Happy Spring!

It’s almost the end of the academic calendar for me, and I’m so excited for the end of the semester to get some more studio time.

But before classes end, I wanted to send a quick email with some big news and to ask for a lil’ help with something I was nominated for!

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New Job!

Starting in the Fall of 2026, I’ll be joining the Department of Digital Art at Pratt Institute as a tenure-track Assistant Professor!

I’m so thrilled to be continuing at Pratt and helping build the Game Arts program in Brooklyn. It’s been an incredible year working with some inspiring faculty, and I’m so honored to continue teaching and learning from some of the very best students I’ve ever had.

Academia is going through an incredibly rough time, facing challenges posed by AI, federal funding cuts, precipitous drops in international enrollment, and existential qualms about the role of higher education in today’s society. Not to mention the games industry being in… a state.

BUT, that all being said, I am seriously excited to make a difference at Pratt and to work with colleagues to continue to inspire students, nurture emerging artists, and push critical conversations that can have a lasting positive impact in the immediate community and beyond.

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Godot Game Awards Nomination

At the end of last week I was pleasantly surprised to see that Bundle of Joy has been nominated for the Godot Game Awards for the Social Impact Category.

The awards are run by StayAtHomeDev, a long-time Godot content creator and YouTuber that has run a long-standing channel dedicated to feature Godot-made games.

Voting for the awards are open until the 13th (I think) so make sure that you cast your ballot for BoJ an check out all of the nominees.

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Odds & Ends

Along with other small updates and reminders, I also wanted to share some stuff I’ve been playing and watching to mix things up for this closing section.

So here ya go:

• I’ve played a lot of Titanium Court since release and I can’t wait to talk about it with AP Thomson for his visit to my professional practices class.

• I really liked Sol Cesto, and I’m delighted to see it get a 1.0 release recently. Not typically my kind of game, but I found it so polished.

• Been reading Brendan Keogh’s excellent The Video Game Industry Does Not Exist since picking it up at PAX and it’s really given voice to a lot of qualms I’ve had as a game designer coming from a contemporary art background. Highly recommend!

• As part of judging the NarraScope shocase, I really liked 10 Games We Played on Long Car Rides and in Standby Lines at Disney by Harper Shen. It’s a very sweet, wistful, yet tender twine interactive narrative you can play in the browser.

• Speaking of NarraScope, a reminder I’ll be talking there on Saturday June 13th.

• The graduating seniors in the Pratt Game Arts program are having their showcase at Wonderville on May 17th!

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Alright, that’s all I got for now, but expect another update from me over the summer with prototype news and hopefully more details about the Fall.

Thanks so much for your continued support!

<3z

Nicholas
Essay Games