@Xalener So… you’re having a mid-life crisis… at the age of 20?
I’m 21 and in a similar position. I’d like to get my education done before I do anything, however. Playing it smart is better than going out on your own and getting yourself neck deep in debt. Don’t let what’s happening to the people around you fuck with your mentality. I’ve talked about this at length with my relatives, do not move out until you think you’re ready for it, and a general rule of thumb is to have at least 6 months worth of cash to survive on while you frantically search for a job after you move out.
Beyond that, while your degree focus may not be the best of ideas, you really aught to supplement it with something additional that you enjoy. I’m an experienced programmer and I’d REALLY like to do something in gaming, but it’s looking like a far-fetched notion. At least with that I can pursue other forms of jobs in the IT or computer industry as a software engineer for instance. On top of that, I can write a decent story myself, I’ve dabbled in a little bit of animation, and modeling.
I’m not saying stop pursuing what you want to do. If you really wanted to, put together a portfolio of what you’ve done. You’ll need one anyway to get into an art college or get a job as a concept artist or the like. It’s a hard field to get into, you’d need top notch grades and an excellent portfolio to even consider getting in. Just get something that you can fall back on in case the likelihood becomes a reality and you can’t fall back on anything.
As for Halo, don’t try and erase it from your history, it’ll be tough, but it’d be best to sever your connection with the game in its current form if you don’t care about what’s going on in its universe now. On the plus side, every artist has their own influences, I’d highly suggest listening to Joel’s interview if it’s still up. While it’s a different circumstance (that being music), you can see he was influenced by a number of bands including Rage Against The Machine among others. Beyond that, we all have our own experiences that add to our lives: take me for example, I used to play Diablo II constantly and it’s had a heavy impact on my life. I didn’t like how they handled Diablo III, the skill cooldowns when swapping between them really fucked with gameplay as well as how you build a character and took out quite a few of the customization options gearing it toward casual players and over-simplification rather than complex and deep, meaningful systems. That said, I think II is a better beast than III is. The only thing D3 has going for it is a far better engine and physics.
TL;DR Playing it smart > neck deep in debt; supplement your degree with something else in case that falls through; every artist has their influences.
If it makes you feel any better, my sister didn’t move out until she was about 28.
This too.
. The moral? What may look like a mistake now may be the right move in the future.