#to edit and make the document all clear and concise and pretty made me feel useful lmao

[pallases]

being a humanities girlie in stem is constantly facing the horror of how bad your classmates are at writing

[erinllouise]

Foundations Sprint One - Identity, values & strengths documentation

My core personal values:

Evidence of core values:

Self awareness:

Self awareness is a deep rooted value that I have practiced over the past few years while growing into an adult. I use self awareness to keep me grounded, respect other people and “be interested, not interesting” - in other words, “the world doesn't revolve around you”. I started practicing self awareness and self reflection when I started University in 2018. As part of my degree, we were required to keep a blog and continuously document our work and reflect on our progress. From this, I began getting in the habit or self reflecting through journaling. I found this a great habit to get into as I began to become more self aware of my actions throughout the day, rather than reflecting on all of my actions at the end of the day. 

Dr Jordan B. Petersons 6th rule in his book, 12 Rules For Life: an Antidote to Chaos, includes; “set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world”. To me this means no one is perfect and neither are you - I think it is important to remind yourself of this everyday.

Evidential feedback from my mother, Carol:

Erin was an amazing kid – pretty smart and good at sports. She got glandular fever at about 12 yrs old and since then I notice that when she is tired/busy/stressed she doesn’t always take good care of herself physically and mentally. My observation is that she is at her best when she does good/extensive physical exercise and then she sleeps better and is better prepared for life and it maintains a positive mood. I think she recognises this sometimes.

Feedback from my friend and past project partner, Gabrielle:

Here is my interpretation of Dr Jordan B. Petersons rule "Set your house in perfect order before you criticise the world". I interpret this as People can choose to do good or bad, and often it can be tough to do good, and easier to do bad. Lyrics from Morrisey of the band The Smiths reflect this same sentiment "It's so easy to laugh, It's so easy to hateIt takes guts to be gentle and kind". People often focus on the bad things happening around them and the people doing it. You have to find your inner strength and choose to do good, so that your life can be infinitely better, so that you can lose your bitterness and resentment, and that the lives of those around you can improve. Focusing on the bad part of life, the world, and people, can get you down into a bad downward spiral of thoughts that will make you feel like revenge towards humanity and being. Obviously, people have every reason to be bitter about these things, but it does not contribute to a healthy state of mind. This is why people need to focus on the small things they ARE able to change. Living well and being successful in your personal life WILL have a positive impact and influence on those around you. Yep.

Gratitude, empathy, and mindfulness:

I was first introduced to gratitude, empathy and mindfulness when I started my job at Mecca in 2018. Mecca dedicated paid training hours to introduce new staff to practicing gratitude, empathy and mindfulness (gem) in both our working lives and personal lives. I found this felt like a therapy session, it really opened my eyes to appreciating what I have, listening to and respecting the people around me, and being mindful of my actions and words. This also ties into my value of family and friends and being grateful for the amazing people I have.

Evidential feedback from my mother, Carol:

I see in Erin a calmness when she is doing something mindful like painting, where she has to concentrate and that is a good thing for her. Passively watching videos, etc is not always ideal and she could explore a balance there. At times, I see that Erin is very grateful for all the opportunities she has had and everything good that has happened to her but sometimes I do see she takes things for granted.

Cherishing life with no zero days:

I truly believe in hard work and seeing life as an opportunity to learn, grow, succeed and enjoy it. One of my goals for 2021 is to have no zero days. This means doing or creating something each day, no matter how small it is as long as it contributes to my self growth. 

Evidential feedback from my mother, Carol:

Maybe also included in the no zero days would be physical challenges/activities as these are important for a balanced life.

Being a self-reliant and competent individual:

I still live with my parents (I am 21, please don’t judge) and they recently went away for three weeks which left me with myself and their sick cat. During this time, I learnt a very valuable lesson, again from Dr Jordan B. Peterson, where you must “treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping” - Rule number 2. I took full responsibility for household including cooking and cleaning and chores, taking full care of a sick cat, feeding her, giving her medication each day, and disposing of her kitty litter waste, and then eventually, taking proper care of myself through diet, exercise, taking care of mental health and being completely self reliant. 

Evidential feedback from my mother, Carol:

I see Erin as being very self-reliant and competent. She has always got on with her uni and paid work without really any pushing from me. She is less inclined to be competent when it comes to looking after my car unfortunately, as the rubbish and dirt has grown in it.  Thankfully the cat survived her imposed stay with Erin very well and Erin did everything we asked of her in looking after the house and keeping it super tidy, as we had open homes during our absence. I guess it is fair to say that Erin can be a very self-reliant and competent individual when she chooses to be and it is about something she cares about.

