Term 4 - Less Learning, More Application

So, I guess our final project is here. We have taken the first steps in creating the focal point of my efforts at VFS. It feels both good and bad.

If you follow the blog you know that Term 4 was hyped as the toughest term of them all, with the full pre-production cycle stacked on top of a normal class load. The truth is that most of our instructors have taken that into account this time around, and the new and improved workload reflects that we want to spend much of our time planning our final project. There is still plenty to do, but it isn't overwhelming.

This is really good news. I'm really pleased to see my skills growing, and it's pretty satisfying to look at environments in Modern Warfare 3 or Mass Effect 3 and know that I could build them in UDK. With the assets of talented artists, of course. Still, it's nice to feel like there's a bit of breathing room before we launch ourselves full-blown into production of ROBit (our final project).

After six months of concentrated learning, we are now mostly just applying those skills and building useable assets. The artists are creating 3D characters in Maya, the programmers are coding minigames, and us writers and level designers are, well, writing and building levels.

I should admit that I *am* a little behind when it comes to Kismet, the visual scripting language in UDK. I've learned that new software doesn't come to me very easily, and the standard classroom setting doesn't work well to teach me the software (especially when the classrooms are as hot as 28 degrees). I've made a number of suggestions as to how our UDK classes could be structured to encourage good planning, better learning with lessons that would stick, and more effective personal work pipelines that we will need in the industry, anyway. Things to discuss with Dave when I apply to be a TA, and if I get the job.

Did I mention that we've made our decision on our final game? We have, and I've written about it on our dev blog over at http://livefirestudios.wordpress.com/. As a side note, I will be posting a little less here as the weekly posting schedule at LiveFire takes over that time. If you forget the URL, just google LiveFire Studios or Ikesgamingblog and click the first page that it pulls up. :)

Anyway, I'm working on some exciting projects right now. I have created a shotlist for the emotional cinematic (basically an in-game movie) I hope to make later this term, and I have some mission and environment planning to do for my UDK classes, but otherwise it's just design and management on our final project.

That should cover it for now. If you really want to keep up with my activities here at school, you should really go check out the LiveFire dev blog at the link I dropped earlier.

Thanks for stopping by.