This Tuesday I started an MFA program in Game Design at NYU’s Game Center in Brooklyn. It’s pretty fucking weird to be back in school after being out for over 8 years.
But it’s a good feeling. This shit is insanely expensive, and there are a whole slew of new factors that make it feel, well, nothing at all like undergrad:
1. I’m way older (30 to be exact)
2. I’m paying for all of this myself (and will be for a very long time)
3. I’m an out queer dude (this, strangely, feels weird)
4. I live in an apt with my boyfriend of 7.5 years
This is all to say, that in many ways I feel much more “businessy” this time around at University. I’m on a mission here, and it’s pretty straightforward: to learn and network and build a portfolio that will lead me to a more exciting and rewarding career.
I know this city. I have amazing friends, some of whom I met here and have known now for 12 years. This isn’t about finding myself, or making a space that’s a home. It’s about sharpening my skills, building new relationships, and absorbing everything around me like a sponge.
This semester consists of 5 classes:
1. Game Studies I
2. Game Design I
3. Game Studio I
4. Games 101
5. Code Lab 0
I have now been to 4/5 of them and so far, so good. The faculty here is INCREDIBLE. I literally geek out every time I realize who someone is - Eric Zimmerman, who’s teaching me Design, of Diner Dash. Matt Parker, who’s my Code Lab teacher, is one of the IndieCade big shots. Robert Yang and Naomi fucking Clark work here. Everyone is just so inspiring and cool and I’m so excited to be around them and learn from them .
What I’m worried about, as usual, is self-discipline. Here I am, delaying working on my lil’ chicken game for Studio, writing on my Tumblr. But I just gotta do it.