My core personal strengths and limitations:

Evidence of strengths:

Communication skills and decision making:

I think I have always had good communication skills when working with other people. I have lead team projects in Uni because I could communicate well and make decisions. I enjoy working with other people and companies, as well as getting to know people in my personal life. 

I am good in job interviews and can communicate clear and concisely. 

Self awareness, self reflection, and honestly:

As mentioned in my values, I believe a strength of mine in my professional life is self awareness including honesty and self reflection. This ties into my communication skills where I can happily work with people and remain “interested, not interesting”. 

Project management and time management skills:

In my final year of University, I completed a paper called Creative Workflows”. This paper consisted of how to management your time, money, task responsibility etc using a creative workflow model in a long term project. I genuinely gained an interest in this paper and still practice the methodologies and management skills when working on personal projects. 

Creativity and generating creative ideas:

I have always enjoyed art particularly paiting using acrylics, digital art on my Ipad, creating and editing videos, and more recently, photography (which I am really bad at). All of these artistic skills I use in both my daily habits, hobbies and also my professional/educational life. 

I began the Creative Technologies degree because I knew I was a creative person and thrived in a creative environment - not because I was particularly tech savvy when I was 18... I loved coming up with creative project ideas that generally included a mixture of art and design and interactive technologies. This included my final project in Uni which was  a group project called Horotiu. Horotiu was a screen-based, interactive installation In Aotea Square that educated the public on the Maori mythology and history of Auckland CBD. This was done through hand-drawn animation (my project partner), lighting design and interactivity. 

Task: Using the evidence gathered, describe your strengths and limitations.

Explain a situation where you have had an ethical decision to make. Discuss how you weighed up the values involved in that decision, the decision you made and the consequences of the action you took.

When I was in first year of Uni, I was absolutely desperate for money and decided to work 3-4 days a week while studying full time. This did have an impact of my learning journey and grades and I definitely regret it. That's what Studylink is for!

Describe how your culture has influenced your values and identity.

I think what is most notable about Kiwi culture, stemming from Maori culture, that has influenced my values and identity is kaitiakatanga (being one with the environment, and respecting the land) and manaakitanga (being hospitable). 

Kaitiakatanga has influenced me to value respectfulness of myself and others, and further having gratitude, empathy and mindfulness for the people around me; collegues, friends, family.

Manaakitanga has influenced me to value the people around me as individuals and treat them as my whanau. This also ties into self aware in my actions of treating people; being welcoming, “interested, not interesting”.

Evaluate your strengths and limitations in terms of your learning and career development

In a learning or career environment, my communication skills and decision making skills has helped me become the young, ambitious person that I am today. I strived for a degree with high grades that I absolutely loved, I worked alongside individuals, other businesses and industry standard mentors to further my learning and career development. I am grateful to have an ambition to connect with the people around me - everyone has something to offer, everyone has a talent. 

What I noticed in studying Creative Technologies is when working in groups there always needs to be a chief decision maker. This was something we practiced in the first year or so. When it is hard to come up with project ideas or move into the next phase of a project there can be several difficult decision on where to navigate the project i.e do we include this feature? is it useful? I found it was a good skill to quickly analyze the situation and make a decision to continue the flow of project. Our lecturers would always say, “just make a decision on something and START IT, whatever it is, and then make more decisions and KEEP GOING”

Identify which of your strengths might help you in your learning journey and how they might intersect with learning obstacles.

One of my strengths, being a good decision maker, I think will help me in my learning journey. But I am not necessarily a good problem solver (that I have noticed) which is what a developer is when programming. I am hoping to grow my problem solving skills throughout this course with all of the individual and group projects. 

Share an example from your experience of where you were trying to work productively with others, but there was resistance or tension. Discuss the strategies you used at that time, how effective they were, and your reflections on what other strategies you would try now, and why.

I remember in a group project in uni where we were creating a hypothetical application called Ecocery. Ecocery was a phone app to help users purchase environmentally food products when grocery shopping. You would scan the barcode, and information on the products ingredients, packaging, water footprint and carbon footprint, and how environmentally the brands company is as a whole, would pop up on the screen and give it an overall rating.

