squirrel and Blizzard had excellent Paid Time Off accrual rates, where I was earning more than 20 days per year. Ready at Dawn and my current job only have 10 days off per year, which is pretty standard but not great. I think a lot of competitive employers offer 15-20 days per year, which adds up really fast. Thanks for watching and good luck! If you can land a job in Montreal before you move, your new employer might offer to help cover some moving expenses. You never know!
@@SyncMain This maybe true in the short term and when there are two income streams for the household. When a family expands and kids are in the equation, the salary that these game companies are providing is really not enough during these times, and sometimes no matter how passionate you are about your job and the field you're in, life will give you a reality check and there have been many developers that faced the decision to switch to a higher paying job which they're not so passionate about just to support the family. I wish you all the best and hopefully you earn what you deserve doing what you love the most.
Enjoyed your content man, you really do just get to the point vs some of the other creators out there who love to dance around the issues. Ever since I was a kid I've had this thing for fixing bugs in apps and games I've encountered and after I had kids I just sorta stopped thinking about it. I'm stuck in the place I am right now for complicated reasons and all of my 4 boys are starting to take interest in the things I love including my dabbling in programming and I'm taking a serious dive back into it as a way to connect with my kids. I think I'd be a hell of a debugger/QA type but even if I don't excel I think it would be amazing to give my sons who want to do it a head start
Dude thanks for sharing! Orange County is so expensive, I miss it though. I hate that our industry takes advantages of people's passions and under pays us.
My dude. You seem like the most friendly guy; I've been lucky enough to work with developers as kind and passionate as you. People who feel excited and privileged to be doing the work that they're doing, and sharing their knowledge and experience with those around them. Thumbs, sub, bells etc. Thanks for the great post.
People are saying that game programmers earn less than non game programmers for years, and that is bullshit. Which area of software field do you think earn more than game programmers ? How you came to that conclusion? Game programmers, in general, earn more than generalist full stack, front end, backend web monkeys. They earn more or on par with embedded software engineers. They only earn 20-30% less than cloud, infrastructure, AI and big data engineers. Don't choose a field based on just earning potentials, because the tech is so volatile that every field is changing rapidly in time, no one now's which field is gonna be lucrative. Choose a field you love, you'll get better at it and you'll earn more. That's it, life is too short.
For my second dev job as a front end web developer, I made as much working remotely at a startup as he made as mid level developer working for freaking blizzard. And I was underpaid.
Passion is fine but one must think about retirement, quality of life and job security. Nowadays you can easily get 90-140k right of the college as a fresher in big tech. So doing game development as part time as your hobby while doing software development job is not so bad. Its not fulfilling but trust me when you see your bank account you will be happy. You can get out of the industry in 12-15 years and do whatever you want because you will be financially free by then.
No one forcing you to be game developer, and that's great for us the game devs because the more people having fear getting into game dev the more we get paid, basic economics. You can be a web developer like 95% of the world, we need good web developers. Nearly all of us want to run our game studios after a certain amount of time, that's why we're into it and will be and we get paid equal to other non-game devs in my country.
It's been always my dream is to become a game developer like you. And I am already became a big fan of you(you have inspired me a lot), will you make a complete study guide for us? Like what should we learn for betterment (according to your experience), how to prepare for job, and how to just become a better developer
Top man. If you love the job you're doing, you'll never have to work a day in your life. I strongly believe this and would always be happier on less money loving my career.
I love your passion for game development and how you've stuck with it, but I'd also like to throw in my two cents. I spend all of my professional time developing backend software systems in the medical space. These are things that the majority of people spend 0% of their life thinking about. Despite that, they are absolutely necessary, and drive a hugely important aspect of our lives. The funny thing is that the necessity of my work isn't even what drives me. I LOVE solving these problems. And I don't believe that the solutions I work on are applicable to my professional space exclusively. I've developed generic work engines that would absolutely benefit the server side components of online gaming infrastructures. As programmers, we often solve problems that can be applicable in many applications. If you enjoy solving these problems, you can find great enjoyment in programming regardless of the field that your software applies to.
I came on as a contracted AI engineer through my employer. The game was already very fleshed out, they just needed a couple more pairs of hands to help polish the game. I worked on the 'gibbing' in the game, corpse and giblet clean up (for performance, when the player is not facing those entities, they're removed from the scene/deleted from memory behind them), and some VFX support for enemy deaths & the operator's laser. There were a few other smaller tasks and bug fixes I worked on, but overall I was just stoked to visit Arkane Austin as I was a huge fan of Dishonored and a lot of their previous games. Immersive Sims are probably my favorite genre of video game. They were a very talented crowd, a couple of people came off as pretentious, but I'll forgive them as I didn't spend very long with them and they are very good at their jobs lol
Awesome video bro! As someone who is looking to change careers and also loves video games this information is great. I always though all video game devs struggle and while I love my current career the rewards just aren’t worth it for me anymore. Glad to know I wouldn’t have to face the same kind of situation lol
Very cool video and insightful stuff. I'm kind of on the opposite side of this - I make very good pay doing web development but I would rather be working on games.
Worked at visual concepts as a designer for a few years but recently got laid off. Recently started learning C++ just because it seems more stable to become a programmer and i also enjoyed coding and debugging code in c# when i spent time independently working on unity projects. i know cpp is much more complex but i think i'll have fun with it
Fear is the mind killer. The only way to grow is facing it. You'll be so happy on the other side, trust me, I faced the same fear not long ago. Start as soon as you read this. Cheers!
From what I learned in my lifetime, if a job or title or position has many fishes in the sea that are passionate / inspired about it, it's a chance for exploitation, like always putting up a "Hiring" post somewhere. The only way to get around it is if you're a brand like the developers of Sekiro or Elden ring, or you're the founder / co-founder of that game / product.
Was funny to hear how you can't afford rent with your sky high salaries. Here in eastern europe as junior dev I made 14.4k/year and now as mid level I make 31.2k/year and and still manage to buy and pay everything I need.
When taking a game development course at my Uni I got heavily discouraged cause I did all the work in my group's project twice. I haven't touched Godot/Unity since then and I found a career in enterprise software engineering. Even though I don't love what I'm doing it enables me to invest in my future without worrying about finances whatsoever. I admit, there is no passion for CS anymore but driving a 911 in mountain passes is fun af.
