Journey of a Skiller

The launch of Skill City (SC) is something that I cannot forget. It was spectacular!! There are no other words to describe it. Any game that started off with Bhangra was something that I HAD to be a part of. So, when the mail from SC arrived, asking us to submit our SOPs, I was one of the first people I guess to complete my SOP. But still, it took me a long, long time before I could send it across! Why? Because I was re-reading it for maybe the ‘n’th time. I wanted it to be the perfect SOP ever. Did I make a good job out of it? I don’t think so. I was not (and still am not) personally satisfied with the kind of shoddy work that I churned out. (Euch! How can anyone even read that??)

So, when I finally received a mail from SC, providing me a schedule of the interviews, I was relieved beyond words. I was the 6th person to be interviewed on the first day (yeah, the interviews went on for 2 days!! The number of applicants were more than 70!!). When my number came up, I was pretty nervous. I wanted this interview to be very good. I wanted to get into Skill. And then, the stress interview began. I messed it up (as usual, I am no good at stress interviews, I guess). By the time I came out of CR-1, I was dejected. Heart-broken, actually. Only a person as stupid as me could screw an interview. I had lost hopes of being selected by SC at all, and was thinking of applying to some other game, but then Lady Luck smiled on me.But then, to my surprise, I was selected! J Ahh.. Life couldn't have been better!!

Chapter 01 - Reprise

From the diary of a Skiller

"They say it’s the toughest test of your soft skills. Catchy phrase which lived up to its expectations completely the moment our seniors unveiled their games .We realized that the bar was high and it wouldn’t be easy performing here. So it was imperative to give in our best. But it’s always easier said than done. The best doesn’t come out by merely wishing for it. One and half month into the process and we were still struggling to get along. The game we had designed wasn’t one which could have had an undisputed execution. Finally it was scrapped. It was disappointing to the hilt since almost everyone else had come out with something substantial.

Now these are moments which drive you, push you to perform, to prove yourself. The script was laid, we just obliged. We slogged, brainstormed, proposed ideas and denied them and finally one day there was a game. A game which brought for us recognition and applause."

- Shailendra

Chapter 01

An Extract from the diary of a skiller

"When I attended the skill city launch ’09, I was enthralled seeing the aura of skill city. I knew that if it’s any game committee I wanted to be part of that had to be SKILL CITY. Well, that’s how I became a part of skill city. Every day in skill city was fun. It just added to the memories we will surely cherish in the future. It was not all about fun though, we also pitched in a lot of hard work and creativity into our games .The participants will surely come to know about it. Many games have been scrapped to get the right set of amazing games we finally zeroed in. My team had also come up with many game ideas – some weird (well I still remember the hot wheels game we had suggested), some not feasible (like the tricycle game – The participants were supposed to assemble a tri-cycle using scrap items and then attempt to race with them) and some turned out to be gold. Our game, cross amaze that was finalized is one of them. Well we are sure; the people playing the game will be truly amazed."

- Priyanka