Term 2 Post Mortem

So, four months (1/3) down. Do I feel 33% smarter? Well, maybe not, but I know the time has been worth it.

As with any school, you have to take the good with the bad at VFS—a $32k annual price tag doesn't magically give the school better contacts in the industry with which to instruct future game designers—so we have a handful of absolute stand-out instructors who are passionate and who genuinely care about making everyone's time worth that tuition. We also have a small handful of instructors at the other end of the spectrum, but fortunately you can learn a great deal from someone even if they are just there to collect a paycheque.

Anyway, it's been good. Term 2 is feared far and wide as "the Flash term" for the Flash game that is the first full game-building experience in the program. As an assignment, it spans seven weeks and many more major challenges. First time managing a team? Better learn fast, son. Lazy or unreliable team members? Engage them, somehow. Can't code in Flash? Someone in your team had better learn.

And so on. I'll post about my game, Pistol Reef, in the next few days. For now I wanted to talk about what I did well, what I did poorly, and what I learned from what was a draining but rewarding term of Game Design.

What I Did Well
* I prioritized my assignments well, put the effort where it was required, and zeroed in on what I could ignore early on. For example, I was able to avoid learning much of anything about Maya, recognizing that my only Maya assignment actually made extensive use of Photoshop. I will want to make up the time with Maya later, but during the term this provided me with upwards of 15 hours in-class that I could use for more pressing and relevant assignments. This also saved me an enormous amount of frustration that I will touch on later when I talk about learning styles in an upcoming post.

* I embraced the project manager role at every opportunity, and the feedback from my peers and instructors was very encouraging. I dealt with issues by using different management styles with different people, and the results were mostly very good.

* I made strong relationships with many of my peers and instructors.

What I Did Poorly
* I snapped on another student during a group meeting a couple of weeks ago, cowing him into silence with volume and tone. He deserved it, but it was highly unprofessional for me to lose my cool. There are thankfully only a few behaviors that will trigger this reaction in me—obtuseness and disrespect being right up there—but outbursts like that can get me into a lot of trouble, and they are never welcome in the workplace.

* I allowed myself to get run down, and the resulting cold sapped a lot of energy out of me for days. This had unfortunate sweeping effects across all assignments and relationships. What suffered most was my UDK Deathmatch assignment, which I liked, but the result was downright sloppy when set next to my previous UDK assignment. I expect my grade will still be good, but I will lose marks on polish.

What's my plan for Term 3?
* Continue to prioritize well, but be sure that my health is at the top of that list. When I am stressed and swamped I am all too willing to let my diet and sleep take the hit. The resulting colds are productivity and attitude killers.

* Be completely aware of my temper and manage both my expectations and the expectations of my peers. Realize that many people will not be as focused or as driven as I am. Setting up those clear expectations early is good for everyone involved, but it makes an especially huge difference in my ability to react and roll with the punches.

* Spend more time and energy connecting with students outside of my class. I have solid relationships with many instructors, and close friends in my own GD23 class, but it's so easy for me to ignore the 22s, 24s, and the many fine people in other classes. A surefire way to meet people is to host a game-related event at the school, so maybe I'll start with one of those early in T3.

Anyway, that's enough for now. Tune in next time for frank discussions of my classmates and the drama emerging from the formation of two final project teams (including my own) almost a full term early.

Thanks for stopping by.