Interview Quest

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Media Design School are hosting their 4th annual Girls in Games event. Year 9 and 10 girls from across the North Island have come to the school for a day of game making workshops. <img src="http://aliceemma.neocities.org/Front.jpg"> You have been granted access to the event and a chance to interview the guest speaker, Sarah Dixey from <a href="http://pikpok.com/" target="_blank">PikPok</a>. Good luck with your quest! [[I'm ready! Let's go inside…|Z2]]

You enter the MDS foyer. <img src="http://aliceemma.neocities.org/Foyer.jpg"> The event is on the 6th floor. [[Ride the elevator to level 6…|Z4]] [[Look up…|Z3]]

You are on level 6. <img src="http://aliceemma.neocities.org/Reception.jpg"> There's no one here. [[Ring the bell…|A0]]

Oooo pretty. <img src="http://aliceemma.neocities.org/Lights.jpg"> [[Ride the elevator to level 6…|Z4]]

Sarah: Hi! You tell Sarah that you're here to interview her for the Spinoff. Sarah: Ask away. [[Ask whether women are underrepresented in the games industry…|B2]] [[Ask how Sarah ended up in her job…|B5]] [[Ask about the value of an event like Girls in Games…|B8]] [[I'm finished talking to Sarah…|B0]]

You are in the staff kitchen. You see event organiser Tece Bayrak <img src="http://aliceemma.neocities.org/Tece.jpg"> and Media Design School's Communication and Content Manager Analiese Jackson <img src="http://aliceemma.neocities.org/Analiese.jpg"> sitting at a table. [[Talk to Tece and Analiese…|A2]] [[Get out of here…|A0]]

You are in a room full of computers. <img src="http://aliceemma.neocities.org/Computers.jpg"> Teenage girls are busy designing paddles for the Pong game they're going to make later that afternoon. A MDS tutor is showing them how to use Photoshop. [[Talk to one of the girls…|C5]] [[This looks fun, jump on one of the computers…|C2]] [[I've seen enough here…|A0]]

There's nothing else for you here. <div class="twine-expand"> <div class="prompt"> You get into the elevator… </div> <div class="result"> You get into the elevator…<br> <div class="twine-expand"> <div class="prompt"> Ride it to the ground floor… </div> <div class="result"> Ride it to the ground floor…<br> <div class="twine-expand"> <div class="prompt"> And leave… </div> <div class="result"> And leave…<br> Forever.<br><br> It's time to take the hard questions to the streets of Auckland.<br><br> Carry on the adventure in…<br><br> Interview Quest 2: Roving Reporter (coming 2018).<br><br> [[End|Start]] </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <% //every page that uses expanders needs this var makeExpanders = function () { $(".twine-expand .result").hide(); $(".twine-expand").click(function (e) { $(e.delegateTarget).children(".prompt").hide(); $(e.delegateTarget).children(".result").fadeIn(); }); }; //happens when passage is displayed $(makeExpanders) %>

Reception: Hi! The girls are down in the computer labs. Otherwise the staff kitchen is over that way, or if you're looking for Sarah, she's in the meeting room. [[I want to go see what the girls are up to in the computer labs…|C1]] [[Looks like there are some people in the staff kitchen…|A1]] [[Head to the meeting room…|B0]] [[I'm sick of this. Time to leave…|D1]]

You are in the meeting room. <img src="http://aliceemma.neocities.org/Sarah.jpg"> Sarah Dixey is sitting at a table. She is the Studio Art Director for PikPok, one of New Zealand's most established game development studios. Sarah is the keynote speaker at Girls in Games and has just given her speech to the girls. [[Talk to Sarah…|B1]] [[Back to reception…|A0]]

You try to engage the girl beside you in conversation but she just grunts, too absorbed in her work to pay any attention to you. <img src="http://aliceemma.neocities.org/Girl.jpg"> [[I never was good with the youths…|C1]]

You sit down and start following along with the class. <img src="http://aliceemma.neocities.org/Tutor.jpg"> It's a struggle at first but then things start making sense. It's strangely addictive trying to get your Pong paddle looking just right. [[This is fun but I better get back to my quest…|C1]] [[Just a bit longer…|C3]]

You keep working. The paddle is starting to look really good. One of the tutors looks at you strangely. [[Ok, this is getting weird now. I really need to get back to my quest…|C1]] [[Just a bit longer…|C4]]

You're so absorbed now you barely notice time passing. After an hour the tutor politely but firmly asks you to leave the event, but you don't care. You barely acknowledge them as you rush home to continue working on your game. All this time you've been searching for a purpose and now you've found it. You're going to design the best version of Pong anyone has ever seen. And after that, who knows? You're a girl who makes games now, who knows where it could lead. [[End|Start]]

