Week 2.1: Technical Skills Audit – 2022

This audit of my technical skills represents a marker in time for where I feel I am as this stage of my development. My skill audit from 2021 can be found in the post Week 2.1: Technical Skills Audit – 2021. For this module I plan to build on, and add to these skills then replicate this post at the end to measure my progress.

1. I can take mouse, keyboard, touch screen or gamepad inputs and use them to control objects in a game engine of my choice.

CONFIDENT / NOT YET

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2. I can set up physics components (such as colliders and rigid bodies) in my game engine and trigger an event to happen when two game objects collide.

CONFIDENT / NOT YET

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3. I can use code to spawn new objects while the game is running (eg create bullets).

CONFIDENT / NOT YET

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4. I can set up an animation in my chosen game engine and control it with code and / or with a state machine.

CONFIDENT / NOT YET

Moderately confident would be a better assessment here. I’ve set up and created hand-rolled animations in both 2D and 3D within Unity, worked with the animation blender in UE4 and imported animations from sites such as Mixamo but I have a kong way to go before I would consider myself adept.

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5. I can use level design tools to block-out a level in my chosen game engine.

CONFIDENT / NOT YET

This is another moderately confident. I’ve used the level design tools in both Unity and Unreal Engine but have found it easier and quicker to work in a modelling tool such as Blender rather than the game engine as this timelapse video shows…

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6. I can use my game engine’s pathfinding system (if it has one) to create enemies and NPCs that chase or follow the player.

CONFIDENT / NOT YET

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7. I can code basic game logic (eg comparing two numbers) to create win and lose conditions.

CONFIDENT / NOT YET

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8. I can configure particle systems to create different visual effects (eg fire, snow).

CONFIDENT / NOT YET

I’ve used particle systems and VFX shaders is some of the games I’ve worked on so have a very limited overview and know enough to recognise how vast this subject area is. Knowledge is improving but (much) more practice needed.

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9. I can use appropriate software to create appealing character sprites or models.

CONFIDENT / NOT YET

More practice needed here as I find creating a base character model with clothing and accessories very time consuming. Moving forwards I plan to concentrate on a low-poly approach to model design rather than the high-fidelity models I’ve tried to create in the past.

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10. I can use appropriate software to create atmospheric environment sprites or models.

CONFIDENT / NOT YET

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11. I can create character animations, such as walking and jumping, and bring them into my game engine.

CONFIDENT / NOT YET

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12. I can use appropriate software to design clear user-interfaces.

CONFIDENT / NOT YET

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13. I can find / record / edit, sound effects and music.

CONFIDENT / NOT YET

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Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash