aguywhoplaysthief on 12/12/2006 at 04:49
Quote Posted by Agent Monkeysee
I have a friend who is a senior-level artist in a small gaming house and he makes around that amount
I guess that's what happens when you work for a small independant company :)
Agent Monkeysee on 12/12/2006 at 15:22
You're not listening. Artists make a comparable amount in big companies too. But we're not talking about artists, we're talking about developers. The pay scale for gaming programmers is significantly below what programmers get in just about any other business and they generally work significantly more hours so if you want to program games make damn sure it's what you really want to do because you're basically throwing away massive earning potential for long hours and short paychecks.
mxleader on 12/12/2006 at 23:15
I started my college career wanting to be a computer programmer, then I switched to museum studies because I would less likely have to relocate to India to find a low paying job. :cheeky:
aguywhoplaysthief on 13/12/2006 at 05:38
Quote Posted by Agent Monkeysee
You're not listening.
Or you're not reading. I was commenting on your artist friend being senior-level and making what an artist at a larger company does as starting.
killed on 13/12/2006 at 07:24
First off, starting pay is more like 45k-48k. Possibley lower if you work for a smaller studio. You top out somewhere around 90k. I say that having talked to many supervisors in the college I'll be attending in January which is a Game Design school. One of the only good ones out there.
It's not bad money, but if you're in this industry for the money, you will be eaten alive. If you're after money, get a business degree somewhere.
The days are extremely long, but it's a dedication to the art issue, not a money one. People who say "Fuck that shit" don't understand that, so obviously it's not for them.
jay pettitt on 13/12/2006 at 13:08
Shooty shooty gun porn is not art. If you've ambitions above that then you should also be prepared for having ambitions that take you beyond video games period in the not wholly distant future.
My not exactly expert advice is to do a non-specialised degree that gives you time to do specialised stuff like volunteer with (
http://www.thedarkmod.com/) The Dark Mod or similar in your spare time. That way you'll have a CV that'll be attractive to game studios when you leave college and you won't have a zero kudos degree in computer games when you want to switch career.
Pyrian on 13/12/2006 at 18:54
Quote Posted by killed
The days are extremely long, but it's a dedication to the art issue, not a money one. People who say "Fuck that shit" don't understand that, so obviously it's not for them.
Oh, I understand it, as do the businessmen who bend you over and do the fucking. But for me it's not a money or an art issue - it's a
life issue. Now, I know some people in the industry who only sleep a few hours a night and they do alright. But if I worked those hours I wouldn't have time to do
anything else. And that's not worth it.
Lhet on 3/1/2007 at 07:09
Right now, my degree options are a little bit open, but I'm looking at getting a BA with a major in CS with a minor in Chinese.
Hopefully this combination could serve me quite well. It could give me enough of a specialization to do a LOT of stuff.
