Immediate Future

I’ve been thinking lately about what I want to do in the immediate future, as in the rest of 2011 and maybe a little beyond.

I don’t think I’ll do my final semester for community college this fall, and instead finish out in the spring. Mostly for financial reasons but I also just need a little more time to do some things I think are important.

So I think this next six months will be a trial run for me as a game developer. I intend to finish up 4kg in August and then use the remaining time to complete, or mostly complete, my next game. Then I’ll see how those two fair, and work on-and-off on the third game as I finish up college (I don’t even need to take a full course load, just three or so courses.)

That was the plan but earlier today my uncle not-so-subtly offered me some money if I could create a website or web app that could be bought out down the line. Evidently he’s been hearing of the current startup bubble, with billion dollar valuations and venture capital out the whazoo. And I’d be lying if I said over the past year I haven’t been following the industry very closely, and coming up with ideas of my own. Indeed, I even started implementing some of my ideas, like Snapuh. That website almost nearly got me my job earlier this year, in the heart of the startup scene in Silicon Valley, California (*SV is not actually a specific city.)

So this is obviously something that’s on my mind. And the amount of money he’s willing to toss at this next idea I come up with isn’t small — well, it is compared to real startups in the valley, but it’s definitely sizable to someone like me, who’s never held more than $1000 at a time.

So it’s a conundrum I need to figure out fast. After failing to get that job earlier this year, I re-evaluated and decided game design is what I want and have always wanted to do. (But naturally, I can’t just do game design to begin with, I need to hone my art and programming skills. Then I can progress to a purely-design job.) I think I’ll see how 4kg goes, and I need to finish it up fast.

I knew 2011 would be a turning point for my life, and even now I’m still being faced with life-changing decisions. I hope I make the right ones.
-Andrew