First PCT GameDevs Meeting

     Our first club meeting was today and it went really well. Plenty of people came (others were held up with a tutoring event) and I finally got an idea of what running a club is like. When you're presenting stuff up there it really helps to have a bulleted agenda to go by and keep things focused. This first meeting was really an introductory one where I asked what people wanted to learn and showed the topics I planned to cover in the coming weeks.

     I'm excited to see how the club develops over time as I get used to running something (involving other people) for the first time outside of schoolwork where cooperation is forced. We have about 13 weeks left of school and I can't wait to cover a bunch of topics over that time. It makes me wish we could meet more than once a week so we can grow that much faster. Instead of dreading each school week I always have this to look forward to towards the end!

      A really good thing to come out of this was seeing the faces of the students who want to learn more the most. I wanted to see if I really was alone on the passion part or not. Thankfully I'm not because so many members had the same goals I did, but had no idea how to cross certain barriers that I overcame with sheer willpower. Another nice thing going was the peer interaction that got going. Members are already starting to show each other how to do things which could turn into something more outside of the meetings.

     After the meeting reached it's end a bunch of us lingered while a few went off to the next class. I kept an eye out to see who stayed behind, left early, and everyone arrived so I have an idea of what to expect attendance wise and around which times to wrap things up. At about 4:15 a few students stood up to leave but stayed put just not to miss anything (it really made me feel like I'm starting something special that they don't want to miss).

    Those that stayed in the room well past the end of the meeting wanted to see Unicorn Training in action so I played around with it for the first time in front of a live audience. It was really fun! People think the game looks great and these guys could appreciate every design problem/limitation I explained to them. One member even asked if the game was out so his daughter could play it as he was leaving. It reminded me of the school's Open House were another parent told me something similar.

     Altogether I left the meeting with high spirits and a positive outlook for the future. I'm really glad I started this thing on a whim a few weeks ago. Now I know for sure I'm making a difference in some people's lives because I can see all their faces right in front of me.