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!
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!
If you haven’t heard from our Twitter, Burning Sky Games has been accepted to showcase at the Music and Gaming Festival (MAGFest) from January 3rd through January 6th! This four-day festival is hosted annually at the Gaylord Hotel in National Harbor, MD (just 15 minutes from DC) and is home to an indie game showcase, cosplayers, and plenty of parties! What makes MAGFest so exciting for us is that its attendees are the ones we are creating Runaway for: people passionate about the intersection of video games and music. These will be the people who most appreciate our punk rock roots, and bringing Runaway to MAGFest will allow us to see firsthand how our target audience receives the game. Because the showcase room will be open from the minute the event starts to the minute it ends, guests will be able to stop by at any time of day (and night) to play the game. That means plenty of opportunities for people to play and plenty of time for us to learn as much about our game as possible!
What a week it’s been! We took Runaway to Drexel Startup Fest on Wednesday, run by Drexel University’s Close School of Entrepreneurship. It was quite the unique experience for us because most of the people in attendance were interested not in video games but in entrepreneurship. Like at any event, we were asked lots of questions by interested attendees, but this time they were more focused on the business side of the industry and less on the creative. But one thing was for sure: people still wanted to try the game!
Burning Sky Games had the incredible opportunity to participate in their first convention this past fall. The Boston Festival of Indie Games celebrates indie game developers in the New England area. You can explore anything, from table-top to 2D platformers to 3D shooters, in the lovely town of Boston. We borrowed a lot from this Gamasutra article in the lead-up to the event; it helped immensely to ensure everything went as smoothly as possible. It was a great experience for Burning Sky Games. We were well received by the community and met a lot of great aspiring games. Up and coming, we were excited to see that an attendee wrote about us! Read it here, and check out the above video we were also a part of!
