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 these posts as my Janus posts after the Roman God with two faces. I’m not sure if it was the discipline of coming up with goals I wanted to achieve or the fact I made them public but they proved very powerful in helping to realise my dreams. Re-reading my entry for 2011 I had to smile when I came across this line: “Did I meet my goals? No. I exceeded them.“
By far the biggest highlight of the module for me came in the early weeks where we covered several different creativity techniques. I’ve always struggled with this, and I’m rather embarassed to admit the thought there might be techniques, models or patterns to help with this never even occurred to me. Looking back now it’s so incredibly obvious, I cannot believe I overlooked this fact.
Of the initial tranche of techniques we studied, I found SCAMPER and ICEDIP the easiest to wield. Perhaps because they are more procedural in nature?
The techniques I had least success with were Crazy 8’s and Bodystorming .
Crazy 8’s I tried a few times and had very limited success mainly because I’m not much of an artist or sketcher. It’s a fast technique: typically taking one minute per sketch giving a total time of 8 minutes. With perseverance and the right type of application/creativity session I’m confident I can make it work and the 8 minute overhead is certainly not an onerous investment of time. I may even get to improve my sketching ability!
I didn’t even attempt bodystorming. It feels like a Marmite technique that one either loves or hates. I’m very much in the latter category; acting, drama and charades have never appealed to me and bodystorming feels like it falls into the same category.
My studies, research and practice of these techniques really helped with the two course game jams. I recall being particularly nervous in the run-up to the first one. My fear being driven by the thought of a possible failure and the intensity/time commitment required to complete the work. That fear proved to be unfounded and I really enjoyed the first game jam.
Fig 1. THORN, 2020 Prototype from First Game Jam
In hindsight I could have been a lot more ambitious but I took the decision right from the beginning that I wanted to build on success. The game I produced was a very simple concept, designed to help children with their basic arithmetic. This was never something I would have consciously set out to develop but came about from my creativity session. Trusting the ‘process’ I chose to develop the game and, for a first attempt, I was quite proud of the result with a recommendation to develop it further.
Building on the experience and subsequent analysis of the first game jam, I chose to be much more ambitious for the second one. Again, trusting the creativity, I came up with a topical idea featuring a nurse vaccinating people against a killer virus. Feedback from one of my tutors introduced me to the concept of ‘newsgames’, a genre I’ve previously never heard of . Given the onset of the Second Wave and the announcement in the press today of a new strain of Coronavirus, I may develop this one further during my Christmas vacation.
Fig 2. THORN, 2020 COVID Game Jam 2
Challenges
I’ve struggled with academic writing after so many years in industry. My writing tends to be more informal, conversational and even ‘chatty’ at times and this is an area I’ve identified needing work. I feel confident that this will improve as the course unfolds and if not, I’m hoping someone will let me know. Making time to read the blogs of my peers will also help.
Citations were another challenge at the beginning. I completely understand the need to I’ve others credit for their work. As a professional photographer, I used to get frustrated when people used my images without permission or credit. I’m therefore very sympathetic to the works of others and making sure due credit is given.
On reading the University’s Harvard Referencing Guide it was very clear how important adoption of the format was. In much the same as I expect my developers to follow the Company’s coding style, the University required me to use their Harvard Referencing style. To simplify things I looked for a tool to make collecting and managing citations easier, as well as working with this blog. If I could use a tool to do the heavy lifting for me, I’d have more time for everything else.
The other challenge I had was managing the work. It was very evident early on in the module that good time management would make or break the course for me. I chose to use several techniques I’ve used in the past: a combination of default diary, proritisation and Agile to maintain focus and keep up with the content.
Managing the work
I ran an Agile process, through Jira, from the outset. Instead of the 3-week heartbeat we used throughout the module, I used 1-week mini-sprints with placeholder stories of guesstimated size for each week. These stories belonged to an Epic that lasted throughout the entirety of the module.