Sarah: I would say that there are definitely a lot less women working in the games industry. But we are lucky in a place like New Zealand because it's very inclusive! Just because there are less women in games doesn't mean you feel like an outsider. I think as the technology industry evolves and becomes more accessible, and mobile games and stuff become more casual, we're seeing a natural growth of women making their way into the industry in game development roles. And also careers like marketing and publishing and all sorts. And programming. So it's just naturally evolving. [[Ask whether the rise of women playing games has corresponded to a rise in female game makers…|B3]]

Sarah: I studied literature for a while and I found that I didn't really enjoy it. I was spending more time art-ing, so I changed tack and started studying that. Then a friend of mine pointed out that there are games careers in NZ and there are studios. He applied for a job, so we all applied for jobs at PikPok and I was lucky enough to get a job as a texture artist. So I started out there and have swapped through a couple of different roles. [[Ask whether art is a common way for women to enter the industry…|B6]]

Sarah: Awareness. When I was in high school, I come from a tiny town in rural Canterbury and I always thought that video games were something that people overseas in really high-tech futuristic places did. And I didn't think there was an industry for it in New Zealand, let alone an actual career in it that you could make money doing and enjoy. So letting people know early that this is a thing that they can do and that there are tonnes of resources everywhere and communities. It's a really social industry [[Ask for her advice for young women who are wondering if games might be for them…|B9]]

Sarah: I think girls have always worked in games. As the ‘Women in Games’ movement seems to get more attention, more focus gets put on getting more women in there and that's definitely helping. But I think it's just a steady trickle and we'll see the increase. When I started 8 years ago there were only about 5 girls, and now with the same company size there's nearly 20. So it's definitely growing and it's an awesome industry. [[I want to ask Sarah something else…|B1]] [[I'm finished talking to Sarah…|B0]]

Sarah: We definitely have more female artists than girls in other roles. But we do have female programmers and women working in other areas of the company that aren't explicitly game design, but still at PikPok. So art is definitely where we have our highest numbers, but we have women working across all aspects of the studio. That's why it's good to see that today, for instance, they're exploring programming and art, all aspects of that side of things. [[I want to ask Sarah something else…|B1]] [[I'm finished talking to Sarah…|B0]]

Sarah: I think one of the more important things is teaching girls and kids to be aware of the things that they are naturally inclined to do as hobbies. The things they enjoy, but maybe haven't considered as a career. Encouraging kids to be aware of the things they enjoy and think, ok well is there an application for this? Even if they're not sure, like the internet is amazing! And ask their teachers, find communities. There are so many more resources these days than what I had available when we had crappy home dial-up internet. [[I want to ask Sarah something else…|B1]] [[I'm finished talking to Sarah…|B0]]

Analiese: Hi, how's the interviewing going? Anything you want to ask us? [[Ask what happens at Girls in Games…|A8]] [[Ask why the Girls in Games event was started…|A3]] [[Ask how young people can get started making games…|A15]] [[I'm finished talking to Tece and Analiese…|A1]]

Tece: Well the whole idea was getting the girls to realise that there's this space for them that they can grow into. Getting them to find out about the opportunities, give them options and let them taste it a little bit. Find out whether they like it or not. [[Ask how much of a gender split there is at Media Design School…|A4]]

Tece: So when they come in, after our little housekeeping and getting to know each other, they directly go into the art session in which they create pixel art assets for the game that they're going to make in the afternoon, which they program themselves in GameMaker. So by 3 o'clock they have a game in which they already have their own art. And after that we go into a collaborative session to improve our collaboration muscles a little bit, and then we close the event. [[Analiese: I think what’s important is that we teach them the fundamental skills of game art and game programming, but they also get those soft skills too…|A9]]

Tece: There are so many resources out there today, it’s the information age, isn't it? So it's very easy to reach out. And there are a lot of people like them out there. They're not alone, there are so many people who are starting from scratch. They just need to find an easy-to-pick tool. The tool that we're using in this case <a href="http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker" target="_blank">(GameMaker)</a> is free for non-commercial use and a tool that they can learn through watching videos or reading tutorials, whichever way is their way to learn. They just need to start from somewhere. <div class="twine-expand"> <div class="prompt"> You scribble in your notebook… </div> <div class="result"> Analiese: Here in New Zealand we're fortunate because we do have such a diverse games industry, and a growing games industry, so schools are increasingly becoming interested in the games industry and channeling students into those career paths. <br><br> Events like Armageddon, for example, are awesome because it's a great networking place. And for young people to go have a look, and take their parents and say this is a tangible career. Here are some things that I could do in the future. Look at these people being successful. <br><br> [[I'm not just playing video games…|A16]] </div> </div> <% //every page that uses expanders needs this var makeExpanders = function () { $(".twine-expand .result").hide(); $(".twine-expand").click(function (e) { $(e.delegateTarget).children(".prompt").hide(); $(e.delegateTarget).children(".result").fadeIn(); }); }; //happens when passage is displayed $(makeExpanders) %>