@@-Engineering01- Just because its a 911 doesn't mean he paid a ton of money for it, I have 8 BMW's at home you'd think im rich, im not I just decide to buy vintage ones and fix them up because they are more enjoyable.
I’m currently a software engineer still pretty early in my career, and I didn’t pursue video game development because I thought it was less realistic as a career, but over a year into my second software engineering job, I’m realizing it’s not very fulfilling for me. I’ve fooled around in Unity but I feel like it would take too much effort to make a career shift as I don’t have any actual training in game development (just the simple Udemy course or two). And the big thing for me is that I really like making and tuning game mechanics, but I’m not great at coming up with the big ideas.
Thank you for reminding me of the good times bro! USA is a land of opportunity. I didn’t make (and not making) as much money as you do, but I’ve done well even as an effing legacy programmer. I reached retirement age, so don’t forget about savings!
Game development tends to be among the lowest paid programmer jobs because the competition / turnover rate is high. Especially for larger studios, every year there is a fresh batch of starry eyed young professionals who are passionate about game development. And willing to work for cheaper if it means they get to participate in the industry. As for smaller or indie studios, they simply cannot afford to pay as much as other larger studios, as such the main driver is passion for game development.
This is the thing - at the start it can be rough, but as you become experienced and know what you're doing you can easily negotiate for more or jump ship to somewhere that will pay you more. I've gone from £25k -> £80k (with more bonuses and perks) in less than 7 years
@@ls.c.5682 honestly inflation in the past 7 years has eaten up at least 40% of that salary increase. As someone who worked in game development it’s difficult to put a price on burnout when passion is on the line. Taking inflation and price increases into account your wages just about doubled in 7 years, but you’re not getting that time, youth and health back. And it’s unlikely you’ve managed to launch the next Quake, Diablo or Dark Souls either. What you did do was make your employer at least 1 million £ richer. Otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten that pay raise.
Im so very thankful that ive found your channel SyncMain :) I may be to old to become a programmer, but ive bought a book and i try my best. It's fun. And i can still do hobby projects and play around with gadgets. Ive played 1000+ hours plus on Civ 6, so fun to hear that you where a part of making it. What i would love to listen more to is when you take the first step towards programming with graphics(c++) The first project where you make something move around etc.
When you have a good foundation in C++, choose a graphic api (vulkan, directx, opengl) because you are beginner you are going to choose opengl. Then learn to render a window with opengl rendering inside and then play around OpenGL’s functions and methods.
^ Someone got to it before I did! I enjoyed learnopengl.com as a gentle introduction, but once you've stood up your project and played around for a bit, learning more about how graphics cards work, modern graphics pipelines, and pick a modern graphics API to do other research in (Vulkan, D3D12, Metal) I was going to point to a couple Twitter users to go follow, but of course their accounts are gone now. I found a thread I was thinking of but I'm going to have to clean it up and archive it somewhere easy to point to. Probably a Readme on Github. It was a professional graphics programmer with great advice for learning graphics programming.
I like your temperament SyncMain. Your energy is about what I see in the Tech industry from the guys that are "settled in" i.e. are actually great at what they do, have no desire to be "showy" or stand out in any particular way, and just like to be helpful by contributing their skills to projects and companies that they feel match what their own goals are. Can you talk about how your personality changes, or doesn't change over time? Like, starting out are you full of energy enthusiasm etc, and when things start to take a downward turn as they do for basically everyone in any industry - how did you keep from spiraling down like many others do, OR how did you find your way out. Is it temperament, or friend circles, etc etc. or life lessons learned etc. Me personally, I think a calmer temperament generally will tend to do better in more difficult and complex industries like programming because the longer term toll of being "wired" year after year like a salesperson might for example, is going to grind someone into a pulp when they run up into problems that make you have to stop and think for a little bit. In short I think your personality is more reflective of a segment of Software Engineers out there that is under-represented in TH-cam - and the ones I'll prefer to watch, more specifically. Thank you for being you
You did 3 video and explained more and better the topic than 50 bs video. It is always inspiring and helpful to see people that do their job for years and talking about it. Thank you.
I forgot to tell to everyone who is developing games. If you really loves that - you working not becayse of position or the big salary. Life is all about to enjoying the best of we love, so lets do it.
you've worked on Mafia 3? I remember not being able to play that game for not having a decent pc. That game is amazing. Nice work! Can you make a detailed video on what responsibilities a person might have in the various roles in game dev...
Its really nice to know you better Chris, I felt attached to your way of advicing people in the begging of their carears like me. Also liked that you sound really aware of the problems in the game industry. Btw I oppend the link of the microfone but they charge twice the price of the product to send it to Brazil, I'm needing one and I was hoping to help you pay yours as you said but that don't sound as a great deal haha! Keep up with the content :)
Interesting, I remember Ready At Dawn from their little game "Deformers" which I adored. I was really sad when it actually came out and saw the player numbers :P.
Hey! Im happy to hear that things went good your way , i think that people underestimate how hard it is to be a game programmer. I'm currently a junior in my country with a salary of 26K a year , and it is considered the standard here. Fml.
Great retrospective, was always wondering how much people are getting paid in the video game industry. For me personally, I started as a student worker, making 13 euro/hour, working 10 hours a week. I went through 2 companies at that time and worked on embedded/IoT projects - mostly internal tools, proof-of-concepts and whatnot. It was just enough not to trigger tax-free amount, so it was great for a student - some experience and extra ~500 euro/month. In 3rd year of my bachelor agree I got an internship at top20 tech company in the world (according to market caps), but it was a smaller, European branch. I was making 15 euro/hour as a full-time intern (40 hours/week), as an engineer working on VS/VSC extension related to a product the company was selling. A few months ago I started to work as a Junior Software Engineer in a reputable company, and I am making 52k euro/year + bonus + around 10k in stocks yearly, for a total of around 75k euro pre-tax.
So I just watched all your videos and thank you so much man, I was getting really anxious if I was learning the correct way, I just got out of High School(learned python and mysql there) and am beginning to learn to code on my own, I don't know what * should do, but after watching your videos I think I should just learn what I enjoy. Really thanks man, and please share tips and advise for starting programmers.
