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flummoxed: Okay, so… I left my university (kinda been forced to do so by my life circumstances). Thinking about becoming a youtuber, game developer, voice actor, writer (yes-yes, all of that, I'm stupid like that :D). Do you think I’m taking a big risk? Have you ever taken similar risks?
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XYCat: lol dude
I'm kinda in a similar situation, except I actually graduated from university and haven't been able to find a job yet.
Wanna team up:? Seriously man.
Hey, that doesn't too good. I'm in for a team-up any time, although I'm far from an expert in any of these yet. :D Which subject did you have in mind?
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Randalator: No no, he dropped out of college. Like literally. He broke into the science department, downed all the alcohol he could find and fell out of the window. Four times.
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tinyE: Actually the last time I left was because of disease but not that one. :P
This??
http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/guide/syphilis
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flummoxed: Okay, so… I left my university (kinda been forced to do so by my life circumstances). Thinking about becoming a youtuber, game developer, voice actor, writer (yes-yes, all of that, I'm stupid like that :D). Do you think I’m taking a big risk? Have you ever taken similar risks?
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Breja: I'm not sure if I would call "youtuber" risky, as it does not need to be a full time, only job type of thing. However I do think the bottom is going to fall out, or the bubble is going tu burst or whatever you want to call it eventually. These days everyone and their mother seems to be a youtuber/let's player/vloger, and I don't think it can keep going like that for ever. Eventually it's going to be like when people declared disco dead, though without actuall demonstrations in the streets most likely. I may be wrong though, I would never have expected Facebook to catch on, so what do I know.

As for the developer/voice actor/writer - pick one. Unless you are a true reneissance man I doubt you have the talent for all of those. Pick one your heart is really into, and who knows, it might just work. If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours, as Thoreau wrote. I have not yet met success myself, but I still endeavor :)
My idea behind working on all of these is that I love all of them, and if one doesn't work out, I can move onto another. Or if I'm really lucky, they all will be one giant safety net that will catch me. :D (Also, some of my friends called me a polymath on occasion, so... I'm hoping on the true renaissance man part :D)
Maintain a humble lifestyle, keep running costs low, do the work you love and get better in doing it.
It's the right choice.
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flummoxed: Okay, so… I left my university (kinda been forced to do so by my life circumstances). Thinking about becoming a youtuber, game developer, voice actor, writer (yes-yes, all of that, I'm stupid like that :D). Do you think I’m taking a big risk? Have you ever taken similar risks?
YES.
I'm self employed and became so from being entirely unemployed.
The kind of things you're looking at doing wont be an income in any way for some time unless you are very lucky or exceptionally talented AND very lucky.
You WILL need a day job / source of regular income in the meantime, so dont put all your eggs in one basket.
The latter bit of advice goes with each of those areas you're looking into - if you want to write, then why not also put out some dramatic readings of your work on free sites like podiobooks.com? (worked for a few people, but will also give you some feedback, an audience and potential hookups for other stuff).
Be prepared to get no money offered for any of the work you do for a long time. People always seems to think anyone working creatively in any way should work for free or for the "exposure" their project (that they will no doubt profit from somehow) brings with it.
I am leaning towards the writing and voice acting there as those are the things ive the most direct experience with, though I know from others that game devs have similar paths and I'm sure youtubing also suffers many of those trappings.
So... I suggest you maybe find some kind of small "portfolio" type project you can do in your spare time (while finding that godforsaken day job that will make it all seem worthwhile) that combines all the things you're interested in doing and go from there.
Interactive visual novel perhaps - a choose your own adventure style one that could even be enacted across a multitude of youtube uploads and made interconnected by the ever present captions and visualised through some basic use of unity, blender etc?
...dont recall ever seeing that before actually - so theres a thing!
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XYCat: lol dude
I'm kinda in a similar situation, except I actually graduated from university and haven't been able to find a job yet.
Wanna team up:? Seriously man.
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flummoxed: Hey, that doesn't too good. I'm in for a team-up any time, although I'm far from an expert in any of these yet. :D Which subject did you have in mind?
I dunno, making something cool :D
Making a game or something would be the most reasonable as it presumably might be done without the need of meeting in person since there's people all over the world here.
It's a huge risk especially if you have nothing else to fall back on i.e. previous career/experience or education/qualifications.

