Lately I've been thinking of starting the game as a triangle instead of a circle. By limiting the player to a triangle at the beginning, hopefully that gives them something to work toward to appreciate the power of the circle.
Also, Jinghui has sent a recent prototype that should include the shooting and transforming of enemy shapes. I'll upload it as soon as I get it.
Monday, July 28, 2014
Obstacles - Part Two
Another major challenge that I'm facing at this point in my schooling is the fact that I'm a part time student attending a program designed for full time participation. I'm grateful for how the professors and advisers have worked with my busy schedule, they've definitely been more flexible than I'm sure they anticipated they'd have to be. But for all the efforts they've put in, there's only so much they can do.
Recently I've run into quite a conflict because of this. It was a conflict that taxed my own energies and patience, as well as patience and energy of those involved. I won't go into it, but it's been a major source of anxiety and difficulty in my experience at the U. It feels like it's going to have ramifications for the rest of my schooling, and I worry that the managing of those dynamics are going to put additional stress on the remainder of my time at the U. This has also affected the experience I thought I would be getting at the U.
Lastly, one of the major obstacles I'm facing right now is burn out. For two years I've been juggling full time work, a second job of teaching at the Art Institute, attending classes and doing homework at the U, as well as personal family and church responsibilities, including a new born baby. In the last 2 years, I've also experienced 9 months of crunch time where I've put in anywhere from 60 to 80 hours a week of work. As I head into the 3rd year of this program, and I look at a schedule and a situation that doesn't appear to be changing, and I face down a semester that will probably be one of the more difficult semesters, it's safe to say, it's a little bit daunting, and I worry about having the necessary energy to fulfill my responsibilities.
The question then becomes one that we're all familiar with. How to go on, even in the face of mounting and seemingly overwhelming obstacles. I understand that these obstacles seem trivial compared to other obstacles out there. This isn't Mount Everest, it's not cancer, and it's not the death of a loved one. It's important to keep that in perspective. In fact, it's probably a good idea to spend a little bit of time each day recognizing and being grateful for the things that are going right in my life. Recently Dieter F. Uchtdorf said of gratitude:
"Have we not reason to be filled with gratitude, regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves?"
I'm usually not one that does a good job at being grateful. The times that I've focused on it in my life, however, has really helped me. It's helped change my attitude and put things in their proper perspective. It's made me a little more able to tackle the things in front of me, and it's helped me get out of myself a little bit, and focus on the concerns and needs of others.
There's probably a long list of things I can do to overcome the obstacles I'm facing right now. There's probably some things I can do to revitalize myself and generate the energy to get through this next year (hopefully it includes paddle boarding, the ocean, and surfing.) While I'll need to do some hard work to figure these things out, I think what I need to start with, the thing I need to put at the top of my list, is gratitude. If I can start with that, I have a feeling that the other things will work themselves out. Past experience teaches that in overcoming obstacles, if we can put the proverbial one foot in front of the other, committed to the journey as well as the destination, then whatever is necessary to overcome our obstacles will eventually come to us in time.
Recently I've run into quite a conflict because of this. It was a conflict that taxed my own energies and patience, as well as patience and energy of those involved. I won't go into it, but it's been a major source of anxiety and difficulty in my experience at the U. It feels like it's going to have ramifications for the rest of my schooling, and I worry that the managing of those dynamics are going to put additional stress on the remainder of my time at the U. This has also affected the experience I thought I would be getting at the U.
Lastly, one of the major obstacles I'm facing right now is burn out. For two years I've been juggling full time work, a second job of teaching at the Art Institute, attending classes and doing homework at the U, as well as personal family and church responsibilities, including a new born baby. In the last 2 years, I've also experienced 9 months of crunch time where I've put in anywhere from 60 to 80 hours a week of work. As I head into the 3rd year of this program, and I look at a schedule and a situation that doesn't appear to be changing, and I face down a semester that will probably be one of the more difficult semesters, it's safe to say, it's a little bit daunting, and I worry about having the necessary energy to fulfill my responsibilities.
