I was once again invited to speak at the Kajaani University of Applied Sciences in Finland. This first lecture explains to the students how they dealing with the struggles of being a student and taking responsibility to even turn adversity into an opportunity. The topics covered in this lecture are: 0.00 The average challenges of a game design student. 1.00 Rapid game prototyping. 1.50 Dealing with mandatory classes and hacking them to your advantage. [The KEY message] 7.10 Dealing with adversity in your life and career.

1. Dealing with adversity
(as a Game Dev Student)
aka. “My life sucks, but I want to make games!”

2. Table of contents
• Who is this guy!?
• Why is he here?
• Three tips to start conquering the world
• Summary
• Questions

3. Who am I?
This is a talk by
Vlad Micu
Did freelance journalism, consulting, game production, event management
and research. Recently was PR Manager at
Gramble.com
Also used to be the Managing editor of
Gamesauce.org
Did production, game design and creative direction for
arkavis Siam co. ltd. in Thailand
Wrote for many other international outlets including
TechInAsia.com, PocketGamer.biz, Control Magazine,
Gamer.nl, XBLAFans.com, Casual Connect Magazine
and many more.

4. Challenges of a game dev student
• Still in college, have
other classes (blegh,
Swedish)
• Lack of experience
• Limited timeframe per
project

5. Mandatory classes
• Think outside of the box
• Bend the rules to your
favor
• When all else fails, help
each other to pass them.

6. Dealing with adversity
• Every time you fail, you
grow.
• If you’re gonna be dumb,
you gotta be tough.
• Adversity brings
opportunity!

7. Dealing with adversity
• Every time you fail, you
grow.
• If you’re gonna be dumb,
you gotta be tough.
• Adversity brings
opportunity!