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[Chris Koźmik]

How many game you finshed so far? How long have you been making games? These questions are rather important because if you never made a fully finished and playable game then starting a studio is a suicide. There is also this antisocial thing, working alone on your own indeed put a social stress on you (I know of some indie devs who keep a normal job for the purpose of working with people and not falling into madness :D).

In your case I would probably found a normal real job not related to games and in the sapare time make a game as a hobby (under clear deadline). Then based on how much I loathe my daily job and how successful I was in making the game in spare time I would decide the next step.

Also, as some people above said, you can change your mind later

[Exorph]

Just an update:

I'm still in kind of the same position as before. Only heard back from one company I've applied to (though I haven't applied to that many), but I think I botched the interview as I didn't get the job.

Anyway, finding a good-enough job and making my own games on the side seems more and more appealing. The place that said no weren't making my dream games or anything, but it just felt like it would have been a lot of fun working together with the people there.

As for how many games I've made, I'd say zero. But it's not entirely true. I've made a couple of them at school and during the last GGJ, but since all of them have been made under strict deadlines, they have all been extremely broken by the time we handed them in, and there has never been time to think too much about game design.

[zovirl]

Have you considered looking for a job outside the game industry. You said you were a programmer. That probably gives you options in other industries (something a game design degree wouldn't do). It probably wouldn't help your game career directly, though the knowledge you gain will probably help tangentially (Realm of the Mad God depends on a scalable server infrastructure, for example...the kind of thing you learn working at a giant internet company)

Just an idea...

[stevesan]

I'm in a similar situation. Graduating soon (grad degree in computer graphics), but I really want to do games in the long run. Currently, I'm considering two options:

1) Get a "normal" job, 9-5, and do games on the side.
2) Get a job at a small studio that is creatively fulfilling (ie. probably not AAA) to get more experience and contacts, and delay my own games for a while (depending on how much free time I have left).

Right now, while finishing school, I'm also making my own games in my free time. It's not easy - but luckily, I have good friends that I hang out with on weekends, and that's enough of a social life for me.

[ubik]

I think game design school is a terrible idea.  They are almost like a sort of ponzi scheme.

Trust me, you don't need it.  What you need to do is to make games.  Playing games with a critical eye is design school.