Am I Too Old?

Hi folks.
This is a question that is really just intended to stir some response and help me see how dynamic and age specific Unity users are. So i'll kick off with myself:
I've just turned 52 and would love to develop some interactive kids book apps and fun edu games.
I come from a design background. I have worked in Graphics, Web Design and Illustration and so i am confident in those areas. But learning Unity and C# is like a new experience. I feel more like 25 in my mind and gasp sometimes when i see a middle aged bloke staring back at me in the mirror most mornings.
I don't believe in ageism - it's a bloody evil. Sadly our culture and media propagates it because the youth of today have that impulsive spending potential. As you mature, you become more reflective and - i guess - penny pinching.
I find technology and science exciting. I remember raving over Windows 93. In fact i can remember buying an Acorn Electron back in 1986. I was close to getting that beautiful Commodore 64. Then the Amstrads were all the rage. Okay! I digress.
Are you 40+ or even 50+? Share a paragraph or two about your career path to Unity and how you feel about ageism in the industry.
Thanks

 

I'll be 22 next sunday. I've been programming since forever.

I may be young, but I'm already living in the mind. I spend money on nothing but food and gas, living at home until I finish my degree and become a teacher so I can have a manageable work life while I live in a virtual world for most of my life.

I might never enter the industry, but I'll still keep unity up to date (just shelled out $600 for unity 5, woo!) so I can keep providing my dreams and thoughts a physical form.

 

On the Internet no one knows that you're a dog. You don't need to share your age with anyone to sell a product or offer a service. And it's a shame you don't identify with the middle-aged man in the mirror because I'm sure he has a lot of experience to share and perhaps a nugget or two of wisdom to impart

EDIT:
Should add that I'm still on the nether side of 40.

 

Age: 54.6
Unity: 1.5 years
iOS: 4+ years

I'm struggling to "convert" to C# (coming from Xcode/Objective-C) but seems I have found my "groove" in the most recent 3 months where things just started to click.

The Unity environment, in my opinion, really geared towards a visual design. I'd suggest watching some youtube videos along with the GREAT Unity Learn section and then see if something like PlayMaker might be right up you alley (or not if you are more of a "coder").



PS I still miss my dual 5.4" drive, 13" color TV powered Commodore-64

 

That's normal. It's just something the younger ones need to learn as their own experience.

Almost 44 here, started with assembler on a Magnavox Odyssey² which was pretty useless. Unity since 2007.
Gamers are aging with the industry. I think we will be in a constant transition over decades till the first gamers will be in their 90s. Younger developers/publishers might not understand what older customers really want. My main target audience is 35-55.

 

I can't agree more!! I now use playMaker and uScript for the most part and tweak C# code on the side as needed.

Age: 50
Unity: 6 yrs (Last two exclusively for all development)
3D Studio: 22 yrs (Started with 3D Studio release 2 for DOS!)
Adobe Products: 20 yrs (Photoshop 2.5, those were the days)

There are professional developers that were not born yet back then!!!

Anyway, Have at it. Never too old!!!

 

I'm 47, but everything after about 30 seems about the same to me. I don't use Unity as part of a career, just a hobby. Been using it just over a year.

My first exposure to game programming was on a Sinclair ZX-81 some time in the early 1980's. I taught myself BASIC programming using the manual that it came with! A bit later got some quality time with the Apple II in school and mowed enough lawns to save up for the C-64.

I found a renewed interest in game development when Microsoft came out with XNA (I love C# and .NET). Published a couple of games on the Xbox indie channel thing.

Now with Unity it's even better. Still get to code in C# and Mono and I can do so much more. The ability to easily support Oculus Rift is super cool too.

As far as the age thing goes, I know I'd be considered an old-timer to many, but I haven't let that impact having fun with game development again.

 

First code experience was with a VIC-20, couldn't afford a C-64. Over 50, came from a design background and Unity helped me learn C#, to the point I'm almost a programmer. Stick with it!

 

Can teach an old dog new tricks.

 

>=40+
Like butter on sweet grilled corn.

 

Not above 40 here, but i have had the opportunity to meet quite a lot of people in their late 30's that have worked 10+ years in careers that ultimately wasn't them, so they tried learning new things that they have never tried before. It really shows that it's not too late for anyone to learn something new, it's about wanting to learn new things.

What VIC20 is saying about coming from a different mindset and designing for people that most younger designers simply can't is a very great skill to have, mostly because it allows your way of expression to be much more unique than what someone half the age can do.

