#saw one too many 'lol look at those silly americans and their silly politics' posts

[degenderates]

i’ll tell you one thing i’ve realized during this anti-queer panic and legislation in the US which is that i am so fucking tired of non-americans/USAians (mainly europeans, but also white or white-passing folks who move to europe), telling us to “just leave the country” like it’s that easy or that simple. i’m done with it! maybe it was funny at first (it wasn’t), but the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of people--especially queer people--in this country don’t have the means to just move or even travel beyond the borders. expenses of moving to a new country aside, the US is fucking huge and being bordered by mostly water, you can’t just ta-da! take a $30 train into another country. plenty of people never even have left their state! so seeing as this legislation is affecting people on a state-by-state basis (because the US is basically fifty different small governments that can’t make up their mind about anything between each other), people will be forced to live by the rules where they live. there’s no packing up from tennessee and just waltzing on over to california or michigan. the states where this queerphobic legislation and violence is affecting people the most are the states where poor people live and can’t just leave. not to mention you’d be leaving behind a cultural part of yourself, especially when it comes to race & ethnicity in different parts of the country.

but, you ask, if you do have the means to leave, and put aside worries of cultural ties, why don’t you? i can’t speak for every american when i say this, but i love my country. i hate its violent history and its narrow politics, but that’s not what i speak of. i love this land, i love the people who live here. with all its flaws, the US is a beautiful place and most of my loved ones live here. hypothetically speaking, i wouldn’t just immigrate back to korea or italy and leave my family and friends behind. i wouldn’t abandon the queer people who couldn’t leave just to save myself. is that what you europeans think people should do? well ha ha very funny, but when i pledged allegiance to the american flag as a kid it wasn’t because i believed in everything it stood for, but everything i wanted it to stand for. and i will fight for that. if a trans genocide happens upon us, i will be here for that. we will all be here for that.

#this doesn't even BEGIN to discuss the nuances of saying indigenous folks should 'just leave' im sorry but. this is ppls HOME! #anti-trans legislation #transphobia #us politics #queerphobia #josiah speaks #please reblog if this resonates with you! because boy do i have a lot of feelings about this #saw one too many 'lol look at those silly americans and their silly politics' posts #particularly one about this issue that just made my blood boil. like um you dont live here and your first instinct is to joke about it? #it's not funny! i'm scared! we're all terrified actually!

[anikiiyomi-blog]

GDC 2k18 DIARIES: Part 2!

Wednesday marked the third day of GDC and the day that the Expo/show floor opened up! I began this day by attending a diversity round table so I could meet Tanya (the head of I Need Diverse Games, who sponsored my attendance to GDC!) in person. After sitting on that discussion, we headed straight to the Expo floor to begin the magnificent process of networking. 

I got to meet a lot of artists, recruiters, heads of programs catered for artists and developers, but the best thing I got out of this experience was a portfolio review by an animator at High Voltage!  He started out by asking if I wanted him to be critical or nice, and I eagerly picked the former. He was very thorough in that review and, honestly, I’m really thankful for it. It was very uplifting and relieving to hear that he liked some of my pieces, that I have a solid knowledge in how the body moves, but I could stand to work more on my timing. So! My plan is to go back to some of my animations and fix some of those weak points he talked about to strengthen them as a whole!

Then continued my adventure through the expo. I got to play test Epyka, which helped me realize that I need to get more acquainted with VR ... since I kept forgetting that I could use all the controls at my disposal whenever I received a new control. The people running the booth were very patient with me so SHOUT OUT TO THEM FOR DEALING WITH MY REPEATED GAMING FAILURES.

After spending some more time talking with people at the booths, I headed to the West Hall and quickly dropped by the Montreal booth to nab myself some delicious maple taffy. It was pretty sweet because, before GDC, I JUST saw the video emmymadeinjapan had about making it! Would it be wrong to move to Canada purely for treats like that? 

I quickly headed on my way because I was on a mission. I had a mighty need to attend the Sonic the Hedgehog post-mortum talk, being led by Hirokazu Yasuhara (the original designer for Sonic the Hedgehog) and Naoto Ohshima (the original character designer). 

You don’t know how much I needed to attend this talk. One of my earliest memories was playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as a four-year-old in my bedroom alongside my sister and my grandfather (my grandpa was forever a hero to little me for managing to get to the end of Sonic 2). Sonic the Hedgehog influenced my childhood so much that it was the driving force my want to get into game development to begin with. Little me would make Sonic OCs, Sonic comics, and make my own alternate story lines for the games. Without Hirokazu Yasuhara, Naoto Ohshima, and Yuji Naka ... it’s tough to imagine a world where I would be this invested in game development. It sounds a little silly that a fast blue rat inspired by journey but HERE I AM.

In any case: I got into line well over an hour before the talk was due to began and there was already a line. Fortunately, I managed to be fifth in line before the ocean of people formed loop after long loop to enter the talk (no, really, it got LONG and the room was packed). I got me a near front row view for the talk!

It’s rare for  Hirokazu Yasuhara and Naoto Ohshima to be the ones to talk about Sonic. They were really nice, humble, informative, and joked around a lot even through their translator. We got some behind-the-scenes look at some animations that didn’t make it in to the initial game, how they first conceptualized Sonic and why, original game design notes (as they didn’t have a formal game design document) and some ... bizarre story about Sonic being this symbol for this airplane polite and Sonic was actually the story the airplane polite’s wife wrote about him?? Or something??? (the full story is here) It was weird, but unique, and it just ... made sense for the era. Of course, it was scrapped, but it was a surprising way that they tackled conceptualizing Sonic that I didn’t expect at all. Naoto Ohshima was inspired by a lot of American influences at the time, so it made sense to them to also try to cater Sonic to an American audience.  

Towards the end, the moderator asked for them to do a quick draw of Sonic for the audience! Guess who did which drawing. lol. 

SO THE BEST THING HAPPENED AFTER THE PANEL. They were both open to doing autographs and meeting fans! I was so nervous to approach either one of them that it felt like my heart was beaching out of my chest. I was all clammy, fidgety, but so in awe to be in their presence. They were kind enough to sign the notebook I had with me at the time and make these drawings for fans! I honestly can’t wait to get this framed because it was an experience completely out of this world. ♥♥

They say to “never meet your heroes”, but they were just two of the nicest people and I’m really grateful for them to fly all the way out here from Japan just to give a talk at GDC. :3 

After nabbing another maple taffy, I successfully calmed my nerves, so I met up with my sister for dinner before we attended the Independent Games Festival to watch the awards ceremony. The festival was a lot of fun but it was a CRIME that Cuphead didn’t win anything. >:c THAT’S ALL THAT I’M GONNA SAY ON THAT MATTER. The host was fun, engaging, and it felt fantastic to rest my ankles some more. We called it quits early that night because we were tuckered out from attending parties on Tuesday. I don’t know how many miles I walked in San Francisco but ... the answer is too many. To then began the last part of our adventure. ♪ 

ONWARD TO PART THREE!

#GDC #GDC 2018 #GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE #GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE 2018 #gdc diaries #sonic the hedgehog #sonic #naoto ohshima #naoto oshima #hirokazu yasuhara #sega #queue #SCREAMS LOUDLY IN EXCITE #video games #gaming #video game