Hello friends!! I hope you’ve all been doing well, staying safe and healthy and enjoying the warm weather.

I feel like this year is just flying by - it felt like just yesterday that I was longing for summer to come, and now it’s here. I’ve been really looking forward to a lot of things that would arrive with the month of May - getting to take a vacation with Alex for our birthdays, going home for my nephew’s first birthday, traveling around the city and seeing friends more often. It’s been really busy for quite awhile, and it’ll stay busy, but I’m glad to have a bit of a break from my everyday life for a bit.

Not that the past few months have been a drag at all, though - work has brought me a lot of joy, excitement, and fulfillment. I feel really lucky to be able to share that since February, I’ve been working on Among Us VR, which was announced at The Game Awards last year!! The experience has been so wonderful, not just because of the sound design that I get to do (think chonky thunks, sci-fi whooshes and boops, and bubbly beans!) but also because the team has been nothing short of amazing to work with. I’ve loved every team that I’ve worked with so far at Schell, but this particular group has a rhythm and synergy that’s pretty special, and I feel like we’re making something really cool.

As you can probably imagine, this project has been really demanding. Some of the challenges came from taking over the work from the previous audio designer, and getting up to speed and getting used to the pace that the team had already set. But the other challenges have come from needing to own and set the course for every part of the audio development for the entire game as the sole audio designer on the team - designing and building the sound palette, coordinating with the other developers, making decisions on how implementation systems will be built and what audio production looks like. I’ve worked on projects as the only sound designer before, but definitely nothing of this scale, and there are a lot of plates spinning that I’m afraid of dropping. Still, as stressful as it is, it’s also really rewarding! My team places a lot of trust in me and my choices, which is something that I never really expected at this point in my career, and even though it’s super new to me, I feel really empowered to assert my own thoughts and drive audio development for the project. The art director that I work with has been happy to give me some freedom as well, and I feel like even though I stepped into the role after someone else, I have been making an impact and leaving my own voice on this project.

I also can feel how much I’ve grown up to this point, especially in the fact that I’ve been handling multiple roles, solving issues, and standing up for my creative decisions on Among Us VR on my own, and I feel like I can actually be kind of proud of how I’ve been doing in this role and how much I’ve been learning. Of course, I’m still making mistakes and sometimes I fumble - I accidentally left some null refs the other night that broke the game build, and it was pretty embarrassing when I had to be reminded to double check my work - but I’m a lot less afraid to ask questions, play around with my work, and just try. I’m really excited to see how far I can go!! & of course, I can’t wait until I can share more of what I’ve been working on with this team with you all.

Other little updates

• I'm still continuing with contract work alongside my full-time job, and I've landed a few contract projects that I'm excited to talk about soon! I'm trying to be a little more careful about accepting contract work and negotiating my schedules so that I'm not overtaxing myself, but I have to admit that it's still tempting to take what contract work comes my way so I can earn a bit more and have additional creative outlets to keep working on sound design. I love working on VR projects, but I also want to have the experience of designing for non-VR games!
• I've been getting back into crocheting, after taking a very long break from the hobby throughout high school and college. I have been wanting to have activities to do that don't necessarily take a lot of thought but which would help keep me from just sitting at a screen in my off-hours, so I picked up crochet again and started making blankets for fun. It feels really nice to have a hobby that feels really tangible, especially since my work is very much intangible.
• I watched Everything Everywhere All At Once, and I think it may be one of my favorite movies of all time! I've honestly never seen another movie like it. I don't want to spoil it, but if you have the chance to go see it before it goes out of theaters, please do!!
• I cooked arroz caldo for the first time! Arroz caldo is essentially rice porridge with chicken that my family typically eats as part of our Christmas traditions, and it's one of my favorite Filipino meals. The first time I made it, I accidentally added way too much black pepper and almost made it inedible, but my second batch was really good! I'd love to someday cook it for friends and family to eat, too.
• I learned how to bake oolong tea cookies and they're amazing! I love the smell of tea that wafts through my apartment while the oolong butter simmers and while the cookies sit in the oven. I've been baking different kinds of things last year mostly for the joy of baking, but this is maybe the first recipe that I've done well with!
• Alex and I are taking a trip as a birthday treat to ourselves! It's been a long time since I've traveled (not counting moving here, since I moved here for work) and I'm really excited to see a new city. I'll be honest, one of the things I'm looking forward to the most is getting to go to a Filipino restaurant and eat Filipino food that I didn't have to cook myself - I cook well, but I can't cook everything!
• Media consumption: Genshin Impact, Spy X Family, Demon Slayer, Komi Can't Communicate, Turning Red, Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Good Place

& That’s all for now! Thank you so much for reading, and be well.

Stay cozy,

Amerlyn