Happy New Year! Oh, 2020. You’re one tough b*tch. Despite the challenges of last year, I still made sure that I don’t become stagnant and still learn a thing or two. This blog is going to be a compilation of all my ventures for last year, mistakes and failures, and the lessons I learned along the way. I won’t be listing them by month but by category instead. Enjoy and I hope you can also learn from my mistakes.
I realized after writing this blog that it’s crazy long. So, here are the links to jump to certain parts:
Gags N Geeks
Let’s start with the video production (skits, reviews, etc.) and gaming studio my friends and I started back in 2019 – Gags N Geeks. The year opened up with us breaking the 5000+ followers barrier on Facebook. Although, this metric doesn’t necessarily constitute to engagement, it is still a milestone for the studio.
But, alongside the growth of our community, comes the internal struggles. A lot has happened since we started last June 2019. One of those things is that each of the original cast started growing apart – there was a lack of openness and not everyone is engaging proactively in the discussions that would help the studio grow. Frankly and personally speaking, I struggle and despise working with non-proactive people (it’s ok to be friends with them but work is different). But, I digress. This misunderstanding resulted in a decision to change how we work internally and recast. This time I made sure that I will be working alongside people who have high respect for professionalism and constructive criticism.
To achieve this, we created an agreement that contains our responsibilities in the studio, expectations, and a couple of guidelines to ensure that we share the same vision. We also shrunk down the number of members from 8 to just 6, to make communication easier and to reduce costs. That said, we welcomed a new member – a passionate musician and anime-lover, Clarisse!
We also didn’t see a lot of organic growth on Facebook Gaming which prompted us to migrate to Twitch. There, we found new family and new friends that share the same interests. We stream video games, our pinoy homebrew Dungeons & Dragons campaign (we finished the first season just this December!), music nights, and one of our top performing content – Chikatitos, a pinoy geeky podcast where we talk about anything we want. We also started publishing exclusive podcasts for Spotify also called Chikatitos.
From our newly-built relationships, we also started doing collaborations:
- Nexus GameCraft & Esports Expo – This was a game convention that took place in Far Eastern University – Institute of Technology and we were invited by Arianne Lim of Campus Esports Development Organization (CEDO). This one’s rather late in 2019 but we had hangovers up to the start of 2020.
- Crazy night of content creation with Afterwork PH – We have been working with Jem and Earl of Afterwork PH since mid-2019 and we really love working with each other that we recorded even more videos together in 2020. You can check those out here.
- Board Game Express Convention (BGE Con 2020) – This was a shocker to us because we’ve been buying board games from BGE since we started collecting for our shelf. It was an honor to be invited to the event, and we enjoyed meeting a lot of new people and playing all sorts of board games with everyone. Here’s a highlight we prepared for the event.
- Aside from those mentioned above, we also started playing and bonding with the people we meet on Twitch.
We also started giving back and helping out in charities. One instance was when there was a call to action for the victims of Taal volcano eruption. We streamed for a week and matched whatever our community pooled for that whole week. You can watch that journey here.
Everything was going well, then the pandemic happened and our country went on lockdown. This was a double-edged sword for us since now we can just work from home and produce our videos remotely, which worked well. But, that also means we won’t be able to use the studio’s equipment and we won’t be able to record our boardgame sessions nor have a live Dungeons & Dragons session. The lockdown also affected our personal lives that some of the casts lost their jobs and/or couldn’t find jobs (up until around November and December). All of these combined made our schedule a mess despite having a spreadsheet of who’ll do what, and despite having multiple iterations of our schedule. To be honest, up until now, we are still looking for a way to have a final schedule since most members of GNG have night-shift jobs.
That said, we still enjoy what we do and will definitely solve these hurdles soon. Here’s a clip before the lockdown when we acted like the little kids that we are inside.
Squeaky Wheel
Lots – and I mean, LOTS – of updates. There were a lot of new mechanics added to Academia: School Simulator such as Food Fights, Teacher Traits, More Customizable School Settings, School Shutdown, Events, Student Roster, and a lot more!
Squeaky Wheel also took part in helping out everyone affected by this pandemic.
Simon Carless also wrote an in-depth behind-the-scenes analysis of Academia’s Steam sales with the help of our CEO, Ryan Sumo. This was an interesting read since they discussed what contributed to the game’s revenue spikes, the effects of algorithm changes in platforms such as Steam, and the difference of being a game developer here in the Philippines compared to other countries.
Two of the biggest news from the studio last year was the Ruinarch announcement (now out on early access!),
and that Academia: School Simulator is now graduating to Version 1 this 2021!
This year is going to be a blast, so be sure to follow us on Twitter for updates.
Music
I bought a piano as a holiday gift for myself around December of 2019. And since then, I devoted a good amount of time every week to play the instruments I have. Here are some of the tunes I just had to play to free my mind:
Aside from the piano, I also got my hands on a dizi or a Chinese bamboo flute. I also got an ocarina during our online Christmas party with Squeaky Wheel. I’ve always been curious with wind instruments because ever since I was a kid I’ve only played string and percussion instruments. That said, having a dizi and an ocarina gave me some opportunities to learn more last year – it was relaxing and made me really happy.
With those new instruments added to my arsenal at home – alongside a bass guitar (I also played live on Twitch), an electric guitar, 4 acoustic guitars (different strings and tunes), electronic drum kit, cajon, and a violin – I have to say, I probably played days worth of music last year.
