Changing special interest from gaming to creating games?

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Hello,

For nearly all my life I've been interested in games and since I was first introduced to my Amiga and later a SNES, I've had an undying passion for them.

Back when Warcraft III came out for the PC, I was first introduced to a level editor which I used to make some maps and play around with the mechanics there which I found massively enjoyable. It was this which made me take the path of becoming a professional software engineer, going through college, uni and then being a full time software engineer for the last five years.

But along the way, I've come to hate my job... In a way, I love coding and I like playing about with stuff, hacking things together, solving issues and making solutions. However, what I hate about this lifestyle is the business case, time after time I've ended up spending months working on a software solution that I have put a lot of time and effort into a solution for it to be unappreciated or even not required, sometimes making a software system just to justify someone's political agenda in a board room.

For the last year, I've been contemplating making some games but there's always doubt in the back of my head... Basically, excuses not to try such as:

How will I market it with almost zero budget and no skills of sales?
How will my game be found and played by people?
Will people even like it?
Can I even create a game that will be profitable?

I'm becoming deeply depressed with the world over the last few years and it seams that I'm destined to spend the rest of my life working in an office feeling down, even when I get home or take some time off, I'm still not having fun most of the time, instead I'm looking at my life and thinking why the hell haven't I changed anything.

So I guess it's time for change, to just try things and give it a shot, otherwise I'm likely to get consumed insanity. However I still have a strong interest in gaming which I can see keeping me back, if I go home from work and spend 4 hours playing games until I'm ready for bed, I will never get anything done but at the same time I don't feel like starting such a big project due to all the work it will entail...

However, if I can become genuinely excited, invested and interested in the project then perhaps I have a chance of actually doing something and sticking with it. At the same time, I don't want to become too absorbed into this venture that I neglect my job either, especially as my mother requires me to look after her financially as she is unable to work currently and has moved into my house as she could no longer pay her rent.

Does anyone have any advice which will help me make the transition of changing my interest, to move on or to balance the two?

I have no luck with stopping obsessions and making them just typical interests. What I mean by that is I can't just enjoy them sometimes, or in moderation. It's all or nothing.

So if I have an obsession that's occupying too much time, I must stop it completely to put it out of my mind. Obsessions usually either play themselves out naturally, when I gradually or suddenly lose interest, or they stop because I make myself stop participating in the obsession.

I'd like to be able to learn to do things that I like in moderation, but I don't currently have that ability. It's something I will work on. In your case, you may be better off stopping gaming entirely while you work on developing your own. Then there will be no distractions from it.

It's also easy for me to get excited about a project and make it into a new obsession. You ought to just start working on it to the point where it's enjoyable, and then you probably won't want to stop. That's how it works for me, anyway. Then don't stop long enough to lose interest, and push yourself past the harder parts until it becomes enjoyable again. The key to keeping interest is to keep it enjoyable, and to not let obstacles stop you so that you abandon the project.