Tell me what you want, what you really really want
The second Studio unit in my lovely little Bachelor degree started with a bang. We are to make a personal game about our lives. My first thought when I heard this was "Oh poop. I haven't made a game in nearly 9 months", followed by "Oh bollocks. Now I need to think of a life story that could transpose to the medium." Finally I thought "Oh goody! Now I can muck around and experiment with the very nature of what constitutes a game.".
I started this degree because I wanted to make games. At this point in the degree, my view has changed. I want to put myself in everything I make. I want to experiment and play with what a game truly can be. I want to mess with the heads of players, make emotional and meaningful games. Sure, I can go into this thinking about how much money I could make with Call Of Duty 45. I can dream of the cash and cocaine mountains that come with lowest-common-denominator shooters. OR...I could actually enjoy what I do.
Now, with this in mind, I am making a text-based game about the lack of control one can feel in life. More specifically, I am making a game about being forced to move house 8 times in a year. Needless to say, I hate moving house, and having had to do it that much really took its toll on me.
To me, this degree is less about learning how to make games to make it your job. To me, this is about learning who you want to be as a game designer. This personal game could be a massive opportunity to help me figure it out. I've always wanted to make things that question the boundaries of the traditional 'game', but never have I been encouraged to do so.
The second Studio unit in my lovely little Bachelor degree seems to be far more up my alley than the previous unit. I hope for nothing more than to be encouraged to do what it is I want to do.