Lastly, even though I was a bit embarrassed at first, I started sharing my singing videos on Instagram. I usually do this when I’m taking a break from work or when Academia: School Simulator is compiling and I have some time to play around.
Art
My true passion since I was a kid was creating – be it writing short stories, poems, music, programming, or in this case charcoal and graphite drawing. I didn’t have any formal education or training regarding drawing. I only watched my older brother as he also draws (mostly with graphite and color pencils) and paints (with acrylic) when I was a kid. And, of course lots of YouTube videos and, Instagram and Deviantart browsing. That said, here are a couple of my old works (on Deviantart):
And here are my 2020 drawings (on Instagram. Yes, these are mostly animes because I spend my holidays and weekends watching movies or animes…if I’m not coding):
Lastly, I also dedicated some of my nights and my weekends improving the D&D maps for our homebrew campaign using Inkarnate.
Personal Health
Mental Health
First off – mentally, last year has been quite challenging. I won’t get into a lot of personal details but letting these out helps loosen the weight, even just for a little bit. If you feel like this might trigger you, please feel free to skip this part by clicking here.
Let’s start with people around me judging me for acting professional (following a process and schedule) and for sharing my thoughts. I’ve been called a lot of names – poser, feeling comedian (acting like a comedian for cracking jokes here and there during our comedy show. Ironic, I know.), and a lot more. All of these combined made me think if I’m still doing the right thing or if I’m even on the right road towards where I want to be; and because of this spiral of thoughts, I developed impostor syndrome. I even felt dumb while making games despite having almost half a decade’s worth of experience in the industry. I even expressed how bad of a leader I am (I think…I still do.) to my friends. And, even if they tried to tell me otherwise, I just don’t see it or couldn’t. I’m not sure.
Next thing I realized last year, is the harsh effects of toxic positivity. Yes, being positive all the time hurts more than it helps. Let me explain. I know a couple of people who says positive things and encourages with positive speeches…without offering anything of actual value. And that will just impose a false belief that you’ve already solved the problem, or at least you already have the steps and solution for your problems, even though you actually don’t and you are still lost like you were before you heard those toxic positive speeches.
With those mentioned above (these are just some), I stayed away from social media for weeks and refrained from sharing my thoughts and plans with anyone. Yes, including my family. I also stopped journaling. My thought process turned to “I’ll just do it myself and see the results. Maybe then, they will see.”.
But, after bottling all these inside, I ironically turned to Twitter. And, believe it or not, I felt lighter discovering I’m not the only one experiencing these. So far Twitter has helped me more than it damaged me – unlike Facebook. I also turned to my mentors to ask for guidance and they helped put things into perspective.
Lastly, I turned to playing shogi and chess. My older brother (the same one who plays music and draws) taught me how to play chess as a kid, and going back to the game mid-2020s surely made me happy. Shogi, on the other hand, was something I learned mid-2020. I like shogi because there are a lot more things that could happen compared to chess, since you can put captured pieces back on the board. This kept me busy for hours and it was fun.
Physical Health
I worked out quite regularly last 2019 (used to hike with friends). But, with the lockdown this 2020, I had to improvise. Luckily – a good friend of mine from GNG – Louis, is a licensed physical therapist and he offered to create a workout program for me. He also gave me elastic bands as a holiday gift which helped since I don’t really want to buy huge workout equipment. That said, I still workout regularly. Well, almost regularly – there are just times when I don’t want to get out of the zone when programming.
I also switched from 3-in-1 instant coffee to brewed coffee. Japet – also from GNG – started a coffee business last 2020 and I get my grinded coffee from him.
Then, around December of 2020, I ran out of coffee and Japet couldn’t drop by for delivery. So, I turned to blending fruits and veggies. I have to say, this is more refreshing and boosts my mood.
Finance
Oh boi, finances. 2020 was the year I realized all my financial mistakes and learned from them the hard way. This is the year when I drowned myself in debt, withdrew about 95% of my investments to pay those debts, and almost zeroed my savings (just a couple of bucks left). Luckily, my eldest brother (not the one who draws) helped me pay my debts and my mentor (Ryan Sumo of Squeaky Wheel) helped me with better handling my expenses and my investments. A couple of people on Twitter also gave some tips on living a frugal life.
I’m currently still in the process of building up my investments back up and I am taking financing a lot more seriously now. I even got my hands on a very reliable app called Bluecoins since, my custom-made Google spreadsheet is full of errors and I sometimes forget to update it accurately – which honestly beats the purpose of having it in the first place.
That said, I’m still exploring different types of investments and other sources of income. We’ll see what else I’ll venture into this 2021.
Other stuff going on
I upgraded my programming setup as a holiday gift to myself for 2020. This is going to by my last expense for the next couple of months.
I also started writing guides for game developers out there – mainly about Unity and ECS for now since I, myself, am studying it. That said, I started working on a personal project/research regarding the effects of personality traits in relationships. But, I’m still working on the design and programming so, I can’t really share anything of value yet, aside from this (a sprite rendering system and movement system written in pure ECS with burst):
Lastly, please excuse me for adding this, but I seldom win in raffles. I won something during Electronic Sports and Gaming Summit (ESGS) 2020!
That’s all the note-worthy things that happened to me last 2020. It was a really, really challenging year for everyone and here’s to a better year this 2021 – cheers! Oh, please wash your hands first.
Thank you and stay safe!
Neil Mark Corre 