| TLDR: Start with some CLI text games in Node.js :) Three viable options: * Work in tech until you're financially independent (you should be able to pull this off in a decade or 15 years at most), then retire from tech and start working in writing/journalism full time without needing to worry about the fact that you could be making $40k at best for the rest of your life. You'd have plenty of time. After leaving a youthful interest in writing for a career in insurance, Chandler didn't come back to writing until he was in his 40s. It was then that he wrote his best (and best known) work * Write on the side. You can make a good income and still comfortably fit in 15-20 hours a week of writing. WCW was a doctor and wrote poetry on the side. Many other role models here of course. The trick is to find a job that respects WLB and to avoid positions of time-consuming responsibility, but this is not difficult in tech if you're not trying to maximize income * Broaden your understanding of the arts to include games (this one makes good sense to me as someone with an MFA in game design). Then, you can get a programming job at a game studio. From there, if you like, you can move towards/into design through "gameplay programmer" and "technical designer" roles. The upside here is that you can use many of your existing math/CS skills, and the money is ok (only in commercial gamedev, though. Solo gamedev artists starve like all other artists everywhere and forever). Another upside is that you can get started making games today using the skills you have and a tool like Godot. You can get a feel for whether you like it while practicing skills relevant to your current career If I was you, I'd go with gamedev on the side and start working on some small story-driven (or even text-only) games using some tool that's tailored for those genres, like Twine or Ren'Py. Or honestly, just a CLI Node.js text game, why not Good luck. Most programming jobs at medium/large orgs are boring as shit so I get wanting out |
I came here to post this. I only worked in the game dev industry for ~6 months, but it was clear to me this is how I would break into any form of "art" myself. All manner of creative things exist in the space of game development too. Writing, painting, music, cinema, modeling, etc. It's all there.