Week 11’s materials and activities looked at our readiness for work and what you need to be thinking about with regards to your next steps – rather than waiting until the course has been completed.
This is where Real WORKS hub comes in. Real WORKS is Falmouth University’s employability service and is designed to give students access to a wide selection of useful tools and helpful content.
I started by completing the RealWORKS Employability Assessment and one of the main things I learned from this is that my current CV is nowhere near geared towards the game development industry and will require a lot of development. However, in fairness my CV is pretty good for my current employment status as a teacher in Foundation Learning and IT and is not something I've needed to change too often over recent years.
At this time, I’m looking to build my own development studio as I enjoy the freedom it offers, so I’m not ecessarily looking to actually work other employers – however, this could change and it’s important that I keep my options open, which means updating and developing my CV.
Alongside this I will need to start developing a portfolio of work to complement my regular blog updates as fellow student Juan quite correctly points out that the industry can be very visual. I believe that's where my some of main strengths lay, so it’s important that I push these skills to the forefront.
The personal branding will be important and as part of the resources available in within RealWORKS is the ‘The Art of the Approach’ Curriculum which includes relevant information designed to support you with your personal brand, work placements and networking.
Personal Branding is definitely something I'll need to develop and enhance a lot more throughout my studies, as I look to become a solo developer along with social networking and using sites like; LinkedIn, Itch.io and Pinterest will need to become second nature. Also as part of this I’ll need to consider other publishing platforms like Steam and YouTube to further promote my brand.
There may also the potential for Crowdfunding through sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo amongst others that can be used to raise your brand profile, as well as fund projects.
Watching through the Six Pillars of Personal Branding: An Introduction video which was part of the ‘The Art of the Approach’ curriculum. It explained that to develop your brand successfully you need:
· Purpose - a reason to do what you do.
· Promise - have something your customers expect you to deliver on
· Personality – let people know what you love, what you’re interested in and what inspires you (your purpose can be realised through your personality).
· Pitch – be clear on your pitch and what you want to create. Why should someone listen
· Profile - claim your name, have a profile on various platforms but only use a couple of them substantially
I currently see my future-self focussing on delivering cheap (£3-4 mark), but highly repayable PC games (initially) with reimagined retro styled gameplay and graphics that evoke nostalgic memories for those that remember the games of the eighties and early nineties.
In conclusion, looking at my current plan I believe my personal brand is to recreate, share and expand on the (good) experiences I had growing up purchasing (and taking a chance on) budget games for my 8-bit and 16-bit computers with like-minded individuals. Delivering original (but familiar) retro style games that offer a high quality and rewarding experience that encourage repeat play.
It will certainly be a challenge to do this, but as I continue my studies I believe that I will be able to achieve my goals and build my personal brand in the process.
References:
https://facebook.com/themichaelrhunter (2019). PersonalBrand.com | Build, Grow, Monetize Your Personal Brand. [online] PersonalBrand.com. Available at: https://personalbrand.com/definition/. [Accessed 28 Dec. 2020]
The Six Pillars of Personal Branding: An Introduction (2020). George Hardwick [online] Available at: https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/38cdd1da-05f7-461b-9622-fe9fb3dd1681?channelId=cd0d0105-72d0-42fd-a7bf-772281bdd9c4&referrer=https:%2F%2Frealworks.careercentre.me%2F [Accessed 28 Dec. 2020]
Falmouth University.” n.d. Available at: https://realworks.careercentre.me/resources/elearning/hub.aspx?id=798&Referral=Action&Programme=The%20Art%20of%20the%20Approach&ProgrammeID=MENFakVHZzFUWVYyK0dDZWsxemZpUT090&TaskId=70737
[Accessed 28 Dec 2020].
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