The Week before GDC

Hello my friends!

I hope you guys have had a lovely week. My week was pretty typical and I spent a lot of time on some side projects. I did do something very exciting this week. I went to a recruiting fair at the local Art Institute that was hosted by the IGDA. It was a lot of fun and I met a lot of cool people. Recruiting fairs are always interesting because some conversations are good while some are barely conversations. It’s also weird as I find it’s hard to talk to some recruiters. I personally am just unsure of what to discuss with recruiters while some recruiters don’t actually even seem interested in talking with me. I did have some really good conversations and I’m hoping to hear back from some of them.

This Saturday I’ll be leaving for GDC and I’m super excited for it. This does mean that I won’t be posting next week as I’ll be too busy. I look forward to telling you guys all about it and the good stories that’ll come from it. This week though I’ll be relaxing for the most part and spending time working on side projects. Later this week I’m planning on watching Captain Marvel. I’m looking forward to seeing it. I’ve heard mixed things about the movie, but I still look forward to seeing how it works within the Marvel Universe. It will be a very interesting week.

Well till after GDC my friends. I look forward to sharing the good news with you all next week.

An Active Week

Hello my friends,

I hope you guys have had a wonderful week. My week was pretty good. I made progress on various projects and discussed possible new projects. I also went out with a friend to play Pokemon Go at Pike Place which I hadn’t done in a long time. It was a lot of fun Pike Place is always great and it was nice to walk and chat with someone. The rest of my week I spent doing the typical. I applied to jobs and worked on different things. I’m hoping that I’ll soon be hearing back from companies. Also with GDC getting closer I have to start making meeting plans.

This week I also started to do loose workouts. I’m not doing anything intensive or any real weightlifting. My workouts are really just to keep me fit and active. I’ve been focusing mainly on my arms and torso as they’re the ones I workout the least. I’ve been meaning to get more in shape, but I’ve always been concerned about hurting myself. With simple workouts I can do myself it makes life easier. Someday though I’d like to go to a gym and have a personal trainer so I can effectively build muscle. I’d like to get more in shape and then maintain it.

Well till next time my friends. I hope you guys have a great week and that I’ll have good news soon.

Projects New and Old

Hello everyone!

I hope you all have had a great week. For me my week went pretty well. I’ve been working on different things and keeping pretty busy. This last week I applied to some more jobs. I’m still super excited about one of the jobs I applied for and I feel like it’s Christmas Eve. I’m just waiting to see what happens. Will I be turned down? Or will I get a call back? I believe that I will get a call back though and I’m very hopeful, but if I don’t at least I have another thing to strive for. It’s all very exciting and scary still. I just want to work, my time at Full Sail kept me busy and all of this downtown is messing with me. I’m ready to be back to working I want to flex my creative muscles in a studio environment and learn new skills.

I will say I am happy to be working on projects. Currently I’ve been splitting my time between two projects. One is and old project while the other is my new one. sadly I haven’t had time to work on my side project, but I downloaded the latest version of Unity for it. These projects are exciting though. I’m pumped to see where these take me and I’m excited to have you all check them out. I can only keep expanding my portfolio and skill set.

Well till next week my friends. I’m looking forward to seeing where the future leads and I hope to give you all good news about that job soon.

Halfway Done with the Final Month

Hello my friends!

           This past week has been a bit exhausting. I've been super busy with everything that I've been working on. However, it's been worth it. We're so close to releasing our game Tales of Mahabharata for early access. I'm so excited for it. We've been running our Facebook and trying to post frequently. This allows us to build our audience and hopefully gather a following. It's been an awesome experience.

           The other aspects of this week are all school related. I've been wrapping up this month. Today I finished making my poster presentation and I'm going to be getting feedback on it soon. I've been able to combine all of my research and create an argument for my topic. I believe I've said my topic before but just in case, my topic is "How to Improve Narrative." I go into detail on my findings and the options I feel should be taken. I'm excited for everything that is going on and what the future holds. I'm a little nervous, but I believe in my capabilities and I'm ready to end my Masters with a great presentation.

            Well till next week my friends! I have BTS next Saturday so I maybe a little late. I hope you guys have a great week and everything goes well.

Editing my Resume and a Busy Week

Hello Everyone,

             This past week has been pretty easy. The most difficult part was just wrapping up my Practicum. The other part has been studio work. With wrapping up Practicum the last part was an Excel spreadsheet where I had to make a feature list, master task list, and capacity plan. It was fairly simple creating the documents, but I had fun. As for my studio work we're in major crunch and it's pushing my time management skills. I feel though that I'm able to balance everything that's going on. I'm just at  a point where I have a lot more on my plate than I was expecting. I'm currently formulating my schedule for the week. My friends may be a little disappointed because I won't be playing much Civilization VI, but it's much needed.

