Mastodawn

Efi (nap pet) 🦊💤Nov 16, 2023

@eniko I would say professional, but nobody else would think that of me

Oblomov Nov 16, 2023

@eniko
how should I answer? This is my situation: http://wok.oblomov.eu/ludica/not-a-gamedev/

I'm not a game developer, but

I don't consider myself a game developer, but I sporadically dally with some JavaScript and HTML to create things that might be construed as belonging to the “web game” category if you squint the right way while looking at them.

wok

@oblomov i mean it seems like you do not self identity as a gamedev so you should probably vote no

Turing complete chair Nov 16, 2023

@eniko I still have identity crisis, as I work as system level game engine programmer, but there are a few layers between me and people who actually do make games powered by that engine.

@archydragon sounds game devvy to me

Mari the Deer

Nov 16, 2023

@eniko people call me a game dev even though I haven't really made any "games" yet but I still count I guess.

lick here for more info Nov 16, 2023

@eniko one day I'll make all the stupid websites I need to make and jump right in :(

Unless a voice-based web party game counts, then I guess I am a hobbyist :D

Made it back in early 2020 when it was clear we won't be meeting up IRL to play anytime soon, we still play every week but I never got it to a presentable state: https://shlyapa.online

Shlyapa

@virtulis party games are games!

Gordon Little Nov 16, 2023

@eniko professional hobbyist

@gord

Gordon Little Nov 16, 2023

@eniko 100% 😰

@gord @eniko
That is now my favorite variation of this meme.

13 barn owls in a trenchcoat Nov 16, 2023

@eniko somewhere between professional and hobbyist. It makes up half to a third of my annual income, mostly contracting to do internal docs, solving really specific compatibility issues, or writing example games for tutorials or docs. I plumped for professional, but it's tenuous, because I can't really point to a commercial game and say "I made that".

13 barn owls in a trenchcoat Nov 16, 2023

@eniko haha, I see several of us are using your replies as an outlet for our professional identity crises.

It's a perfect storm of an industry with a huge number of moving parts, periodic gate keeping of dev roles, and widespread impostor syndrome.

@HauntedOwlbear haha yep. i just dont want anyone to think im gonna tell em they dont qualify for whatever they identify as

Isaac 'Atridas' Serrano Guasch Nov 16, 2023

@eniko why is this supposed to be so hard?
You make games, even indirectly? You are a game Dev
You earn money from it? You are a professional

@Atridas people always wanna make sure they interpret the poll makers intentions correctly when answering even though its generally about self ID

PypeBros Nov 16, 2023

@eniko @DevteamLife would be the perfect booster for such a question ;)

DevteamLife Nov 16, 2023

@eniko professionnal gamedev by day, comic artist by night.
Having a social life has never been a plan 😅

AliveDevil Nov 16, 2023

@eniko
I could … like I studied gamedev.
But the current scene is awkward to work in - Unity untrustable, UE a resource hog, Godot 4 I'd like to get into … but the fact that the .NET runtime is unoptimized makes it a soft no for me (though I could as well just build everything in C++ 🤷‍♂️), and all the other fancy .NET engines aren't enticing either.
I'd call it "It's complicated somewhere between Yes, former/retired and Something else".

@mvsde

Trevor Hamer Music Nov 16, 2023

@eniko Not a dev, but I work with devs as a composer and very occasional sound designer.

@facemeltingsolos if you make sound/music for games im pretty sure that makes you a game developer >_>

Trevor Hamer Music Nov 16, 2023

@eniko Oh, oops! 😅

@facemeltingsolos
No oops. There were no wrong answers ☺️
@eniko

Your favourite booster Nov 16, 2023

@eniko @facemeltingsolos
ah, dang.
but that tells something about the self image of the "artists" vs. the "devs", I guess...

J M Berntson Nov 16, 2023

@eniko I'm going to allow myself a yes on account of finishing a singleplayer blackjack game and a handful of Doom modding projects.

That's infinitely more finished stuff than I had at the start of 2021.

Ryan Finnie Nov 16, 2023

@eniko It's funny how I work for one of the world's largest game companies, but I don't consider myself a game developer.

I'm even listed in the credits of several games, as the company's big on "everyone has contributed to this" which is true, but I'm a systems engineer who is pretty far detached from the action.

@foo sounds like you might secretly be a gamedev to me

Ryan Finnie Nov 16, 2023

@eniko I'm not prescriptive; if you want to identify me as a gamedev, there are no wrong answers ;)

Klara ❤️Nov 16, 2023

@eniko I have always loved creating games, but never made more than a tech demo at most, and game-related code is probably sub-1% of the code I've ever written. My final project of high school was examining REPL-driven development of a physics engine using #Guile and a game toolkit called #chickadee for display and input. That was a fun project and I'd really love to dive deeper and actually make a game from what I've learned.

dave Nov 16, 2023

@boo_ @eniko wow you used chickadee for a high school project!? that is so cool!

