The future!

[Slingerland]

I know that most of the folks that I talk to outside the forum on a daily basis (and/or friends with on Facebook) are graduating college this year/are graduating within the next year or two and it's going to be a weird feeling coming to these forums no longer a student. Don't ask me why I think that... I just think it will.

So, what's everybody's plans?

I've assembled a large portfolio and resume here at Nebraska. I've made a plan to work on mid-to-low budget, independent feature films across the midwest all summer, making triple digits a day. I have consistent work through July. I plan to save up all that money, so that I can make my move to LA and live comfortably for a while. I expect to not have work for a little bit due the LA film economy being in the tank right now. Everybody's going on-location to save money these days (but production in LA is up 17% this year, so there's some optimism). I have my own production audio equipment and won an entire post-production audio setup from an Avid/ProTools competition, so I hope that I'll be in high demand as a result. People who are hiring love those who operate their own equipment (it saves money if you can rent equipment from your hired operator). Nobody wants to do audio too, so I've been told that I'll be popular pretty quickly. It's not a very glamorous job, but it pays well. I'm surprised that it's such a shallow department, people wise. Bad audio ruins any film.

I have to wait until TV pilot season if I want the big job. Currently, I'm a student about to graduate in May, working on six student films as the sound guy. I have a full-time job doing the sound for a TV pilot called "Vipers." I'm up at all hours of the day with the semester wrapping up. We hope "Vipers" gets picked up by the interested parties at NBC or CBS. If that's the case, then a lot of us here at Nebraska are guaranteed work through the first season, since many of us got on the pilot last summer as students. If that doesn't get picked up, at least I have a TV pilot on my reel and portfolio. It would only be a matter of time after that.

Do any of you guys live in or around Los Angeles? I'd love to hang with anybody who's out there. Let's have a BBQ on my roof. SEGA of America have asked me to join up for a community day in the future and I'd love to hang with RubyEclipse, a fellow Missourian. I'll be bouncing to New York a few times in the next few years as well, as I'm on a few more pilots there.

So, yeah, what's everybody going to be up to in a few weeks/months/years? Will our career paths cross at some point? Even if you're not graduating college, what's up, maaaan? I know that Worm is kicking ass in the army and that's about it. Haha...

[Rawr]

Once I get out of college I'm gonna be working at a videogame company. I haven't quite given it all a thought to where I'll end up, but most signs are pointing towards the Vancouver area around here, since I love Canada and would hate to have to leave it...but at the same time if I was offered a nice spot at SEGA somewhere I'd probably take that just because haha. I graduate next year so I haven't given too much of a thought to where I will end up.

But really, I have no major plans as of yet. I just know that by the end of college I do hope to have a videogame out on the Xbox Live Indie Games market, currently I'm looking at some tutorials and learning how to program in XNA (I can make a hello world application go me!) and I know that later on in my course I get to make an iPhone game, so thats neato and I plan on using stuff like that as big parts of my portfolio.

I just want to make games for the rest of my life, and while I might have to start out with some real low-end shitty 'hey make a trashcan for us' type deal in the beginning, I'd love to work my way up to a point where financially I can support my own small independent company and just make fun videogames. I really miss the early days of gaming where there it was all mascot-esque gaming and a lot of the games were fun and recognizable as being from a certain series, where a lot of games now are just melting together. Not that I dislike the current landscape of gaming, I just want to make games in the future that you can tell were made by me and my company and provide fun for a lot of people.

Sounds really corny when I type it out, but its something I feel passionate about ending up at.

Edit: Oh, right, I'm currently in for 3D Animation and Game Design!

[DJ espeed]

I hate to be saying this here, but I'll be out of HS after being *ahem* one year late. Frankly, I just didn't see the value in the work then that I do now. Finally got off my ass and did something for once. I only stayed in HS the extra year because I feel that sticking with a GED just won't be enough for me to succeed. The GED path is one taken too many a time. Nowadays, it's not really worth shit, unless you wanna end up in the oil patches.

On the bright side of things, I'll have my diploma. I'm working hard enough to ensure that I'm not going to be in the 50% allegedly not graduating this year. A diploma's a diploma and that's what matters to me.

As for my future plans, I'm waiting on college because I don't know if my Dad wants to move the family down to Laramie. If he doesn't move the family to Laramie, I'm going to get credits online from a CC that's 100 miles south from here. I'm really hoping they offer MIDI production online, as that's what I'm really aiming to take course-wise. I sequence notes and whatnot in my "mixes" and songs. I'm hoping to better my 3 years of sequencing experience by doing this.

That's merely Plan A.

Plan B? Should the above mentioned move to Laramie occurs, I'll further my accounting endeavors, learn some welding, and start a local business as a manufacturer of racing cockpits.

