3 Lessons I Learned by Diving Into the Game Design Community
This year I had the incredible privilege of speaking at the annual Christian Game Developers Conference online on Feb. 5th, 2022. I joined the group on Facebook in December of 2021 and by February of 2022 I was speaking at a global conference!
The Christian Game Developers Conference group on Facebook has helped me grow immensely as a game designer as has the Board Game Design Lab group. The whole game design and development community has been extremely helpful, supportive, and encouraging. I have never experienced such openness and willingness in a professional setting to help one another succeed as I have in the game design community. Here are three things (oops, actually four things) the game design community has taught me about how to develop as a game designer and professional of any stripe:
You must be willing to share your ideas to make your ideas a reality. Almost everyone has a good idea at some point. The difference between ideas that turn into something and ideas that remain ideas has a lot to do with our willingness to share them, try them out, and receive feedback about them.
Be real about who you are. It is very easy to wear a mask, and it makes sense why people often choose to do this. Everyone is looking for a safe space, but the safest space is in honesty. When you are open, honest, and vulnerable with others you may get hurt, but you also give yourself the best chance to make genuine connections with others.
People care way more about what kind of a person you are than they do about your resumé. You may be the most talented person in the world but if you give feedback harshly, talk badly about others or have a sour disposition you will have a hard time connecting with others. Choosing positivity, kindness, openness and humility is sometimes difficult given the forces that push us in the opposite direction (sometimes very hard in the opposite direction) like school, work, or even our families of origin in some cases. However, if you can make this shift you will find opportunities open up to you and you will experience greater emotional and relational health. A mentor once told me, to have good friends, you have to be a good friend, and I think that general principle applies to almost all types of relationships professional and otherwise.
Bonus point! Take a chance on others, they may take a chance on you. The final thing I’ve learned from this community is to give people the benefit of the doubt and give them a chance. You would want the same courtesy from others, so why not be the first to extend it?
If you are interested in checking out the video of the workshop I did at the CGDC you can watch the whole thing here or you can skip ahead to the prototyping here.
Thanks for reading and watching.
