Weekly Topic Share your story: How you got started in Unity

... After about a year, I actually became good at recruitment (despite the fact that I still didn't enjoy it and had no interest in making a career out of it). I do like talking to people and solving problems and as a natural artist I knew how to spot a good portfolio! I worked my way up to recruitment team leader, managed a small team of consultants and got the opportunity to develop relationships with leading design firms all over the world. I placed many talented people in senior design jobs in Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong and London.

In my spare time, I continued exploring 3D modelling and tinkering with Carrara, Blender and 3D Game Studio. I had heard about Unity but I think it was Mac only at that point and I had always been a PC kind of guy so didn't give it much thought other than thinking it looked pretty cool.

I still really wanted to work in the games industry and applied for jobs at Jagex and a few other places but did not have the 'right' kind of experience (Nobody really likes recruiters anyway so they probably thought I was trying to sell to them) and my portfolio was all over the place.

Recruitment did give me a decent salary for the first time in my life and I was able to get a mortgage with my wife, start laying the foundations for my life and it gave me spare money to spend on Wacom tablets and PC upgrades. I also discovered digital sculpting software like the first version of 3D Coat and Daz's Hexagon. I also started getting more 'in to' the delights of the internet and finding forums like Gameartisans, conceptart.org and Polycount which broadened my horizons and also showed me I still had a hell of a lot to learn if I wanted to become a successful digital artist.

I was offered a higher paid recruitment job with my brother in laws firm in Manchester and my previous employer was starting to struggle a bit (paying salaries a bit later than they were supposed to - which is no good when you have a mortgage to pay) so I accepted on the basis that I would work every other week up north and spend the rest of the time working from my home office. It looked like I would be stuck in recruitment for a bit longer but at least I was getting paid well.

Then the global recession hit and I was made redundant! .....

 

How did I get started in Unity?
I just got started a couple months ago. I stumbled on Unity while bored and cruising the net. I have no idea what i am doing....yet. (Well. I am learning every time i log in)

My game idea is on paper and it evolves almost everyday. It is a game that i have wanted to make for a very long time. I have a to do list in order of what i want to accomplish first, then second, etc. regarding the coding aspect of it. Then i will have to incorporate the 3D models into it. (Most everything is just cubes or spheres. Trying to keep it simple and get the code mostly done first) I do have a few scripts that actually work though! Although, as i learn more they will get rewritten or added to. I am just trying to get the basics of my game mechanics working. And then i will go from there.

So far, it has been a lot of fun. I am still going through the tutorials and trying to teach myself scripting in C#. And I'll try to look at code and try to figure out why this goes here and not there. My old brain is not as sharp as what it was 20 years ago in High School, so i have to study on it a little harder than some.

It was really great to read how everyone else got started.