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Master Journal March

Asset Management

Roy Papp

March 23, 2017

Fullsail University

               Over the past month through the month of March 2017; I had taken the class Asset Management; taught by Roy Papp. This will be a reflection over the month based on the experiences gained and the work that went in throughout the month; and the challenges that I had to work through to get my part of the project done.

    To start I am originally an artist and going into Roy’s second class I had the thought I wouldn’t do any development work this time around. But after the first class we had a team meeting to discuss our roles and who would be doing what throughout the project; and lone be hold I volunteered to do the development work as I was one of the two people in the group to know any if little about using an game engine.

    So starting the first week I had the task of figuring out the asset packs used and my way around how this game would be built. My second week was implementing level one; main menu and a level select menu. The second week I had to take the art assets from the artists and implement them into level one and fix problems with level two. That’s when an issue started to form when projectiles would not differ from level. The third and fourth week was implementing a store; adding a level flow through the game so players can go and return back to menus and navigate through the flow of the game menus; and adding in the final level and audio cues.

    Challenges occurred throughout the game that had hindering issues and minor setbacks. Getting an accurate credits system took me a bit ass I had to write the script from it through multiple tutorials. The second challenge was getting buttons that moved throughout the game. All in all I would say that I would do the development all over again as it was a great learning experience.

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Postmortem January 26th 2017

Postmortem

Justin Hentges

Prototyping and Content Creation

Professor Roy Papp

Full Sail University

January 26th, 2017

Postmortem

    In this postmortem; I will be discussing the ups and downs over the past few weeks working on the project of Little Cupid. After the two discussions about the up and downs; I will talk about what I have learned from this experience and key takeaways from this project.

    To start with the ups; at the beginning of the week I had the opportunity to take the roll of doing the dev work for the project. As being an 3D artist doing the dev work I knew would be a challenge but having the opportunity to learn a new skill. So, starting was a big confusion I had knowledge of unreal but the dev work was hard and even though each time we had a presentation of the current build I was still happy we even got this far doing the dev work with Alex Rybak.

  Now having the ups during this project there were many downs. To start there was confusion between the artists the first two weeks on the overall style of the game which hindered having the development of implementing the art assets into the game. And minor frustration continued throughout the rest of the project. Another down is personal issues interfered with me being able to have the time to work. So, balancing that with what I needed was a hard thing.

    What I had learned from this project is that being a developer is no easy task and that when having such a short window of work time there can e no mistakes. I have gained quite a bit of knowledge into blueprints inside of unreal engine four; which I think will help me in the future as giving me some edge over artists in the industry. I have gained a new respect for developers.

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Game Design

Identification of Topic

    The area of research of study is a combo of Visual Arts and Design. Specific aspects of do graphics really matter in video games; and the second the difference between designer’s idea of being a professional. Some professional major voices in these fields are Caleb Sepulveda who is a lead game artist and Todd Howard is a well-known Game Designer.

Mastery Journal Entry

    The area of research that I’m choosing to study is a mix between art and design; and what I mean by that is do graphics in video games really matter and does the design of the game cause for a certain design over another for the audience to be pleased. The reason I think this has a high importance in the industry; is because every time you see survival horror most the time it is realism; or fps not can’t be a low poly game and have enough people to want to keep playing it. I think this will fit in for me in the Indie track as to how indie can explore options that AAA studios cannot due to the audience always wanting the same thing.

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Project and Team Management

Over the last month I was enrolled in the class: Project and Team Management; that was taught by Nicholas Carver. Over the month we had learned about different ways to get a team to work together; and the various personality types; and how people categorize themselves in these various personalities. Now during the month we had multiple assignments creating a timelines; one was for the group expo we are going to conduct in the coming month and the other was a personal development leadership timeline. Another big thing in the class was that each day a team of students had to host a team building exercise. Like for my team we had teams of 5 if I remember correctly; have 15 minutes to build a tower, with only the supplies given to them; and they were uncooked spaghetti, 3 pieces of duct tape and a marshmallow. With the only rule was the marshmallow had to be on top; but we left out that the whole marshmallow didn’t have to be on top. Another team mad a project you had to plan a five-day trip to Anaheim on 7,000 budget with out going over for 5 people. Outlining the next year and what we can do to grow our professional environment and personal goals. Overall the class had assignments that were meant to set a plan of attack and how to execute and create a successful expo or conduct a team with different personality types. Over the class I had to objectives the first is, to well pass with an A and nothing lower; the second is to grasp the understanding of exactly what the class is team managing and learning the various personalities. This class was designed so that way when I actually go into the field I have the knowledge to work with team and possibly manage them for the better.

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Project and Team Management Topics

Four topics that interest me

1. Do Graphics/art matter in video games 

During general research of this topic it is key for a triple-a studio having high par graphics that the consumer audience will see and instantly and before even seeing any story concept will think this looks amazing. Now a-days not just the story is acceptable a wide group of consumers consider the art side to be a high key factor in the decision to purchase a game. Now a way i can relate this to my personal studies for future industry work is to know that not just a story is what can make a break a game; it would have to be visually pleasing as well.

