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