As a part of my btech project requirement at daiict, I decided to do my internship at Playpower Labs, an awesome gaming startup company started by my dear friend Kishan Patel. This post is about my experiences of at Playpower Labs and what it taught me.
Never in my wildest dreams had I thought that I would agree to do game coding and that to in a startup. For the past 3 and half years, my mind and heart was into electronics and embedded. I didn't abhor coding but never took it up seriously as a full time interest. So, when Kishan threw me this proposal to work in this company, I was quite surprised and confused. But, also happy as I wanted to try something new. I wanted new exposure and experience and Kishan being a trusted aide, I knew I was in safe hands. Hence, I asked myself - 'Why Not' and took a leap of faith and after 6 months, I can proudly say that it was the wisest decision.
I don't know how other startups work, but we guys at Playpower Labs were a bunch of insane maniacs. Time was an unheard phenomenon here. The sleep cycle of everyone was so diverse that the office was never empty. You can find someone here 24x7. And the meetings were intense yet fun. And the coolest part is that as this being a gaming company, we had an unrestricted access to play games on iPad. So, we played 'Temple Run' for hours trying to beat each other's score and along the months, the team became a family - working, eating, playing together. This was the best experience for me.
I learnt quite few things from Kishan and the guys in the team. Firstly, how to run a startup - how to manage people, how to build infrastructure, how to talk with potential partners, how to hire people, etc, etc. This lessons are never taught but rather experienced. And I am happy that I got a chance to experience it. Hats off to Kishan for his awesome work to run the company !
The other important thing which I learnt was to code. And code properly. For the first time in my life, I followed good programming practices, developed algorithms, and enjoyed coding. The team helped me out when I was stuck, and provided guidance when I needed it. Now, I am very confident with my coding skills and have faith that I can pick up any language easily.
Lastly, during my intern period, I was exposed to 'design'. I had never perceived design as a discipline. My interests in design was suddenly discovered by me during these months. The major reason which led to this discovery was the designing of the games. We made lots of games and we had long discussions on the design of each game. Even the minutest detail was discussed and Nikhil very well explained this design choices. With constant interaction with Nikhil and his 'design ideologies', I fell in love with design. I hope that I can someday pursue it as a more serious interest than a hobby.
Finally, I had best six months of my life in which I learnt a lot, had loads of fun and made a family which will be remembered forever. Thanks Kishan :)
Never in my wildest dreams had I thought that I would agree to do game coding and that to in a startup. For the past 3 and half years, my mind and heart was into electronics and embedded. I didn't abhor coding but never took it up seriously as a full time interest. So, when Kishan threw me this proposal to work in this company, I was quite surprised and confused. But, also happy as I wanted to try something new. I wanted new exposure and experience and Kishan being a trusted aide, I knew I was in safe hands. Hence, I asked myself - 'Why Not' and took a leap of faith and after 6 months, I can proudly say that it was the wisest decision.
I don't know how other startups work, but we guys at Playpower Labs were a bunch of insane maniacs. Time was an unheard phenomenon here. The sleep cycle of everyone was so diverse that the office was never empty. You can find someone here 24x7. And the meetings were intense yet fun. And the coolest part is that as this being a gaming company, we had an unrestricted access to play games on iPad. So, we played 'Temple Run' for hours trying to beat each other's score and along the months, the team became a family - working, eating, playing together. This was the best experience for me.
I learnt quite few things from Kishan and the guys in the team. Firstly, how to run a startup - how to manage people, how to build infrastructure, how to talk with potential partners, how to hire people, etc, etc. This lessons are never taught but rather experienced. And I am happy that I got a chance to experience it. Hats off to Kishan for his awesome work to run the company !
The other important thing which I learnt was to code. And code properly. For the first time in my life, I followed good programming practices, developed algorithms, and enjoyed coding. The team helped me out when I was stuck, and provided guidance when I needed it. Now, I am very confident with my coding skills and have faith that I can pick up any language easily.
Lastly, during my intern period, I was exposed to 'design'. I had never perceived design as a discipline. My interests in design was suddenly discovered by me during these months. The major reason which led to this discovery was the designing of the games. We made lots of games and we had long discussions on the design of each game. Even the minutest detail was discussed and Nikhil very well explained this design choices. With constant interaction with Nikhil and his 'design ideologies', I fell in love with design. I hope that I can someday pursue it as a more serious interest than a hobby.
Finally, I had best six months of my life in which I learnt a lot, had loads of fun and made a family which will be remembered forever. Thanks Kishan :)
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ReplyDeleteHad a great time working with you too Darsh! And thanks for those nice words.... :P :)
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