           The other portion of this week is trying to improve my resume. I'm trying my best to make a resume that shows my work ethic and abilities. I currently lack in the experience that most jobs would like, so I need to make my resume impressive. I also need to create awesome cover letters. There are also other ways I'm trying to improve my resume. I'm trying multiple formats and I'm trying to get different people to read my resume. I feel I'm close to a good looking resume I just need to keep pushing. I also need to keep updating my website and showing off the stuff I'm working on. I'm ecstatic and want to move into the industry soon. I know it is difficult, but I'm hoping to get into it quickly after graduation. I've been lucky so far and I have a lot of great friends and connections that are willing to help me. I just have to make sure their faith is well founded. I'm confident I can deliver, and I'm hoping to grow more and more as I push forward.

            Well I look forward to talking to you guys next week. I hope your week goes great and you find success.

Practicum and a Game Jam

Aloha everyone!

            I hope your week has gone as well as mine has. This past week has been very productive. I was able to push forward with so much of my work. I also started my Practicum test. If you didn't read my last post Practicum is basically the final exam of my Masters program. We get to pick one of three tests that are meant to gauge our skills in the game industry. I chose the production test. This allows me to explain my production philosophies and the different ways to approach risks. I'm also required to create a task list and capacity plan. I personally love creating the capacity plan and schedule for a project. I like to coordinate the intricacies and uniqueness. It's almost like when you move into a new house and are setting up your room. The different levels and seeing the plan be put together is exciting. I'm confident in my answers for the test and I am excited to see my scores on it.

            As for the other reason I had a great week. The studio hosted a game jam for the game I am producing. We gathered the different team members and spent the entire focused solely on the project. We were able to come up with different plans and strategies to complete the game. We were also able to move forward with combining our different levels and art. The game is quickly coming together and moving forward. We have a lot of plans for the future, and I'm super excited for you guys to see it. The game is my pride and joy right now. We keep hearing great things from everyone who plays it. This makes me very excited to see what reviews we get on Steam. I'll let you guys know when we're ready to release.

            Well till next week you guys. I hope you guys have a great week and wish me luck on my Practicum!

Preparing for Practicum

Hello my friends!

            This past week has been an enlightening time. The game I am currently producing and leading has entered crunch. We also got to show the game at the Final Project Showcase (FPS). At FPS we got a lot of great feedback. It was a great way for us to find bugs and measure people's interest.  With us also being in crunch we've been making a lot of preparations for release later this month. I'm really proud of the game and I'm excited to see what happens with it.

            I've also entered into the second to last month of my Masters. During this month I will be in what is called Practicum. For that I will be taking a large test. For the test we are given a choice of what we want to do. There are three options: UX, Production, and Design. If you pick the UX test you have to come up with a test plan and answer various questions. The Production test requires you to make a production plan, schedule, and answer questions. Lastly there is the Design test. If you pick Design you then have to pick which version of it. The options include Narrative, System, Level, and Character design. The Design test requires you to make a GDD and various other options. My plan is to do the Production test. I am very interested in becoming a producer and feel that this test would be helpful to me. I'm also planning on doing the Narrative Design test as a portfolio piece. It should be a lot of fun.

            I hope you have a great week you guys. I'm excited and looking forward to let you guys know how Practicum is going.

Slowly Returning to Normal

Aloha my friends,

           I hope you guys had a good week. My past week has been pretty easy going actually. Everything is slowly calming down and returning to a more stable point. There are still issues that we are rectifying, but we should reach a more stable point soon. This upcoming week is exciting as well. We are getting even closer to being set and the game I'm producing is getting closer and closer to release. In this next week I should begin getting applications for Lead Narrative, Deadpool 2 is released, and the new Destiny Expansion comes out. This will be an entertaining week hopefully.

           So as for the production of my game it has been going great. We have hit a few road bumps, but none that halted us majorly. It has been a great learning experience for me and has taught me a lot about production and team management. I've had to work with my leads and balance the schedule. The biggest hurdles we've faced is artists that are constantly being pulled between games, and parts of our team not always being in studio. The first has only been an issue for certain aspects, but in general it just slowed down our process. The second hurdle has been a major one as our out of studio team members have had issues with communication. In general the production has been very smooth. I'm very excited for the game to be released, and I'm proud to have had such a large role in the game.

           Well I look forward to talking with you guys next week. I hope your week goes well and you get to have an entertaining time.