Exploitation is well known within the gaming industry. Insane OT (some unpaid as you mentioned), crazy dealines and lower salary compared to the "regular software" industry in exchange for your passion. That's not even accounting for the job insecurity, with massive layoffs weather the project you were working was successful or not.
so proud of you man. im also getting into coding and love to game as well so i downloaded the eclipse ide and now looking for a good program to teach me. I also like cyber security too
As far as finding a job and starting a career, do you think it's better for an aspiring game dev programmer to just practice general C++ programming skills (and making small game projects in Unreal and whatnot) or is it better to be specialized and dive in really deep into something specific, like enemy AI, gameplay, game engine creation, writing shaders, etc?
If you are not going for big projects with some specific mechanics needed, you won't ever need to create game engines(at least you want). And if you start on big project solo, you will learn all aspects to quite an advanced lvl, so it's your choice
Thank you for sharing your experience.. but you also have to do sports, because if you lose your health, no one is going to give it back to you, on top of that, in the USA, getting sick can mean bankruptcy... The problem with working with companies that overexploit you is that they end up ruining your health, because you don't even have time to go for a walk or play sports... Very good, regards.
I've seen a few comments like this. I might make a video about it, but basically the failings of modern lifestyle transcends industries. Before the pandemic started I was a regular gym goer, and I only recently started going back. I'm a former Rugby player, and was doing strongman training off and on until 2018 or so. I think not having time to do healthful things is a made up problem for most jobs, but I think people should also understand that everyone is in their own position in their physical, mental, and financial wellbeing, and at a glance you don't know if each is trending up or down, so it's unfair to make assumptions or broad sweeping statements. The CTO at a former employer looks like a cover model for a bodybuilding magazine and is in his 50's. A fit AI Engineer I followed for a while online would make sure to take breaks and do calisthenics during crunch time when he couldn't get to the gym. Ultimately I wish for everyone to make the healthy decisions that work for them, but I can't assume what I'm doing for my health will be the same prescribed solution for someone else. The golden rule is no one, not even your doctor, cares more about your own health than you, and it's up to you to decide what is best. Given that, I leave it to everyone to figure out what's best for them, when it's best for them.
Love the videos! What computer would you suggest to new game developers. How about best cheap computers to get started, maybe both desktop and laptops. I think a lot of people get sucked into over paying / under performance. I think it would be a great topic for a man of your caliber. Also you seem so genuinely nice and that is so rare in today's world and you help make this world better without even realizing it! Plus I loved the games you worked on!
It depends on your existing skills and the engine you want to use. For 2D games you can get buy with an integrated laptop GPU. For 3D games if you also want to model and rig your own characters, you will need a discrete GPU with at least 4GB of VRAM. If you want to use Unreal Engine 5 you need a stronger GPU than for Unity. And if you want to use OpenGL, Vulkan or DirectX directly, you can get by with a slightly older GPU.
Hey, I wanna ask some questions: What is your role in game dev? Where could you go / What roles could you work as with your current skill set if you were to leave Game development?
I'm a gameplay programmer, so I mainly work on Game AI (NPCs and such) and implementing gameplay mechanics, or tweakable systems that designers can use. In the past I've gotten recruiter emails for non-game AR/VR companies, SpaceX/Tesla and other companies that use game engines to run simulations, and the Netflixes and Googles of the world. If I wanted to move laterally out of games though I'd probably pick another interest and learn the related skills on the side. I have another video about figuring out what's required for different roles, but basically I start with looking at job listings and their requirements and work backwards :) Thanks for watching!
Hi , I'm a big video game player for a long time, more or less actively competitive depending on games but w/e. I'm kind of disappointed with the quality of most games especially triple A's these days, so I've started my journey to try to make my own video game someday. Started to learn C++ to begin with 1 month ago ( got lots of free time, not so stressed, so I'm able to focus on it for few hours a day ), then imma see what's the best way to go after I at least understand the basics, I wanna learn and understand about the online part of the picture aswell. Already played around a bit with Unreal Engine 5. Any tips for my journey ? Thanks to share your story :)
Hey taking the time to learn how to make your own games can be fun and rewarding, and I think it's a great constructive way to handle being disappointed with games coming out. Shortly after I became interested in game dev there was a big boom in indie gaming. For me it started on Newgrounds, and then Braid came out and more indies started seeing commercial success, which triggered a flood of newcomers and creative ideas. When I really started getting into it, Indie Game the Movie was announced with short clips, and Minecraft exploded. Me and many others were fired up about the idea of small and solo dev teams, and some of the games that came out still inspire me (and distract me lol) to this day. I suggest exploring different ideas that you come up with, but try to stick with whatever toolset you start with at least for a little while before switching it up. There's way more resources than there were when I started, and there were more resources then than 10 years prior - and on it goes. Link up with fellow indie devs and beginners online, check out what other people are building, be inspired, and share your progress early and often. You'll find many people who are willing to give feedback on what you make if you just put it out there, which can help you build better games. Good luck!
thanks for you answer :) yeah ressources now are huge, if you know how to use Google any knowledge or informations are few clicks away. nowadays aswell there are many indies showing a passionate way, Minecraft was really a big boom back in the days, still making noise now lol. thanks for your advices, will try to make a good use of them :) Have a good day and continuation !@@SyncMain
I was an external contractor but got to visit Arkane Austin (and eat my first Texas BBQ), and I learned a ton in just a few months working with them. My only regret is I wasn't able to stay in contact with anyone from there, but it ranks high in the list of awesome memories from working in the industry. Nice channel btw, I'm definitely going to be playing your game.
Great video Dude ❤ Earning 140k yoir state sounds fairly good and I love how you did nit pursue a field where it goes against your interest Keep up the videos man we love you ❤❤❤
I graduated with a BS in CS but didn't want to work for some AAA company. Now I make adult games and my Patreon is earning $5k/month, this is two years after graduating. Can't find a job in the industry? Make adult games
Wow super awesome to find out you worked on mafia 3. I remember playing it on my toaster pc at 13 fps🤣🤣. Real good times. It was a core i7 4200u and nvidia gt740m pc
That's a good question... I know great engineers who would make more leaving GIS, but I have to imagine it's a similar comfort in familiarity they have with private GIS that I have for game development. I could leave my current industry, but there's a lot more unknowns than just switching companies within my industry.
any tips for getting into game programming companies? I've been applying for months, but just can't seem to find any job that is willing to accept me. I've applied for at least 200 jobs within the past couple of months, with little to no replies so far. I love game development; mostly working in Rust and C++ currently, but just not getting accepted is extremely discouraging.
