Hey All,
Really quick, just a little about my career:
Watched Chuck as a teenager -> wanted to work Geek Squad
turned 18 -> got job at Geek Squad for 2 years
Geek Squad -> HealthCare I.T. Phone support for almost 3 years
5 years after high-school, I’m making around 60k/year and it took me 4 years to complete just an A.S. and cert for java/mobile software development because I’ve been working full-time. Learned a lot along the way, but have no REAL programming projects under my belt. I’ve been thinking-starting-stopping-getting nowhere with game development since 2013, but I think I’m finally miserable enough working I.T. to flex my creativity and publish something… but where to start!
Clearly this is the java game dev forum but I’m so conflicted about what to do, I figured this is a good place to ask. I’ve messed with jmonkey and made a few scenes a couple years ago, same thing with unity and with gamemaker studio, as well as pure slick2D for a little brick breaker remake. I would like to create something that will fulfill my personal desires but I also want it to be a project to put on my portfolio in the hopes of getting a software dev job at some point.
With that said, should I go full tilt and learn how to design a LWJGL engine and gain deep programming experience, or should I use an engine and just worry about completing something?
thanks for the input!