I decided to create the hypothetical app using Wix, which contained a section dedicated to informative article on how food impacts the environment. One team member wrote an article about transport for the website which I felt was not relevant and shouldn't be on the website as it is about food. This did create tension between the team member and myself but we came to a rational decision to re-write an article together that was more relevant. We got an A for the project! 

[screenporch4-blog]

Best Resume Tips + A Day to Night LBD

Are you ready for a really cute outfit AND some fun work advice?? Because we're packing up todays post and coming at you with some real knowledge. 

Felicity & Co: Rita Wrap Dress / Ralph Lauren: Wool Camel Coat (more affordable version HERE) / Givenchy: Mini Antigonia Bag / Sam Edelman: Hazel Black Pumps

Today will be the last day I have long hair on the blog so soak it all in because tomorrow I cut off like 5 inches!!

ANYWAY wanted to share a little two-for-one post today: resume tips and a great wear to work dress that transitions so well into nighttime. Perfect for the office or meetings AND for a date night out or drinks with friends. If you remember wayyyyy back when, I posted about this dress in red and loved it just as much then as I do now. 

Funny enough, I styled it pretty much the same, we're standing in the same part of my bedroom snapping the photos AND I shared that it's a great day to night dress. LOL how original am I!

Everything I've said about this dress holds true: it's a great price point for a wrap dress, coming in at right under $100. It's versatile (especially the black color) and can really be dressed up or down. It's comfortable and it makes you feel good wearing it! I love it so much I now have it in two colors!

And with this being a great work dress to have in your rotation, I also wanted to share some fun work TIPS and advice about how to rock your resume! I took to you guys on stories and asked for your best advice (who knew I had so many wonderful women in HR following me!!) and here's what we came up with:

Formatting:

1. Send as a PDF -- this will keep the look and formatting of the document the same no matter the computer or service. The last thing you want is a messed up resume you worked so hard on!

2. Use bullet points -- make sure they are clear and concise and easy to read

3. Make sure your margins are lined up and that it has an overall clean look to it -- you want your resume to be easy to read and follow. Anyone would have ocd looking at a resume that is tilted or off in terms of lines and spacing. 

4. White space is your friend -- don't write a novel and think you need to fill the entire page with words! White space is a good thing and should be treated as such.

5. Create it via Cava -- a lot of you recommended this as a great (and free) service to help build custom resumes! I will have to check it out for myself as well.

6. Keep it to one page -- heard this from just about everyone! Give them the best of the best and keep it to one page. I personally don't include any work past 5 years on the resume -- no one needs to see where I interned in college now that I'm 27!

7. Use Arial font -- (or a common font other than Times New Roman) A couple of you mentioned changing up the font, one just to change it up and two to help the resume readers read it better. I never thought of this!

8. Make it eye catching but still simple -- the debate between having something unique and eye catching vs keeping it simple lives on! I think there is a delicate balance where you can make it custom to yourself and different for the reader but also keep it simple and clean. You just need to find what is right for you!

9. Make sure everything is the same tense -- Never thought about this, but it totally makes sense! Keep all your word tenses the same when talking about your work and your overall resume.

10. Education should be last (for those with work experience) -- just drop that down at the bottom, make sure that the most important things are at the top like skills and job descriptions. 

On the Resume:

1. Pull words from the job description and edit your resume each time you send it out -- everyone should be doing this. A one size fits all resume just wont cut it nowadays. Always keep it truthful (duh) but spice it up for job to job. Pull out why you're a great fit for that particular role and share it in specifics on your resume!

2. Under your job description, focus on accomplishments and impacts vs the tasks you did -- I love this! Instead of saying what you did on a day to day basis, talk instead about your accomplishments and the impact you made on your role. This will help show real differences you've made in the past and help future job prospects inspired you can do the same for them.

3. Ditch the objective statement and cover letter -- Unless they ask for it of course! This is something that (in my opinion) is very old school resumes. We all know your objective is to get the role you're applying for. As for cover letters, when we were hiring at work I never liked reading any of them. I just wanted to know more about the persons work experience and past!

4. Don't put your address -- who knew! I guess this can cause bias on the hiring managers part and it's best to be more general in terms of where you live (i.e. "Greater New York City Area").

5. Add numbers -- Something I need to do for sure but people love numbers! Hit them with the growth %, total revenue managed, overall average impact. Give the people physical numbers to show success. 

Once done:

Proof read it! Check for spelling and grammar edits. Then send it out to your friends, family, mentors, people in the industry -- whomever!! -- to look over it, edit, give feedback, etc

And that's it! Do you have other recommendations for resume tips and advice? Do you agree/not agree with what we listed out above?? Would love to hear from you below!

