@PurpCat @jyushimatsu I think gamedev is something you need to start when you are really young and still have a lot of free-time. You also need to be a rare, patient child who realizes that you aren't going to start by making 3D first-person shooters with online multiplayer. The problem is that most kids aren't willing to learn how to program and can't convince their parents to buy something like the full version of GameMaker for them. I messed with GameMaker Lite as a kid, but I was spoiled and wanted to make 3D games which was only available if you paid $50 for the pro version, and I was too stupid to pirate software back then.
By the time I was in high school and knew how to program graphics using Pygame, I was involved with so many extra-circular activities that I was easily burnt out when I got home.
@gentoobro @PurpCat @jyushimatsu And that is also the problem because you need to have played a diverse library of games in order to be a good dev. Masahiro Sakurai even played the games he hated growing up just to learn what does and does not work.
You definitely can't have many other hobbies alongside game dev. Playing games included.