Field Notes: The Media School Travel Blog

“The trip completely altered my perspective on the games industry in terms of how companies make their games.”

Senior Ryan Reske shared his thoughts with me hours before we boarded the plane. The International Game Design Practices class had just wrapped up an entire week of experiences in Tokyo.

Next stop, home.

“Half of my games, so far, have involved figuring out ways around roadblocks in development,” Ryan elaborated. “The things we’ve learned on this trip and the people we’ve met will definitely help in whatever the next challenge is.”

More of my peers added their thoughts as well.

“As a senior in game design, this trip was very beneficial to me,” Devin Good said. “Before the trip, my career search was confined to the U.S. because I believed I wasn’t qualified to work outside the U.S. game design industry. Now, after meeting and connecting with Japanese developers, I feel that even the language barrier wouldn’t prevent me from working with these amazing developers.”

Junior Jonah Clark agreed with the sentiment.

“It was good to see what Japanese game companies expect out of employees and what the work environments are like, as well as how they’d like to see the future of games develop,” he explained. “I’m glad I came to see, because it really opens up a lot of possibilities and opportunities I hadn’t thought about before.”

This trip offered each of us something special on personal and professional levels.

“The trip to Tokyo gave me a chance to experience a place and culture I never thought I’d be able to experience, having never been out of the country before, and not likely to get the opportunity to do so again,” junior Gaby Benninghoff said. “I greatly appreciated the chance to talk with and connect with Japanese game developers and will hopefully remain in touch with them in the future.”

From the outside, it might have been a “school trip,” but for us, it provided opportunity and inspiration.

Junior Stephanie Davidson told me, “If it weren’t for this class, I wouldn’t have been able to leave the country at all.”

She wasn’t the only person experiencing this feeling either. Sophomore Blair Wheatley said this trip fulfilled a dream and did something possibly even more important.

“The number one takeaway I got from this trip was that I think I’ve finally figured out what I want to do in the game industry after I had forgotten what my dream was when I joined the game design program,” Blair said. “Also, going to Japan has always been a dream for me and getting to do it at all, let alone only at 19 years old because of this class, has been amazing.

“I never would have thought I would get to do something like this, so I’m super grateful for having been given the opportunity.”