The question then becomes one that we're all familiar with. How to go on, even in the face of mounting and seemingly overwhelming obstacles. I understand that these obstacles seem trivial compared to other obstacles out there. This isn't Mount Everest, it's not cancer, and it's not the death of a loved one. It's important to keep that in perspective. In fact, it's probably a good idea to spend a little bit of time each day recognizing and being grateful for the things that are going right in my life. Recently Dieter F. Uchtdorf said of gratitude:
"Have we not reason to be filled with gratitude, regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves?"
I'm usually not one that does a good job at being grateful. The times that I've focused on it in my life, however, has really helped me. It's helped change my attitude and put things in their proper perspective. It's made me a little more able to tackle the things in front of me, and it's helped me get out of myself a little bit, and focus on the concerns and needs of others.
There's probably a long list of things I can do to overcome the obstacles I'm facing right now. There's probably some things I can do to revitalize myself and generate the energy to get through this next year (hopefully it includes paddle boarding, the ocean, and surfing.) While I'll need to do some hard work to figure these things out, I think what I need to start with, the thing I need to put at the top of my list, is gratitude. If I can start with that, I have a feeling that the other things will work themselves out. Past experience teaches that in overcoming obstacles, if we can put the proverbial one foot in front of the other, committed to the journey as well as the destination, then whatever is necessary to overcome our obstacles will eventually come to us in time.
Obstacles - Part One
It seems that in most things we do we run into obstacles. Forces that push against us as we're trying to accomplish something. This seems to be built into nature, Newton's 3rd law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. True to this, it seems that the harder we try to accomplish something the stronger the opposition is. I don't know that we can escape this phenomenon, we should probably expect it in all we do, and be used to it when it comes. After years of experiencing this, however, it still seems to catch me off guard when it happens.
This game has definitely run into its share of obstacles. I anticipated this, but for a game that has yet to really get off the ground, the challenges seem to have come earlier and more frequently than expected.
I've mentioned this before, but when I started the game design program at the U, I enrolled with the expectation of certain experiences. I wanted to work on a mobile game, and I wanted work on it with a small development team, one that would allow me to take on roles and responsibilities that I haven't experienced in my career. I wanted to learn and implement game design, I wanted to design the visual look and feel of a game, and I wanted the challenges that came with a small team and a limited amount of resources. My experience is that constraints are often a good thing, especially in creative endeavors, as they force you to channel your energies into a focused path of creation.
The constraints and challenges that I've experienced in my time at school however, came in large part from the factors outside of the game development itself. This wasn't something I was anticipating, and it's something that's caused a lot of frustration and energy as I try to figure it out.
One of the biggest challenges I've faced is my work arrangement. Because I work for a video game company, I'm prohibited from profiting from a game that would be a conflict of interest with my job. Additionally, because I'm a working professional, I'm not allowed to enter my game into the student indie game festival, which is one of the goals of the program at the U. Because I can't enter my game into the student IGF competition, my fellow students cannot use my game as their thesis game, as they wouldn't be getting the experience that the program was designed to give them. Therefor, any help I get from students is extra time they have when they're not working on their own projects. Because of my professional status, I'm also prohibited from working on other student's projects. This became a problem on the student game Vinyl. This was a music game developed by the grad students in my cohort wherein the player played as a character on the needle of a record player. The player would "surf" on the needle in a half pipe to move around obstacles and effect the music being played.
After hearing this idea, I really wanted to animate for it. Board animation, particularly surfing animation is something that I have always loved to do. My demo reel is full of personal pieces where I've animated surfing characters. I love animating surfing characters, I love the body mechanics of board sports. I really wanted to animate on this game. When I offered my services, it caused quite a stir among the professors, as it was really important to everybody that I not work on the game. I understand the reasoning, as it would have invalidated some of the work and the deals they were working toward. It was still frustrating, because it kept me from being able to contribute to a small project that I was really excited about.