[Pheonix Gamma]

My senior thesis is a short graphic novel. I interned with Gareth Hinds (local artist. Worked on System Shock 2, did badass graphic novel adaptation of Beowulf, and oh christ I'm name dropping like a fucking asshole) and through him I got to meet a publisher first hand, as well as talk to a few others.

I'd like to submit my current project to someone, edit it, and have an actual book and make money.

[Cyber Rat]

I'm currently 2nd year Japanese major, so I should finish college in 2 or 3 years if all goes according to plan (the college system here is under revision, so I'm not sure how long college will be in the end). I took a Cambridge Advanced Exam to get a piece of paper that proves I can speak English, the results will be in at the end of the month. I intend to do the same for German next year, so by the end of college, I should have English, German, Japanese and Serbian (Serbo-Croatian is spoken in a few countries) on my "I can speak this, yo" list.

I'm hoping to get a job as an interpreter, since being a translator is the most ungrateful job in this country. I also hope to actually get out of this country since I'm getting more and more pissed at the shit that happens here. US, Germany, Japan, I don't care, I just want to be as far away from here as possible (and I'm also aware that life isn't perfect anywhere). If that falls down the drain, I'm hoping to be able to get a permanent job at a gaming magazine I currently do freelance work for (I started writing for them a little more than 2 years ago. Mostly the retro section).

That's as far as the down-to-Earth plans go. I have a few dream projects I want to do:

I want to finish Duskstrider Megumi.

I want to write a noir detective story.

I want to write a steampunk Japan VS cyberpunk West novel.

I want to make a comic starring a Soviet Bear fighting crime and capitalism.

I want to work on a commercial video game.

Aside from 2 and 3, the rest requires outside help. If I don't find anyone willing to work with me on all these things, I'm hoping to save money when I get my own income and finance these ideas.

Oh, and I also want to make a SFGHQ road trip in the US when I am financially able to.

[DimensionWarped]

I've got no real plans. If I manage to score a graduate assistantship at any place I feel is worth my salt, I'll start work on a doctorate. If not, I'll make it up as I go. I've still got a semester to get stuff lined up anyway.

Oh, and of course I'll keep up what I'm doing here, at the very least until I manage to accomplish the following:

• Get more athletically fit than Brad (I'm pleased to say that since the incident from a little over a month ago, I've lost six pounds and even started working on top-spin in my Tennis serve.)
  
• Make a better game than Brad (I've already spent roughly 70 hours working on a top secret project!)
  
• Make better levels than Brad (OK, I haven't even started on that one)
  
• Become more important to this particular forum than Brad (Because let's face it, I don't have the ability to change people's privileges.)
  
• Create a legacy that will outlast Brad's
  

I guess that list sort of has a theme.

[wesker]

Dario's Top Secret 2010 Plans Currently Underway (In size order)-

-Finish game.

-Go to Japan.

-Learn to breakdance.

-Launch T-Shirt Company.

-Continue Martial Arts training.

-Finish 3 scripts i've been working on.

-Help friend with his Action feature this Summer.

[Kessler12]

I wanted to go to collage, then make a manga or comic book and hope it becomes a Tv show then make beat em ups and rpg games for it.

[Slingerland]

I guess that list sort of has a theme.

Your plan will take too long. Let's just settle it American Gladiators style and stand on those big foam podiums with big foam Q-Tip shaped weapons. Maaaan, that would be tight. Then, we can get beer afterwards.

-Finish 3 scripts i've been working on.

Shorts, features, or a combination of the two?

How was your trip around the world, by the way? (It was a trip around the world, right?)

[Duckboy]

A webcomic I want to start at some point.

Once I take some drawing classes.

At some point.

LAZY /eats entire cake

[tentril]

Right now I'm finishing my first year of college. So far its pretty stupid, but I'll stick with it. I've got nothing better to do I suppose.

This summer I'm going to be in a band with two guys from my hometown. This will improve my music skills overall a lot. I'm majoring in theatre and minoring in music, but it will most likely end up a double major. I'm not really sure what I hope to do with it, but I'd like to be involved in voice acting somehow or music in general. I'm not really sure that stage theatre is my thing.

Also I'm going to get married sometime in there probably.

[VectorSatyr]

I'm working diligently on something I find important to me. Problem is, that something is not finding a job, so there's a lot of friction happening in my life that I'd prefer didn't exist. If only I had another year to finish this certain something before really taking the whole job search thing seriously...

Do any of you guys live in or around Los Angeles? I'd love to hang with anybody who's out there. Let's have a BBQ on my roof.

I'd <3 to break the ice with you, Brad. Hell, we could be neighbors! =)

[FanGameRevolver]

Right now I just want to get through college to make money but I also need a job to get money to pay for college to get money. :\ Society is confusing.

So I'm studying software engineering for somewhat obvious reasons. (like every other tool in my class, I wan tu maek gamez.)

