AARP Member trying to get up to speed with the industry

Community Community & Industry Discussion
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Hello everyone, I figured I’d reach out to the community in regards to my questions in hopes of getting some useful feedback. So I’m 50 years old now and find myself enamored with the Unreal Engine and realizing that I let my passion slip as to what I want really brings me satisfaction in life and that has always been creating.

I attended the Art Institutes of Houston, Philadelphia and Phoenix back from 1994-1998 and finished my Animation Media Arts program when my second child was born. I have always loved creation, but the responsibilities of life as a parent of 6 after my Navy time led me into some creative endeavors, but never anything too fulfilling and I found myself in sales.

That’s been paying my bills for the past 15 years and as I reflect, I feel like I missed the boat on what drove me as a kid and into adulthood and really my dream career of working on creative projects in games or film/ TV. 4 of my kids are on their own and two are juniors in Highschool now and driving, so the need for their Dad is way less. lol.

I told my wife, I feel so unfulfilled and just need to pursue getting back into what I always loved. I am amazed at what can be created in minutes, used to take me days of a render session, only to find I needed to adjust again. I have been consuming tutorials from so many talented people and the time just flies by. I finally started diving in to Unreal 5 and back into Max and Twinmotion and variousn other applications. In some ways it’s like riding a bike, but really its more like getting off my bike and getting in a rocket.

I love the stories being told and the fact that so many people can tell them. IMO art and creativity is what makes us unique and is truly our own and a reflection of who we are. To that end I find myself a bit overwhelmed on how to steer this ADD brain of mine into a direction, that would land me a dream career.

I was feeling like I was too old, but I refuse to believe that. I’m willin to work for much less than I was making as I want to be fulfilled and believe from a creative mind standpoint, I can truly be a valued member of a team somewhere.

All this comes as I find myself moving to Virginia beach to be near two of my children in the Navy and there are so many places out there. It blows my mind in a good way the opportunities that exist compared to 25+ years ago.

So if you’ve read the ramblings of this 50yo so far, I seek guidance or suggestions into what should I pursue in regards to streamlining this passion into getting work in the creative fields out there?

I consider myself to be very coachable, but just not sure what the current market really looks for.

Thanks for any suggestions and advice. I have created alot of art over the years, just need to direct it into something that shows me as employable.

Have a great day and I wish you all great success with your creative endevours.

Thanks
Tom

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Hi Tom

I’d say, head directly for what makes you feel like you were made to do it.

It might art, it might be a different kind of game, it might be…

But whatever you do, don’t try and fit in. Everybody’s looking for someone that doesn’t fit in. Everybody’s looking for something that doesn’t fit it.

When you start making content that’s in line with your internal compass, and not what the world has taught you, people will recognize that individuality, and want more of it.

Good luck :slight_smile:

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Thank You for your reply. I have to say that is what I needed to hear. I need to enjoy the process at this stage and to be transparent, I enjoy all of it. Modeling, ANimation, World Building and Game design. I will just improve my online presence and see what happens. Worst case I have fun, making things for myself.

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WOW. Just saw your Zof game. Looks right up my alley.

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Welcome to the late bloomers club :slight_smile:

It’s a great journey, I am in a similar age category and look forward to see where it takes you.

Currently driven to make a graphic novel and who knows with all of this.

Daniel

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I’ve got 18 years on you and didn’t really start serious game development until about 2012… on a life basis, starting at 50 is way ahead of me. My background is programming, analysis, networks and music, so I don’t consider our game studio startup to be a career change as much as just refocusing on something less mind-numbingly brain-dead than the business world. If you are too old, I’m way too old.

I would think that as you hone your skills, you might find a market to provide such models, animations and characters to others who don’t have the time. I liked the @ClockworkOcean comment about being different. Strikes me a good place to get into the industry is look at the marketplace and ask “What is missing”. Both the marketplace and contracting for custom work seems an ideal opportunity. I know we are going to need to depend on third party custom development in the art area, because we don’t have the 10 minute credit scroll team that the big guys have (we have a total team of 3 but have Rockstar tastes as far as quality). But frankly, when I look through the marketplace, I don’t find anything useful for our specific needs. Perhaps a good start is developing your knowledge and workflow and try to produce some marketplace products as you are relearning. I don’t think the money is the point there, rather getting your name out there related to innovative products. That, in turn, will provide opportunities for contract work.

One other area that’s possibly interesting is back in the “mind-numbing” world I mentioned; business. Mobile apps are a badge of being oh so modern to most business concerns now, yet they seldom have anyone sharp enough to build them. I think there is a market there for someone astute in using a game engine to build them. I find that uninteresting, but I’ve noticed the trend and thought it might be a good market for someone. In that case, only the top corporations can afford large studios. Targeting smaller corporations who want on the me-too bandwagon might be a good market. Since you are in sales, it might marry the two concepts.

One more thing, a leftover from being a musician on the side all my life. I’m really big on “don’t quit the day job” until such time as the creative passion makes it obsolete. And it will in my experience.

Very cool that you are following your passion. That’s always the basis for any success that exceeds just putting food on the table.

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Thanks, I wish you luck and apologize as I just saw this. My new goal is to make the game ive always wanted to, or try a few small games, so ive been learning that. I’m working as an instructional Designer by day for the Navy and my kids are all on their own now, so I have free time. Best of luck to you and hope you’ve made progress over the past year or so.
Thanks
Tom

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Tom, Progress has been made but very slowly, day job gets in the way for months at a time. No hours left to do anything, though that changes this month.

Glad to hear you still have the fever for this. I’m going to be tipping 70 this year and finally exiting the business world so I can focus. Our game has been in development for many years, but we still have the fever for it, and I’ll be able to be full time on it.

Trying a few small starter games would be a great idea. We’ve resisted the temptation to do an unrelated starter game, and slogged away on the introductory game for our series (that was our way of right-sizing it so we could get something out with such a small team). But if you do a small game first and learn the ropes, there is nothing stopping you from building it with the mechanics you plan for that “game i’ve always wanted” like you mentioned.

For our initial game, we’ve chosen to build all the mechanics, but limit the size of the introductory story and number of levels, and basically make the job faster up front. If, when released, people show interest in playing it, we can then hire others to build the much larger content follow-on games. If you do a small game first, that’s a similar strategy. Indeed, there is nothing stopping you from making that small starting game be an intro to the larger game you dream of.

Good luck and keep at it!