But if you're very young, now is the time to take risks. I took risks too - I made a huge career change but again I had other things to fall back on in case it didn't work out.

As with investments, diversify. Get into something fairly safe that will reap benefits in the long term for you and use the rest of your resources (time/energy etc.) into more risky but rewarding things you wish to do. Sachy's advice is good here.

Also it seems like you don't know what you want to actually do. That's okay, pick one at a time and go all in for it. If it doesn't work out, you didn't loose too much. Reevaluate what you want based on what you now know and try the next best thing you want to try.

Good luck!
Post edited January 30, 2015 by xieliming
I never got into normal higher education due to my very bad family background and other reasons, had to abort university out of financial reasons too (didn't get into the field I wanted to go into anyway), but am doing fine and better every year, I've got a nice job where I can create musical instruments (right up my alley) and enough time to get my own product line together which is materializing right now.

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flummoxed: Hey, that doesn't too good. I'm in for a team-up any time, although I'm far from an expert in any of these yet. :D Which subject did you have in mind?
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XYCat: I dunno, making something cool :D
Making a game or something would be the most reasonable as it presumably might be done without the need of meeting in person since there's people all over the world here.
Hey, I always wanted to participate in making a game as a musician.
I'm a multiinstrumentalist mostly playing hurdy-gurdy and oriental frame drums but other stuff too.
If you want to stand out, use real instruments/music instead of pc generated stuff, nobody is doing this anymore, last game I knew that used real musicians was Knights of Honor, at least I think so.
Post edited January 30, 2015 by Klumpen0815
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Sachys: YES.
I'm self employed and became so from being entirely unemployed.
The kind of things you're looking at doing wont be an income in any way for some time unless you are very lucky or exceptionally talented AND very lucky.
You WILL need a day job / source of regular income in the meantime, so dont put all your eggs in one basket.
The latter bit of advice goes with each of those areas you're looking into - if you want to write, then why not also put out some dramatic readings of your work on free sites like podiobooks.com? (worked for a few people, but will also give you some feedback, an audience and potential hookups for other stuff).
Be prepared to get no money offered for any of the work you do for a long time. People always seems to think anyone working creatively in any way should work for free or for the "exposure" their project (that they will no doubt profit from somehow) brings with it.
I am leaning towards the writing and voice acting there as those are the things ive the most direct experience with, though I know from others that game devs have similar paths and I'm sure youtubing also suffers many of those trappings.
So... I suggest you maybe find some kind of small "portfolio" type project you can do in your spare time (while finding that godforsaken day job that will make it all seem worthwhile) that combines all the things you're interested in doing and go from there.
Interactive visual novel perhaps - a choose your own adventure style one that could even be enacted across a multitude of youtube uploads and made interconnected by the ever present captions and visualised through some basic use of unity, blender etc?
...dont recall ever seeing that before actually - so theres a thing!
Wow, thanks for the really great advice. :) And especially thanks for the idea - it didn't occur to me that I could combine all of these into one... until now :)
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xieliming: It's a huge risk especially if you have nothing else to fall back on i.e. previous career/experience or education/qualifications.

But if you're very young, now is the time to take risks. I took risks too - I made a huge career change but again I had other things to fall back on in case it didn't work out.

As with investments, diversify. Get into something fairly safe that will reap benefits in the long term for you and use the rest of your resources (time/energy etc.) into more risky but rewarding things you wish to do. Sachy's advice is good here.

Also it seems like you don't know what you want to actually do. That's okay, pick one at a time and go all in for it. If it doesn't work out, you didn't loose too much. Reevaluate what you want based on what you now know and try the next best thing you want to try.