My hobbies when I was younger were playing games and making shit with legos. Then I thought my video games could be better and I made "video games" with legos. And now I'm doing and have basically achieved my lifelong goal since I was about 8, make a sonic video game. I need a new lifelong goal now. :\

[ila]

I need to get back to school. As much as I fault a certain lesser being for his joblessness and homelessness, I still feel shitty and I'm living at home with a part-time job.

I'd still like to become a pastry chef, but I don't know how that's going to plan out. I might just put a focus on my bartending and get a full time job at a good hotel.

[shadowgoten]

Well due to some stupid choices, I have at least 1 1/2~2 more years to go for college. I used to work full time at an extremely stressful job most of my college time, so I got pretty lazy when it came to getting school work done. I also was unsure about my major 3 times. I'm completely set on IT work though.

Now that I'm set on my major, once I finish summer semester I'll be back at UCF finishing up my courses and getting a real job fixing peoples shit at some lame company .

As for other goals this year. Losing weight is at the top of the list, and is actually coming along nicely, I've been doing straight cardio just about every day for 40 minutes to an hour. Results started happening almost immediately.

I've also had an idea for a game sitting in the back of my head, if I can muster up the stones to actually go through with it, I think people here would really enjoy what I've got cooking.

P.S. if any of you cool guys find yourself in the Orlando area, let me know, we can go grab a beer or sumfin.

[toaster1]

I'm only thirteen, so these are crazy bullshit ideas, but I got nothing else.

I'd love to make games. An independent developer, about maybe ten people working on games until... whenever it REALLY kicks off. I've only really thought the games themselves through, how the website could be ran, and various other details. Oh, and the logo. You've got to have a logo before you start anything else. =P

I sound overly ambitious but I don't really know about any other job prospect. I'll give it my best shot and if I flop I'll just apply for an internship or something somewhere. I don't know, I haven't applied alternatives a lot of thought yet.

Hopefully I will succeed. VG startups are easy these days, but I don't know how the market will be in around 6 years or so...

[MrKsoft]

toaster1: Not as easy as you think. I totally looked into it, and decided that I'll only ever be able to leave independent game development as a side project. It's just too risky. If you don't get a hit right-off, you'll probably tank.

Myself? Well, I've got another year of high school left until I'm on my own. A terrifying prospect for someone who's never really been given the chance to get out, like me. I think I'm gonna look into 3D animation in college. While I haven't had substantial experience with it, the concept is something that interests me. The market for it seems like something that won't dry up, so it'd be a smart choice and is nice and creative, the way I like things. After that, I have no idea. Things are just too unstable to ever be sure. No certainty in my life except that I WILL go to college for SOMETHING. So after that, it's a complete wildcard and I'll probably be playing it by ear.

[wesker]

Shorts, features, or a combination of the two

1 short with possibility of a feature.

1 pure feature.

1 already made short- expanded to a feature.

How was your trip around the world, by the way? (It was a trip around the world, right?)

It was around America with 2 out of country stops. It was absolutely amazing and I am still editing it (Over 19hrs of footage). I met SG along the way as well- good peoples (Even though he dropped the ball on me the first time around )

[shadowgoten]

Haha yea, totally forgot it was going down the first time, felt like a total douche, but made up for it with bar fun times the 2nd time

[hRook]

Wingin' it.

[Michael B.]

I've got a lot of choices ahead of me, but I from what I can see now I've a decent amount of choices.

I could focus on Science, and if I do well with Advanced Biology (A class the High School recommended me for), and what comes after it, I could possibly have a career there.

I could focus on Writing, and finish the story I'm working on. If I get it published, I'm sure I'd already be on my way to being an Author. If you want to see some of it, I'd be happy do so.

I could focus on sports, and if I really work hard I believe I have a decent chance at getting somewhere, but I'm not going to play all my cards on the possibility.

As of right now though, I'm not going to narrow my focus to one subject, as it won't be necessary to do so. It's nice talking about it though, but I have homework that probably needs done about now. It's not long before I'm in High School, and I don't intend to fuck up already.

[hRook]

Don't ever convince yourself that you can only be good at one thing. If you have potential in three directions, why not try to develop in each of them? Worst that can happen is you learn something.

[Ristar]

i finish my final year of uni next year. i hope to come out with a 1st but i'll probs get a 2:1 because i still have no idea how my course actually works (contemporary art practices).

after that... i dunno. i wish i'd done music tech tbh but it's too late and i can't afford it.

you can't do much with art, remember that, kids.

[Cyber Rat]

you can't do much with art, remember that, kids.

You can always boost your ego on deviantART.

[Vexus]

I've taken a lot of time off my project to finally put some focus on my Art Course. Getting an A in it (which is very possible if I work at it) will be able to get me into University next year, doing a Games Art and Design / Film VFX course. That should get me some work as a games designer. Following that I intend to complete my childhood dream (a 13 year old dream) of producing an Action-RPG I have been working on.

Shorter-term goals would include developing and producing some scripts I have in film or comic format, and completing my current Game Maker projects.