Love this video man, thanks so much for sharing. I hope you keep making videos like these, they will gather up subscribers in no time! In my country, unfortunately, game dev jobs are crazy scarce, and the good ones pay half (or less) than the typical back-end role at a SaaS company... I have tried looking for remote jobs in game dev but the few that I come across, are really not that interesting (gambling stuff, mini games for elderly people... you get the gist). Do you have any insights as to the need of working at the office / lack of remote positions in the game dev industry? side-note: i find it so crazy that the market decides to pay so much more for a person doing APIs in vs a person who knows a lot about systems programming. I would really like to unveil this mystery - does it mean games are not profitable, or that game companies are just exploring the passion of their employees?
The second. Companies abuse people's passion. You need to pay 100k for someone to want to write APIs but you can get away paying pennies and still people will want to make games
hey man, if u have free time, maybe u should start a class or post tutorials on how to start an indie game tutorial on ur channel, trust me, many people would love that bro
I'm thinking of making a gameplay programming course, but it's going to be a lot of effort and will be a long way out even though I'm starting now. I highly recommend checking out other youtubers like @TheCherno and @MollyRocket, and check out the community on itch.io/devlogs.
Before, I started developing mobile applications to earn more money, working for 1 hour felt like death to me. Then I tried game development and when I got up from the computer, 5 hours had passed and I never understood it and then I decided that if you do what you love well, you will achieve much greater success and of course that much money :D
what got u into game dev, how much do u make at it. what do u enjoy about it, how did u get the job
@@renashamid1137 I had a dream of game development since my childhood, but I never wanted to enter because my priority was money, then I realized that the game industry was on the trend and that the industry would grow with new technology and I started. I had to do an internship to graduate from school, a lot of software companies offered me an internship, but I was stubborn that I would do an internship in game development and I couldn't find an internship. If I couldn't find an internship after 1 week, I would stay in school and I found an internship in the last 2 days, I was working hard before I found it and I worked in a company for 9 months and now I am doing projects to improve myself. The reason why game development is enjoyable for me is that because I am a gamer, I can have an idea about what mechanics should be in games and sometimes I can make mechanics that are not in games but the kind of mechanics I want, this is very enjoyable for me and I improve my algorithm because I code different mechanics and this process makes me happy.
So true. No matter what you do, do what you love.
So true, I do web dev and don't truly enjoy it so development is a bit of a struggle for me
Bro can make educational and good quality content without trying
It's hard for me as a Spaniard to understand how a yearly 140k pay does not reach for a house and a amazing level of life-style, here in Spain we are able to live by our own and even start a mortage for a own house when we reach the 30k-40k point a year.
The rent cost there must be insane.
Hope everything ends up well, and that you both end having your goals fulfiled!
140k in a high tax area. 100k. minus rent 35k = 65k. minus basic living = 45k. He's only been on it for short term aswell so whats that 100k after 2 years assuming no furniture, large electronic purchases, holidays etc... GL buying a house
@@Chris_t0 Paying 35k for rent just shows how useless the dollar is lol.
In 95% of America, you can buy a house on $140,000 a year. This guy must live in an extremely expensive area or have kids.
He mentions at around 3:15 that he does indeed live in California. If you know anything about America, you'd know that California is by far the WORST place you can be, even without factoring in the astronomical rates of rent. The job opportunities in California don't outweigh the neverending money troubles!!
@@Rhino1004 I didn’t hear him say that. I live in seattle and travel to Cali for work so I know how expensive those cities are. I was just pointing out that they’re not the norm and most Americans live in places where they’re fine on that much money.
I think there’s definitely two types of people. Those who would rather work in a job they love for less pay and those who would rather do what earns them more money. Both are completely justified as well and neither is better than the other.
I'm definitely in the former group though, some of my happiest times were earning 18 dollarydoos an hour on a farm and I'm considering going back to it (to slightly higher wages now lol)
Couldn't agree more. I've found over time people are more infactuated with a high paying job position, rather than a position that's enjoyable and sustainable. When having a partner that works as well - 2 incomes no children - there's more leeway with finding a fulfilling position in life!
Prey is one of my favorite games ever. It's so cool you worked for that project. I have been thinking about going into game dev and hearing more about how much you made makes me think it can be worth it but I would try to avoid high COL areas. Thank you for sharing.
Oh wow you worked on Prey 2017? Much love dude, literally became one my favourite games ever, and I've been gaming for 20+ years, you guys did great.
Bro, This is the most insightful video I have ever seen. ❤
This is super useful information as an aspiring software/game dev. I'm at this weird crossroads right now. I graduated from a computer science program last year in and unfortunately did not have the foresight to do co-op to gain some experience in the field. I did some traveling for some months after that and decided to give game dev a shot. During a 4-month period of job hunting with no luck, I took some courses online and made a few portfolio pieces in unreal and unity (and a game jam). I had fun and I think I could be good at it, but I wouldn't say I'm excited to create something new every day.
I'm constantly blown away by the creativity of new indie games coming out and I now realize the amount of work that it takes to make games. I love playing games and dissecting mechanics, coming up with new ideas/implementing them, story, etc., but I think my other passions in life are equally as important to me if not more.
All that being said. I'm lucky enough that very soon I'm moving to Montreal with a good support system and some connections, and I have to make a choice between putting all my eggs in game development, or doing something else. My questions for you are:
1. Would you say that a programmers working in the games industry all have a fiery passion to make games?
2. Do you think that working in the games industry generally leads to less, more, or similar flexibility with travel, working hours, etc than other fields?
I'm glad you're feeling some economic stability and wish you continued success in the future!
1) I would say so, everyone I know wouldn't want to be doing anything else. We all still play games, and will chat about what we've been playing over lunch breaks or after work, and I've been to a few friendly fighting game parties/tournaments that were filled with industry people. It's pretty common for everyone to exchange Discord usernames and Xbox/Playstation IDs so they can play together. Just like any job, it can be stressful, but we love the end result.
2) It varies by company. Both Blind Squirrel and Blizzard had excellent Paid Time Off accrual rates, where I was earning more than 20 days per year. Ready at Dawn and my current job only have 10 days off per year, which is pretty standard but not great. I think a lot of competitive employers offer 15-20 days per year, which adds up really fast.