Using Jira really simplified the tracking as you can see from the Epic Burnup chart below.
Fig 3. THORN, 2020 Module 1 Epic Burn-up
The blue shaded area is the completed story points whereas the light grey shaded area represents the total story points in the Epic. I initially loaded the sprint with 12 stories, one for each week, with a size of 21 points. As the content for each week was revealed I split these placeholder stories down into their components parts. This can be seen by the stepped increase in the solid line each Friday and the changes in the total story points.
There is no escape from the Burnup chart. The week where I failed to break down the stories is very clear, as is the flat zone in the latter half of the module where a huge inflow of work from the day job impacted my studies.
Fig 4. THORN, 2020 Module 1 Epic Burn-down
This next chart presents the information in a different format and shows the net gain/reduction of story points for each sprint.
The remaining story points relate to some of the material for week 12 (e.g. this post), resining stories for game jam 2 and the capstone video that I’ve yet to start.
Looking forwards…
Primary objective
My primary objective remains the same: to create my own game development studio and achieve financial independence within the next 5 years, i.e. by the end of 2025. I was busy planning this last summer when I discovered this course and decided to apply. The course was a good fit with my goals so the decision was easy. And the benefits?
Gain a deeper understanding of the industry, faster.
Build a portfolio.
Create and launch a business.
Make contacts with fellow creatives.
Before trying to articulate on my long term goals, I want to follow the lead of Simon Sinek and first understand “What is my WHY?”
Immediate future
Fig 5. THORN, 2020 90-Day Goals — October to December
My immediate, short-term goals are
To complete the capstone video assignment
To complete and publish at least one of the games from this module’s game jams
To successful complete Module 2
To plan my next set of 90-day goals to run from January to March
The material we covered in this first module has really caused me to think. I found the material on Computational Creativity completely fascinating. The whole notion of programs developing programs or creating a body of work based on a given set of input parameters is mindblowing. I do wonder what the logical extrapolation of this will be? For example, will we ever reach a point where software engineers are no longer required? How will microprocessor technology, programming languages and compilers evolve in the future to support this? Is this a stepping stone to computers becomming truly self aware?
I feel now as it my mind has been re-awakened and my curiosity re-ignited. I’ve always had a special interest in bleeding-edge technology. If When I pass this course I feel very tempted to consider a research degree, most likely in the realm of game AI. I find with most games this is an area that feels lacking and ripe for big advancements. In many cases, to beat the game one only has to understand how the AI will react. An adaptive AI system that maintains a reasonable level of challenge and almost unbeatable might be an area for future investigation. I must confess, I have absolutely no idea how to go about it or fund it, especially as I will have two children at University by then and may need to put my own education on hold in order to support them.
Conclusion
Module 1 has been everything I hoped for and more. I feel I’ve learned a huge amount, especially in and around the areas of creativity and the game jams. I also appreciate I’ve had somewhat of an easy ride in the latter weeks as I’ve been using some of these concepts daily for many years. That doesn’t mean I’m an expert, just how to wield them effectively, although I did state in an earlier post that there is always something new to learn.
I also fully expect that just as Week 1 was a gentle introduction to Module 1, Module 1 will be a gentle introduction to subsequent modules with the content aimed at ensuring the entire cohort has at least a basic understanding of the development processes and practices needed for the rest of the course.
List of Images
Figure 1. THORN, 2020 Prototype from First Game Jam
Figure 2. THORN, 2020 COVID Game Jam 2
Figure 3. THORN, 2020 Module 1 Epic Burn-up
Figure 4. THORN, 2020 Module 1 Epic Burn-down
Figure 5. THORN, 2020 90-Day Goals — October to December
Gavin is a part-time student on the MA Indie Games Development programme at Falmouth University. A software architect by trade and a self-confessed Agile evangelist, he is looking for creatives to collaborate with and make games to rival those of the AAA’s. *Available for hire*
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