Meet Kevin Wei

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kevin Wei. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kevin, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?

Game development is art, music, coding, and poetry thrown into a giant pile that only sometimes works. In fact, most of the time, even after hours of recompiling, debugging, or any other exasperating task, nothing works at all.

And maybe you check the clock and realize it’s 4AM and you’ve made no progress because your code spits out an error you don’t understand. And when you ask others on Stack Overflow, the answer they give you makes you even more confused. You’re tired, hungry, and the only light you see is the red error bars coming from your screen. The thing is, no one told you about this zone when you started the project. After you already drafted a story, designed a game world, and drew concept art, you never expected there would be a moment in development where you want desparately to give up.

You are alone in that sense; you’re not following a tutorial, and no one can help you better than you can help yourself. But you’re also free. You are creating something that has never existed before–of course you will go off-course. Indeed, the entire process is along a road not taken. I think “keeping creativity alive,” much like exploration, is about letting go of that fear of getting lost. There is never a set path; getting stuck, restarting, or beginning completely anew is oftentimes necessary. Game development, like all forms of art, is difficult. But it comes with a fluttery feeling in the heart that can only mean pure excitement for the person exploring it.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I make study Digital Media Design in college and make small video game projects for fun. One of the games, Ouroboros, was a project I collaborated on that achieved 10th Overall out of over 1000 participants in a game development competition. I am also excited to say I am currently working on a snowboarding simulator with some friends in the game development club at my university. It is planning to release by the end of the semester. I am only a freshman in college, so I have soo much to learn and improve at.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I would say I am early in my journey. I’m only a student and have so much to learn. But I think learning is an amazing thing that is just inherently human. Learn something new every day, and you will improve even if you don’t notice at first.

I would also say that being excited for something is so important. Whether that is being excited to start on a brand new project or simply craving ice cream at the end of the day, I think looking forward for something is the best motivator.

Also, as a student, I would say that it’s okay to ask questions and be confused. In fact, those who ask questions improve the most and excel. It’s not wrong to by confused, it’s wrong to judge others for being confused.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

My parents raised me and supported me and cared for me. They helped me get through hardships and I would not be here if it wasn’t for them. Advice I would offer is that love goes a long way. Making someone a cup of tea or simply complimenting their shirt can make their day 100x better. My parents taught me to be appreciative of those who love you, and to offer kindness unconditionally.

There is not usually a single most-impactful thing you can do for someone. Rather, small bits of kindness and generosity build over years. I think some people avoid certain projects out of fear that it would not help many people. There was a story of a starfish stuck on the sand, thirsting for water. A man throws it back to the sea, and an onlooker asks, “there are millions of starfish in the world, so that doesn’t make any difference.” The man replies, “It made a difference to that one!”

If you could help one person, only one, through a simple act, then that could mean the world to that person. I think realizing this, that you have the capability to drastically help others, is incredibly motivating.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kevinwei.itch.io/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevwei/