Slow Week...

This week wasn't particularly eventful game-wise. I suppose part of the reason is because I've become more discerning of the events I'm attending. As I mentioned before, I'm getting burned out. I suppose that's a good sign though. It's a sign that I feel I've learned enough from all this running around.

I do have several projects on though. There's the RPG Maker game that I'm doing with the women from the LinkedIn group. Thus far, it's simply been called Ruby RPG. It seems I'll be doing a bit of level design for the game. That should be exciting! Will also require learning how to use RPG Maker too. Sooo, yay to new skills.

For the moment, I have to put my slot machine game on hold. I'm working on a special side-scrolling 2D platformer in GameMaker. If I sound strangely vague, it's because it's meant to be a secret. It's just a fun little side project that I'm working on with some friends. I'm hoping to have something playable by next week. Most likely it will have placeholder art assets. Either way, we will have something done in two weeks. Like most things, it will be a matter of quality. XD

That's about all I've been up to. The job search continues (of course). Hoping to throw in some more apps this week.

Elation

This isn't related to games or writing, but it's something that's so important to me that I'm compelled to share on here anyway. My graduation was today. Even though I finished my degree in December, it was a lot of fun celebrating my accomplishment with my family! I had such an amazingly awesome time~ and yes, this includes sitting through the boring speeches and waiting for each doctoral student to get up on stage. Besides, it's not every day that you get to wear robes like you're in Harry Potter.

The day started off with my departmental convocation. After that, we went to lunch at one of my favorite pho places. A few stores down from the pho restaurant was a used game shop called Gamer Doc where I randomly picked up a copy of Resident Evil 4. (My sis-in-law says the store name is a sign! XD) Then we headed to the doctoral hooding ceremony -- an event specifically for all doctoral graduates.

It was tiring and cold and kinda hectic and very cold. But throughout the whole thing, I just kept thinking to myself... I did it. I made one of my dreams happen. Through sheer will and perseverance and hard work and lots and lots of blood, sweat, and many many tears...  I turned a pipe dream into a reality.

A reporter for UDaily approached me and asked me some questions for the school newspaper. She asked how I was feeling. And the first word that came to my mind...

Elation.

And disbelief.

Because even when I was close to finishing, even when I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, I still doubted I could make it.

But I did.

All this to say... I've completed one dream.

Now, I will complete another.

NYU Student Show, NY Game Makers, and Burning Out..............

This week has been quiet. On Thurs (5/16), the NYU Game Center held a student show to celebrate the games made by their first class of MFA students. I stopped by for a bit, chatted with some people, and played a few games.

Yesterday, like every Sat, I went to the NY Game Makers meetup. We learned a little more about coding and Typescript. I spent the remaining time playing around with GameMaker.

We wound up not submitting anything to the Games For Change game design contest. It was just too much to do in too short a time. More importantly, the more I thought about our idea, the more fun it would be to make a game for adults as opposed to teens. So, the plan now is to stick to the general idea (a slot machine game), but make it more ridiculous than we would have otherwise. Looking forward to that!

One very important thing that has been happening is... I'm feeling burnt out. I've had an awesome time and I've met a lot of amazing people. It's been great fun! But things are starting to wear on me. It's particularly tiring meeting a lot of new people in a very short period of time. I knew this would happen eventually, especially when I was attending 1-2 events a week (!!). The good news is that I feel I have a good sense of the game dev scene in NY -- what's going on, who's who, and where's what. From here on, I'm going to be more discerning about the events I'll attend. My plan is to focus more on making my own stuff. That's been the scary leap that I have yet to fully dive into.

There are still a few big things that I'm looking forward to. I'm volunteering for the Games For Change Festival in mid-June. Also starting in mid-June is a programming class for ladies which will be taught by Phoenix Perry.

Wish me luck on my adventures! There are still many to come!

Thoughts on Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom

I finally got to playing Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeing Blossom on PSP recently. I'm through the first chapter and in a completely unexpected turn of events... I'm actually really bored. First things first, the story. I feel utterly detached from the events that are happening. My knowledge of the Shinsengumi and Japanese history of that era is generally weak; admittedly, that might have something to do with it. Although, I like to think that an engaging story shouldn't require that kind of background knowledge. Pivotal historical events are mentioned and played out in the game, but reading about who is who and who is doing what is always a constant info dump. The localization/translation also feels poorly done. All too often, the phrasing is unnatural and reads more like a direct translation than something an English speaker would actually say. Finally, I'm not sure if it's the story or the genre of visual novels, but I constantly found myself wanting more agentivity, i.e. I wanted to actually play a game. I know that the nature of visual novels is lack of gameplay in the usual sense, but my choices should still be meaningful, i.e. things should change because I chose one path over another. Several times, I backtracked just to see how the story would play out had I chose differently. In these cases, the only difference is who I spoke to. The main events were the same. The art is beautiful; so the game wins in that respect. Honestly though, I'm not that inclined to finish. Will update if I change my mind after getting further into the game.

