2016: A Year in Photos

The first roadtrip of the year! Down to visit family in the middle OF FREAKING NOWHERE.

At least it was pretty.

Me: what is that green stuff

Sister: is it grass

Me: …

Classic NZ traffic jam.

I started serious work on my first serial, Mountain Sound!

Was shown an old photo of my mum, apparently pigeons LOVED her.

My cousin’s cute dog, Mate.

I posted my first chapter of Mountain Sound to my site.

My friend got a couple scottish fold kittens and, my gosh, they were so cute back then.

Auckland on a surprisingly nice day. The city looks good sometimes.

Hahahahahahahaaaa

Makeshift photography with the bestie.

One of the books that got me back into reading over the year.

Staging a photo while we looked around at the Idea Collective at MOTAT to organize a Minicade.

Global Game Jam was my first game jam ever, and it finally kickstarted me getting into game development properly.

Jam. Jam!

We had a gorgeous view of the sunset while we worked. Our game was never finished, but that weekend changed my life.

Summer memories: game jams, pool parties, cute dogs.

Got completely drenched while trying to take photos of light at the top of a big hill. Never in my life have I been so caught in rain, nor have I missed my DSLR so much.

The time I got STUCK IN MY CHAIR.

Finally! The Minicade! It was a new experience organizing the event, but it was a lot of fun.

Helper feet!

The people who helped make the IGDANZ Minicade happen. Good team!

Threw a seafood dinner party with a couple friends, made a lot of dumplings.

My second game jam: Paperjam. Organized by IGDANZ. Made a card game with Lucy Morris about collecting an RPG party.

Playtesting the game. I had to do maths to try and balance it.

Kicking back at my favourite place—Al’s Deli—not long after starting a new podcast with Megan Crouse, Western Reaches.

Saw Sarah Millican with the bestie. She was hilarious.

I flew down to Wellington for the first Play By Play, NZ’s international games festival. Finally achieved my life goal of becoming an NPC.

Why I was an NPC: I was doing photography for the festival. I also ran a Twine workshop!

“What game would you make?”

All dolled up at the PBP awards night with the amazing woman who organized the whole thing, Lucy Morris.

Bubbles at the Pop-up Globe Theatre in Auckland! I was severely sleep deprived after no sleep and an early flight back from Welly, so I was delirious with joy. Got to see my favourite Shakespeare play, Twelfth Night.

The breadsnake.

I got lost on the way to getting my ADHD diagnosed. I still don’t entirely understand where I was.

To finish off my Week of the Hunger Games blog series, I did photography for a guest post with my bestie.

We had a fire extinguisher VERY CLOSE BY.

Dressed up as a lumberjane with a very small axe for a themed birthday party. Found some trees.

I don’t know, I thought it was kinda cool!

Went out clubbing with my sister and her friends—all of whom are parents. It was a weird and fun night of me drunkenly standing in the middle of the dance floor and taking photos of the lighting.

Sunset from just outside my house. I feel like the sight meant something, though I don’t know what.

Headed down to the snow with a bunch of friends over winter. Except, there wasn’t much snow.

Lack of snow aside, the view from the mountain was gorgeous.

A puppy followed us home from a walk, and we literally could not get rid of it, much to its mother’s distress.

My bestie’s 21st was Parks and Rec themed, and I made a drunk, sappy speech after too many waffle shots.

While helping my sister clear out her stuff, I found my old Pokemon toys. I was obsessed with these little guys for most of my childhood.

A bunch of my friends all moved into a big house together not long after I got my driver’s license, so obviously I helped them out. We ended up having fish and chips on the floor for dinner.

Steven Joyce, the MP who had a whole John Oliver segment about him getting a dildo thrown at his face, played some VR at an IGDANZ space during an event at the AR/VR Garage.

Woke up ridiculously early to go to the PIGSTY Symposium at AUT. There were a heap of brilliant talks, including Jane Cocks’ talk about using games to positively change people’s habits.

Right after the Symposium was NZGDC, the little NZ game developer’s conference. Saw some of my favourite people, went to a bunch of interesting panels, and even ran my own! Pic by Lucy Morris.

Some lovely people at the Women in Games brunch at NZGDC. I always feel so inspired after events like this.

The audience at our panel about narrative design through art direction. We had our own hashtag on Twitter: #NZCART!

After months, I finally found a Dragonair in Pokemon Go and went on a half hour mission to track my baby down. I haven’t played the damn game since.

Organized a second Minicade at MOTAT, this time much bigger and much better than the last!

Found out I helped inspire a gorgeous game about living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Robin.

AFTER-MINICADE TACOS.

The one time I accidentally stayed up longer than I meant to on sleeping pills and took a million Snapchat selfies while COMPLETELY DELIRIOUS and totally noodle-armed.

Doing some photography things with the bestie. What a pretty glass. What could it be???

For Halloween, the bestie and I dressed up as the scariest thing of all: millennials. We had a selfie stick—and Pumpkin Spice!

I flew over to Melbourne for Melbourne International Games Week, where I volunteered at GCAP and was media at PAX Aus. What a blast; by the end of it all, my voice was a silent squeak.

I literally can’t get over how much I love Melbourne. So many photos.

Awkwardly had to walk across THE ENTIRE ROOM in high heels during the Q&A at the Women in Games lunch because my bladder is weak. Got a good bathroom selfie out of it though.

Took a photo at a bar and then accidentally added it to their Google thing. So, if you ever see this photo: whoops.

I had my art up at a booth in the PAX Rising area of PAX! For my friend’s game, Stellar Shift.

Got the chance to play a bunch of VR games at PAX. I freaking LOVE VR! One problem: you don’t know that Jono is taking a selfie with you when you’ve got a headset on.

I only did a couple cosplay shoots this year, but I got in a gorgeous one with Mithrilneth Cosplay while in Aus.

Another bathroom selfie, after being glittered by Kamina Vincent (who is notorious for her glittering). Felt like a real member of the community after that!

I don’t entirely remember what this party was, or why there was a fish DJ, but it was fun. The pear cider actually tasted like pears, which is the worst possible thing for it to taste like.

I kept finding myself back in Melbourne’s Chinatown for dinner. What a good place.

Won a voucher for an escape room with an AI, pizza, drinks, and bowling. Then I spent way too long editing a photo of an ice block.

On one of my final days in Melbourne, I made a mission out to St Kilda because I needed to finally see the beach. I tried two cakes and hated them both, but at least they were pretty.

Melbourne from the rooftop pool at our hotel.

Back in NZ, I dragged my sister to the noodle market and then made her wait half an hour in line with me so I could GET A PINEAPPLE DRINK.

Dressed up as Jyn-like as I could for the Rogue One midnight premiere. Tucked a dress into my jeans, a trick learned from trying to dress up as Katniss.

This year’s Christmas dinner, my 10th one, I finally made a turkey. Turns out I didn’t think about how big it would be…

Still! Everything worked out great, and everyone loved the turkey. That, or they’re all lying to me.

Finally: new year’s. Sat precariously on a balustrade as I took selfies with my friends playing table tennis. Didn’t fall and die, had an A+ night ringing in the new year with both of my besties.