Post news Report RSS DungeonQuest: Existential Crisis

Both in life and game development, sometimes you have to stop and think where you're going.

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These last days I've been drowned by different circumstances: working really hard in DungeonQuest, trying to break into the games industry, and saving some energy to live a meaningful life. I'm not a pessimistic guy, but realistically I can't say I have good news in either of these goals.

Indie game development is difficult in nature. That's part of the thrill of making games. However, trying to build a portfolio with C# games in XNA is becoming totally pointless. Seems like every company out there needs UDK, Unity, or plain C++ programming. I'm OK with that. I can learn, and I like learning. Just gimme some time off DungeonQuest and I can master any of these technologies.

In a moment like this, my first question is: why is XNA so under-used in the game industry? I can go everywhere with UDK or Unity, but with XNA I can only go indie.

Another pulsing question is: which technology should I learn to build a breath-taking portfolio? I see there's a lot of demand of Unity and iPhone games, so it's not a bad idea to start from there. However, lots of companies still make their engines with raw C++ and 3D math skills.

And the final existential question is: why is everyone looking for seniors? Why juniors are so under-estimated? Maybe we should team up in a Junior Game Developer Guild or something. Yes, I have no previous experience in the game industry, and still I remain determined to break in. We as juniors are passionate and eager to learn, as a brute diamonds. Companies should be fighting for our young and growing talent instead of pushing us away from the industry.

So much questioning is making me hungry. DungeonQuest will be in a brief hiatus. I need some time to choose my path, learn some Unity, and build my portfolio. Hopefully I will be back soon, with renewed energies and a game development job under my arm.

Cheers!
Emanuel

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Milch
Milch

I think its still pretty impressive to show them your portfolio - even if its "just" with XNA games.
It tells them that you're passionate and already expierienced in game-programming.
Maybe its not the same, but something similar happend to me a while ago:
I applied for a job at a software-developer and showed them a C++ game I was currently working on - and he was perfectly fine with that.

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EmanuelMontero Author
EmanuelMontero

I hope you're right, Milch ;)
Thanks for the comment!

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