In the latter half of 2022, I officially began my career in higher education. After more than a decade in technical education, it was a smooth transition—mostly adapting to new documentation protocols and slight shifts in student profiles, but nothing drastically different.

A significant new challenge arrived in 2023: mentoring my first Capstone Project (Trabalho de Graduação, or "TG") for the Digital Games program. This wasn't just a paper; the student group was required to deliver a comprehensive Game Design Document (GDD), a functional and well-structured game, and a final presentation demonstrating market awareness.

The group I advised developed a game called "WHAT'S GOING ON!" (For those curious, you can download and play the working build here: https://sijoga.itch.io/tg-whats-going-on)

As a mentor, I have a philosophy I call the "Game Points" method. I structure the project, set key milestones (the "Points"), and let the group work autonomously to reach them. I don't "hover" or demand weekly status reports; I prefer to make myself available for when they need guidance. When we meet, I provide direction, request changes, and we move on to the next "Point."

This group, however, took that autonomy and... well, they accumulated results at their own pace. The truth is, the end of the project became a frantic dash to the finish line for them.

This situation reinforced a core belief I've developed over years of mentoring: a group's failure, especially regarding deadlines and quality, is also an indirect failure of the mentor.

In the end, everything came together. They successfully presented the game with a live, real-time gameplay demo (as it must be) and achieved a high grade. You can see their final presentation (in Brazilian Portuguese) at the link below.

This project and this team were profoundly impactful for me, precisely because they presented so many challenges.

I am also incredibly proud to say that I have maintained contact with one of the students from this team. He has since collaborated with me on several other professional projects — a story for another post.

But for this post, that's the story: my first Capstone mentorship, a successful game that worked well, and a team that utilized crucial technologies that will position them for success in the market.

P.S. The best part of writing this post? I had to play "WHAT'S GOING ON!" again to refresh my memory. That was, without a doubt, the most enjoyable "research" I've done all week.