Good luck!
Yeah, the risky part is actually coming from the fact that I DON'T have anything to fall back on. :D

Thanks! :)
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Klumpen0815: I never got into normal higher education due to my very bad family background and other reasons, had to abort university out of financial reasons too (didn't get into the field I wanted to go into anyway), but am doing fine and better every year, I've got a nice job where I can create musical instruments (right up my alley) and enough time to get my own product line together which is materializing right now.
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XYCat: I dunno, making something cool :D
Making a game or something would be the most reasonable as it presumably might be done without the need of meeting in person since there's people all over the world here.
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Klumpen0815: Hey, I always wanted to participate in making a game as a musician.
I'm a multiinstrumentalist mostly playing hurdy-gurdy and oriental frame drums but other stuff too.
If you want to stand out, use real instruments/music instead of pc generated stuff, nobody is doing this anymore, last game I knew that used real musicians was Knights of Honor, at least I think so.
Oooh, oooh, I knew I made the right choice posting here! :D Having real instruments in a game sounds pretty great. I can't even remember what was the last game I played that had stuff like that.
Post edited January 30, 2015 by flummoxed
The risky part is doing nothing. If you choose to do something and make a solid attempt to do it well, I think you'll find it less risky than you might currently believe it to be. Given that your situation already took you out of college, you might have a bit of nothing-to-lose working in your favor.

That said, don't ignore the practical advice others have given: namely, get some income rolling in while you pursue some or all of those things you mention.

But really, go for it.
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flummoxed:
no worries!

also, I presume you're a native Hungarian speaker?
- If you have a voice acting demo I can pass it on to another who has a few pies you might want a slice of - one out and a few in the works. Can't guarantee any results though, but it would be worth doing - hell if you go for VA work at all seriously, you'll have to do it all the time anyways.

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HereForTheBeer: The risky part is doing nothing. If you choose to do something and make a solid attempt to do it well, I think you'll find it less risky than you might currently believe it to be.
...Nixon? O_____o!
Post edited January 30, 2015 by Sachys
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flummoxed: Thinking about becoming a youtuber, game developer, voice actor, writer (yes-yes, all of that, I'm stupid like that :D). Do you think I’m taking a big risk? Have you ever taken similar risks?
I kinda have and my best advice is to seek stability. People underestimate the effort, determination and - perhaps most importantly - luck it takes to get anywhere with these kinds of "careers" (and ignore the fact that also the vast majority of people who had any kind of success with this stuff at least originally did it on the side while doing totally mundane stuff full-time). I can imagine what kind of place you're in, I was there myself and for a while I was literally surrounded by people in the same situation - it's easy to perceive such activities as a way out of the aimlessness that you probably feel right now but the truth is that it's most definitely gonna do a lot of harm if you rely too much on it. Shape your life in such a manner that you can do stuff like this while something else gives you a reason to get out of bed every day and provides you with the stuff you need to get by.
Post edited January 30, 2015 by F4LL0UT
I think in life you sometimes have to take risks in order to achieve something - be it the goal itself, or the realisation it just wasn't meant to be. But at least you'll know it for sure.

Good luck!
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Sachys: no worries!

also, I presume you're a native Hungarian speaker?
- If you have a voice acting demo I can pass it on to another who has a few pies you might want a slice of - one out and a few in the works. Can't guarantee any results though, but it would be worth doing - hell if you go for VA work at all seriously, you'll have to do it all the time anyways.
Why yes I am :) I don't have a demo yet (this risky business started today, after all :D), but I'll start working on one! ...although, come to think of it, I never really done a demo before... (Fortunately, I do have a decent microphone, so that's a starter :D)
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flummoxed:
Well, I cant find the link right now, but Braussie (from the forums here) had quite a good one of them in front of the mic just doing a series of impressions and ad-libbed stuff - gave a good idea of the vocal range etc at the least. Might be a good start for you - and also some good pracise as you'll get feedback if you youtube it, and also be able to review it yourself.