 

50++
Coder since 1983.
4-5 years with Unity.

 

Not really any ageism here. That's the beauty really, as long as you're intelligent and have a ripe imagination you'll make it just fine. Truth be told it wouldn't matter if you were Joseph Kony as long as you've got what it takes, probably a mixed blessing as you occasionally will meet utter tossers over the course of your career.

 

You'll find you can't be too old, but you can be unable or lazy. Nothing is wrong with being unable, not your fault, but if you find yourself too lazy maybe you'll what to reconsider after a while. I start up and stop different hobbies since I was a child. From feeding dead flies to spiders to shell collecting to gardening to Unity to fish to baseball to tai kwon do to ...

No need to qualify it with you feel '25' or 'young' I mean what is that? You're over 50 now so you should feel the negative, mean thoughts you "may" had against older people when you where young all of the sudden? Or if you didn't have them, which most people don't, you can't deny the American media isn't extremely negative towards them.

I know so many people that are very old and enjoying life. It's attitude, not retirement. It's about expectations. They learned hard work gets you enjoyment. I'll embarrassingly admit many of the very old can out work me in the same way I can outwork many younger the I am. It's not about genetic ability to work but simply the amount of work we were expected to do growing up.

 

This may seem awkward, but I'm 16. I started out unity when I was 15 years old and like all the kids of my age, I was fascinated by games. I found unity after an extensive search on google and since then, I have no regrets. When I started out, I found C# to be extremely intimidating since I had no knowledge of programming whatsoever and I was more of the "marketing" type of guy. But I conquered my fears and bought a bunch of C# books and sat down reading them diligently for hours and hours together. I suppose nothing really beats the unity documentation but it is a good plan to become proficient in C# and then kickstart the unity learning process. I highly recommend the books written by Herbert Schildt. They are writing in a precise manner and even beginners can learn it with ease. Now, an year later, here I am creating my own games and learning all there is left to learn.

These days, age doesn't really make a difference. What a 50 year old can Do, a 18 can do too. I wish you the best of luck in your learning journey.

 

'No thanks, I use toilet paper'; as we used to say as children to get those tongues back in those mouths.

Just kidding.

But since when does being young have anything to do with delinquency?

 

I'd say you'd have to be a prodigy to be really good at a young age. It does take an unusual amount of skill and talent to beat out the experience of a developer in his older years.

I'm not saying young people can't be creative, I mean I started at 8 I guess. Back then, it was boundless energy and creativity, but I still have that to draw on AND experience. Unlike some fields, game development doesn't really deteriorate or anything. You play new games, you keep getting stronger. Until that golden moment of zen enlightenment when you can see everything at once, then get hit by senile dementia in a cruel twist of fate.

 

Hahaha, I was just kidding.

 

Is there anything that is not awkward at that age?

 

Me, I just kept flunking out of majors and telling professors they had double standards until I finally managed to graduate with some kind of degree. I the process, have the class that graduated with me were using programs they retrieved from the paper recycle bin.

LOL > this was when computer science was really, really hard - you had to dig through the trash to graduate rather than google graduation. LMAO.

 

ROFL'd at that. Yeah, I do suppose being a 16 year old is messed up.

 

Yes, Lisa <last name withheld>

 

Never too old, it's not like you're swinging a pickaxe for 8 hours a day

I'd love to design kids games but lack the artistic talent which sounds like you have covered, I'd say go for it. I got into Unity a few years back and my first published game was a simple kids game(emphasis on the simple, linky), I think it's a great way to start with it. Since then I have made ever increasingly complex half-games and it is a very enjoyable hobby which I plan to continue as a creative outlet(and hopefully some full games eventually). Dinging the big 4-0 this year but I still remember wizardry on the Apple ][ like it was yesterday damnit.

 

You are never too old to learn something new, I'm 39 and have recently got back into Unity due to an illness that stops me from working in a regular job.

In the last year or so I have learnt to use Maya for making mods for various games but have always had the ideas of my own games in the back of my head so recently picked up Unity again to see if I could actually make something out of those ideas. I know it's going to be a steep learning curve in some areas especially scripting but I do have a small history with C++ and other languages.

I also started gaming at a young age, my parents bought me an Acorn Electron for my 14th(?) birthday and I remember spending many a days sitting in front of the TV writing BASIC programs, many adapted from a BASIC Magazine that I used to get. I remember playing the original Elite on the school BBC computers at lunchtimes.

