Currently listening to: Mario Party Party 8 by GiantBomb

PAX Day 1 and No Arcade Party:

I had a late start on the first day of PAX and decided to have an early lunch with Pritika before heading in to see the convention. We both realised the day prior, unlike other PAX shows, there were no panels of interest we wished to see so we spent most of the day exploring the show floor and staying around the Indie Pavilion. At some point during the day, we ended up just sitting in the bean bag area and relaxed until the point where we needed to head off to the No Arcade Party.

The No Arcade party was fun, there were a lot of games I hadn't seen or played before and the music was quite good, not too loud so you could still carry a conversation and just catchy enough. I spent most of the night talking to friends, reflecting on the past night but knowing I was heading into PAX again the next day I decided to head home early to rest up.

PAX Day 2:

On  the second day of PAX, I planned on seeing a number of panels that seemed interesting enough but, in the end, I decided I much rather spend the day with good company so I spent the rest of the day exploring the convention with a number of friends. I wanted to be able to make the final panel of the day, "PAXmance 2: Romantic Boogaloo", which was a sequel to a panel held the previous year. It was the highlight of last year and was, once again, a highlight of this year. It was entertaining, welcoming panel and they spoke briefly on the mechanics that are often featured in romance games and the faults that come along with that. That evening, though there was a Co-Op Party, I decided to take it easy and rest for the following day, so I didn't attend any events that night after the last panel.

PAX Day 3 and MegaDev:

On the final day PAX, I gave my pass to my brother so that he would be able to see PAX for himself and gave myself a break so I could recover a bit before going the final event of the week, MegaDev. Instead, for the most of the day, I spent updating my website and putting up what I had done thus far on the Tea Maker Project. 

Attending MegaDev was a pleasant experience as I spent the time talking mostly to Stephanie Moss and Jess Sinclair, again about what I was primarily working on and my aims for the future. Stephanie gave me a lot of words of encouragement and urged me to continue with my approach, slowly working on improving one skill at a time. She also informed me that she liked the idea of the Tea Maker project and was interested to see how it progresses which gave me a huge confidence boost. I've always admired Stephanie's work but after talking to her further I now really admire her work ethic.

I think that is the one thing that I am really taking away from this MIGW, my admiration of people's work ethic rather than the works they produce. It is easy in this world to see a person's final work and admire it for what it is, but what far more impresses me is knowing the effort that is being put in behind the scenes. To hear how people work through struggles and issues that arose helps me to see that all the hard times that I myself have gone through, is all a part of the process to make something meaningful.

​Currently listening to: Journey OST and Ori and the Blind Forest OST

GCAP Day 2 and Australian Game Developers Awards:
The day started off with the "GCAP Game Design Challenge", which had five game designers pitch a game idea based on a theme previously assigned to them. This year's theme was “CIVILISATION OVER”, so each designer pitched a game that could in time destroy civilisation. The panel was very entertaining, a lot of jokes and laughs were shared but it was a panel to ease people back into GCAP so no great lessons were learnt of discussed.

The second talk I attended for the day was the "The Art of Making Thing Not Look Terrible" by Simon Boxer and Jacob Janerka. I thoroughly enjoyed this talk and it was what I needed as a beginner/moderate artists. A lot of advice was given to help improve workflow rather than the basic introduction to art fundamentals which you can find anywhere. If given the chance I would love to see that talk again as I felt a lot of what I was told was very valuable.

The next talk I saw was "Advocating for the Story: Narrative Design and Communication Skills" by Brooke Maggs. I once had a long discussion with Brooke about the entwined nature of narrative and gameplay so I was very interested in how much of that topic would be spoken on. The talk did mainly focus on the ways narrative was depicted through the gameplay without the use of written dialogue and Brooke's journey as a narrative designer through this games development. 

At this point of time, I wasn't one hundred percent sure of which talk to attend next. I ended up deciding to go to the "Searching for Significance" by Kim McAuliffe, as I found out that she was to be the keynote speaker at the Women's in Games Lunch that was occurring later in the week and I wanted to know more about her. I was glad I attended this talk as the topic she spoke reflected on how I tend to approach game development, it isn't only a career but it's having a job that contains goals I want to achieve in my life. I have been lucky enough in my life to be in a position where I am able to reflect on what careers I believe would give me the most significance. It's an important topic to discuss and understand in order to make more meaningful careers in this industry.

The last talk I went to for the day was the fireside talk between Emma Siu and Kelsey Gamble. This talk was a good way to unwind the talk. They were both happy to have a fairly light-hearted discussion about their work and their backgrounds. Once again I was amazed to hear the passion behind people's work and amount of effort people go through, it always urges me to continue pursuing my own goals and with time I may be able to achieve them.

The closing keynote was given by Innes McKendrick, and in a way contrasted against the opening keynote. Speaking of how our "Giants" are humans too and are working through the same issues that we so we all need to support each other in this industry and treat everyone as equals. I feel this talk was much more impactful to me than the opening because I do firmly believe that though it is important to have role models and influences, it's dangerous to put too much admiration into these people as they are human too and can make mistakes. So rather than idolise those around us, instead, help support each other to make a stronger industry.