The lack of other student's help has also been a major hindrance. I'm so grateful for the time and enthusiasm of the other members of this team, as they're going above and beyond their regular schoolwork to help with this game. I really appreciate it. It's really amazing that they are helping out in addition to everything else they're working on. This grad school is insanely busy and stressful, they're really going the extra mile. Because it is a side project for everyone, however, it also means that it quickly slips in their list of priorities, and work on the game can be agonizingly slow at times. Wrangling everyone and constantly keeping in touch, and organizing meetings, and trying to keep them excited about the project has also exposed a major weakness in myself. This type of thing is definitely not my strong point. Constant communication, status updates, and trying to keep everyone excited about our progress, is definitely not one of my strengths. When I haven't been placed in leadership or supervisory positions in the past, I have always preferred working on my own, getting my stuff done fairly independently, and being responsible for my work alone. When I have acted in leadership or supervisory roles, I've done better at this, but it's definitely not something natural to me. As a result, I've let a lot of the communication slip on this project. This has resulted in sporadic updates, and bursts of progress from others. My own progress has remained fairly steady (taking into account my personal schedule) but the progress and the cohesion of the team has definitely been wanting. If this game is going to get to a playable representative state, it's definitely something I have to work on.
I'm going to wrap this post up, it's getting long.
This game has definitely run into its share of obstacles. I anticipated this, but for a game that has yet to really get off the ground, the challenges seem to have come earlier and more frequently than expected.
I've mentioned this before, but when I started the game design program at the U, I enrolled with the expectation of certain experiences. I wanted to work on a mobile game, and I wanted work on it with a small development team, one that would allow me to take on roles and responsibilities that I haven't experienced in my career. I wanted to learn and implement game design, I wanted to design the visual look and feel of a game, and I wanted the challenges that came with a small team and a limited amount of resources. My experience is that constraints are often a good thing, especially in creative endeavors, as they force you to channel your energies into a focused path of creation.
The constraints and challenges that I've experienced in my time at school however, came in large part from the factors outside of the game development itself. This wasn't something I was anticipating, and it's something that's caused a lot of frustration and energy as I try to figure it out.
One of the biggest challenges I've faced is my work arrangement. Because I work for a video game company, I'm prohibited from profiting from a game that would be a conflict of interest with my job. Additionally, because I'm a working professional, I'm not allowed to enter my game into the student indie game festival, which is one of the goals of the program at the U. Because I can't enter my game into the student IGF competition, my fellow students cannot use my game as their thesis game, as they wouldn't be getting the experience that the program was designed to give them. Therefor, any help I get from students is extra time they have when they're not working on their own projects. Because of my professional status, I'm also prohibited from working on other student's projects. This became a problem on the student game Vinyl. This was a music game developed by the grad students in my cohort wherein the player played as a character on the needle of a record player. The player would "surf" on the needle in a half pipe to move around obstacles and effect the music being played.
After hearing this idea, I really wanted to animate for it. Board animation, particularly surfing animation is something that I have always loved to do. My demo reel is full of personal pieces where I've animated surfing characters. I love animating surfing characters, I love the body mechanics of board sports. I really wanted to animate on this game. When I offered my services, it caused quite a stir among the professors, as it was really important to everybody that I not work on the game. I understand the reasoning, as it would have invalidated some of the work and the deals they were working toward. It was still frustrating, because it kept me from being able to contribute to a small project that I was really excited about.
The lack of other student's help has also been a major hindrance. I'm so grateful for the time and enthusiasm of the other members of this team, as they're going above and beyond their regular schoolwork to help with this game. I really appreciate it. It's really amazing that they are helping out in addition to everything else they're working on. This grad school is insanely busy and stressful, they're really going the extra mile. Because it is a side project for everyone, however, it also means that it quickly slips in their list of priorities, and work on the game can be agonizingly slow at times. Wrangling everyone and constantly keeping in touch, and organizing meetings, and trying to keep them excited about the project has also exposed a major weakness in myself. This type of thing is definitely not my strong point. Constant communication, status updates, and trying to keep everyone excited about our progress, is definitely not one of my strengths. When I haven't been placed in leadership or supervisory positions in the past, I have always preferred working on my own, getting my stuff done fairly independently, and being responsible for my work alone. When I have acted in leadership or supervisory roles, I've done better at this, but it's definitely not something natural to me. As a result, I've let a lot of the communication slip on this project. This has resulted in sporadic updates, and bursts of progress from others. My own progress has remained fairly steady (taking into account my personal schedule) but the progress and the cohesion of the team has definitely been wanting. If this game is going to get to a playable representative state, it's definitely something I have to work on.
I'm going to wrap this post up, it's getting long.
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