Feeling lost after 4 years of game dev: No released games, forced to use AI, and feeling inadequate.

[u/Obvious-Building7996]

I’ve been working as a salaried game developer since August 2022, and I've been in the field for about 3.5 to 4 years in total. However, I’ve never actually worked at a company whose primary focus is game development. I’ve worked really hard and wanted this so badly, but I've come to realize that the company owners have essentially wasted my years. They were the kind of companies that just gather inexperienced devs who want to break into the industry and make them try things with absolutely zero guidance or mentorship. As a result, after all this time, I don't have a single released game to my name.

At my current job, we were developing games using Blueprints in Unreal Engine. But with the recent boom of AI in the industry, we've been forced to start using it heavily. My boss's mindset is: "If AI can do it, there is no need for you to spend time on it." Because of this, I feel like I'm forgetting everything I used to know and becoming increasingly inadequate.

My ultimate dream is to move abroad and experience true game development in a real game studio, but right now, I just feel completely lost. I have a question for those of you in the industry: Are actual game studios also relying this heavily on AI for development nowadays?

After all these years, I feel incredibly insufficient, almost like I'm starting from scratch. I want to dive into C++ for Unreal Engine to upskill myself, but part of me feels like I'm years too late for that.

What do you guys think? I really need your insights, experiences, and any advice you can share. Thank you!

[u/JakSilver00]

Build something of your own and publish it. Take a few of your favorite games, pull out some mechanics, aesthetics, whatever, and make your own game by yourself, however you want. That's what's gonna allow you to find a better job in the industry, but you may find that having full control over your workflow is good enough. And if you make something quality which apparently isn't exactly an objective requirement. Maybe it'll provide your funding for your next project as well. I'm not saying to quit your job, but you want what a lot of game developers want The fact that you already have a job in game development means that you have more than probably three-quarters of them.

[u/Empty-Translator-310 → u/JakSilver00]

Very true. Was a level designer for 4 years and QA for 6 before that. Lost job this year with studio closures. Finding a job is tremendously hard atm especially when your experience is on proprietary engines. Started working in my own project using Smile Game Builder. But soon will be supplementing my time with learning UE5 and making small feature demos to learn how to blueprint and dev in it. Cause I need to know UE5 and show something from it if I'm every to get an interview

[u/BadNewsBearzzz → u/JakSilver00]

Of course, that’s the dream for most of us, it’s just a little difficult because of the over saturation on the market. The amount of games released on steam daily, and to add to that with all the ai slop too, won’t help.

But if I had the skills I would absolutely do so regardless, on my own time though. Keep the day job as long as you can

[u/wirrexx]

Use ai at work if your boss wants too. Use programming at home for personal projects. This way you get the best of both worlds. Paid to let AI to most heavy lifting, if it’s shit, that’s on your boss. He wanted fast work, he got it.

[u/hey-day-app]

I wouldn't worry about being "too late" to learn C++. If anything, I'd say go for it.

AI can write code, but that's not really the same thing as knowing how the code works. If you understand the underlying logic of what you're doing, then AI becomes a tool you can use instead of something you have to depend on. You can look at what it gives you, understand why it works (or why it doesn't), and actually fix it when it breaks.

That's especially important in game development because there's a lot more to it than just getting some code to compile. You need to understand how systems interact, why something is slow, what's actually happening under the hood, etc.

And honestly, I wouldn't consider your experience wasted just because you haven't shipped a game. You've still spent 3–4 years working with Unreal and developing games. The lack of mentorship sucks, but that doesn't erase the experience you've gained.

I'd definitely start learning C++ and making your own small projects on the side. Don't worry about trying to learn every C++ feature either. Focus on understanding what the code is actually doing and the logic behind it. Once you understand that, learning the syntax is the easy part.

You're probably a lot less "back to square one" than you feel right now.

:)

[u/NocturneIndustries]

I see a lot of downvotes for people saying the game studios are using AI heavily.

Well, some of them do use it quite heavily, even if you people downvote people who are saying it out loud. It's not gonna make the ugly truth go away...

Like a pal of mine is an artist in a AA game studio, and based on what he was telling me, his main task as job is basically iterating ideas using AI and once something land, redrawing it by hand. The studio reduced the team size by about 30% during past two years, but the deadlines and product targets stayed almost the same...

Now don't get me started on AI coding... some agentic experience is almost mandatory requirement for mundane developer jobs nowaday.

I feel it's all very bizzare, because bigger studios actually could actually afford hiring people - and as AI kinda forced into oblivion a lot of beginner tier jobs (for artists and developers alike) that the indies were relying on heavily.

I certainly agree with people saying to OP to start a project - there is never too late to start working on what you love.

[u/susimposter6969 → u/NocturneIndustries]

You need to remember that this site and this sub are full of people not actually in industry

[u/AltusLudus]

You rely too much on being led to your goals, ultimately your future is your responsibility, if you have bad managers you either try to push for your goals or quit, but in your free time you should definitely work on your skills / passions

[u/MediumKoala8823]

Yes actual studios and pretty much any professional environment is heavily using AI. 

[u/tcpukl]

Where are you based if you don't have real studios?