Introduction.

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As one of my final University assignments, I wanted to use my Negotiated Design Final Project to prepare for being a post-graduate attempting to become employed in the gaming industry.

It is important to consider Sustainable Development Goal 10 in relation to my plan. One aspect of this goal regards inequality in the workplace. The SDG goal strives to have equal opportunities for women since they are twice as likely to be discriminated against in the workplace than men (United Nations, 2023). Currently, there are less women with gaming careers. However, Simpson (2023) suggests there has been a positive increase of women entering the industry in the past 10 years. She attributes the improvements of the representation of female characters in video games to the increase of women joining the gaming industry. Considering SDG 10 is important to me, as a woman now preparing to enter the gaming industry myself.

Limit Break is a mentorship programme created to assist underrepresented groups from the UK in the gaming industry (Limit Break, 2024). In consideration of this module, the Limit Break programme is a great opportunity as a post-graduate looking to break into the industry. Limit Break only accept students in their final year of university, so I had to wait to apply. I submitted my application this Spring for a placement and was accepted.

Developing an indie game is an effective way to gain recognition in the gaming industry. Lesaffre (2021) refers to the success of Minecraft and Among Us, which are both indie games that have become ‘global phenomena’ and household names. Meadow and I have been developing a personal project together, which I decided to work on as one part of this submission. This meant I could create as many levels as possible to present at Transmedia. We are aiming release a demo before graduation on the Google Play Store.

When applying for jobs within the gaming industry Thomas (2021) suggests showcasing demos and gameplay of personal game projects is an effective way to show potential employers your skills. Having published a demo for our game would allow me to have a playable, engaging example of my abilities as a game designer and indie developer. Making the demo free to play would also help us gain a following and traction – which would result in more feedback and allow us to make improvements when focusing on the development of the full game.

Another way Thomas (2021) recommends for breaking into the gaming industry is participating in game jams. He suggests game jams create networking opportunities with other developers and sometimes industry representatives. Game jams are great not only for the networking aspects but also for creating work for portfolios with small, manageable projects (Lynn, 2012).

For these reasons I will also participate in some game jams as a part of my Negotiated Design Final Project.

Projects.

Conclusion:

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Overall, I feel dividing the Negotiated Design Final Project assignment into multiple smaller projects has been very effective. It allowed me to create a variety of portfolio pieces with different genres and styles while also being able to focus on more manageable tasks that could be completed to a high standard during the designated time that I spent on each project.

The two game jams helped me learn valuable skills about setting clear, manageable deadlines for tasks and communicating with a team. The second game jam lead to an additional opportunity of working alongside Sachit on the cooking indie game. This made an interesting portfolio piece and, since we are all enthusiastic about continuing the project, it has the potential to become a published game which I will be able to showcase to future employers.

Working on Beneath the Bramble to prepare three playable levels for Transmedia 2024 also helped me to expand my development knowledge and gave me further insight into Unreal Engine, which employers will see as a valuable software experience. I feel my work this semester for this project has helped to prepare me for the gaming industry and made me more employable by developing my skills and expanding my portfolio.