alright today we’re doing a two in one. because the event lasted two days and it’s kind of like one chunk of memory. you get it.

i’m afraid i don’t have any pictures from this time since i was busy working, but i will attempt to go into the most interesting parts. hopefully you have matured past only reading books with pictures, i know it’s a lot but we can get through this. you and me brother we can read like adults.

my group’s concept was made by kiri, one of the kcg students, and i largely just made the assets he requested. this did mean however that i had a pretty loose understanding of what game we were making. this gave me trouble coming up with a clear visual identity, which is usually what gets me the most interested in a project. i got through the first day having made one walkcycle and a background for a puzzle layout i did not fully understand since it seemed like no one could decide on the mechanics. the other group members also made do with what they could considering my lack of focus on their areas kind of left them in the dirt for an extended period of time. it was cool talking to the japanese students but between how tired they were, how tired we were, and the lack of direction and time on all sides, i don’t think we walked away with a decent game. i certainly didn’t make any good art, which led to more of a crisis than i would like to admit.

i remember at the end of the first day a few of the kcg students joined us on the bus and i struck up a bit of a conversation with the person next to me through the translate app. i explained to them what the american students were talking about, we talked about how japanese cities are different from american ones, he asked about my favorite snacks from when i last visited. it was really dark and i never got their name before they left, so unfortunately i never got to talk to them again.

this was by far the most enjoyable interaction i had throughout the game jam and i will remember it in the most detail. just. what a time we live in. i remember when i was younger translation apps barely worked for the most basic of sentences and now i can have a full blown conversation with someone whose language i do not speak. throughout the whole game jam the japanese students in particular seemed hesitant to use the translators, but i think once people stopped feeling ashamed about not speaking the same language it got easier.

being monolingual is, in terms of communicating on a global scale, a massive barrier to connecting with other people and it can make being in foreign spaces an extra layer of frustrating. if your country’s education system doesn’t set you up with the tools to learn a second language young, acquiring one later on is an extremely difficult and long-term commitment that most everyday people don’t have time for. english as a first language is a massive privilege in this time in history and i’ve been fortunate in my ability to lean on it in virtually every country i’ve been to. the kcg students likely haven’t had that experience, and i wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve had a negative experience with a frustrated english speaker, all of these factors can contribute to the hesitancy i saw on that first day.

personally, i am frustrated that i was unable to acquire a higher proficiency with my foreign language classes at the moment. not that being fluent in french would help me here, but in general it was my best shot at breaking the english box. whether i acquired it or not was largely outside of my control as a child, but in the classes i did take i really tried. the structure just didn’t speak to me, the workload of my other classes was too large, there was always a reason. donc, je pense je ferai un effort pour comprendre mieux aprés cette voyage, parce que j’ai fini avec l’école et j’aurai plus de temps. my dad taught himself to fluency in 2 languages after college. i have to believe it must be possible.

alright. this wasn’t really about the game jam but what can i say it’s not where my heart was. i was thinking about other stuff. hope it was interesting enough. ok seeya :2