It’s never too late for Night School

‘Eagerly exchanging notes on a foreign subject was a feeling I didn’t realize I missed. Connecting with seatmates-turned-friends came naturally despite our different backgrounds.’

AT A GLANCE

• Night School is an alternative educational model by Somewhere Else, offering after-hours workshops for creatives, including a recent indie game development workshop.
• The workshop, led by animator Agu Crisostomo, focused on using Construct 3 to create games without coding, fostering a collaborative and engaging learning environment.
• Participants left with their own games and certificates, highlighting the importance of lifelong learning and the unique experiences of adult education.

This is AI-generated. Read the article for full context. Report any errors.

I can vaguely remember the last time I raised my hand in a classroom. It was back in college, surrounded by confused classmates with furrowed brows.

Eight years later, I found myself in a familiar scene. Except it was 9 pm after a workday. We were all adults clocking out from our respective gigs, but inside this green-lit room, we were students again: focused, eager, and ready to learn. It may have been late, but with Night School, it never is.

About Night School

Night School is an alternative school model by Somewhere Else, a team of multimedia artists fostering events and spaces for the Philippine creative community.

While their general programming includes film screenings and listening parties, Night School specifically offers a series of after-hours workshops taught by industry professionals. Recently, I attended one focused on indie game development for creatives.

Indie game dev workshop

Held at The Studio in Ayala Malls Circuit, the workshop was tailored for curious creatives who wanted to start making their own video games. What really sold me on it, though, was the promise of zero coding. As a visually rooted creative, anything meticulous involving numbers and programming was the bane of my existence.

Yet, I’ve always had a fascination with visual novel engines and 8-bit games. As a kid, I used to stay up late trying to figure out game-building softwares like Ren’Py or RPG Maker.

Although my grade-school brain was overwhelmed by those clunky programs, I was fueled by a pure drive to learn. Back then, it was just me and a glowing screen against the world. Fast forward to today, and it was me in a whole room of glowing screens, trying again together.

Checking each screen was our instructor, Agu Crisostomo. Agu is an animator and indie game maker based in Manila who creates his own projects and shares them on itch.io (agooseteen.itch.io).

For his workshop, he taught us how to use Construct 3, an in-browser game-making platform with (you guessed it) no coding required. Using Construct, we were able to build our very own Tamagotchi-style games!

Throughout the session, Agu didn’t just teach us how to assemble a game; he taught us how to think like a developer. He introduced a mindset I never would have cultivated on my own, made even more relatable by the fact that Agu was once just a curious creative like the rest of us.

As for the game-building process, the classroom setting made all the difference. Eagerly exchanging notes on a foreign subject was a feeling I didn’t realize I missed. Connecting with seatmates-turned-friends came naturally despite our different backgrounds. We were all there for the love of the game, and we were determined to leave with one.

At the end of the day (or rather, night), we left with our own working games and certificates. Holding mine made me feel like a student again.

It brought back a saying my college professors used to repeat: “Life is a never-ending journey of learning.” Back when I was an 18-year-old with endless classes, of course I agreed.

Now, as a 28-year-old professional who just learned how to fry food without flinching, I still agree. But I can’t help feeling that the kind of learning we do as adults is different.

After graduation, we usually learn out of practicality or chance: the things we have to know to navigate adulthood. We end up setting aside niche curiosities that are better explored in a classroom. After all, it is not like you can just walk back into a school, right? Well, apparently (and gratefully), you can. – Rappler.com