With my current health state, even though I am better than I used to be now, I always look to what I can do to better my future and if that means knuckling down and learning something new then so be it, I just need to get my brain to concentrate instead of being distracted by other games

 

Hi
I am 74 and just finished a game for Unity. I had business programming experience
but not gaming stuff. It's good fun and you have to keep the mind active.

Lennie

 

I tend to find forgetfulness is a problem the older I get.

 

Many thanks everyone for your replies.
I can see that the Unity Community really is as varied and dynamic as i had hoped. Far from being a small clique of geeks with an age range of 16 - 21, it truly is a community of diverse people with different stories and aspirations and just as varied in age range as well. What a relief to know that there are many people in their 40's, 50's and Lennie at 74 using Unity and having fun in the process.
I agree with one member that you don't have to mention age or sex or even species online - who knows, maybe a few Dogs use Unity too! Neither was i suggesting that there is anything wrong with being 52 or 102. Life is a gift and every day is a page in a book that we write from day 1 to our last croak. We all hope it's gonna be a long book too and not too dull in content either.
I was looking at Corona SDK when i stumbled upon the new Unity 2D features. I was even more amazed to see that there is a FREE version. I am definitely going to try and learn how to use this engine. It's got such a nice visual IDE - ideal for scene design. That is a big plus for me. For my use - creating interactive kids books - it seems perfect. I am going through the basics at the moment while trying to learn some C#.
I also dabbled with Stencyl 3.0 but it's not as easy as i had hoped. I feel that it's an engine that is more suited to those who have exp with Flash development and know the logic inside out and can understand the code blocks. People like me are simply confused from the get go and it's a pain having to work out why a scene throws a wobbly on compiling.
Someone here mentioned Playmaker. I am not sure what that is and how it could help me, so i will take a look.
If i cannot hack the coding stuff, i will collaborate with someone on here, but not before i've had a damn good shot at it.

Many thanks again all for your input. You are a cool community.
Long live Unity

 

Oho! So you experimented with Stencyl too? That was the very first game development engine. I was attracted towards it because I found out that you do not need to learn how to code to make games with Stencyl. Granted, it was a good drag and drop engine, but now that I am using unity, it seems pretty pathetic. The dragging and dropping of code blocks was extremely frustrating and one could achieve the very same result with a few lines of code. It is almost impossible to understand what one had coded unless you dissect their code block by block and delve into its mysteries. I suppose you are feeling the same way about stencyl too.

 

Here is a link to playMaker. It is a visual scripting framework for Unity. Think of it as a flow chart with logic attached.

There is also uScript which is quite good. Here is a blog post that is an interesting read on visual scripting.

Good luck on your endeavors and above all, Have Fun!!!!

 

Hi @zDemonhunter99 i so agree with you. Stencyl 3.0 does look very nice. But i became frustrated trying to create simple actions and not getting any helpful feedback on the forums. For example, i wanted to create a fixed wheel that could either be spun clockwise on swipe or spin to speed 500 over 1 second on hover / touch and then decrease to 0 over .5 seconds. Nobody could answer. That's just the tip of the iceberg. It's a nice 2D engine and great for Mario style platform games. I think it's for experienced developers who know the code inside out and simply use it to prototype using those snap-to blocks. I still might use it for scene layouts and tweening -which it does well. But i think Unity is the Daddy!
@Vern_Shurtz. I've just taken a look at Playmaker and it looks like an amazing plugin. I will definitely be purchasing that if it can work with 2D worlds and ease my development. However, i am still going to try and get through all the Unity tutorials first and learn as much C# as i can. This plugin is on my Must Buy list alongside 2D Toolkit.
Gonna look at uscript now. thanks!

 

Make sure you take a look at the "Add Ons" section for playMaker for more extensions to playMaker including the new 2D system in Unity and 2D Toolkit.

 

Also check out this eBook. "Practical Game Design with Unity and Playmaker"

This may also help jump start your development.

Having a good basic knowledge of C# is very helpful. 3D Buzz has a huge amount video training and much of it for free. Helped me immensely.

 

LOL! I was just talking about that exact same thing the other day with a co-worker! I have some of my fondest memories of gaming playing that game. I can still remember my favorite character I created called StoneCrusher. He was a tank before I even knew what that meant. I'm sneaking up on 45 and started messing around with Unity about a year ago. I've got my first crude game into a near playable state at this point. I'm Network Engineer by trade and game development is something I've always wanted to do and finally decided to do something about it when I realized that I'm not getting any younger a few years ago.

