Feb 7th - 13th, 2022
Studying game design rekindled my love for Magic: The Gathering, so I jumped into my local game store’s prerelease for Kamigawa: Neon Dawn.
What are the odds that my first opponent would be a game designer who works on Legends of Runeterra? Literally one week after picturing myself working on the game, I am playing against someone who’s doing that today.
After I promptly got destroyed, I asked what value they got out of their Master’s in Game Design. They told me it was the simple fact that they were designing on projects alongside a team, AKA “doing the thing.”™️ It gave him practical experience that looked great on a portfolio and ultimately led to their job at Riot. He emphasized that if I wanted to become a game designer, I should try to get this type of experience as much as possible.
I need to remember this advice when I get back into a more design-focused mindset. Even if this leg of the journey is more engineering-focused, I hope to squeeze in game design practice at the occasional game jam.
Maybe it’ll help me craft better decks at the next prerelease I go to. 🍩