It seems like the only way you can end up as a successful game developer is if you grew up with your own computer and your parents gave you unlimited computer privileges.

@xianc78 idk about "successful" but i started using rpg maker on the family computer when i was 10 years old :)

@beardalaxy I don't know how much RPG Maker costed back then, but I knew for a fact that my parents wouldn't buy me GameMaker Pro which costed $50 and required you to repay for every update. I messed around with GameMaker Lite, but it was severely limited and lacked certain features like scaling and rotating sprites.

There was also Video Game Tycoon which allowed you to create 3D action games and even burn them onto CD. It was in a monthly Scholastic book catalog that was given out to us in our elementary school. I really wanted it, but our teachers urged us not to buy anything on there outside of books (they couldn't prohibit us/our parents from doing so, but it was heavily discouraged), and my parents agreed with them (being public school teachers and education advocates themselves).

I think I was aware of RPG Maker back then, but I probably wrote it off because I felt like a genre specific game maker was worthless and I didn't care for turn-based games back then.

@xianc78 @beardalaxy What year was it you actually asked for the Game Maker Pro version, if I may ask?

@vokainen099 @beardalaxy 2009-2010. I actually never asked for it. I just knew the answer was "no" because my parents didn't like buying things over the Internet at the time.

@xianc78 @beardalaxy Yeah, but even in that case, how would you have published a game on the likes of steam and whatnot? You needed at least an adult ID to verify your ability to sign a contract with Valve and a bank account to store any gains

@vokainen099 @xianc78 you don't have to do that. there were places like indiedb and forums.

@beardalaxy @xianc78 You mean then just getting popular doing obscure niche games like those made by Japanese authors. But would it then translate to a professional independent game developer career, or would it just fade away later?

@vokainen099 @xianc78 if you keep up with it then sure. but at least for me, even though i'd love to do it as a job it's always been a hobby that i just really like to participate in.

@beardalaxy @vokainen099 It would probably be easier to do it as a job if everyone who has ever read a programming textbox wasn't making their own video game.

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@xianc78 @vokainen099 it would also probably be easier to do it as a job if i wanted to make someone else's games instead of my own

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