Thanks for watching and good luck! If you can land a job in Montreal before you move, your new employer might offer to help cover some moving expenses. You never know!
@@SyncMain Thank you for the thoughtful response.
@@SyncMain hold on.10 days off per year for vacation? 10 days per year? And it's standard in the US? Really?
@@ИванИванов-я5э9кthats insane... where i live every company has to offer at least 30 days per year
@@SyncMain This maybe true in the short term and when there are two income streams for the household. When a family expands and kids are in the equation, the salary that these game companies are providing is really not enough during these times, and sometimes no matter how passionate you are about your job and the field you're in, life will give you a reality check and there have been many developers that faced the decision to switch to a higher paying job which they're not so passionate about just to support the family. I wish you all the best and hopefully you earn what you deserve doing what you love the most.
Still looking for a job.. Thanks for the videos, been quite useful to me.
Going for Software Engineer :)
Good for you man 😊
Update man?
Enjoyed your content man, you really do just get to the point vs some of the other creators out there who love to dance around the issues. Ever since I was a kid I've had this thing for fixing bugs in apps and games I've encountered and after I had kids I just sorta stopped thinking about it. I'm stuck in the place I am right now for complicated reasons and all of my 4 boys are starting to take interest in the things I love including my dabbling in programming and I'm taking a serious dive back into it as a way to connect with my kids. I think I'd be a hell of a debugger/QA type but even if I don't excel I think it would be amazing to give my sons who want to do it a head start
That's so wholesome. Connecting with yo boys through programming
Dude thanks for sharing! Orange County is so expensive, I miss it though. I hate that our industry takes advantages of people's passions and under pays us.
Thank you for sharing! Big fan of Prey and of Civ 6!
Hey man good to see another video up. All the best bro
145K in california is like 50k in the midwest. I know you get to work on some really neat projects but that is working for peanuts.
Wishing you a happy and fulfilling life filled with joy, love, and success in all your endeavors.
My dude. You seem like the most friendly guy; I've been lucky enough to work with developers as kind and passionate as you. People who feel excited and privileged to be doing the work that they're doing, and sharing their knowledge and experience with those around them. Thumbs, sub, bells etc. Thanks for the great post.
People are saying that game programmers earn less than non game programmers for years, and that is bullshit.
Which area of software field do you think earn more than game programmers ? How you came to that conclusion?
Game programmers, in general, earn more than generalist full stack, front end, backend web monkeys.
They earn more or on par with embedded software engineers.
They only earn 20-30% less than cloud, infrastructure, AI and big data engineers.
Don't choose a field based on just earning potentials, because the tech is so volatile that every field is changing rapidly in time, no one now's which field is gonna be lucrative.
Choose a field you love, you'll get better at it and you'll earn more. That's it, life is too short.
Lol might wanna do some research
For my second dev job as a front end web developer, I made as much working remotely at a startup as he made as mid level developer working for freaking blizzard. And I was underpaid.
@@brandongregori995 Blizzard is known for underpay to death its employees, you can't compare it.
her yerdesin yav
Dude, you have had a great career so far!!!
Awesome story. I wish California treated you better.. 140k a year just to afford an apartment is insane. Best of luck friend
Ty for sharing your experience!
Passion is fine but one must think about retirement, quality of life and job security. Nowadays you can easily get 90-140k right of the college as a fresher in big tech.
So doing game development as part time as your hobby while doing software development job is not so bad. Its not fulfilling but trust me when you see your bank account you will be happy. You can get out of the industry in 12-15 years and do whatever you want because you will be financially free by then.
No one forcing you to be game developer, and that's great for us the game devs because the more people having fear getting into game dev the more we get paid, basic economics.
You can be a web developer like 95% of the world, we need good web developers. Nearly all of us want to run our game studios after a certain amount of time, that's why we're into it and will be and we get paid equal to other non-game devs in my country.
So the purpose of your life is to have money when you are old?
99% of programmers aren't working in big tech or silicon valley buble.
For 99% of jobs, game programmer salary is very comparable.
Not just anyone can get into big tech bro 😂. 90% of devs are working for regular companies managing a database or designing their web apps.
It's been always my dream is to become a game developer like you. And I am already became a big fan of you(you have inspired me a lot), will you make a complete study guide for us? Like what should we learn for betterment (according to your experience), how to prepare for job, and how to just become a better developer
Top man. If you love the job you're doing, you'll never have to work a day in your life. I strongly believe this and would always be happier on less money loving my career.
I love yours videos and being an aspiring game dev, you inspire me to become one.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
Thanks for the video!! Having such a detailed insight on someone who has great experience helps a lot on making a bunch of scary decisions
I love your passion for game development and how you've stuck with it, but I'd also like to throw in my two cents. I spend all of my professional time developing backend software systems in the medical space. These are things that the majority of people spend 0% of their life thinking about. Despite that, they are absolutely necessary, and drive a hugely important aspect of our lives. The funny thing is that the necessity of my work isn't even what drives me. I LOVE solving these problems. And I don't believe that the solutions I work on are applicable to my professional space exclusively. I've developed generic work engines that would absolutely benefit the server side components of online gaming infrastructures. As programmers, we often solve problems that can be applicable in many applications. If you enjoy solving these problems, you can find great enjoyment in programming regardless of the field that your software applies to.
You seem like a nice, genuine person. Have a sub.
Nice video! Can you please tell more about working on Prey? I love this game
I came on as a contracted AI engineer through my employer. The game was already very fleshed out, they just needed a couple more pairs of hands to help polish the game. I worked on the 'gibbing' in the game, corpse and giblet clean up (for performance, when the player is not facing those entities, they're removed from the scene/deleted from memory behind them), and some VFX support for enemy deaths & the operator's laser. There were a few other smaller tasks and bug fixes I worked on, but overall I was just stoked to visit Arkane Austin as I was a huge fan of Dishonored and a lot of their previous games. Immersive Sims are probably my favorite genre of video game. They were a very talented crowd, a couple of people came off as pretentious, but I'll forgive them as I didn't spend very long with them and they are very good at their jobs lol
@@SyncMain yeah immersives are best. Thanks for your story
Awesome video bro! As someone who is looking to change careers and also loves video games this information is great. I always though all video game devs struggle and while I love my current career the rewards just aren’t worth it for me anymore. Glad to know I wouldn’t have to face the same kind of situation lol
I love how honest and humble you are saying I am lucky to have these experiences and be where I am today
6.20
Thanks for sharing, sounds like an adventurous life !