2. The art of video games 

Video games are not just ‘beeps’ and ‘boops’ and little cube people running around they are a full-fledged art form that use forms of almost realistic imagery to put the participator in a sense of aw. It even now hows its own exhibit in the Smithsonian. To add on to that video games are growing in the ability that they can showcase adding more and more detail to every object to bring an almost realist aspect and with the adaptation of virtual reality to gaming can make you feel out of time. In what little industry experience i have I've learned that it is all how you can tell the visual story as well as the actual story.

3. E-sports in the US and Korea: Why the Difference

To start E-sports is electronic sports; playing a video game for competition and financial gain. In the US and Korea esports are a dominate past time but with Korea having eports arena has the US scene starting to open there own arenas. With the growing of arenas the viewership is growing well over the hundred thousands. In the industry creating a game so it can have that competitive feel is growing and knowing what works and doesn't is a good knowledge to have.

4. The E-Athlete

The e-athlete is a new term of athlete; it is an athlete that specializes in electronic video game competition. And now theses athletes are now getting signed to rosters with contracts and salaries. Theses athletes are starting to get recognition from extreme sports organizations such as red bull and even having competitions at the x games. Knowing the fact if you are making a game for competition the possibility of bringing in one of these professionals to pick there brain before the games release; can really help adjust the game for success. 

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Research in Team Dynamics

Over the course, research in team dynamics many connections were made with my chosen topic of research; do graphics really matter in video games. The reason that has a connection is to test and research the validity and the threats that you have to look for when researching my topic over the next ten to almost eleven months. To continue but in a different direction over the past month in research in team dynamics we had the task of designing a video game; and over the month as a team we really got into the whole design of instead of playing a game from a to b we wanted to make a game of b to a. And of course that made us think of time travel so we mad an adventure game were as the main protagonist had to go on an adventure to ultimately collect teeth using magic and weapons to defeat dragons and figure out his path. Along with the game design we had a month long research assignment where we had to write two different article analysis’s and had to describe the articles and every aspect of the research. After that we had a paper to conclude the two together and go on to state future plans and capstones.

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If you don't mind, it doesnt matter.

Jack Benny

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jackbenny380121.html

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Timeline of my mastery journey over the next 12 months.

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“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today” - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/hjacksonb382774.html?src=t_inspirational

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My public Papaly board

This is the link to my public papaly board for all to see 

https://papaly.com/4/bgHr

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This is my Feedly reader account after following 5 blogs to actively read about topics of interest.

- Business Insider 

- IGN

- Playstation.Blog

- Polygon

- Ted talks

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Mastery journal logo, i actually created about a year and a half ago while going through a class in my previous degree and i plan to continue to use it to represent me hear. It is a mix of my initials and a lion from my family crest. (With different color for when stamped on documents)

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Here is the link to my professional LinkedIn account.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-hentges-a3b065a2

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You ain’t gonna believe this, but you used to fit right here.

I’d hold you up to say to your mother, “This kid’s gonna be the best kid in the world. This kid’s gonna be somebody better than anybody I ever knew.” And you grew up good and wonderful. It was great just watching you, every day was like a privilege. Then the time come for you to be your own man and take on the world, and you did. But somewhere along the line, you changed. You stopped being you. You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you’re no good. And when things got hard, you started looking for something to blame, like a big shadow.

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!

I’m always gonna love you no matter what. No matter what happens. You’re my son and you’re my blood. You’re the best thing in my life. But until you start believing in yourself, ya ain’t gonna have a life. Don’t forget to visit your mother.

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“Stop and Think”

YouTubeRVMPositivelife - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij4uaQHwxIk

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My Mastery Journey

    So over the next 12 months I have to maintain at least 3.0 GPA and I see that as a vert feasible goal if I keep my mind to it and stay focused. But the way I plan to do it is a step process I have laid out for myself that in the past I never stuck it but I am determined this time to stick to it after the motivation I have gained from the weight loss I have had and I plan to apply it to my schooling.

    Starting with just the struggle I use to have just getting work done now I am making sure I get it done and no longer procrastinate on the assignments and projects I am given. Next attempting to go to bed at a reasonable time is still a struggle but I have gotten a lot better instead of two to three hours of sleep I’m now getting around six and with proper diet and exercise it will keep my mind active which will than go on to keep my brain active and ready to complete the day’s tasks.

    Now with all that I still have basic things l still need to do like show up on time, set some time apart each day even if it is a day I don’t have class still study except with the exception of one of the days so I can detox and relax from the week and get ready for the following week. But in class is just as important being involved with lectures asking questions and really taking the next step to just focus and be there physically and mentally. Now with all that I plan to learn the skills and knowledge I need so I can hit the industry head on and hope to make my stamp and possibly make a change for the better.