Jordan Hussey ’20: Friends of Design Academy of Digital Arts

Name: Jordan Hussey
Class Year: 2020
Major: East Asian Languages and Cultures
Hometown: Lewisburg, Pa.

Internship Organization: Friends of Design Academy of Digital Arts
Job Title: Games Technology Assistant
Location: Cape Town, South Africa

What’s happening at your internship?

At the Academy, my main job is to help promote and market the student-made games, which can range from week-long projects to year-long projects developed in collaborations with some of the full-time instructors as well. For example, when I first started, the students in the Game Design and Development Course were just finishing up their collaborative projects where they had to complete a working game within one week’s time. Later on, I designed a webpage for them and created promotional content such as a gameplay trailer and screenshots. This page was shared all over the school’s social media platforms and received hundreds of views.
Right now I am assigned to work on a much larger project as the school is trying to start their own game development department where they will make games full-time with the assistance of students in the advanced courses. Since they have never had a marketing position for games, they are taking the opportunity to have me maintain a development blog to track their progress and spark interest in their work.

Why did you apply for this internship?

I applied to this internship because it was something that I had never envisioned myself doing, and I thought it might be the only opportunity in my life to experience South Africa. Also, the idea of working instead of studying abroad for two months appealed to me because you were able to have a look at what work culture was like and be completely immersed in it.

Living in a new city? What has that experience been like for you?

The city is more way more beautiful than I imagined, having lived in a place with no real mountains the majority of my life. The plants and animals here are incredibly diverse and completely different from back home. Although the weather is usually very warm, summertime here is actually wintertime, which means the average temperature ranges from 60 degrees to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. One thing that took me a very long time to get used to was keeping an eye out for danger and staying safe, as crimes, such as pickpocketing, are quite common so you always have to look out for your belongings and travel in groups. Usually the safest and most convenient way to get around is to use Uber, which is relatively inexpensive here in comparison to the U.S.

What is most rewarding about your internship?

The most rewarding thing about my internship is learning about an industry I was always interested in but never thought about pursuing a career in. Everyday I do hours of research about the video game industry, the game production cycle, and the resources necessary to make it all happen, which has given me a greater appreciation of the work those in my company are doing. Also, I have enjoyed seeing the students working on their own game projects as that was the first time I saw game development in action. Seeing them made me more motivated to do well in creating a webpage to show off their hard work on their projects, which can be played and downloaded by anyone now. Check out the link here if you’re interested.