The Power of Networking

Hello Everybody,

I hope you all had a good week. Mine was hectic, but good. One of the other managers was out of town for the week. This meant another manager and I had to step in and take care of his team. It made my life a lot busier, but in a good way. I enjoy working with different people and seeing how they react to different management styles. It was also interesting to see how that manager handled his team and kept them moving. Each team and person is like a puzzle. I love to figure out how to solve puzzle to increase productivity and get to know each member.

This brings us to the act of networking and its importance. If you aren’t familiar with the term “networking” it’s the act of meeting new people and connecting with them. However, to truly network with someone you have to do more than exchange names and business cards. You want to leave a lasting good impression on them. This can be done in many ways. For example, the last two years I worked at GDC as a part of the Conference Associates. This meant I met a lot of people and we worked together. My goal was to show my work ethic and then also connect with people and be friends. I met so many amazing people and each one has improved or helped me in some way. This is why networking is so important and necessary to your life in the industry.

Well till next time you guys. I hope you have a good week, and I hope to have a good story for you next week.

The Purpose of a Story Bible

Hello my friends!

I hope your past week went very well. Mine was busy but relatively uneventful. I spent time doing my usual routine and had a dentist appointment. The most eventful thing was a meeting I had with two recruiters that work for a technology staffing company. It was very interesting chatting with them and discussing with them what my goals are. They also told me of various services they offer in order to help new graduates find a job. There was one issue though. Their company doesn’t typically work in the gaming fields, however, they said that they do have some connections. They also said they’re still willing to help me with my resume and various other things. Which I am very thankful for and I look forward to any help they can provide.

Now for the other aspects of my week. I’ve been spending a part of my free time on a side project that is a story bible for my Dungeons and Dragons campaign. I’ll be uploading an updated version of it today, so you can see the progress I have made on it. Now some of you may be wondering what a story bible is. A story bible is a long document that explains the world of whatever project you are working on, if you are familiar with the Silmarillion that is very close to a story bible. This is something that is used to document and record the different aspects of your world and it will help you when creating stories and concepts while within this world. The length will also depend on the project. For example with a historical fiction based in World War II where a team of highly trained Jewish Soldiers are on a mission to kill as many Nazi’s as possible your story bible would be relatively short. You are only changing small portions of world history to create a more interesting story, but if you continue the world after it your story bible will only get longer. In something like my story bible I am building the world from the ground up. I am taking various aspects of preexisting Dungeons and Dragons worlds then reworking them. This can be seen in how the gods come to be in my version. Ultimately the story bible can be used to ensure consistency and provide a more expansive story. This can also make your world feel more alive and make people want to delve even further into your story, sometimes making stories of their own for your world. Another important aspect is that you stick to whatever your story bible says happens or can happen. If you don’t stick to it this creates inconsistencies that can make a story difficult to attach to. This is why a story bible is necessary as it serves as a fantastic way to ensure you have a consistent story line and can answer questions that may come up. This is why I have been spending time creating this story bible. I love creating worlds and the little intricacies of them. They require a lot of research and time, but the pay off is great. I love the idea of providing my players with and exciting in-depth experience that they can explore and grow as they please.

Well I hope you guys have a wonderful week and enjoyed my sort of mini-lesson! I hope to have exciting news for you next week!

Events and Networking

Hello everybody!

I hope you all had a good week. My last week was actually very exciting. I received an email saying that I was accepted to be a Conference Associate for GDC again and I went to a networking event last night. The networking event went well. I wasn’t there for very long but I met a few interesting people. I also got my resume reviewed by a gentleman there who was very helpful. I’ll be reworking my resume a bit around his feedback and other feedback I got. Hopefully, with those changes I’ll be in a better place.

As for being accepted as a Conference Associate I’m super excited to be going down again. GDC, or the Game Developers Conference, is an amazing event filled with all sorts of awesome people. My first time as a CA was last year. It was a blast, I joined a whole new family of extraordinary proportions. It’s also going to be a great place for me to network and possibly get some interviews. I’m so excited for the event I can’t wait for it. For anyone in the gaming industry I recommend it. Last time I wasn’t 21 so I couldn’t attend any of the mixers but now I can. The mixers are the best places to network and meet all sorts of new people. So I believe I’ll go down at and come back revamped and even more excited.

Well till next week you guys. I hope you guys have a great week and maybe next week I’ll have more exciting news.