June 13, 2012

Adventure

I haven't written much recently. What has it been, almost a year? Life has been moving so fast in every direction, even I don't have words for it. So let's talk about this year.

Rewind to New Years day. I spent it at the beach with some great friends and probably drank too much, but I very distinctly remember saying one thing: 2012 will be a year of adventures. I don't really know where that came from, or how I knew, but we're almost halfway through it and I've already been so many places I never imagined I'd be. Some great news, some terrible news, and a whole lot of not staying in the same place for very long.

When I wrote Flux (the post before this one), I was sort of at a breaking point. The crest of the wave. I knew where I wanted to go but no idea how to get there. All I could hope for was something amazing. Now I'm an intern working 40 hours a week making video games. I decided I wanted to go into games almost exactly a year ago, and now I'm doing it. And I'm in love with the industry. I suppose I'll explain how that happened.

Marty came up to me last December with a crazy idea. Let's make a game together. I had absolutely no idea how to do that, but for some reason I agreed. Crappy android programs turned into a prototype turned into a complete first world, which has netted over 10,000 downloads by some miracle. Being free definitely helps, but I'm still incredibly proud of that. Unfortunately I've lost a lot of momentum on that project, but here's hoping it's temporary. I convinced myself I could make a game, and I had something to show others.

Next, Emily convinced me to go to Game Developer's Conference in the middle of the freaking semester, and that turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. Surrounding yourself with people who are passionate about the same things you are.. words don't quite describe what that can do for you. Whatever your passion may be, surround yourself with like-minded people and the amount of inspiration you receive will be incredible. Come to think of it, I really don't spend enough time telling those two how much I appreciate them. None of this would be happening without them.

After all of that, a little game called Fez came out. It looked amazing, so I bought and played it. A few of the puzzles were so intricate and difficult, the internet as a whole came together to compare notes and try to crack them.. when we weren't busy collectively begging a few people with insider information for a hint or two. In beseeching assistance from those blessed with knowledge from the gamedev gods, I accidentally met Trey, the coordinator for the International Game Developer's Association chapter in DC. Oops. Now this is where it all comes together.. so try to keep up with the acronyms. I had joined IGDA at GDC, had a game on my resume thanks to the project I worked on with Marty, and found a lead for an internship after talking to Trey and checking out the IGDA Facebook page. I think that qualifies as sorta incredible.

So here I am, making video games while still being completely and delightfully unclear about where I will be at the end of the year. Working has given me confidence that though there are many things I don't know, I'm surprisingly adept at learning on the spot. There are definitely some areas of my life where I'm really hoping for answers, but at least I found the transience I was looking for.

I'll write more soon, hopefully.

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