Klara ❤️Nov 16, 2023

@dthompson @eniko Yes! I really wanted to make a project in Lisp, but really only knew Common Lisp and Emacs Lisp at the time. I started with Common Lisp but quickly found the FFI interface of many implementations to be very hard to use, and I wanted the project to be easily rebuildable, which led me to Guile and Guix as means of distributing the environment in a reproducible way, and is a large part as to why I use and love them both so much today.

Chickadee is an awesome package, and I hope I can get some time next semester to catch the next lisp game jam!

dave Nov 16, 2023

@boo_ @eniko it would be great to see you join the next jam! excited to see what you build, jam or otherwise.

superblindman Nov 16, 2023

@eniko Me me me me me! :) Super awesome game dev right here.

@superblindman 👍

Vio Nov 16, 2023

@eniko Complicated. I'm trying to do a living on it in a pure independent way, but due to depression issues I haven't done anything since I was supposed start, at the beginning of the year; so not sure of what to answer.

daemionfox 🦊Nov 16, 2023

@eniko Are we talking about table top, board games, rpgs, or something more like video games, etc? It may not matter, but I'm unsure which set of folks this is generally addressed to :)

@daemionfox Are we talking about table top, board games, rpgs, or something more like video games, etc?

yes to all of those

RockyBoulder Nov 16, 2023

@eniko

I voted yes, hobbyist, even if I just getting started with this hobby in September this year.

Esme Povirk Nov 16, 2023

@eniko I've dabbled occasionally but I don't feel it's enough to apply the label even of hobbyist but I'm at least some kinda gamedev so I picked "something else".

Paul Louth Nov 16, 2023

@eniko ex-pro 🙃

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1196470/WE_ARE_FOOTBALL/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/658980/Valnir_Rok_Survival_RPG/

Fell Nov 16, 2023

@eniko Hello! I've been almost 10 years in the industry (not quite). I went from gameplay programming into graphics and engine programming. I helped ship two titles with a third one coming up.

It's great to see such a big #GameDev crowd here!

WE ARE FOOTBALL on Steam

Lead your football club through national championships and to international stardom. Take over an established men’s or women’s team of your choice as its manager or bring a small team into the big league.

SavvyWolf

Nov 16, 2023

@eniko Very much a hobbyist of the "keep starting new projects and never finishing them" kind.

Succubard's Library Nov 16, 2023

Octavia Con Amore

@eniko @daphnestar I've worked on soundtracks in the past, but that's a rare chance and I mostly do live performance and theatre (composing + music performance) nowadays

CobaltRose Nov 16, 2023

@eniko I mean I studied game design in college for a few years, but saw enough of how the sausage was made (and how ruthless the gaming community can be) to switch majors.

@cobaltrose smart

Chris Williams Nov 16, 2023

@eniko Professional game dev critic ✨ /s

Sibshops Nov 16, 2023

@eniko Something else. I don't make games, but I make programs to help me beat games. Like an optimum way to configure a team.

TheKrutz Nov 16, 2023

@eniko I screw around with bullshit games in my spare time. Things like "what if pong could work in 3D? 4D? Arbitrarily many D? How many D can pong work in before its too hard to control or see what's happening?"

It distracts from the boredom of web development lol

DerPumu (he/him)Nov 16, 2023

@eniko I professionally dev, but not games. I do some light modding as a hobby. Does that count as a teensy bit GameDevy?

@DerPumu sure does!

checkraze Nov 16, 2023

@eniko after some thoughts on your clarification. I should have voted 'professional' instead of 'hobbyist', but I do hope you get the results you seek!

Andreas Wieland Nov 16, 2023

@eniko I'm a wannabe hobby game dev. It's a pity I had to vote 'Nope'... 😥

@GormDeGamle
Andreas, that's okay. I'm an aspirational hobby gamedev (on this, my ALT). As you can see by my profile I'm kinda riding the quantum superposition of "am gamedev | NOT gamedev" until I've released something at least. But the aspiration is strong so I've started to self ID even though everything I've done is unfinished and kept private atm.

You are welcome to self ID whenever you are ready or want to. Chin up, champ :)
@eniko

Jan Ekholm Nov 16, 2023

@eniko I put myself as a "hobbyist" even though I do work with games as my day job. But I do mostly boring backend stuff with servers, analytics and other non game dev related, so I'm not really a *game* developer.

Bennolius 😷⚡Nov 16, 2023

@eniko I'm a professional (web) developer who once in a blue moon makes a very simple game (e.g. for JS13k), and wants to spend more time on it but probably won't be able to until retirement.

Billy Smith Nov 16, 2023

@eniko

While i studied gamedev as a programming exercise, what i find more interesting is simulating physical reality. :D

@BillySmith @eniko
That seems like a semi-permeable boundary at least, given how richly games lately incorporate simulation. Do you feel that you could easily stand with a foot in both camps. Almost like you were multi-classing? Or does it feel like a seperate endeavor when doing physical simulations?

Also, what kind of sims are you doing? I have a hobby level, spectator interest in astrophysics and their field of simulations (especially for trying to understand star & galaxy formation, etc.).