Alright, auto-question, let's do this. I see a lot of this disparaging of people for "not being able to read" when they do a door wrong, especially from people who love to revel in the "stupidity" of others to make themselves feel better about themselves.

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Listen up. If the only thing telling a person how to open the door is a tiny bit of text then you have FAILED as a designer. Your job is to make the user experience of a person walking through a door so seemless that they do it without even thinking about it! Having to stop and read directions is a bad door experience.

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There's a series of doors near me that I hate. It's in a long breezeway connecting two sky walks. The first two doors you go through are glass push doors within long vertical handles. Then, suddenly, inexplicably, the next two doors (which look exactly the same with the same handles) are pull doors. There is of course a tiny placard with the word push or pull on there. Every single time I go through this passage I see it fuck people up. Every time! And its often catches me even though I went through it many times before!

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And the thing is, I can see the logic of why the designer switched the doors. They change at a central nexus with an adjoining hallway, so it "makes sense" that the would always open inwards to the nexus. But, whatever, this person clearly didn't playtest their damned doors.

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I hate those doors.

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Anyway, to answer the question, people usually push the door when it says pull because the door designer FUCKED IT UP.

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Change is difficult and scary! I can't answer this for you, as my values and experiences are not necessarily yours, but I will say that I tend to grieve more for future change than when it actually happens. You are imagining the life that surrounds you suddenly disappearing, which of course would be jarring, but I've found that in the actual act of changing that transition seems to go a lot more smoothly. For me, I always valued trying out new life experiences, and still value loved ones who have moved out of the center of my life, even if the relationship has changed. You also should ask yourself, will all your loved ones also stay in your town forever, or will they potentially also move on? Would that change how you feel? Other questions to consider: Would going to school put you into debt? Would you have stability in staying? Is this an opportunity that would grow more difficult to recreate over time? Do you have the lifestyle flexibility to try new things? What are the things about your current life that you don't want to lose? Would it be possible to fulfill those needs while still going to school?

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Also, keep in mind, even if you DO stay in your town and keep doing whatever you are doing right now, that does not guarantee that your situation will stay the same and feel the same forever. It's going to change because things change because life. I'm all about pushing people into trying new things and having adventures, but only you know the details of your life and circumstances and values, so only you can figure out the answer to this.

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Huge disclaimer: I literally cannot remember the last time I wrote a cover letter, and I've only read a few in a hiring context, so I am probably a terrible person to ask when it comes to advice on this. I often refer people to Liz England's article on the topic - http://www.lizengland.com/blog/2014/07/from-student-to-designer-part-3/

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Regarding the personal story thing, if that story doesn't show specifically how you would bring value to the company, it probably isn't very useful. I see this a lot in applications for things like scholarships, etc. You have to start with a baseline assumption that EVERY SINGLE APPLICANT has a passion for games or grew up with games making a significant impact on their lives or whatever. It's almost a given. So if your personal story just repeats the same theme that every other applicant does, or if it doesn't give a strong context about WHY you do what you do that is something that makes you uniquely qualified compared to other folks' experiences, it might be that those words are better put to use towards another purpose.

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Okay, bear in mind that I just gave a talk at GDC about bad advice, but here are some more questions (you don't have to answer them to me but I hope answering them to yourself may help). I'm working under the assumption that you want to work at a studio.

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- Do you have any inclination as to the type of studio you want to work for? I know it's tempting to be like "I'll take any job anywhere" but that just conveys lack of focus. I would search around at the type of places hiring entry level positions right now, and pick, like, 3 where you would be most excited to work (this doesn't mean only apply to 3 places, but rather pick them as a way to help you focus)

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- Do you have a body of work that you feel shows off your work as a competent designer or programmer for what those companies need? Remember, their first question isn't "is this person a good designer?" but rather "does this person have the skills to do the job I need to hire them for?" If the answer is no then you probably need to focus on some more long form projects that add depth to your portfolio. This could take several months of work. These days I tend to recommend game jam games as supplemental work rather than the meat of a portfolio, but really just make sure you can show off your depth of skill.

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- How risk-averse are you? Does the thought of August excite you or give you anxiety? Would you do better work on your game stuff if you had the security of a steady income or would other work distract you? If you don't have a job by August are you in serious enough financial trouble that your life could be at stake?

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