Aspiring game designer, lots of questions!

Hey all, first time posting here and I've been using Unity for about two years now. So I'm about to graduate from a community college with a degree in Simulation and Game Development and I feel like I've learned a lot in my time here. I also feel that I have a good overall grasp of basic tools but not the finer points of game designing. I know that with hard work and my passion and talent for modeling and animation I can succeed; but my real question is where do I go from here?
Should I go attend a 4 year college somewhere that my credits won't transfer to?
Should I get a degree in computer science that won't apply to gaming for job security?
Or should I just keep working hard at my craft and pray I'm picked up by a company?

My main point is, from where I am as an amateur what is my best route into the industry?
Everyone says be a game tester but those jobs are near non-existent in my experience. I've been trying to land one for thuree years. I'm in North Carolina so all that's really here is Epic games and I haven't heard many good things about testing there.
Sorry for the book but any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

It's a shame about the forum rollback. There were some really good suggestions here, such as attending local chapter IGDC meetups. My little contribution was that there are other game dev companies in the area -- Insomniac, Imangi, etc -- as well as the East Coast Game Conference.

 

Quick try-again on the stuff I said.

I did the 4 year school thing and also the starting in QA thing and I would not recommend it. It works for some people, but I'm not one of them. Most of the people I worked with did not have a degree from a 4 year. The only people I know who started with me in QA and are not still in QA (this is approx 10 years later) are the two people who also had master's degrees in advanced computer science topics (AI and NLP).

Go to your local IGDA chapter meetings. Go to local game dev drink-ups. Don't go to find a job, go to make friends. Friends will think of you when a job opens that you are right for. Handing out your resume at an IGDA chapter meeting makes people not want to talk to you.

Have projects. Work on stuff. Work on *anything*. If you can, make mobile games and keep them on your phone. Bring them up in conversation whenever you can (within reason), and show off your stuff.

 

I agree, attend local dev get togethers & talk to people, test their stuff & give good feedback. Take some of your own stuff after the first couple (when you know some people) as then people are more likely to recognise you & come to see what you have. Either take some games people can play or take interesting experiments/prototypes that people might get engaged in intellectually. I've found that often at these events about half want to play games/give feedback & half just want to talk about cool stuff, & if something you are prototyping (it doesn't need to be a game) can be that topic then the conversation can go anywhere & that in itself can be helpful.

 

Hey Mike, I am also an aspiring game developer. I am likely to be the least experienced person here when it comes to the industry and its inner workings, but I would like to make a suggestion. I would suggest taking your academic studies as far as you can in whatever direction is an appropriate compromise between your dreams and your practical opportunity. I worked my way through college as Technical Service Specialist and I am current writing code for IOT devices as a Firmware Engineer. It's a lot of C real close to the metal programming complete with tons of memory management, not exactly what I envisioned, but I love it and the checks feed my family.

I am not saying that shouldn't attend these local IGDA meetings. I may find a way to attend them in my local area now that I know they exist, but it never hurts to have an ACE up your sleeve if you know what I mean. The other thing I would recommend is that if you are serious about game development you should concentrate on building your portfolio, whatever projects you can complete, complete them, then add to the complexity and complete another. The one thing employers in all industries love is a self starter who can close the show! A good portfolio may help you get freelance work on game development teams where you can make contacts, get professional experience and continue to build a more robust portfolio.

Good Luck Brother, remember that aspiration is the seed of achievement!