My Story of Successfully Switching to a Game Developer
Last year, I switched from being a web developer to a game developer. I applied with three Unity portfolios, and during the interviews, I realized that having a game design mindset was more important than the code itself. Now I'm working on mobile casual games, and it's way more fun than web development. However, there's a lot of overtime, and the salary is similar or slightly lower. If anyone is considering transitioning to game development, feel free to ask me questions.
7 answers
Congratulations! I also want to transition from web to game development. How long did it usually take you to build your portfolio? I'm a bit worried since I'm learning Unity for the first time.
Wow, that's impressive! I've been thinking about something similar, and it definitely looks more interesting than web development. Though hearing you say there's a lot of overtime is a bit scary, lol.
It's impressive how important a game design mindset is. I've also had experiences where I only focused on the code and ended up failing interviews. Could you share specifically which aspects I should emphasize?
Game design mindset... now that I hear it, it makes sense. Web development focuses on implementing features, but for games, 'fun' is the core. Thanks for the great insight!
I'm on a similar path myself, congratulations on your successful job change! Making casual games is really fun, isn't it? I'm in the puzzle game space—hope we get a chance to collaborate sometime.
If there's a lot of overtime and the salary is similar, the pros and cons are pretty clear in reality. I've heard that the gaming industry has even worse work-life balance, so I'm torn. How satisfied are you with it?
Three portfolios? You've really been working hard. I've only made simple things with Unity, so I'm curious what genre of portfolio gets good reviews in interviews.