Emoti-Con 2020 Reflection

     Emoti-Con is an annual convention in NYC where teens across all 5 boroughs get to express themselves through technology and digital media. Teens get to showcase projects they've been working on and learn about how to improve their skills from each other and guest speakers. Teens can also learn about the path they need to take to seek a career in the industry. Projects also get entered into a competition that can win one of 5 categories. Due to the ongoing pandemic this year, Emoti-Con was entirely virtual and we could view each other's submissions online. 

     

     To submit an entry to Emoti-Con, I again worked in a team like last year and again, our submission to Emoti-Con was also a team submission to G4C. The topic we were submitting to G4C was Human-Animal Bonds and we had decided to make a game in a visual novel/RPG style. The story revolved around Colinn and his dog, Warden. A chemical was released into the city that made all pets hostile against humans except Warden who Colinn is still able to tame. Together, they stop the organization responsible for this chemical release and bring order back to the city. We were short 1 member this year but still managed and allocated roles based on ability and preference. I was in charge of creating the main RPG engine while the 2 other members in my team took on developing the visual novel aspect and game art. We worked over a span of about a week and put all of our work together to create one whole game.

     Once our game was done, we submitted first to G4C and later to Emoti-Con. G4C was quick to say our group project didn't make it to the finals (though one of my individually created projects did) and my hopes for winning the Emoti-Con 2020 were quickly diminished. Yet, our project went live up in the Emoti-Con student work gallery, and voting for the best projects started. Last year, we had a convention floor to walk around to view other people's work but this year, it was a website. We could vote for the games or say what they did good, like design or entertainment. I recognized a lot of the projects from my school but also other projects from other schools that were, just like us, also submitting to G4C. 

     Voting went on for about a week or two and then the winners were released on June 10th. Just like last year, it came at my shock that our team actually won, and the same category as last year, best entertainment. To me, our game felt a bit rushed, and G4C rejecting it made me feel less confident yet it won and it again showed me not to underestimate myself all the time. In the video announcing the winners, I could tell a lot of the Wow-factor of our project game down to presentation, from the wireframes to the video to the actual slideshow. The judges were most likely as impressed by the presentation of our game as the game itself. It went on to show me the presentation really can do wonders if executed right.