Later that night I attended the Australian Game Developer Awards, which was wonderful. Saw many friends who were out celebrating the end of GCAP and was happy to see the ones who were nominated for an award or two. It was great to see people taking the time to congratulate each other on their work and to get acknowledged by the industry as well. 
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Women in Game's Lunch:
After the late night of the Australian Game Developer Awards, I decided to take the next day's morning to rest and then I was off to attend the Women's in Games Lunch. When I arrived I was happy to see and catch up with Katryna Starks, a games academic who I met the previous MIGW. We discussed both of what we were working on and then moved the conversion of the importance of developing games for younger girls that explores deeper themes. Whilst having lunch we sat with Stephanie Kyrin, Esther Moncrieff, Pritika Sachdev, Emma Sui, Anna Brandberg and Lexa Francis, and had lovely casual conversations of how everyone's week was going. 

We then listened to Giselle Rosman interview the keynote, Kim McAuliffe, as they spoke of her career and the importance of women in the workplace. The entire talk was quite inspirational and reminded me of the importance of having a supportive group of women to encourage us to do more. Afterwards, we bid each other goodbye and I made my way home to rest up for the another full day, the first day of PAX!

Currently listening to: Grim Fandango OST

So three days after Melbourne International Games Week (MIGW) has officially ended, I've had enough time to recover and start writing about my experience. Firstly I thought I'd explain how I experienced it in comparison to the previous year, then go into a more detailed recount of each day.

This was my second MIGW while I've been in the industry and let me tell you, it was much easier the second time around. I recall, the first year I went, I felt like an imposter. I had just finished my Honours degree and hadn't really produced or developed anything that I felt the industry would appreciate. But since then, I have been slowly refining my craft, I've gotten better as a designer, I've learnt how to program, I have been showing off my work to more and more people, and I have been stepping out of my boundaries to see what I can actually achieve. This year, when posed the question of "Are you a developer?", I didn't hesitate to say "Yes, I am!". This was a huge turning point for me, as I never believed that I would be confident to say that from where I was a year ago and it is due to the lovely support of the local community that I am able to continue working in this industry.

Unite:
The first officially event that I took part in was Unite 2016, a conference dedicated to the use of the Unity Engine. I was a volunteer, helping with ushering, registration and general supervision. I had volunteered the previous year as well and the improvements in organisation, having nearly all the events occurring on the same floor and the registration desk was more efficient, led to a smoother operation, less people needed directing and the volunteers were able to locate each other quite quickly.

I didn't get to see as many talks as the year prior, however, I did manage to have a number of nice chats about where I fit in the industry. They ensured me that the best approach for this industry is to continual work on improving my skills and to put myself out there, to show the work I can do. It takes time and dedication to get good at something so I have to work hard for it. 

The day was good, however, I felt that I should have taken more care not to tire myself out as much as I did. For the second half of the day, I forgot to refill my water bottle so by the time we ended I was exhausted and a tad dehydrated. Besides that, I was ready to head home after making a brief appearance at the Unite Networking Night, ready to go to sleep and wake up bright and early for the first day of GCAP.

GCAP Day 1 and Networking Night:
With a coffee in hand, I headed off early to attend Game Connect Asia Pacific (GCAP) Day 1. Of all the events during MIGW, GCAP has always been my highlight. I love the environment, the people, the talks. Everyone who attends has something that they are passionate about within the industry and are often happy to talk about it. 

The opening keynote was Corey May, Lead Writer on the Assassin's Creed series and Narrative Director at Certain Affinity, who gave a lovely speech on what the GCAP theme, "The Shoulders of Giants", meant to him and described how he visually saw it. There are people in this industry who are leaders in their fields and this year, it seems, they were urged to become mentor figures and help support those who are still finding their way. To those who are still finding our footing we were encouraged to find our mentors and be courageous enough to step out of our boundaries.

After the keynote, there was a quick break and then to the rest of the conference. I managed to see four talks, "Building Trust as a Game Designer" by James Everett, "Playing to Your Strengths: The Story Behind 'Game Dev Tycoon'" by Patrick Klug, "Ron Gilbert talks to Katie Gall", and "Your Mental Health is Not an Optional Side Quest" by Jennifer Hazel. 

The "Building Trust as a Game Designer" talk spoke on the idea of what trust is made of and how it is necessary in order to build a healthy workspace. He spoke of the three components that are needed to build trust; Clarity, Empathy, and Reliability. I won't go into the details of the talk here as this blog is already too long but perhaps in the future, I may write on this topic. This probably my favourite talk of the day as it spoke on a topic that I was aware of but haven't been formally told.

"Playing to Your Strengths: The Story Behind 'Game Dev Tycoon'" by Patrick Klug was another good talk which was a post-mortem of the game 'Game Dev Tycoon'. This was particularly interesting as Klug spoke on how a lot of the mechanics within the game are traditionally no-nos when designing a game however their team was able to take those and change them into something that worked for their game. 

The fireside talk between Ron Gilbert and Katie Gall provided something I didn't expect. I got an interesting perspective into the importance of marketing a game well and how marketing is telling a story of the product not necessarily the product itself. From this talk, I was once again amazed at the passion people have for their own work within this industry and hearing it from Katie, someone I already admire in this industry, made it all the more impactful.

The final session I attended was the "Your Mental Health is Not an Optional Side Quest" by Jennifer Hazel. The talk spoke of mental health in a broad sense within the industry, what to be aware of and what to do if you are facing some issues. I found this talk was a little hard to listen to, as I related to a lot of the signs that were being mentioned. 

I decided to skip the last session of the day, I was still tired from the previous day and none of the talks seemed to really entice me. Instead, I had a couple of lovely chats, sketched for a while and generally let myself relaxed before going to the Networking Night that GCAP was hosting. At the Networking Night, I caught up with some old friends, made some new and generally had a good time talking to people. Decided to have a somewhat early night, I headed home, went to sleep, ready to start all over again the next day.