[yumaikas]

I think a huge gap here is between gamedev as a hobby (where throwing away prototypes, or only doing jam-level games is fine and fun) vs trying to make games as an indie with an eye for quitting their day job. One of those is massively harder than the other.

And, I'd argue that if you want to consider indie-level gamedev efforts, it makes sense to spend 6 months as a hobbyist first, to kinda feel out the territory.

And, for me, if someone interviewed and showed off a game project, I know they've dealt with lots of mutable state, and the challenges therein, which is worth something.