This is definitely coming later than I would have liked, but I’m glad that my coursework has lightened up enough to get this done. So with the conclusion of my Entrepreneurship Co-op at the end of March, I’m here to reflect on what I set out to accomplish with six months to dedicate to Burning Sky Games and what I learned from it all. In case you didn’t read Part 1 of this, you can do so here. Now, let’s get to the meat of it.
Six months later, and my Entrepreneurship Co-op is over. In case you’re unfamiliar, a co-op (short for “cooperative education”) is when a student works with a company for a set amount of time to further their educational experience. Think of it like an internship, except it’s built into Drexel University’s program. That, and it has to be something directly related to the student’s field of study, so no fetching donuts and coffee all day long. The Entrepreneurship Co-op is a specific opportunity offered by Drexel’s Close School of Entrepreneurship, allowing a student to work full-time on their own company for six months straight. They also receive office space in the Baiada Institute for Entrepreneurship (a co-working space for student startups) and some funding to put towards their company.
April 1st marks the first day back in classes for me, at which point I’ll be back to the balancing act of Runaway and schoolwork. Am I looking forward to it? Honestly, not really. After all, this was a taste of what the real world is like, minus the pressure of having to also pay rent and all that. But I had the freedom to choose what to do with myself each and every day. But with the co-op done, I’d like to reflect on what we set out to achieve in the six-month period (and whether we did it or not), why we chose those goals, and what’s next for us. In the second part, I’ll more concisely discuss my takeaways from six months spent running a business.
It’s been two months since MAGFest, so I’d say it’s about time for another one of these. With plenty of time since our last large public appearance, we’ve been developing the alpha build for our mailing list subscribers, which we sent out last Friday. To give you all a sense of how big an event this is for me, this is the first time in the two and a half years I’ve been working on this game that people I don’t know personally are able to download my work onto their own machines and play it on their own time.
Burning Sky Games had a great start to the new year at the Music and Gaming Festival (MAGFest)! Our team kept a booth running for three days straight, allowing guests to play Runaway at any time of day (or night). It proved an incredible experience and one we hope to do again next year. Here’s what stood out to our rookie team the most!
Born out of Drexel University’s Entrepreneurial Game Studio, Burning Sky Games is an independent game studio based in Philadelphia, PA creating the punk rock of games – gritty experiences that bring together action and story to hit hard like a power chord.
Our first project is Runaway, a parkour platformer set in an apocalyptic city. With society around you decaying, your only choice is to escape or be consumed by the chaos as gangs rise up to seize the city.
