The Games Game

Stay Focused on A to Get to B (March 2008)

Dear Tom,

I have become a big fan of your advice. I only wish I could have stumbled upon it five years ago instead of five months ago. I want to be a game designer (won't bore you with the whole passion story). Back in High School I had the idea that in order to become a game designer I must become a Computer Scientist. I am now a few months from graduating in CS, and I am having a big change of heart about programming. It's scaring me tremendously.

I've finally realized that (1) Computer Science isn't the only way to break into the industry; (2) my passion is to create games, not code them. I can program fairly well, but I really like writing, telling stories. I write stories in my free time!  I didn't get an English degree because I thought it was too easy, that people with English degrees were losers. I was really a fool. I feel like I've wasted five years.

Currently I am thinking that I should embark on the QA road. I think I can still manage to pay off my student loans, but the QA path is contrary to what I went to school for. I'm torn between (A) trying to fake passion as a programmer or (B) QA. In both cases Game Design would be the end goal. Is there something I am missing Tom? Thanks again for all your articles.

Sincerely,
Chris

Chris,

This is an amazing coincidence. I just wrote an article that addresses exactly the questions you're asking. That article won't appear here on IGDA, though, so I'll just respond to your letter.

Firstly, since you're months from completing your CS degree, you absolutely have to finish that degree! Just do it. You don't need passion, you just need to focus on getting that degree. That's your job right now. If you want to work in games, the ability to focus on doing your job right now is extremely important - even when you don't have passion for it. And even when working in a fun field like games, it often happens that our passion wears thin when working on a single game for more a year or two.

Secondly, I recommend that you look into level design. Get some moddable games and start playing around with making mods. See if you can download some game engine demos, play around with them. Join forces with others who are passionate about games and collaborate on some projects.

You can keep QA as a fallback plan or as a way to make ends meet while building your portfolio, but I think you can shoot for a higher entryway than QA with a CS degree. Which of course you're going to complete, right? Right!