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Editor's note: Chris is a man with a dream, even if that dream clashes with the harsh reality of adulthood: He wants to be a game designer. Find out how he's going to make that happen. -Brett
I can easily pinpoint the exact moment I knew what career path I wanted to pursue.
I was 10. My friend Matt and I sat in his parents' entertainment room, snacking on Doritos and chasing them with Barq's Root Beer. Greasy controllers covered in nacho cheese flavoring rested in our hands, our eyes fixated on the television set. We were playing Skitchin' for the Sega Genesis.
Sometime around 2 a.m., Matt and I held a conversation involving video games.
"I wish when I got older I could play video games all day!" I exclaimed. My excitement made the sentence sound like one word.
"There are jobs where people do play video games — as testers," Matt replied.
And that was that. I made up my mind roughly two hours into a new day, as I stared into the cathode tube and my hands mindlessly shoved food and drink down my gullet: I would become a video game tester.
Years later, reality kicked in, and my dream of playing video games for pay evaporated. Game testing doesn't earn you enough money to support a family, I realized. Luckily, plenty of money can be found in game development, so I refocused my dreams there. I would become a video game designer.
This is the path I travel today.
No day passes without me writing about, talking about, playing, watching, or designing games. In fact, just recently my friend Ed suggested a game idea to me. It involves insects, scientists, and mechs. Instantly my mind conjured a game in playable form, then began decontructing the parts of it into several manageable, bite-sized pieces. We've since started to turn that idea into reality.
What we know is this: The level designs need to be varied — although we haven't decided whether the game will be 2D or 3D yet. Ed, a sculptor, will sculpt the enemy models. He's also come up with a name that I like. It describes the game perfectly and is nearly as briliant as "Snakes on a Plane." I would tell you the name, but I hope to one day make this game, and I'd be disappointed if anyone stole Ed's idea.
Making the decision to pursue game design as a career is a frightening one, to be sure. So many underdeveloped, completely garbage games exist in the marketplace, and I'd hate to add to that ever-growing list.
Still, I'm determined to use my enthusiasm for games to develop quality products and show the game industry what I'm capable of making.
Now, I'm sitting in my children's playroom, filling out scholarship applications and struggling to remember proper essay techniques. I'm also snacking on store-brand tortilla chips, chasing them with tap water. My hands are covered in who-knows-what from cleaning up after kids. My eyes are glued to the computer screen, but I'm longing to break away and play some video games.
At about 10:30 p.m., my wife and I held a conversation involving reality.
"I'm nearly done filling out these applications," I said groggily. I waited for her response, but she was already asleep, tuckered out from raising our three kids all day. My youngest rested in her arms.
I turned back to the computer screen, opened up the Article Editor on Bitmob and began typing — typing about something I love to discuss and hope to take a part in the creation of: video games.
And that was that.
You can follow me on Twitter if you'd like: @CosmoRoss. I occassionally write for the superb Cerebral Pop, and I try to contribute to Bitmob as much as possible. I'm married and have three kids.