This post defines my 90-day goals for the first quarter of 2021. It’s about a month later than I’d have liked owing to illness. To catch up I plan on running a 60-day plan during Q3.
The intent is that each 90-day plan will bring me closer to the longterm plan I published here: SMARTer Goals: Summer 2022 (18-month). For the avoidance of doubt, my 90-day goal planning will not include a public financial goal. Instead, this category of goal will remain private to avoid losing further marks.
3D Modelling (Personal Development Goal)
Easter. Module 2 has just completed and I’ve overcome my frustrations at not being able to create a scene the aligns with my visualisation of how I want my games to look. This was down to a lack of skill and experience at 3D modelling that I identified during the Global Game Jam. Making time to concentrate on and develop the skills I need has brought me to a level where I feel confident to include my own models in a scene if I don’t have access to the resource I need.
| Goal 1 | Proficient at 3D modelling |
| Specific | I have gained proficiency at modelling environments and characters within Blender and developed a simple, scaleable workflow to develop a design from concept to a game engine asset. |
| Measurable | This was measured by creating a game that used some of my own assets for both the game environent and characters. |
| Achievable | I achieved this by creating simple simple, fully textured environment models and two fully rigged, animation ready characters. |
| Relevant | I’d been frustrated with every game I’ve worked on because I lacked the skills and experience to create the look and feel that I visualised at the concept stage. |
| Time-bound | The game I produced and delivered at the end of Module 2, Game Development, included my own assets. This game was submitted by April 30th. |
| Emotional attachment | By achieving this goal I gained the confidence and competence in wielding 3D modelling tools to create game-ready assets. Having this skill has increased both the fun and the buzz of creating my own games. I am now T-shaped developer with a thicker trunk 😉 |
| Reward | 3D print of one of my models |
Create game using Unreal Engine 4 (Personal Development)
I’ve completed my first game built with Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) and it was much easier than I originally thought. Doing so means I can now make an informed decision as to which engine (Unity or UE4) to use as the basis of my final project.
| Goal 2 | Make game with Unreal Engine 4 |
| Specific | I have designed, developed and released a game built using Unreal Engine 4 using a combination of C++ and Blueprints, working together in harmony. |
| Measurable | This was measured by creating a game with UE4 without having to use my fallback plan of reverting to Unity. |
| Achievable | I achieved this by combining the skills and knowledge from module 1 with my experience of Unity and making extensive use of the Unreal training material. |
| Relevant | I wanted to evaluate a second, mainstream game engine so I could make an informed decision about which engine to use for the remainder of the course, specifically for the final project. |
| Time-bound | The game I produced was submitted by April 30th, the deadline date for the second module. |
| Emotional attachment | Migration to UE4 is a longer term, strategic decision. I am much more familiar with C++ than C# and most of the games companies I have looked at ask for UE4 and C++ rather than Unity. I am not abandonding Unity, merely enhancing my skill set. |
| Reward | Lunch date with my wife |
Personal Branding (Business Planning)
This goal was a measurable waypoint on the path to establishing an online presence through organic growth and engagement. I’ve grown my social media presence to 300 Twitter followers and the additional 4 videos I released have increased my YouTube subscribers to 15.
| Goal 3 | Personal Branding |
| Specific | I have released four further YouTube videos and grown my subscribers to 15, and Twitter followers to 300. |
| Measurable | YouTube: 15 subscribers Twitter: 300 followers |
| Achievable | As with all social media marketing activities, this was achieved by ‘feeding the monster’: new content and engagement. |
| Relevant | The most readily accessible and addressable markets when I launch the business will be the indie game dev community on Twitter. |
| Time-bound | Waypoint Date: 30th April 2022. |
| Emotional attachment | I already have the tools I developed for automating my marketing activities through Twitter in place and ready to go once I’ve achieved a reasonable following. This worked for @theLightMatters and should also work here. |
| Reward | Premium Latte |
List of Figures
Figure 1. THORN, 2021 2021 Q1 90-Day Planning
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