One tip I've picked up along the way, especially for those that don't "code for food" is to make some kind of progress every day if possible. Even if it's just something small. Those little chunks of progress do add up. Set a minimum goal for a project. If you just say "I want to learn X", it's not the same as "I want to make a simple game that does X". I got so bogged down in trying to learn a certain thing about coding that I finally just said, "I'm going to try to make a game that does this and that and not stop until I get that completed to a point where I can push the game to the app store." I'm getting close and it's a great feeling. Even though my game will be crude and probably never make enough money to cover the developer fee, I'll still have created something and learned a ton along the way.

My ultimate goal is to create something that is 'fun'. It amazes me how elusive coming up with something fun can be when you sit down and try to do that on your own. It's easy to recognize what that is instantly when you pick something up, but way more difficult to come up with something on your own that falls into that category. Some of the most simple game mechanics that don't require much, turn out to be amazingly fun, and have very minimal graphics. (I'm looking at you Thomas Was Alone)

Anyway, I'm rambling. Here is the short version:

Age: 44
Background: Network Engineer and general IT problem solver
Goal: Create something "fun", whatever that means

 

With age, comes wisdom... sometimes.

At 42, the only advice I share to newcomers is THINK SMALL! Imagine the smallest game possible. Then throw away 90% of that. From what remains, cut an additional 50%, until you've something you could build in 12 weeks. Or, as one of my peers does, give a single project just 4 weeks, before moving on.

Rather than build a Magnum Opus, I found I learned more when I treated projects like short-stories.

Gigi

 

I'm 19, sometimes I feel old. I can't even imagine what being over 50 must be like. I like game dev, but I feel that I'm too invested in it. I can't see myself ever doing anything else and in a way its scary as if one day I hate this industry there's no way out(Though I don't think that will happen )

 

I know that your age doesn't depends on your date of birth. Its never late to became programmer. And you can't be too old to have sharp mind. Its only depends on your desire.

 

I am +50 and stumble on programming by reading that the guy who did Minecraft earned A LOT of money and decided that I also want to do that. I decided to learn programming from scratch and bought Objective-C for dummies and started the Apple IOS journey. It ended up with a quiz game that have sold very well and still average approx 100+ sold games per week, after two years.

Last year i started a new game idea using Apple SpriteKit and created a prototype. I also wanted to, based on fan mail, deploying my quiz games on Android. Due to this i decided to take a look at Unity and to my amazement i replicated the prototype in Unity C# with approx. 30% of the code.

However, i am very surprised that it is possible with my background to get noticeable revenue from games

 

Many thanks for those links.

 

It's tough Tyler. But i was just like you at 19. I even watched Logan's Run with relish as those old 30 year old guys had to jump into that vaporizing chamber

 

Fun fact: in the novel, your crystal turned black at 21.

 

Go for it, age is just a number. It has nothing to do with what you can or can't achieve.

 

Just do whatever you want to do, and forget the rest. I'm almost 30 and the most valuable lesson I learned in all these years, is just to not give a flying f**k about what others may or may not think.

You shouldn't even have thought about this, every neuron you waste thinking about this, is a neuron that wont be available to help you with what you really want to do. Think of the neurons!!!

 

62 in 2 months.

 

Your profile picture says otherwise (64).

Hah, just kidding.

 

Won't be long!

 

Age have NOTHING to do with passion and hobby!!!

 

You are only too old for learning and going new steps in life when the cold grave / the fire is calling.
-44-y / 12 y of independent game developing / 16 y. photoshop / 12 years cinema 4D.

 

There is no age limit and for doing a work with your spirit don't need your age . No age no limits don't care about these things . No age limits to do anything . Just make games and Have Fun

 

Wow! Such amazing positive response from a great Unity community. Thanks guys.
Seems like there is no such thing as age limits to the creative process.
I know that Monet didn't start selling Paintings till he was in his 50's. Grandma Moses took up painting at 70 - i think!
I am only 52 but having been diagnosed with COPD 6 months ago -never smoked in my life and life sucks sometimes- i cannot say that i will reach a great age. But it is a gift and we cannot ever assume we will be collecting our pensions at 65 or seeing our grandchildren get married.
I am learning Unity development, gonna try learning French this summer and am even trying to illustrate and write a few books too.
Okay! Back to work i guess.