Source: http://www.coveringbases.com/2019/02/best-resume-tips-day-to-night-lbd.html

[fourteenacross]

ficlet: well-deserved recognition

It’s @thisstableground‘s birthday (at least in Boston, it might no longer be across the Atlantic. Time zones! How do they work!) and I told her I’d write her a little thing if she wanted and she asked for Alex having so much work to do that he can’t celebrate his own birthday. Alex’s birthday falls outside of the semester schedule in this verse (and also I already wrote a very dumb thing about it), so here’s the next best thing: Alex being so busy working he can’t go to a party about how great he is. (Also I fail at the “little” part of “little thing,” this is 2300 words long.)

Happy Birthday, Sophia! The year I turned twenty-five I very abruptly moved to Boston and it worked out PRETTY OKAY for me, so I wish you similar luck in the year to come!

*

"It's ironic, if you think about it," Alex mutters aloud absently. It's sandwiched in between thinking out loud about the nature of the conflict between scientific and spiritual explanations for the intuition-based components of parapsych. He doesn't even realize he's said it until John says, "What's ironic?"

He glances up from his laptop. His fingers are still typing. "Hm?" he asks.

"Babe, you've gotta take an hour or two off," John says. "It's just the award ceremony and the cocktail thing beforehand. You can spare it."

"I can't," Alex says. "The deadline for this stupid thing is midnight and if I want it published next quarter I've gotta get the edits in."

"You're one of the people getting an award! In part for the fucking study this article is on!"

"That's why it's ironic," Alex says. He looks back down at the screen, frowns, and then highlights and cuts a sentence, moving it to the middle of the paragraph. "Accept it on my behalf. Half the people who work here think we're the same person. Latino guys with long hair are apparently interchangeable to half the administration of this place. Which, don't get me wrong, I'm gonna take as a compliment because you're gorgeous and I mostly look like I haven't slept in a week."

"Well, that's not inaccurate," John says. "You and your eyebags, I mean." He waves a hand to get Alex's attention and Alex loves him very, very much, so he doesn't grab his wrist and shove it out of the way. "It's just two hours. You've earned this recognition, you deserve to, like, revel in it or whatever."

"You say 'two hours,' but we both know it'll be more. Washington'll wanna have a drink back in the lab, then Laf and Herc will wanna buy me shots at the bar, then, before we know it, it's eleven o'clock and I've still gotta get home and finish this thing."

"We can turn down those invitations."

"But we won't, cause we're idiots," Alex says. "Honey, just get the fucking plaque for me and hang out with our friends, I'll be fine."

"First of all," John says, "please never call me 'honey' again." Alex snorts. "Secondly, you're the one who's earned it! Jesus christ, I never thought it would be so hard to get you to go somewhere and listen to people talk about how great you are."

"If they want to postpone that talk until after this article is submitted, that would be excellent. Until then, I'm going to have to coast by on the ego boost from knowing they're just spouting compliments to me behind my back."

He hears John's chair scrape against the floor, but doesn't look up to see where he's gone.  He's back a moment later with his iPad, which he leaves next to Alex. "Will you at least FaceTime me for the stupid thing?"

"What, so you can hold your phone up as you accept the award on my behalf? Maybe hold it in front of your face so it looks like it's really me picking it up. Or, me if I had a very small, square head and the sort of banging body that I'll never in a million years have without giving in to your entreaties to go to the fucking gym." John sighs heavily. "Get that? That's a pun. Banging? Because I--"

"I got it," John says dryly. "Alex, just--"

He's quiet after that, which is suspicious enough that Alex's typing slows and he looks up.   John's leaning against the table, frowning. "What?" Alex asks.

"I just...I'm really proud of you," John says. "And I really want you to have that moment, you know? Of standing in front of people and being handed this thing and shaking the dean's hand. I want everyone else to see how amazing you are."

Alex's typing peters out. There's an unexpected lump in his throat. "John...."

"Oh god, don't turn this into like...a thing," he insists, pink blooming across his cheeks.

"What do you mean, don't turn this into a thing, you just fucking--"

"Oh my god..."

"--stood there and said something really...."

