Knowledge-sharing Through an Underutilised Medium: From Academia to Video Game Development

My journey from academia to video game development is a series of unfortunate events that had to happen.

Before this short personal essay truly begins, I need to explain a few terms. First of all, I use “knowledge-sharing” instead of “education” to take a stance against the exclusive nature of higher education that seems to only serve the elite. I was in high academia for many years, receiving special guidance and attention, even after class. It primed me for PhD and for a future career as a professor and researcher. I wanted that life, truly. I dedicated all my free time to make sure I can call that life my own. I have studied, and studied, and I adored it. I have also made friends along the way; my mentors and my closest peers became my second family. Have I stayed in Hungary, that is exactly the fate that would have awaited me.

But I did not. While there was a time when I fantasied about the what ifs, I no longer suffer such afflictions as the age of generative AI has doomed not only class participation and discussions but grading itself. Teachers are now gen AI fact checkers rather than educators. A sad reality that disgusts me every time I think of it.

My disillusionment in education, however, started way before generative AI was ruining the minds of the next generations. It actually started during my graduate years when I decided to no longer focus solely on theoretical work and added field study to my research as well. As I was researching violence through socio-cultural lenses, this seemed to be a logical decision to make. Little did I know it would open eyes to the stark reality of the ever-present ivory towers of academia. I wish not to dwell on details as they are deeply personal, probably too personal, and none of this is the focus of this essay, but turning the work I have done with victims and survivors into often inaccessible academic jargon that meant to only please my peers left an extremely sour taste in my mouth. What’s the point, I asked. Who does this help, I wondered.

To fully grasp the consequences of this disillusionment, I have to state that I have always wanted to be a teacher – in a more traditional sense. Someone who shares knowledge and guides others; after all, providing guidance was indeed part of being a mentor long ago. I did not feel that I was guiding nor helping anyone while I was at academia, despite having the opportunity to engage with the educational system in its highest form and actively contributing to it.

Such is the reason I left. After my departure, I spent several years as a teacher, mainly in the private sector. It was just a job, something that put food on my table. I know my story is not at all unique – a sad reality, indeed. My calling, my true calling, was lost.

At least, that is what I thought until recently. In 2024, the bubble of aimlessness was getting more and more suffocating as generative AI continued to eat all my side hassles and made being a teacher even more of a living hell. Thus, I decided to open my old notebook and look at my sketches of a world I was developing with great enthusiasm during the pandemic. After all, why not, I thought. It is rather ironic, really. Hopelessness turned into the greatest motivation for me. If everything is going downhill, why not just focus on what I actually like doing: creating and building. It was also a source of resistance. After all, human beings would not be here without art, the greatest fuel of culture – and through my own creations, I got to share.

What is this world, you may ask? It is the world I call Venar. As I mentioned before, it all started during the pandemic when I was locked in my apartment completely alone; I had a lot of time on my hand, you see. As a gamer, I naturally gravitated towards video games to pass the seemingly never-ending time. I got invested in different fantastical worlds as I played through narrative-driven fantasy adventures, even reading books set in these carefully crafted universes. I felt like a child again who just booted up Fable: The Lost Chapters on her big brother’s computer. Except I was no longer a kid but someone with a robust academic training who was itching to utilise her skills. I could not turn off my brain while playing. Some may call it an annoyance, but it enriched my experience and appreciation of these games. Not long after the first months of lockdown, I got interested in game design and development. I downloaded books and courses; I watched study videos – I was engrossed. Despite everything going on at the time, I was highly stimulated which worked miracles on my learning process. I was dreaming about becoming a game designer myself, creating worlds and memorable characters, building environments to tell a story. Game design also rewards continuous learning in ways I have not experienced in other professions. It was truly miraculous at the time for me. Through interactive and branching storytelling, I knew I could share my own knowledge and utilise all my skills. Indeed, game design was right up my alley – I studied history, literature, linguistics and culture, after all. In the autumn of 2020, I decided to start building my own world from scratch – the world I would end up calling Venar. Eventually, however, the lockdown was lifted, and I was forced back to reality. While I continued to follow the gaming industry and learn, for the coming years Venar was only wishful thinking as I knew it would not pay my rent.

Yet, it never did leave my dreams. Then, in 2024, it resurfaced again, full force. That year, Great Seal Studios was born. While it is a side job for now, a passion project, I fully intend to make Venar, with its rich history and cultures, a world people will get invested in in the future. Becoming a game designer also ensures that I can utilise the highly unique interactive nature of video games to do what I thought I had lost long ago: being someone that shares knowledge. After all, role-playing games set in carefully constructed worlds can be an extremely powerful tool to drive home emotions and to guide people through the intricate webs of humanity and life. To give meaning to all this nonsense. That is all I have ever wanted.

Life continues to throw punches at me, but now I truly know what I wish to do and I refuse to give it up. I have been working with wonderful people from different artistic departments, enriching my own life and work. It is truly a dream come true. I believe in us; I believe in what we can do.

But as of now, Great Seal is a side job. As for my full-time employment, I hope to join a passionate team that also creates video games with depth and conscious layering. I no longer wish to sell my hours as a private educator, pulling out my hair for the benefit of none. I would rather pull out my hair for something I actually believe in, such as forging worlds and moulding stories. I want to craft unforgettable player experiences that cut deep and make people think. After all, such is the responsibility of a teacher.