Very cool video and insightful stuff. I'm kind of on the opposite side of this - I make very good pay doing web development but I would rather be working on games.
Worked at visual concepts as a designer for a few years but recently got laid off. Recently started learning C++ just because it seems more stable to become a programmer and i also enjoyed coding and debugging code in c# when i spent time independently working on unity projects. i know cpp is much more complex but i think i'll have fun with it
This is awesome Chris. I'm currently upgrading my arsenal of knowledge, I think you have just inspired me to look more into game dev
Game development attracts me so much but i fear going in.
Fear is the mind killer.
The only way to grow is facing it.
You'll be so happy on the other side, trust me, I faced the same fear not long ago.
Start as soon as you read this.
Cheers!
From what I learned in my lifetime, if a job or title or position has many fishes in the sea that are passionate / inspired about it, it's a chance for exploitation, like always putting up a "Hiring" post somewhere.
The only way to get around it is if you're a brand like the developers of Sekiro or Elden ring, or you're the founder / co-founder of that game / product.
Was funny to hear how you can't afford rent with your sky high salaries. Here in eastern europe as junior dev I made 14.4k/year and now as mid level I make 31.2k/year and and still manage to buy and pay everything I need.
Respect! You are such a gem of a developer. Please make more videos.
When taking a game development course at my Uni I got heavily discouraged cause I did all the work in my group's project twice.
I haven't touched Godot/Unity since then and I found a career in enterprise software engineering. Even though I don't love what I'm doing it enables me to invest in my future without worrying about finances whatsoever. I admit, there is no passion for CS anymore but driving a 911 in mountain passes is fun af.
Lol hey, if you're happy then I think you made the right choice. I definitely think it'll vary by the person!
Porsche 911... That's a lot of money, what's your tech stack ? I think you're just outlier i know tons of enterprise developers earn mediocre wage.
@@-Engineering01- Just because its a 911 doesn't mean he paid a ton of money for it, I have 8 BMW's at home you'd think im rich, im not I just decide to buy vintage ones and fix them up because they are more enjoyable.
@@NikolaiCherepanovtech industry does pay decently at worst, thats just a fact, same as health industry, theres no miserable/poor doctor
@@kiwd-dynamic Did you even read my comment?
I’m currently a software engineer still pretty early in my career, and I didn’t pursue video game development because I thought it was less realistic as a career, but over a year into my second software engineering job, I’m realizing it’s not very fulfilling for me. I’ve fooled around in Unity but I feel like it would take too much effort to make a career shift as I don’t have any actual training in game development (just the simple Udemy course or two). And the big thing for me is that I really like making and tuning game mechanics, but I’m not great at coming up with the big ideas.
Thank you for reminding me of the good times bro! USA is a land of opportunity. I didn’t make (and not making) as much money as you do, but I’ve done well even as an effing legacy programmer. I reached retirement age, so don’t forget about savings!
I liked and subscribed the moment I heard you mention charity/leaving a link to a charity in your description, I respect the way you think my man
I would happily take a pay cut to move from web dev to game dev
Just know that some game companies pay just as much if not more, if you're willing to work for them :)
Thank you for your content, you are great!
Game development tends to be among the lowest paid programmer jobs because the competition / turnover rate is high.
Especially for larger studios, every year there is a fresh batch of starry eyed young professionals who are passionate about game development. And willing to work for cheaper if it means they get to participate in the industry.
As for smaller or indie studios, they simply cannot afford to pay as much as other larger studios, as such the main driver is passion for game development.
This is the thing - at the start it can be rough, but as you become experienced and know what you're doing you can easily negotiate for more or jump ship to somewhere that will pay you more. I've gone from £25k -> £80k (with more bonuses and perks) in less than 7 years
@@ls.c.5682 honestly inflation in the past 7 years has eaten up at least 40% of that salary increase. As someone who worked in game development it’s difficult to put a price on burnout when passion is on the line. Taking inflation and price increases into account your wages just about doubled in 7 years, but you’re not getting that time, youth and health back. And it’s unlikely you’ve managed to launch the next Quake, Diablo or Dark Souls either.
What you did do was make your employer at least 1 million £ richer. Otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten that pay raise.
Im so very thankful that ive found your channel SyncMain :) I may be to old to become a programmer, but ive bought a book and i try my best. It's fun. And i can still do hobby projects and play around with gadgets.
Ive played 1000+ hours plus on Civ 6, so fun to hear that you where a part of making it. What i would love to listen more to is when you take the first step towards programming with graphics(c++) The first project where you make something move around etc.
When you have a good foundation in C++, choose a graphic api (vulkan, directx, opengl) because you are beginner you are going to choose opengl. Then learn to render a window with opengl rendering inside and then play around OpenGL’s functions and methods.
^ Someone got to it before I did!
I enjoyed learnopengl.com as a gentle introduction, but once you've stood up your project and played around for a bit, learning more about how graphics cards work, modern graphics pipelines, and pick a modern graphics API to do other research in (Vulkan, D3D12, Metal)
I was going to point to a couple Twitter users to go follow, but of course their accounts are gone now. I found a thread I was thinking of but I'm going to have to clean it up and archive it somewhere easy to point to. Probably a Readme on Github. It was a professional graphics programmer with great advice for learning graphics programming.
I'm from Brazil and my dream is to be a Game Programmer and live in the USA, at the moment I'm looking for opportunities. Nice video!
That is amazing. Really amazing. Working on different companies with different projects that is amazing.
Super great video, packed with information. Cheers!
please more videos from you I want to know more about your career and give more advices and thank you for sharing
I like your temperament SyncMain. Your energy is about what I see in the Tech industry from the guys that are "settled in" i.e. are actually great at what they do, have no desire to be "showy" or stand out in any particular way, and just like to be helpful by contributing their skills to projects and companies that they feel match what their own goals are.
Can you talk about how your personality changes, or doesn't change over time? Like, starting out are you full of energy enthusiasm etc, and when things start to take a downward turn as they do for basically everyone in any industry - how did you keep from spiraling down like many others do, OR how did you find your way out. Is it temperament, or friend circles, etc etc. or life lessons learned etc.
