#trishventures

Earlier this year, my professors invited me to speak to younger designers at my college, Old Dominion University.

In retrospect, this was a big jump in the Character Development™ department as I’ve never been the one to like public speaking — heck, you’d have to really push me to talk in class, let alone be in front of more than a dozen up-and-coming designers.

But life happened. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(And doing presentations at work every other week over the last two years has done wonders.)

I want to share a few of my slides which I've painstakingly revised and rearranged and reworded for about a month up until the day before the presentation.

It was a daunting material to prepare. I was on my own weird career path, and these people are off on their own adventures. What I find relevant in my own thing may not mean much for theirs, so it is a question of what I could possibly impart that would be of value for someone who's just about to get started.

So, instead of just the usual talk about design, techniques and advertising case studies, I talked about doubts.

And when I was a student, I had plenty.

This should be a wallpaper

Back then, I've always felt like I was running out of time. No matter what I did, there was always that huge distance between who I was and what I wanted to be. I went out of the way to get opportunities — difficult for an introvert — and pursued other things that aren't in the school curriculum.

But there was such a fine line between passion and pressure, and part of what really helped me cope was a sense of purpose.

I chose design because I loved making nice things for people using new technologies. In the end, I want them to enjoy the stuff I'm doing. Bonus points if they find it helpful. This was my guide to becoming a good designer; to me, the solution to learning more about interactive stuff is to join hackathons. But for others, it could be a totally different thing and it's really up to them to figure out what they love and want to pursue.

Woooo. Look at all these bullet points and concrete steps.

I think this whole speaking thing was a good exercise — and a wake-up call to me too. I didn't think that I'd be at the other side of the table talking about experiences since I still feel like I have a long way to go and still really trying to figure out this career. But I remember that there were some things that I needed to hear when I was that age, and people who are more experienced than me took time to stop and answer my questions. I suppose we give back in any way we can, in whatever stage we're in.

This has also given me more appreciation for the mentors I've had, who taught me not just to be a good designer and do good work, but also have that good emanate in all aspects. And perhaps, if there's anything I wanted to leave them, it's these lessons my mentors have given me:

I’ve been looking to know more about game development for a while now, but I never really found a good place to start. When it comes to learning certain things nowadays, my preference has really been in-person versus online — one reason is being away from distraction and the other because I like the collaborative aspect that comes with learning alongside like-minded people. What’s out there seems to be more dedicated to full course programs which, due to the nature of my job, I don’t have much time to commit to.

Cue Women Who Code Manila — every other Saturday, they host study groups about a variety of topics including game development. This beginner’s group was led by Ms. Porch Pascual who was super great with teaching us the basics.

I liked the format of this because it’s not a lecture, but more of a hands-on approach. Every session has a set goal, but we were free to explore the ins and outs of the software.

Starting off with learning the controls.

For the beginner’s group, we used Game Salad, which I think is a nice intro to game development coming from a designer’s / artist’s point of view. I’ve been in previous talks about other game software like Unity, but there is a steep learning curve and doesn’t come as natural to me; it was tough to simultaneously figure out how to incorporate design and user experiences with it. With Game Salad and its drag-and-drop approach, it’s much more intuitive. I could design straight away, lay out my elements, and then add in the interactions.

The program, while easy to use, is a little bit hard to debug afterwards. The module boxes below take up a lot of space so it’s a whole lot of scrolling. While dragging certain elements to different parts, it’s easy to place it in the wrong area and lose track of where it is.

This little bee definitely needs some... debugging.

Working! With a terrible penalty for slightly grazing that bush.

Boxes in boxes take up a lot of space.

Learning the basics was exciting though, and all I could think of are the many difficult games I could do for fun and to annoy my friends. This definitely won’t be the last time I attend another one of these sessions.

(adj). marked by or causing doubt. 

Have you ever found yourself in a dubious situation where you realized you misplaced an item, but don’t remember when or where? 

(adj). pertaining to or occuring in the morning; early in the day.

This morning I woke up in West Oakland. Instead of my matutinal habits of sleeping in and crossing off things on my to-do list, I got to catch up with one of my college roommates. I appreciate her for taking me in for the weekend and just being one of the realest. 

And that brings me back to the purpose of this blog. I want to be able to tell stories and share experiences of my everyday. It actually doesn’t matter to me if anyone will be seeing this blog. Because I find it important and highly valuable to remember these experiences. Each day I am thankful and grateful to meet people and make new friends. Through each interaction I am able to understand people and how the world works.