I spent today looking into some small game development engines that might be interesting to play around with. One which caught my attention was Wick, which looks like it’s meant to be an animation software that also has interactive features. I haven’t used it for anything yet, but I was charmed by one of the YouTube tutorials that shows off interactivity (there’s a drawing of a little mouse!)
Unfortunately, it looks like it’s at its most powerful if you’re familiar with Javascript. The tutorials give a bit of instruction as to what built-in functions are available, and how you might create some new functionality, but knowing code would make it a lot stronger. The interactivity tutorial shows you the basics a beginner might need to make a point-and-click adventure, which is fun but not flashy. Also, there might be options to upload images, but all the art in the tutorial looks hand-drawn in the editor, which will be a barrier for anyone who’s self conscious about their digital art skills.
I also attended Green Dot training, where we talked about the skills and strategies one can employ to counteract instances of sexual violence or misconduct.
The training covered two main areas: Reactive Green Dots, or actions one can take when one sees an instance in progress, and Proactive Green Dots, or actions one can take to build a community that is well informed about, equipped to address, and culturally against sexual violence and misconduct. Reactive Green Dots came in three flavors: distract, direct, and delegate, meaning to divert the situation indirectly, to directly address either the perpetrator or the target, and to seek backup or help either through official channels (Campus Security, Community Concern Forms) or unofficial ones.
Being in stay-at-home mode so far away from campus makes Green Dot and its training feel sort of removed for me. I’m very glad I went, and I feel more equipped to just… respond to situations where I might otherwise freeze up, but it feels like those situations aren’t very likely to come up right now. I hope they don’t.
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