Hello Tek community, I've been a supporter of TekSyndicate and Razetheworld for a long time. I wanted to ask the community for advice on switching over to Game Design from my current concentration, Traditional Animation and Character Development. Over the last three semesters I have become increasingly dissatisfied with my major but I continued on my major's path due to me feeling like I was stuck and just out of need to obtain some sort of degree and "get a job."
Before attending the school I am currently at, I attended a community college to try and find what I was interested in, what I wanted to be. I became interested in illustration which grew into an interest in cartoon animation. being someone that loves the storytelling in movies, games and animation I was driven and focused on becoming a character animator and perhaps one day an animation director. When I transfered to my current school I was excited to immerse myself in the animation world. It's a great and fascinating art form but more than halfway through my studies I came to realize that 2D animation is a very competitive job field dominated by industry veterans, not to mention the complete outsourcing of 2D animator jobs to countries like Japan and South Korea (at least that's what studios here in the USA have been doing). Most of the available jobs for 2D animators in the U.S. are in the advertisement industry making ads for cereals and other types of junk food. I bust my ass and study character animation because I want to make cartoons that tell an interesting story with characters people can relate to and care about, not make coco puffs commercials. The 2D job market is also in decline here int eh U.S but it thrives in Europe and Japan.
Straight to the point now, I am currently in the capstone class of my Major about to graduate soon and I have just been feeling unhappy with what I am doing knowing full well it's going to be very difficult to make it out in the world as a 2D animator. I came to the realization that I had all along picked the wrong major to focus on. Ever since I was a young boy I was enamored with video games, I was a kid lucky enough to have access to a computer that could play Doom, Quake, Mech Warrior, Tie-FIghter, Baldur's gate, and Half-life when they first came out, along with having access to both a Sega Genesis and SNES. My whole life I have made playing video games my past time and I love it, but I was too blind to realize it when it mattered the most. As of right now through my education in Animation and Character Design, I have an understanding of what it takes to design and create worlds, create characters, make them move, give them personality, and put them in a compelling story. I can edit, storyboard, pitch an idea, and lead a team of like minded individuals. With an estimated job growth of 30 percent over the next few years I want to get in on game design. I feel that if I don't get involved now I will miss my opportunity to be a part of the gaming renaissance that is currently underway, especially in the indie and PC gaming markets. There are so many more examples of people that simply wanted to create a fun game and were successful than there are people that just decided to make a fun cartoon. Animation is dominated by Hollywood and the close minded ideals of old businessmen.
Would it be possible for me to transition into game design from where I am at or would I be starting at square one again? I'm 25 going to be 26 this year about to graduate from my undergrad, so I still feel like there is still time to act, but I just want to hear advice from the community or anyone that has experience in the game design industry. Would I have to be a master coder and programmer to even think about game design even though I have all the core art skills, and ideals for producing a compelling story with compelling characters? Community I need your guidance, I sincerely value this community's opinions and thoughts. Help a fellow creative.
Sincerely, CaptainButtchin (you can call me Joe)