If you’re a game designer in training like me, you’ve heard many times that the game industry is a very competitive way of business with many other newbies, like me, trying to make an impact so we can get hired. While it’s true that competition is needed for any job, some people just can’t handle the pressure of it and instead want to just spend their time making something they like for their audience.
My first year studying at Champlain College was one of the best times I ever had in my life. I was given tools and access to programs that allowed me to do something I never had a chance to do in high school that often, express my creativity. I didn’t care if I was the best or if I was the worst, I just wanted to do the thing I love. I had fun and people liked my ideas and work. Sometimes it was better than others, but most of the time it was nothing special. Still I learned and I enjoyed doing it. I was free riding that year and I never regretted anything.
Not like this first semester however where I went against everything I was. We started programming and game art, two subjects that I feared I was going to do terrible on and as such I worked a million times harder then I normally did. Pressure got to me and I didn’t have a great experience as I wanted to have. Granted I improved over the months, but I was too worried about the grade itself then the quality of the work. I didn’t let my creativity and free roaming sprit fly, I just wanted to pass and was trying to be the best so that I could get that grade because I knew people were better than me. That was one of my many mistakes that semester that I regretted.
In programming, I was able to actually do well which was a surprise. I thought I was going to be terrible at programming and I put more effort into that then anything because I thought I was going to be far behind. In the end I was wrong, I did well and I managed to do everything on time. Granted I got a lot of help, but I managed to pull a B out of that class. I was filled with worry that I wasn’t going to do good and I would be behind in all the classes, but my teacher didn’t give up on me and said I had the skills and I just need to be more creative. That was when the reality hit me. After I came home, I realized I was too worried about the other students and their work and not about mine. What I should have done was focus on my work the way I wanted it to be and make my audience, the teacher, the only one I should have impressed. Sure having my peers impressed with my work would be great, but I was obsessed with how I would look with others that I blinded myself to what why I wanted to be a game designer in the first place.
I love to entertain people and I love to be creative. Video games have always been something I knew well enough about and I was good working with others so I decided to be a Game Designer to entertain people. By being my creative free flowing self last year I was able to do well and have fun doing it. This semester I made the mistake not being myself and worrying about everyone else.
I’m sure a few of you are like that too. You don’t care about the competition and you work for the love of the work itself. This is who you are and that should not change you. Sure we are competing in our dog eat dog world every day, but that doesn’t mean we should let it take over who we are. So if you are a competitor and you do better trying to be the best then go ahead and do that, that’s how you do your thing. But if you’re like me and you want to entrain your audience with your work your own way, then keep doing it.
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