Hi All!

I thought it was about time to become more actively engaged in the site and share my aspirations. First off, let me say that I am a senior citizen (I first learned to program using BASIC on a teletype machine using a time-share system at college [I went to Dartmouth and my intro Calculus class was taught by John Kemeny]). I got into game design/development as a hobby after playing around with making websites. I work full-time as a government contractor and have been for the past 13 years. My work hours and work environment has not really allowed me to get too deeply involved in the  process. Much of my time has been spent reading about game development; playing around with recommended software (and their tutorials); and having fun in the process with my new hobby. However i am now looking at retiring from full-time work and spending my retirement time making games. Nothing fancy or ambitious, but maybe something that will provide a supplement to my pension. As a start I have taken a more serious approach to making games. I've browsed this forum and noted a lot of advice from vets and I appreciate you taking your time to help us noobs. I will be doing everything myself, so I guess that categorizes me as a solo indie developer. In that respect, any advice for someone like me will be appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Hey dev,

Welcome to the community.   I am at a similar stage in my game development career.  I am working full time in writing software and I am also completing my degree.  I have been toying around with idea of making a game, but I really don't have to the time to sink my teeth into the learning process due to my other commitments.  The one piece of advice that I would give you or any new comer in an endeavor is to plot a path to success and focus.  Follow One Course Of action Until Successful. 

There is so much information out there and so many technologies that it can be overwhelming.  Complete information overload leaves so many would be developers hopping from library to library engine to engine never taking the time to become proficient with any single set of tools. 

So in short welcome and hello.  My two cents worth of free advice is to pick a technology and stick with it until you have completed some project of significance.  Good luck hope to see you around.

L-Cage

Hi Lucas,

Thanks for your feedback and wish you the best in pursuing your degree. As for your advice, that is what I have been doing. I started by playing around with a lot of the engines and then narrowed the field to what I felt met my goals. I'm focusing on Unity but have reserved GameMaker and Clickteam Fusion as backups/prototyping. I've spent a lot of my time reading and getting comfortable with the process of designing and making games. I agree there's a lot out there and information overload is a major downer. But I have been as careful as I can to focus my reading/learning to that which is most suitable for me. It's been a fun journey so far and I have no intention of altering course.