Me personally, I think a calmer temperament generally will tend to do better in more difficult and complex industries like programming because the longer term toll of being "wired" year after year like a salesperson might for example, is going to grind someone into a pulp when they run up into problems that make you have to stop and think for a little bit.
In short I think your personality is more reflective of a segment of Software Engineers out there that is under-represented in TH-cam - and the ones I'll prefer to watch, more specifically.
Thank you for being you
You did 3 video and explained more and better the topic than 50 bs video. It is always inspiring and helpful to see people that do their job for years and talking about it. Thank you.
Such an awesome genuine channel and video, you are such a cool guy
I like this guy. I’m glad I found your channel!
I forgot to tell to everyone who is developing games. If you really loves that - you working not becayse of position or the big salary. Life is all about to enjoying the best of we love, so lets do it.
Dude this video has been very informative!! Thank you for the awesome content!
So informative !!!! thank you
you've worked on Mafia 3? I remember not being able to play that game for not having a decent pc. That game is amazing. Nice work! Can you make a detailed video on what responsibilities a person might have in the various roles in game dev...
Its really nice to know you better Chris, I felt attached to your way of advicing people in the begging of their carears like me.
Also liked that you sound really aware of the problems in the game industry.
Btw I oppend the link of the microfone but they charge twice the price of the product to send it to Brazil, I'm needing one and I was hoping to help you pay yours as you said but that don't sound as a great deal haha!
Keep up with the content :)
Oh yeah don’t worry too much about that, if you can get it cheaper or find something better in any way definitely grab that instead!
Awesome video 😎 👍
The GIS joke lol. I gave up eventually and told people “I make maps”.
i am a new game dev your video helped me alot
Thanks for the vid man :) Looking forward for some technical content from You :)
it's good to have goals in life and pursue happiness. Anyone can realize their dreams as long as they work towards them!
Love the candor.
Love this vid
Interesting, I remember Ready At Dawn from their little game "Deformers" which I adored. I was really sad when it actually came out and saw the player numbers :P.
Hey! Im happy to hear that things went good your way , i think that people underestimate how hard it is to be a game programmer.
I'm currently a junior in my country with a salary of 26K a year , and it is considered the standard here. Fml.
Great retrospective, was always wondering how much people are getting paid in the video game industry.
For me personally, I started as a student worker, making 13 euro/hour, working 10 hours a week. I went through 2 companies at that time and worked on embedded/IoT projects - mostly internal tools, proof-of-concepts and whatnot. It was just enough not to trigger tax-free amount, so it was great for a student - some experience and extra ~500 euro/month.
In 3rd year of my bachelor agree I got an internship at top20 tech company in the world (according to market caps), but it was a smaller, European branch. I was making 15 euro/hour as a full-time intern (40 hours/week), as an engineer working on VS/VSC extension related to a product the company was selling.
A few months ago I started to work as a Junior Software Engineer in a reputable company, and I am making 52k euro/year + bonus + around 10k in stocks yearly, for a total of around 75k euro pre-tax.
So I just watched all your videos and thank you so much man, I was getting really anxious if I was learning the correct way, I just got out of High School(learned python and mysql there) and am beginning to learn to code on my own, I don't know what * should do, but after watching your videos I think I should just learn what I enjoy. Really thanks man, and please share tips and advise for starting programmers.
thankyou, the insight was enlightening
Exploitation is well known within the gaming industry.
Insane OT (some unpaid as you mentioned), crazy dealines and lower salary compared to the "regular software" industry in exchange for your passion. That's not even accounting for the job insecurity, with massive layoffs weather the project you were working was successful or not.
thanks for sharing , man
so proud of you man. im also getting into coding and love to game as well so i downloaded the eclipse ide and now looking for a good program to teach me. I also like cyber security too
As far as finding a job and starting a career, do you think it's better for an aspiring game dev programmer to just practice general C++ programming skills (and making small game projects in Unreal and whatnot) or is it better to be specialized and dive in really deep into something specific, like enemy AI, gameplay, game engine creation, writing shaders, etc?
@@Hexcyon where can I learn data structures and algorithms in C++ ? I can't find good TH-cam video of DSA in C++. It's all in Java.
@@kneesurgeryythere are lots courses on udemy in DS in C++
If you are not going for big projects with some specific mechanics needed, you won't ever need to create game engines(at least you want). And if you start on big project solo, you will learn all aspects to quite an advanced lvl, so it's your choice
Nothing can beat Abdul Barry videos on Udemy
But I am doing C# in unity and I don't know how to use C++ to make games
Thank you for sharing your experience.. but you also have to do sports, because if you lose your health, no one is going to give it back to you, on top of that, in the USA, getting sick can mean bankruptcy... The problem with working with companies that overexploit you is that they end up ruining your health, because you don't even have time to go for a walk or play sports... Very good, regards.
I've seen a few comments like this. I might make a video about it, but basically the failings of modern lifestyle transcends industries. Before the pandemic started I was a regular gym goer, and I only recently started going back. I'm a former Rugby player, and was doing strongman training off and on until 2018 or so. I think not having time to do healthful things is a made up problem for most jobs, but I think people should also understand that everyone is in their own position in their physical, mental, and financial wellbeing, and at a glance you don't know if each is trending up or down, so it's unfair to make assumptions or broad sweeping statements.
The CTO at a former employer looks like a cover model for a bodybuilding magazine and is in his 50's. A fit AI Engineer I followed for a while online would make sure to take breaks and do calisthenics during crunch time when he couldn't get to the gym.
Ultimately I wish for everyone to make the healthy decisions that work for them, but I can't assume what I'm doing for my health will be the same prescribed solution for someone else.
The golden rule is no one, not even your doctor, cares more about your own health than you, and it's up to you to decide what is best. Given that, I leave it to everyone to figure out what's best for them, when it's best for them.
@@SyncMain I love Sylvester Stallone's quote: Health is Wealth
To not be able to buy a house for such a salary in that area is crazy
Thanks for the insight man, big ups for the australia footage too lol
Thank you for sharing. Kudos
Love the videos! What computer would you suggest to new game developers. How about best cheap computers to get started, maybe both desktop and laptops. I think a lot of people get sucked into over paying / under performance. I think it would be a great topic for a man of your caliber. Also you seem so genuinely nice and that is so rare in today's world and you help make this world better without even realizing it! Plus I loved the games you worked on!
