What a silly question, this site is called, Java Games Forums, after all.  

Thanks, I'll give it look. It's a good thing that it's summer now and I don't have big jobs pending at the moment so I can probably devote some hours into it. But when September starts... well, I'll have to see. Thanks for the hint, however. Do they truly need Java developers? (Most games steer clear of that lang cuz of the poor performance)

I've always been having game ideas, but they don't truly materialize. Now only if I had experience working in a game company, but my field of skill is focused on Java, and there just aren't as many big, sophisticated games out there written entirely in Java. Even if I can program and can draw at the same time, it takes more than just the intuition of being able to influence the point of your pen and able to construct working code to put together a game project that actually works, let aside attractive. Yet I haven't found a good book out there who can encompass all the fields that a true game designer need to excel in in order to become even just a passable one (which is more or less like a jack-of-all-trades for that sake). Therefore, my opinion tends to be that you can't even get your foot wet in that career unless you have had some real experience (somebody's getting ready to hoot here, probably), and not having prior wet-footing experience means you are automatically rejected to get in the career (an altogether-too-familiar scenario, somehow) field anyway, unless you have spent tens of thousands of dollars studying in institutions like DigiPen or something (which barely helps you to get a bit of dew on your toes). So, my biggest concern is that, however enthusiasm I may possess for that goal, I'm more or less faced with a deadlock here.

-M

I absolutely agree with Zane--it takes just as much effort to create a good artist as it takes to create a good programmer. It's perhaps easier to get cracked on programming, with the abundance of programming packages out there and languages available, but to progress from a general, a-dime-a-dozen developer into even just somebody with a good coding style and clear, unintangled ideas about what you want and what it is to do, that takes years of true professional experience and relentless efforts on studying from seniors. It really isn't something that can be picked up in "21 days", like the dummy, nutshell, 21-days series promoted. And even with the aid of experience, not everybody will advance with the same pace either. And of course, it is also true that not everybody is made to be an artist or programmer. The high-level designing concept is just as talent-demanding and intuition-intensive as  a good graphics design would per visual artist. Too bad we only have a limited life and usually can't be a cross-sector expert on all that we prefer to excel in.

Hmmm... it's been 10 days since the post, wonder if this still applies. I'm a decent Java developer (been dealing with it for at least 4, 5 yrs) with some cooperate working experience. But right now I'm pursuing a graduate degree in Boston area here and thus a bit tied up. I wonder if it's possible to keep contact with your company and see what options are out there when I get my master degree first. Since I really like Java as a programming tool and really want to do game programming, but so far looks like all the good, full-scale Java gaming companies are located in UK (sad, and unreasonable, considering US is the motherland of Java language). I play that popular java MMORPG Runescape regularly as a member, and do like the idea of Java games, especially MMORPGs very much. Maybe UK shall be place for me?...  

Well, I'd really like to contribute a bit to your company if I'm allowed to. I draw a bit besides programming, mostly good with figure design (anime style). With Internet today long-distance team work is possible, isn't it?

MM