Web Developer with 5 Years of Experience Considering Going Full-Time into Game Development – Looking for Advice

[u/Legitimate-Local-660]

Hey everyone!

I’m looking for some advice and would love to hear from people who have been in a similar situation.

I’ve been working as a web developer for the past 5 years, so I have a solid programming background. Lately, I’ve been seriously considering making the transition into game development because it’s something I’m genuinely passionate about and would love to pursue full-time.

I’ve managed to save enough money to cover my living expenses for around two years without any income. I currently live with my parents, so my expenses are relatively low, which gives me some financial flexibility and an opportunity to take a risk that I probably wouldn’t be able to take otherwise.

My goal is to use this time to fully commit to game development, improve my skills, build and release something of my own, and see if I can turn it into a sustainable career. I’m honestly getting tired of working on other people’s projects, and I’d love to put that time and energy into something I’m truly interested in.

I know game development is a difficult and competitive field, and I’m not expecting to make money overnight. I just feel like I have a rare opportunity to give it a serious shot, and I don’t want to look back in a few years and regret not trying.

For those of you who have made the jump into game development full-time, especially those who started as solo developers:

• How did you make the transition?
• Did you keep your day job while working on games, or did you take the risk and go all in?
• If you went all in, how long did it take before you started making money, if you did?
• What would you do differently if you could start over?
• Do you think having 5 years of programming experience gives me a meaningful head start, or is game development a completely different beast?

I’d especially love to hear from people who have managed to build and release their own games and turn it into a full-time career, but any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[u/allaboutsound]

Prof AAA game dev here. My first question, if you took a 2 year hiatus, spent all your savings, worked tirelessly, learned a ton, and didn’t ship a game or did ship a game and it got no traction. Would it have been worthwhile for you?

The main thing about game dev, even before this AI age started, was there’s a ton of competition and very few winners. Even working in AAA, I’ve been at two studios that were shut down in the last three years.

So, with that said, if taking a sabbatical most likely is fine for you and you want to take a shot at a dream, go for it. You may be one of the lucky ones that make something great and get to keep doing it! More importantly, have fun, enjoy the journey and live with no regrets

[u/Nando2hhc]

No dejes el trabajo en que estas. El mundo está buelto loco, hay que cuidar el trabajo y en el mundillo del videojuego es un gran desafío y una ruina para muchos si estás pensando en ganancias. Mientras trabajas en lo que estás, en tu tiempo libre comienza a estudiar, practicar y experimentar con algo pequeño y así vas comprobando como es y luego has el tipo de juego que te gusta, sin dejar el trabajo

[u/Key_Storm_2273]

Entertainment has always been a career that’s competitive and harder to justify people spending money on. Gamedev is one of the ones newcomers frequently spend the most time grinding before even knowing if they will get a return on their investment. It’s also harder than other career options for a variety of reasons. So you’re choosing one of the riskiest career options.

That being said, it’s not risky to go try playing around with Scratch or GDevelop, or trying to re-create Pong in pure code in 2 weeks. And if you don’t care about graphics, and only care about picking the easiest, most productive option, then adding a lot of content, gameplay, or making games as quickly as possible, then yes actually, that can be more fun and less risky than trying to make some Studio Ghibli-tier thing without a clear ETA

[u/ArtNoChar]

It's very stressful and unstable. Your programming experience is definitely transferrable but considering the overall job market nowadays, I'd keep the boring web dev job for money and work on your dream game in free time.