My name is Elle Villa, I’m a transition year student in Ireland with interests in art, design, music and writing. As part of my transition year, I recently got the opportunity to work with IntoGames for a week. I’d like to bring forward gratitude to Into Games for continuing with work experience in a pandemic and adjusting to Covid guidelines. In this article, I’ll be sharing notes on what I did on a day-to-day basis and little things that I learned about the games and non-profit sectors as well as myself.

Day One

The first day of any work experience is always a buzz of nerves and excitement for me. We started off with a morning meeting where I was introduced to the Into Games team and got to see updates on their individual work and company projects. I was largely mentored by Brandon Cole (Head of Partnerships) and Millicent Thomas (Head of Social & Content) – I learned a lot of tips and gained advice from both of them. 

After the meeting, I was assigned to draft some graphics and tweets for promoting Into Games’ upcoming online festival, National Games Careers Week (March 26th - April 2nd). This experience taught me a lot about how to design for advertising; through speaking with Millicent I learned how to create sleek designs and direct the viewer’s attention to the main product. After this I was able to sit in on a call with D3T(a games development studio) and see how Brandon pitches Into Games to potential partners. 

Day Two

On day two I finalised the sample tweets, edited the formatting and made them stand out more with some emojis to break up text. I also drafted some questions for the Into Games weekly Twitter Q&A. This week’s Q&A featured character artist Shayleen Hulbert. I had a lot of fun researching character design and Hulbert’s career journey. We got positive feedback from followers as well which is always a plus. Coming up with these questions was one of my favourite parts of the week.

Day Three

I did a lot of database work on day three. Brandon assigned me to compile lists of games companies and communities along with their email addresses. This gave me insight into how companies generate leads and more. I also sat in on another meeting about evaluating the Into Games mentorship program in terms of structuring and website layout. It was good to see how an enterprise self-evaluates its practice; introspection is an important part of developing a business. I also drafted an article promoting Core Games (an Into Games partner) through writing about accessibility in games education which fit nicely with Core’s platform and mission.

Day Four

I’m writing this article on my final day. So far I have attended a meeting for the team's midweek catch-up, again giving me an authentic experience of the day-to-day life in social enterprise. Brandon also let me join a partnership meeting with Drest (a fashion app that aims to bridge the gap between millenial/gen z and high fashion). I really enjoyed the meeting as I found the concept of Drest to be quite unique and I loved interacting with the Drest representative.

Looking Back

All in all, I learned a lot from my week at Into Games. It differed from other work experiences I’ve had in the past in its collaborative nature. I think this is the first work experience where the team was so involved on an almost hourly basis in terms of checking in on me. I definitely gained a lot of insight into who I am as a worker; I actually really enjoy working with people, building off their ideas and getting their opinions. I also got to interact with all the members of Into Games which really set an example to me for how a teams work and the different personalities in a workspace. I am very grateful for my four days here and it has, if anything, definitely encouraged me to support social enterprises in the future.