Alex trails off. He takes off his glasses and squeezes the bridge of his nose. His entire body aches from leaning over his laptop for the past two days. He's exhausted and sore and itching to go out and make some trouble with his best friends and the love of his life. He wants to stand on a stage and accept an award and have every asshole in the room--including fucking Jefferson, who's getting some dumb political science bullshit honor--see and admit how great he is. He wants to hear whatever Washington is going to say about him, because getting compliments from Washington is usually like squeezing water from a stone.

But he's made his bed. He went out over the weekend to celebrate the end of term and went out on Monday to celebrate the end of grading and he got up to have breakfast with John and Laf and Molly and Dolley and Jamika and Sybil and a few other people who are leaving for the summer, and now he's blown all of his time to work and he's stuck racing to the finish line. Sure, he could submit this now--it's pretty good, definitely better than most of the other shit published on the subject--but it could be better. It could cover more, it could be cleaner, and if he's going to make a name for himself, he wants to present the smartest, best version of himself possible.

He's already won Washington's award, it doesn't matter if he's there to actually take it in his hands. Not when he could be working on something he hasn't won yet.

And, of course, John has to rush in and throw that whole plan into disarray. John, who always seems to get under his skin and catch him off guard by just saying the simplest things. I’m really proud of you. When was the last time someone had said that to him and had it mean so fucking much, so much that Alex feels like his chest is going to split open?

He wraps his fingers around John's wrist and tugs him forward, down into a kiss. It's a weird angle--John's standing above him, leaning over him and kissing him almost sideways--but he'd still be able to recognize it anywhere. Simultaneously confident and shy, like he's sure of what he's doing but a little awed by why he's doing it. It's another thing about John that Alex struggles to put into concise words, like the things that he feels when they're kissing like this: joy, safety, disbelief, reassurance, passion, affection, fidelity. He squeezes John's wrist with one hand and laces the other into his hair. John licks gently against his bottom lip, his teeth, cradles his jaw. He takes Alex's glasses off with his other hand and, reluctantly, Alex pulls away just far enough to breathe.

He taps a finger against John's lips when he tries to go in for another kiss. "You can't fuck me into agreeing with you."

"I think you'll find that I fuck you into agreeing with me all the time," John says.

"Well, it's not gonna work this time." He holds out a hand and John sighs and puts his glasses in his open palm. "I'm serious. I have to finish this tonight. Go to the thing. Say something nice about me. Drink a glass of champagne for me and let the guys buy you drinks on my behalf. If you're still out when I finish, I'll come join you."

"You don't have a car," John says. He sits on the edge of the table, right next to where Alex is working. The solid curve of his thighs makes another good case for why Alex should give in and let John do whatever convincing he wants.

"I'll call a Lyft." He taps John's knee, a compromise between the part of his brain that's determined to get this done and the part of his brain that wants John to wrap his legs around his waist. "Go on, let me finish. The faster I get done with this, the faster I can come meet up with you guys."

John hops off the table and just looks at Alex for a moment, chewing his lower lip.

"You're really not going to come?" he asks.

"I can't," Alex says, and it's a more disappointing admission than he expected. "There'll be other awards. Probably about a zillion of them--I'm pretty brilliant, if you hadn't noticed." John rolls his eyes. "You can show me off then. I can show off for you then. I've gotta miss this one."

"Yeah, okay," John says. He shoves his hands in his pockets and leans over to press a quick kiss against Alex's mouth. "I'll see you later. Love you."

"Love you too," Alex says, and then makes himself focus on his screen again so he doesn't watch John walk out the door and change his mind.

He falls into his revisions, moving to the living room once it's clear the table isn't going to be big enough to hold all of his books and papers. He sits on the floor with his back against the sofa and spreads his materials out around him and all over the coffee table, neatly piling each document as he finishes with it. The sun starts to go down eventually, but he only notices it because it means he has to get up and put on the light. Otherwise, his attention is glued to his screen. The very back of his mind spares half a thought for his friends--out celebrating him right now while he's writing a fucking paper--but otherwise he forces himself into hyperfocus on his words. There'll be plenty of time for regret once he's finished this stupid thing.

That's probably why he doesn't really think about the door opening until whoever has opened it is already inside the apartment. Even once he acknowledges it, it takes him a moment to slow his typing and actually think about that fact. Someone is in the apartment. What the fuck time is it if they're home already?

"Hey, babe," John says. He lowers himself onto the floor next to Alex, leaning similarly back against the sofa.

Alex blinks at the clock on his computer. "It's not even eight. I thought the thing started at six?"