NY Game Makers, WIDGET, To the Moon

Since I just posted not too long ago, I don't have a whole lot to share. This past Sat I went to the New York Game Makers meetup led by Jesse Freeman. Had loads of fun planning a game for the Games For Change game design contest. We only have two weeks to complete a prototype (!!), so we tried to keep the idea simple and doable in GameMaker. Sadly, I've been swamped with random things here and there, so I haven't been able to work on that as much as I'd like.

One of the things that swamped me is writing a post for WIDGET, a new tech blog about women in development. I shared my experience about getting over feeling embarrassed of my love for otome games, i.e. games targeted for girls and women, typically with romantic plots. Will post here when that goes live.

I forgot to mention that I started playing Freebird Games' To the Moon, a puzzle game with an emphasis on narrative. The music is beautiful and it's one of the better made RPG Maker games. As a puzzle lover, I actually wish the puzzles were more complex. Most can be completed in 3-5 moves.

That's it for now. The plan for this week is to essentially make a game in GameMaker. Wish me luck!

Update Dump: Meetups, Different Games, No Quarter, and more!

I haven't updated in over a month (as you can see). It's almost 4am and I'm on a craaazy high which I figure I should just go with. I've been quiet on my blog, but that doesn't mean I haven't been active. A LOT has happened since my last post. Unfortunately, life being life, there were many downs mixed in. I went through a period of incredible frustration and anger. Probably the main reason I didn't feel like posting anymore. That said, I want to focus on the good because it's the good that keeps me motivated. Luckily, there have been many MANY goods! ^_^

I've been to a TON of meetups. And by a TON, I mean nine (!). Spent three Saturdays at the NY Game Makers meetup. Also attended the NYC Games Forum demo nights for March and April. The NYC Games Forum also held a Deep Dive on Crowdfunding and a networking event for their fellowship program. I also went to an HTML5 Games meetup on LuxAhoy, an HTML5 game, and went to part of a Corona SDK meetup.

Since the last post, I also got involved with Different Games, a conference on diversity and inclusivity in games that was held last weekend (April 26-27). My duties included tweeting related articles, carrying boxes of wine, and ushering people to rooms. The only downside is that I missed a lot of the conference because I was volunteering. The upside though is I had an awesome time and met a lot of awesome new people!

The reason for my SUPER high today is the NYU Game Center's No Quarter exhibition. I had a BLAST! I finally got over my silly fear of playing in front of people (ish ^^) and had so much fun! It was really awesome playing all these games. I really liked Split Tree, a co-op puzzle game with one controller, and There Shall Be Lancing, a two-player jousting game. It was also super fun just standing around and chatting!

My work for GoPrezzo has also been good. I've definitely gotten a better feel of the kind of content to post on Facebook and we've been seeing an increase in Likes and engagement. It's still a slow process... but at least it's going! Like growing a tree~ patience is key!

I nearly forgot. I finally finished Mass Effect 2. I don't know why so many people like it over ME1 because I found the overarching story much less compelling. I liked all the new characters and enjoyed it a lot, but on the whole I still like ME1 more. I'm currently stalled a quarter of the way into ME3. So anyone who's about to talk about the ending will still get shushed in my presence. I also randomly played Halo 4 with a friend two weeks ago. I was super surprised to find how minimal it was (i.e. Can I seriously only carry two guns at one time??). Now I know why they're called FPSs; your only real objective is to shoot things.

I want to wrap this post up by looking forward. I haven't talked too much about my own actual game making activities because they're still in the works (But growing! Like the aforementioned tree!). Last week, I got involved with some women from the WIG Jobs LinkedIn group to make a fantasy RPG together. The project is still in its early stages, but we're aiming to have it complete and publishable by December (!!). More immediately, Games For Change is holding a game design contest to create a game that teaches about sex ed. The deadline for submission is May 17th (two weeks!!!). My goal for this contest is to just submit something. No matter how crappy or embarrassing it might be -- at least it will be playable. Another contest held by Jennifer Ann challenges you to create a game that teaches about violence without using violence. The deadline for that contest is June 1st. Sooo, I will (HOPEFULLY) have two playable games by June 1st. Oh yeah! And to top it all off, I'm going to volunteer for the Games For Change Festival in June. It's extra sweet because buying a ticket would've costed half a grand!! (I kid you not, check it now. It's $550 for general admission!!)

Phew! I think that's it. I'm sure I have more to say. But, it's 430am. And I wanna go to the NY Game Makers meetup in... 5.5 hours. XD