Analiese: In our game art courses specifically, 25% of students enrolled are currently women. It's a little less in software engineering, I believe it's 17% off the top of my head. But since Girls in Games started 4 years ago we've noticed that our numbers of women have grown, exponentially really. In 2013, the first year we started, I had a look at the numbers and it was 3% and 4% of software engineers and games artists were women. So over 4 years it has actually increased. Still a long way to go, but… [[Ask why an event like this brings in more women…|A5]]

Tece: Well first of all it, I guess, helps them also realise that there are others sharing their interest as well and also that this is something reachable to them. One thing that we have realised over our conversations from the previous years is that, especially for STEM (Science Technology Engineering Maths) fields, they are sometimes not even let known that there are other options that they can study. Several girls that I had a chance to talk to even told me that it was never mentioned that, like, there is programming that they can do. They can go towards engineering, towards math. It's almost, I guess, in a way about letting them know there are so many things that they can do. They can become pretty much whatever they want, but if they don't know about those options there is no way that they can pick them, right? [[Tell her about your high school, where it felt like the only career paths for girls were teaching and nursing…|A61]] [[Suggest that maybe girls just aren't interested in areas like engineering…|A62]]

Tece: There you go, something like that! So, you know, a lot of people think that girls aren't interested in like, engineering or whatever, but I completely disagree with that. It's only about how much information they're given about what they can become. [[Ask Tece and Analiese something else…|A2]] [[I'm finished talking to Tece and Analiese…|A1]]

Tece: I completely disagree with that! It's only about how much information they're given about what they can become. [[Ask Tece and Analiese something else…|A2]] [[I'm finished talking to Tece and Analiese…|A1]]

Analiese: So they get to network with girls from across the North Island, and also if they do elect to come back from year 10 then the senior program will offer skills beyond 2D pixel art. They'll do 3D texturing and have to create assets in 3D. So it's not just you come once and you have an experience and you leave. You develop friends and networks, and you travel through the different years with them creating different games and different assets and acquiring different skills each year. [[Ask whether most girls who come already know they want to go into games…|A10]]

Tece: Well there are girls who keep coming to every single event that MDS does. We have those 3 girls who are almost at the level of, like, stalking the school. Which is awesome because they're just so excited about everything! Some of them are really determined about what they want to do. Some of them just don't know, they're just exploring, which is great. And we actually had quite a few of them enroll into the course after. So that's interesting to see as well. <div class="twine-expand"> <div class="prompt"> Analiese looks up… </div> <div class="result"> Analiese: I think it offers something for everyone, because we did a getting to know you icebreaker session at the beginning and there were girls who were saying: <br><br> ‘Yeah I'm determined to have a career in games. I know exactly what I want to do in 3 or 4 years time.' <br> Whereas there were others girls who were like: <br><br> ‘I don't really play games I just want to see what it's about.’ <br><br> [[Tece: And that's the main reason we offer different sessions…|A11]] </div> </div> <% //every page that uses expanders needs this var makeExpanders = function () { $(".twine-expand .result").hide(); $(".twine-expand").click(function (e) { $(e.delegateTarget).children(".prompt").hide(); $(e.delegateTarget).children(".result").fadeIn(); }); }; //happens when passage is displayed $(makeExpanders) %>

Tece: So they can taste a bit of, not everything, but whatever we can offer in that short timeframe. So they know that it's there, it exists, if it sparks them a little bit they can go pursue it later on and that's the whole idea. [[Ask Tece and Analiese something else…|A2]] [[I'm finished talking to Tece and Analiese…|A1]]

Analiese: Absolutely. And also career expos too, and they're more accessible particularly for young people who may be in more rural areas. Going and having a chat to people, just asking what their options are, what subjects they can take in school. Which can help them in the future, just getting out there and talking to people is always really advantageous. Tece: Absolutely. [[Ask Tece and Analiese something else…|A2]] [[I'm finished talking to Tece and Analiese…|A1]]