My reflection on week 3 of module 2 is about a week later than I would have liked. I wanted to wait until I’d achieved my primary goals so I at least had something to showcase, these being: Grey-box prototype of the game world using my own 3d assets Fully functional doors Walkable level Scene…
A deeper look in to Game Design set a new datum. The mini ideation projects from the previous module were fun to work on and I was pleased with the results but they were only ever a starting point. They were the stake in the ground that served as a marker for my ability at…
At the close of the first week of the second module, Game Development, I’m slightly less than a week behind schedule. I make no excuses — this was somewhat intentional, and for very good reason. Time for a change? For the next three months, my studies will focus on developing a single game and my…
Yesterday, Sunday 24th January was the deadline for the 2021 Search for a Star awards. 23:59pm to be precise and I submitted my entry, Beyond, at 23:58pm. This post is a reflection of what I planned, what happened and what could be done differently next time. The brief was surprisingly simple: to develop a game,…
As we’ve now reached the end of the first module, Development Practice, it’s time to look back not only at the past and the path I’ve walked thus far but also to reflect on the future and the journey that lies ahead. In the early years of my other blog, I used to think of…
Like most, if not all, of my peers the endgame or this course is to use it as a springboard into the game development industry whether that be working for a studio as an employee or building and running an indie studio. My preference is for the latter. I’ve tried on many occasions over the…
With the theme of Week 10 being Agile, I felt I was in for an easy week — a chance to catch up as I’d fallen behind slightly with my studies. Agile Development is something I’ve been practising since about 2008/9. I was trained in Enterprise Agile at Symbian Software then involved in the roll-out…
Having run a small business for almost 8 years I can fully understand and appreciate how important communities of practice are for Indie Game Studios. It came as no surprise therefore that this topic featured in our very first module. In the past I’ve found external communities, whether they be on-line or off-line to be…
Performance for the three weeks in Sprint 3 is given in the two burndown charts below followed by the velocity report. Sprint 3 covered the period for weeks 7, 8 and 9 of the course. As you can see, I did no planning for week 7 at all. I fell off the wagon owing to…
Week 8 caught me by surprise. I originally thought research would cover the technology behind game development such as AI, procedural generation or perhaps AR/VR. I was wrong. Instead, this particular section of the module would focus on something far more important: User research and the ethics associated with soliciting feedback from others. With hindsight,…
