It’s Dangerous To Go Alone

You’re Stuck With Me… Again.

Somewhat ironic that the topic of this weeks vernacular meander is community when you’re once again stuck with me. That’s right folks, it’s Alex. Originally, Phillip was going to write this week’s post, but in a delicious turn of events he’s behind on his work, and I am not. Anyone that knows us will immediately understand how frustrating and out of character that is for Phillip. They’ll also understand how much worse my putting it on a public platform will make it… for him. Before I could ask Allie if she wanted to do it, she made herself as small as she possibly could and hid behind her monitors. So, here I am.

With a Little Help from My Friends

There are some out there that love working alone, that bask in the quiet solitude of isolation. As wonderful creatures as they are, I am not one of them. At all.

I love my own space. My days are long and perpetually peppered with ‘peopling’, so being able to retreat to my Fortress (tiny apartment) of Solitude is absolutely essential. That being said, I’ve found myself in a position of great privilege. I am part of a community. Actually, I’m a part of a few of them.

Making video games is not easy, and I can only imagine it’s even more difficult when walking that path alone. Not to say that you need a team of people to make your game, because that’s not true at all. There are a great deal of successful solo devs who I admire, and some of them I am lucky enough to call my friends, but everyone needs a little help, and a little love from time to time.

I wasn’t interested in being a part of a community. When I started uni I was much older (still am) than most of my class mates. I just wanted to get in, learn what I needed, and get out. That didn’t happen. I was surrounded by incredible people. People that were more than lecturers or students. They were writers, designers and artists. A creative collective of expressive and encouraging folks that were always helping each other. After graduating I was sure I would lose this. Turns out, sometimes it’s nice to be wrong.

Expanding Your Comfort Zone

I’m a fairly gregarious person, but I can often find it difficult to socialise, and especially engage in that most-dreaded task of networking. Networking can be tough for some people. Maybe you’re not wired to ‘turn on’ the social tap, or you think networking is too transactional and feels disingenuous, or maybe people are terrifying mystical entities. Maybe it’s all of the above and trying to navigate those social spaces is nightmare fuel. I’ve certainly felt one or all those at some point. Hell, I feel it right now.

I’ve mentioned previously that we’ve been apart of multiple accelerator programs and these absolutely turned things around for me. Not unlike my attitude towards uni, my initial interest in these was just to further the business and expand my learning, but also like uni, the best thing about them was the people I met.

I can get wildly anxious when trying new things. Especially if there’s a purpose behind. I love travelling to new places, but if you tell me I have to be somewhere because of some event, suddenly I’m utterly wracked with stress and trepidation. Whenever I had to travel for one of these events I felt this, then I’d get there and of course everyone was so lovely and helpful.

People will tell you to step outside your comfort zone, but I have a real problem with that language. I think we should expand our comfort zones. By all means, try new things and put yourself out there, but do it with other people doing the same thing. Learn from them and their encouragement, and reciprocate that too.

River to your people

The accelerators are great. No doubt about it. We’ve had tremendous mentoring and guidance from people with a great deal more experience than us. We’ve learned things we knew we had to, and learned a lot that we had no idea we needed to. We’ve been sent all over to take part in expos and showcase our games. Had opportunities to pitch to some huge publishers. None of that would have been achievable without the help from the people travelling that journey with us.

All that being said, you might not be there yet, and that’s cool too. There’s a bunch of other ways to get connected. There’s local game dev communities all over, and they’re always looking for more people. In my experience these have always been super welcoming and inclusive places for people to share knowledge and passion.

I understand reaching out to something like that might also be intimidating, but there are even still other avenues. The first game I ever made was part of The Global Game Jam. Game Jams are excellent ways to meet people at your own pace. You can look for groups and fill slots in teams, or you can go solo and know that when you’re finished you’ll be able to share your game and talk to people about it, and theirs.

The sharing is the crucial part though. Which brings me to my last point, (one that I expect will have its own entire post in the future) imposter syndrome. That little blighter stops so many of us at the door. Five years (six?) I’ve been making video games, and I’ve been writing for a lot longer, but guess what. I rarely call myself a writer or a game designer. Yet, when I’ve been apart of these wider communities I always have a lot more to offer than I think I do. I’m no expert in anything. Not even close, (well, maybe Spider-Man, but that’s not super helpful right now…) but we have something to offer. Even if it’s just an engaged listener.

Thanks for Hanging Out

There’s probably a lot more waffle than wisdom to what I’ve said today, so thank you if you got through it all. I promise we’ll actually tell you about the game we’re working on soon, but I was feeling particularly grateful for the people I’m surrounded by.

If anyone wants to check out the programs we’ve been a part of, then have a look at Tranzfuser, Games London Game Changers and DunDev, and feel free to reach out to me across the usual noisy media things, or email me at alex@mvgiestudios.com

Pea Suit

Alex

P.S. Don’t worry, I’m sure Phillip will have finished his work by next Friday.