It depends on your existing skills and the engine you want to use. For 2D games you can get buy with an integrated laptop GPU.
For 3D games if you also want to model and rig your own characters, you will need a discrete GPU with at least 4GB of VRAM.
If you want to use Unreal Engine 5 you need a stronger GPU than for Unity.
And if you want to use OpenGL, Vulkan or DirectX directly, you can get by with a slightly older GPU.
Hey, I wanna ask some questions:
What is your role in game dev?
Where could you go / What roles could you work as with your current skill set if you were to leave Game development?
I'm a gameplay programmer, so I mainly work on Game AI (NPCs and such) and implementing gameplay mechanics, or tweakable systems that designers can use.
In the past I've gotten recruiter emails for non-game AR/VR companies, SpaceX/Tesla and other companies that use game engines to run simulations, and the Netflixes and Googles of the world. If I wanted to move laterally out of games though I'd probably pick another interest and learn the related skills on the side. I have another video about figuring out what's required for different roles, but basically I start with looking at job listings and their requirements and work backwards :)
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for the detailed answer and the video, Mr. SyncMain.
Hi , I'm a big video game player for a long time, more or less actively competitive depending on games but w/e.
I'm kind of disappointed with the quality of most games especially triple A's these days, so I've started my journey to try to make my own video game someday.
Started to learn C++ to begin with 1 month ago ( got lots of free time, not so stressed, so I'm able to focus on it for few hours a day ), then imma see what's the best way to go after I at least understand the basics, I wanna learn and understand about the online part of the picture aswell. Already played around a bit with Unreal Engine 5.
Any tips for my journey ?
Thanks to share your story :)
Hey taking the time to learn how to make your own games can be fun and rewarding, and I think it's a great constructive way to handle being disappointed with games coming out. Shortly after I became interested in game dev there was a big boom in indie gaming. For me it started on Newgrounds, and then Braid came out and more indies started seeing commercial success, which triggered a flood of newcomers and creative ideas. When I really started getting into it, Indie Game the Movie was announced with short clips, and Minecraft exploded. Me and many others were fired up about the idea of small and solo dev teams, and some of the games that came out still inspire me (and distract me lol) to this day.
I suggest exploring different ideas that you come up with, but try to stick with whatever toolset you start with at least for a little while before switching it up. There's way more resources than there were when I started, and there were more resources then than 10 years prior - and on it goes. Link up with fellow indie devs and beginners online, check out what other people are building, be inspired, and share your progress early and often. You'll find many people who are willing to give feedback on what you make if you just put it out there, which can help you build better games.
Good luck!
thanks for you answer :) yeah ressources now are huge, if you know how to use Google any knowledge or informations are few clicks away.
nowadays aswell there are many indies showing a passionate way, Minecraft was really a big boom back in the days, still making noise now lol.
thanks for your advices, will try to make a good use of them :)
Have a good day and continuation !@@SyncMain
Cool that you worked on Prey, at Arkane for a bit there. :D
I was an external contractor but got to visit Arkane Austin (and eat my first Texas BBQ), and I learned a ton in just a few months working with them. My only regret is I wasn't able to stay in contact with anyone from there, but it ranks high in the list of awesome memories from working in the industry.
Nice channel btw, I'm definitely going to be playing your game.
@@SyncMain Thanks! My main inspirations are Thief: The Dark Project, Dishonored, etc. :D
Great video Dude ❤
Earning 140k yoir state sounds fairly good and I love how you did nit pursue a field where it goes against your interest
Keep up the videos man we love you ❤❤❤
I graduated with a BS in CS but didn't want to work for some AAA company. Now I make adult games and my Patreon is earning $5k/month, this is two years after graduating. Can't find a job in the industry? Make adult games
Anyone knows from which movie is the scene starting at 0:50? Somehow I recognize myself to have been a kind of similar situation... 😆
In case you never found it or someone else is looking for it, I believe it is the show called What We Do in the Shadows
we definitely need more videos
Wow super awesome to find out you worked on mafia 3. I remember playing it on my toaster pc at 13 fps🤣🤣. Real good times. It was a core i7 4200u and nvidia gt740m pc
Solid Snake : "As a Game Programmer?!"
I’m a GIS analyst and I make 150k a year in local government. Why do NGO pay GIS professionals so much less?
That's a good question... I know great engineers who would make more leaving GIS, but I have to imagine it's a similar comfort in familiarity they have with private GIS that I have for game development. I could leave my current industry, but there's a lot more unknowns than just switching companies within my industry.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
any tips for getting into game programming companies? I've been applying for months, but just can't seem to find any job that is willing to accept me. I've applied for at least 200 jobs within the past couple of months, with little to no replies so far. I love game development; mostly working in Rust and C++ currently, but just not getting accepted is extremely discouraging.
Hi great video , I would like to see what is your day in the life looks like maybe office or working from home type of style video (:
Love this video man, thanks so much for sharing. I hope you keep making videos like these, they will gather up subscribers in no time!
In my country, unfortunately, game dev jobs are crazy scarce, and the good ones pay half (or less) than the typical back-end role at a SaaS company... I have tried looking for remote jobs in game dev but the few that I come across, are really not that interesting (gambling stuff, mini games for elderly people... you get the gist).
Do you have any insights as to the need of working at the office / lack of remote positions in the game dev industry?
side-note: i find it so crazy that the market decides to pay so much more for a person doing APIs in vs a person who knows a lot about systems programming. I would really like to unveil this mystery - does it mean games are not profitable, or that game companies are just exploring the passion of their employees?
The second. Companies abuse people's passion. You need to pay 100k for someone to want to write APIs but you can get away paying pennies and still people will want to make games
Would be really cool if you could make a video on the interview process
What a great guy. Subbed.
Very usefulllllllll 🙏🙏🙏👏👏👏👏
Happiness should be everyone's goal. Money is a short term motivator.
hey man, if u have free time, maybe u should start a class or post tutorials on how to start an indie game tutorial on ur channel, trust me, many people would love that bro
I'm thinking of making a gameplay programming course, but it's going to be a lot of effort and will be a long way out even though I'm starting now. I highly recommend checking out other youtubers like @TheCherno and @MollyRocket, and check out the community on itch.io/devlogs.
@@SyncMain Yes Chris! please start c++ game programmer course for beginners.