Aditi Baral
Game Development Coordinator
This article is an interview-based article. For this article, Ms Aditi Baral, the game development community coordinator, has been interviewed with a series of questions by the Documentation team.
A little about yourself:
To begin with, I am Aditi Baral from Computer Engineering third year and the game development community coordinator for the term 2021–2022. Game development falls under the roof of KUOSC. To know a little bit more about me, in my free time, I enjoy reading manga and watching anime, and also, I love drawing sketches, painting, and yes, for sure gaming. Oh yeah, I am a huge cat-lover.
Journey as a student of CE at Kathmandu University :
I guess I am not the only one who falls under the category of having a student life full of ups and downs. My journey at KU is full of ups and downs. I wanted to learn and dive into a variety of things to which I was just introduced, but, to my dismay, I just deviated as a wandering soul. I didn’t find my purpose until my recent years.
The thing that I find annoying is, that a lot of things are taught just focusing on the surface level, which creates not just confusion, but a huge confusion. There were a lot of subjects that attracted me the most, but, because everything created a momentary interest in me, I couldn’t help myself focus on one. There were subjects I never wanted to see again, and also classes I attended just to avoid having to give compart exams. And looking back to the days, I kinda laugh at myself thinking about it.
Now, let me talk about the brighter side, I don’t get well along with most, but, the handful ones that I have got are the ones whom I treasure the most, and I really appreciate them for making my boring days fun, sad days happy and stressful days calm. Whenever we get time, we linger around KU premises, go to the football ground and sun bask, go for laphin and for Manakamana’s Kulfi and pastries, or for Ramesh dai’s chiya-guffs.
Any Regrets:
There aren’t many regrets that I carry within me, except for one. It is me struggling with time management. It annoys me when I am unable to manage an equal amount of time for studies and gaming. There’s always a clash between what I wanted to do and what I had to do. Trying to choose — trying to do both — just doing nothing. This cycle created an imbalance between my studies and ECA, which is something I wish I could have known to balance.
How did your interest spark in the game?
Games always had me captivated. I always had this excitement for gaming within me. It’s not something, I just started liking. It is something I have liked since the day I found out that there are GAMES. The combination of gameplay, graphics, and audio has always fascinated me.
From taking my mom’s phone just to play one game while she is in the kitchen, to always being the top scorer among my cousins. From buying CDs to playing online games, I’ve come a long way. I realized being close to games brings me peace.
What activated the game developer in you?
Instead of a pen, I used to have a controller in my hand. And it never felt wrong for some reason. I still am following the child gamer, Aditi and I want to tell her how proud I am of her, for finding exactly what I wanted to do that early. After being interested in gaming for quite a long time, the gamer in me wanted to know how games were created and how they actually worked. The curiosity of knowing knowledge behind the scenes of gaming and my love for graphics activated the game developer in me. I then started creating games for my Semester Project which boosted my confidence to do something in gaming.
I’d say developing games are as fun as gaming.
What are your visions and goals as a coordinator of Game Development?
I decided to become a game development coordinator, having a lot of things that I think I can and want to do within my tenure. My main goal is to help juniors starters, freshers and all the gaming enthusiasts know game development better. There still are a lot of people who don’t know what falls under it. To people who know what it is but don’t know how to start, this community gives them a starting kick from where they are stuck. After this is done, they can continue on their own with their feasible roadmap. I have started a discord channel on game development where people can take help from one another and get their questions answered and ideas experimented with. My vision is to connect people who are into game development and create something different collaboratively.
Different minds bring and blend different ideas, and combining them would create a massive plan.
What different are you planning to do from previous community coordinators?
To do something that has never been done before takes some time, and I am working on it. First, I am trying to make the existing plans better. My main goal is to establish the reach of the game development community and reach as many people as I can. Then, I will focus on effective information circulation among the ones interested in game development.
I am also planning on doing some collaborative work with different community coordinators in the near future.
Anything you would like to say to people who are scared of pursuing their “Game Development Dream”?
I believe people with dreams do a lot of hard work to make them their reality. I’d say to keep working on their dreams until they finally live them. Take one step at a time, and explore everything around you, and if you think the game is what you want to do, go for it.
Experiment with already existing engines rather than trying to make a new one of your own. There are enough resources available on the internet. Do your research. Try to find what fascinates you. Don’t directly jump into coding. Design your first game, make prototypes, and then start working on something concrete. You can do it if you have made your mind up.
Gaming as a career choice in Nepal would sound scary, but trust me it would be worth it. It takes time for people to process gaming and game development in Nepal. But slowly, people are understanding that there is a brighter side to that too and this opens a door full of opportunities in the near future. There are people who help you in your journey of becoming a game developer and also communities like ours to help you reach heights in the near future or coming days.
Is the game development community helpful for people who want to be in this field later on?
Yes, it is obviously helpful for people who want to be in this field later on because this community aims to connect people who share their passion for gaming and game development. It gives people a platform for communication to exchange new ideas and also experiment with them together. We also have discussion sessions and question-answer sessions to have your queries answered by people who are already doing good in their gaming careers. This community is a learning hub where everyone can teach someone something they didn’t know existed. All these things collectively will no doubt help you in this field later on.
Any message to the Documentation Team?
Gambare Gambare!!
Interviewed by: Ms Dilasha Upadhyay
