I was thinking the other day about how when I originally joined this site back in 2002, my dream job was to become a video game designer. Games were my super #1 hobby back then, and everything related to game design, level design, and GamingW itself was a huge part of my life.
 
These days I still entertain thoughts of eventually entering the game design industry professionally, but I wouldn't say I'm working towards that goal directly. I'm in college right now for design (either industrial design or interaction design - haven't decided which yet) and consider video game design one of many possible career paths I could pursue. More likely though is that I'll end up working for Amazon.com or do freelance web design or something.
 
Anyway, my point is: did any of us ever enter the video game industry professionally? I don't know of anyone who did, but I've been out of the loop for years, even before things started to disintegrate around here. I know Chef did his Barkley: Shut up and Jam: Gaiden thing which actually ended up being pretty popular, but he didn't make a living from that so it hardly counts.

Anyway, my point is: did any of us ever enter the video game industry professionally? I don't know of anyone who did, but I've been out of the loop for years, even before things started to disintegrate around here. I know Chef did his Barkley: Shut up and Jam: Gaiden thing which actually ended up being pretty popular, but he didn't make a living from that so it hardly counts.

 
Wasn't the kickstarter for the sequel basically paying for the ToG crew to be able to work on the game as their full-time jobs?  I was at least under the impression that that's what the money was for.  Also it's not going to be freeware so I'd more or less call that making a living from it at least for now.  Other than that I can't think of any of us who are making a living off of games at the moment but also I'm half asleep.

I'm heading towards it. Not there or even near though probably.

Granted, Tales of Games has been pretty successful. I was thinking more along the lines of people who had joined existing studios or worked on games more broadly successful though.

I did animations for gears of wars 5 I am such a success at life
 
personally I think barkley 2 is a greater achievement than like this entire last generation of games

I forgot the username but there was one guy here who apparently now works in the game industry, he even came here to answer questions or give tips, etc.. Does noone remember him?

i know a few people in and around the industry, the guy who taught me data stuctures/C was involved with making the xbox360, one of my close friends is always working contract gigs for game studios(SOCOM 4 was his last credit on console software) and another is doing graphic/web design in the Xbox division at MS... you're in seattle right? it's pretty hard not to bump in to someone who's in that racket 'round here, a few weeks ago I was talking with some dude at a bar who worked for Zynga and was trying to convince me that the company isn't simply a shady data-mining operation.

i know a few people in and around the industry, the guy who taught me data stuctures/C was involved with making the xbox360, one of my close friends is always working contract gigs for game studios(SOCOM 4 was his last credit on console software) and another is doing graphic/web design in the Xbox division at MS... you're in seattle right? it's pretty hard not to bump in to someone who's in that racket 'round here, a few weeks ago I was talking with some dude at a bar who worked for Zynga and was trying to convince me that the company isn't simply a shady data-mining operation.

You're in Seattle now? Yeah, there are a loooot of video game developers around here, and just tons of tech people in general. I was mainly curious about peeps who used to hang out at GW though...

I forgot the username but there was one guy here who apparently now works in the game industry, he even came here to answer questions or give tips, etc.. Does noone remember him?

 
cactusquid? 

He made Hotline Miami, which is pretty popular. 

Quote from: Pilsen on May 29, 2013, 08:52:49 am

I forgot the username but there was one guy here who apparently now works in the game industry, he even came here to answer questions or give tips, etc.. Does noone remember him?

 
cactusquid? 

He made Hotline Miami, which is pretty popular. 

that's cactusquid? I had no idea. that's great.

Quote from: Frisky SKeleton on June 03, 2013, 03:59:25 pm

 

Quote from: Pilsen on May 29, 2013, 08:52:49 am

I forgot the username but there was one guy here who apparently now works in the game industry, he even came here to answer questions or give tips, etc.. Does noone remember him?

 
cactusquid? 

He made Hotline Miami, which is pretty popular. 

that's cactusquid? I had no idea. that's great.

ahahahah i had nooo ideeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ahhaha
 

The guy who made Hotline Miami used to frequent here? That's pretty awesome.

What the hell!!!!! welcome cool guy with a cool avatar (it reminds me of Nhl uh logos, n-nhl 97... i mean there was SOMEHTING in those games/also great experience when youre exposed to this 90's semi-multimedia CD experience from NHL 97/98 and the first time you see those banners of NHL teams... they're like hella intriguing/weird. probably something uh deeply holy in that jetset-native american logo for example. man they're all great...shit... could talk ages...

yeah you can sell games made in game maker, and I think they upgraded to game maker studio which is better for real game development, though still kind of a weird choice for a game like barkley (based on what I've read about the program and game development in general, at least).  but Hotline Miami was made in game maker (and an older version of it, I think) so it's not unprecedented

Umm, was designer for an online moba game, which kinda poofed into obscurity. Nowadays I'm mostly illustrating things, though sometimes I poke my nose into designer's business. 

Hiretsukan, the guy who was making Fury², worked on Guild Wars and other stuff.

he's really big in some circles.