Context: As part of the curriculum for my senior year at Parsons School of Design, Design & Technology majors were required to give a presentation of our current prototypes & what our plans are for finals and after the semester to a guest critic. Following the presentations we were instructed to reflect on our presentation. Below is my reflection.

After giving my presentation, I received some feedback from our guest critic. She says that I could find some extra inspiration from American stories of diasporas finding identity, since that is a common theme of first/second generations. Some Miyazaki films she mentioned, such as Princess Mononoke, pay homage to the Indigenous history of Japan. Much like the Tainos of Puerto Rico’s history, her feedback to me was to think of the history of the culture itself in addition to its people. Personally, I’ve withheld the urge to incorporate any Taino/Arawak culture into my game, regardless if the setting is Puerto Rico. The Tainos are completely extinct and all that remains are the descendants by blood relation. I’ve been on the fence about appropriating a culture that nobody alive can validate; out of respect for the Tainos.

During the week that preceded my presentation I dedicated a lot of the time to creating it. I even took an additional step by writing out everything I wanted to say in my notebook. I did this to make sure there were as little words on-screen as possible and more words in my mouth as I presented. This worked extremely in my favor. My presentation was smooth, informative, and easy to follow if I might argue. I don’t think I’ve given a presentation as clean as that, which is a good sign that I’m improving at public speaking. My demo felt like it was lacking something. I didn’t realize what it was missing until after my presentation, but I need to really get to programming the revealing mechanic fully into the game. That is the other focal point of my entire concept, so in my revised production plan it’s going to be at the top of my priority list. I’m really looking forward to giving the final presentation.