[juanuys]

I was in the same boat a few years ago. Been a web dev since 2002. A first step was to start freelancing/contracting (since 2013), so I had shorter engagements that I can move on from after a few months.

With the increased wages, I could afford to take summer holidays off and spend it with my family, and work on passion projects.

That's when I really got into game dev (2015). I made a bunch of small games, a lot of them throw-away/unpublished. I then started learning game design (from books, Coursera), but really thought I'd benefit from doing it with others, so right now I'm half-way through an indie dev masters [0] (Falmouth flexible).

The masters has been great, because it's self-directed learning, and I've built a great network of collaborators. I've just set up a Patreon this week, and will be slowly building up a sustainable indie dev living. (I'm already down to 4 days a week on my usual career.)

I've read so many stories of folks saving up a year or two's runway, only for it to not work out in the end, so I'm trying to be as prepared as possible. I'm learning as much as possible right now about finding repeatable success as a game dev.

I'm 42 this year, and not the youngest in the cohort, but surprisingly also not the oldest. (Got a couple 50+, and a few other 40+).

This is just my story. I sincerely hope you find something that you can fall in love with again. Good luck!

0. https://www.falmouth.ac.uk/study/online/postgraduate/indie-g...

[ffdf3r3rf]

Thank you for sharing your story, I love webdev and development in general, but burning out in corporate culture. Maybe I should slowly move into indie development.