One year in the making!

This is an overdue update. I completely forgot that Monday was the anniversary of my gaming dream in the making! Now seems like a good time to recap the past year and talk a bit about what I've been up to.

Last year this time, I was still finishing my dissertation. I knew I didn't want to stay in academia, but I didn't know what I wanted to do after. Or more, after having a heart-to-heart conversation with my sister-in-law... I did know what I wanted to do. I was just too afraid to go after it. After some hippie-dippie inner reflection, I realized that I wanted to make own games. It's something that I've always known. But I never took the dream (or myself!) seriously enough to do anything beyond wishful thinking.

After admitting what I wanted to do, I was faced with a very real problem. I knew nothing about the game industry, let alone how to make an actual game. There's still a lot I don't know and still a lot I'm learning. But I'm proud to have gone from nothing to a little bit of something in terms of knowledge.

With enough time on the internet, you can dig up a fair amount of information about any topic that was previously unknown to you. I soon realized that reading was only going to get me so far. For me, it's been a huge accomplishment talking to people and going to events hosted by the New York Gaming Meetup. In December, I went to my first demo night where local developers present their games. January has been more active. New York Gaming Meetup started a Deep Dive series in which the presenter (typically an experienced member of the industry) talks in depth about a specific topic. The first Deep Dive was earlier in January on How to Successfully Pitch Your Game to Publishers and Portals. One thing I took away from this event was: Pitching your game is like writing a grant statement. Be clear. Be succinct. Show what you've done. Show what you will do. Focus on what they can gain from you. The second Deep Dive was How to Master Prototyping Your Game Idea on Paper. This event was particularly fun because we broke into groups and prototyped a game right there. (I even raised my hand and answered two questions! Go me!) What I took away from this event was to not be afraid of just making a game! Even a shitty game. It's just like with writing. I constantly need to remind myself that the iteration/editing process is just as important as the initial creation/writing process. i.e. It doesn't have to be perfect the first time!

I ended the month of January with the January demo night. A woman at the event announced that her company is hiring a community manager to handle their social media sites. (a) I'm proud of myself for having talked to her about the position. (b) I'm proud of myself for having subsequently emailed her about it. (c) I'm proud of myself for having met with her and her company's CEO about the position this past Monday and came out unscathed! (Monday was also exactly one year from the date of that fated conversation about my future with my sister-in-law.) I'm still waiting to hear back from them, which should be later this week. Either way, even if I don't get the position, I'm proud I chased the position as far as I have. Not to mention all the XP I've gained.

Looking ahead, next week is IndieCade East, a conference and exhibition on indie games. Not only am I attending the event, but I've signed up to volunteer and I.AM.STOKED!!

There you have it. Considering that last year I could barely dare to dream about switching career paths and attempt to get into games... I've come a long way. I haven't even rambled about all the personal journeys I've embarked on to get to this place where my head and my goals are clear. All that to say, YAY for Dr. Peng!