Thank you sincerely for this, I'm committing it all to memory.
I'm moving from working in IT to writing for the marketing team at my company in a week. I wonder how different things will look from there...
I thought about Game Writing myself ala Chris Avellone (who I think is a fantastic writer), but I decided against it after getting my A.A. in English. I'll recommend you
this book though. I have it and I think it's fantastic. These guys know their stuff even though they're not known in the game industry as the Houser brothers are. There's a bunch of exercises they recommend you do (primarily keeping a journal). Good stuff all around.
As for my dreams, honestly I have absolutely no idea. I got an A.A. in English as I mentioned and I'm a decent writer but then I realized it's hard to become a writer ala Junot Díaz, one of my favorite writers who I admire and respect. I'm scared of the future honestly because of the state of the economy. Especially in the U.S. where BA's get frowned upon ("You won't get a job," statistics, and all that other crap) and particularly here in New York where good jobs, and internships are extremely competitive. New York's "every man for himself" mentality is particularly depressing, and it sucks.
I met Jeremiah Slackza AKA Jackson here a couple of years ago at the Scribblenauts launch party at Nintendo World with a couple of GAF'ers and just talking him about how passionate he was about the game industry was fantastic as well as Marius, his Technical Director. In that same event, I met Stephen Totilo who told me that he got his Masters in Journalism. I'm still figuring it out, but I'll admit, I love reading about the game industry and learning how it works. I mean yeah CliffyB makes enough money to own a Lambo and a Mercedes, but the guy's a genius and he worked his ass hard to learn how to program from the age of 12.
I also met Rey Jimenez from Capcom (currently the Producer for RE: Racoon City) and got his business card once at one of Capcom's Fight Club events about 2 years, but I've been scared of contacting him. The card is still in my wallet.
I'd like to join the game industry and possibly make my own games some day ala Jackson or become a graphic novelist and possibly draw/write a graphic novel idea that I have. There's so many ideas that I have in my head that I'd like to draw out and write. I'd like to make my own documentary some day, travel to other countries if I manage to land a decent a job out of college; so many dreams.
Right now, I'm pursing my Bachelor's in Studio Art (I have a second passion which is to draw; it's expensive). Tomorrow, I'm gonna declare a second major in New Media; particularly, either Animation or Game Design; I'm excited because my college's Media Studies department just made these concentrations last semester. I know of a website of where to meet people who work in the NYC game industry. It's appropiately called
http://www.nycgameindustry.com.for anyone who lives in NY/NJ and is interested. They have a meet and greet this Friday and every month. I've just been scared to take the steps into the future despite knowing how to get there.
From time to time, I've been volunteering at a non-profit organization dedicated to the arts (Theatre, free continuing education courses) when I'm not busy as full time student. It builds up my resumé, and as I've said before, I worked at Comic Con gathering work experience to add to my resumé as well meet new people. I'm also fluent Spanish, so that always gives me a leg up when it's needed.
Any way thanks for reading guys; I really appreciate it. It feels good talking about my dreams even though I'm unsure about them.
TL;DR: My dreams and uncertainties in a nutshell. I want to go into the game industry but I'm hesitating about acting on it.