"It did," John confirms. He hands Alex a plaque. At the top is the school's crest, followed by The Faculty of the Morristown University of New Jersey's Parapsychology Department formally recognizes Alexander Hamilton as the 2014-2015 Distinguished Graduate Scholar. "Washington said some great stuff about you. Some of it might have been a little backhanded complimentary--'The first one in and the last one to leave, unceasingly questioning of his results, very confident in his findings' et cetera, et cetera. The sort of shit he says with a raised eyebrow in that kind of dry 'you assholes are gonna drive me to drink' voice."

"Yeah, I know the one," Alex says. He's still staring at the award. It's so strange to think how blasé he's become about working for George Washington in the past year, but here, holding this award, he's suddenly reminded that the most important scholar in his field is recognizing his brilliance.

"Anyway, I picked it up and just said a quick, you know, 'He couldn't be here tonight, but he's very honored' et cetera, et cetera, 'I'm proud to know him and delighted to see him recognized formally in front of the school,' blah blah blah. Herc taped the whole thing like a soccer mom at a school play."

A smile creeps onto Alex's face. "'Delighted.'"

"Jubilant, ecstatic, euphoric," John says. "Something like that. You know, 'he's an asshole, but he's pretty and smart, so I'll keep him around.'"

"Sounds like you," Alex says.

"Mmhm."

He needs to put the plaque down if he wants to keep working. He's so close to being done--maybe another two hours--but it pains him to set it to the side. "And, what, you want to change before you meet the guys?" He tugs John's tie, a green and navy chevron pattern that's clearly an expensive remanent of his previous life as a trust fund kid.

"Nah," John says. He loosens the tie a little and scoots across the floor until he's close enough that Alex can feel his body heat. "I'm home for the night."

Alex blinks at him slowly. "They're coming here?"

"No, they're going out," John says. "I'm coming here."

Alex blinks again. "Why?"

"Because I'd rather spend the night in with you then go out drinking with our friends knowing you're back here by yourself, asshole." John elbows him. "They should take back that award, you're pretty slow, as it turns out."

"Fuck off," Alex says. "I just...." He tries again, tries to find those elusive words, the magical sentences that can contain all these things that John makes him feel. "Thanks," he says finally.

"Nothing to thank me for," John says. He stretches his legs out and leans a little against Alex's shoulder. "Write your thing, Molly finally remembered to bring that book she wants me to read." He produces it out of his bag, a beat up paperback novel.

"Okay," Alex says, dazed.

"And when you're done and everything's submitted, we'll have a celebratory drink and then a celebratory you fucking me stupid."

Alex chokes on a laugh. "Sounds like a good plan."

"Of course it is, I came up with it," John says. He gestures towards Alex's computer with his book. "Go on. Write your thing."

"Only because you asked so nicely," Alex says. And it's easy to slip back into writing after that, working even faster now that John is beside him, even though he's only reading a novel. There will be other awards, other reasons to celebrate. He's not missing out on anything, especially since he has the most important part of that celebration right here, next to him, warm against his side in the quiet of the empty apartment.

[entergamingxp]

The Definitive Ranking of Every Halo Story Campaign

April 9, 2020 2:30 PM EST

After playing through every mainline Halo game over the past year or so, here’s how every entry’s campaign stacks up against the rest.

For the past year and a half or so, I’ve been gearing up for the release of Halo Infinite by revisiting every mainline game in the series. Despite having played nearly all entries countless times, this was the first instance in nearly a decade that I was finally returning to some of these classic shooters. I also did this seven-game playthrough with fellow DualShockers writer Michael Ruiz, and speaking for us both, I think it ended up being some of the most fun either of us have had with video games in a hot minute.

Of course, now that I’ve finished my playthrough of the saga, there’s only one thing left to do: rank every game in order from worst to best. Using math, science, and my own objectively correct intuition, I’m going to let you know which Halo game is the cream of the crop and which ones just can’t match up. You’ve surely seen Halo game rankings, but I can promise you: this is the only one on the entire internet that is completely factual.

Also, as the title indicates, my rankings here are only going to be based on the campaigns from each Halo entry. While I have spent a fair amount of time with each game over the years and can still recall my feelings of multiplayer, Forge, Firefight, Spartan Ops, and a variety of other features that have been present, we’re just going to be sticking to nothing but campaigns for this ranking. So before you go yell at me in the comments and tell me that I should’ve put one game higher or lower than another, keep this in mind.

7. Halo 5: Guardians

If you clicked on this article and expected to see Halo 5: Guardians in last by default, well, you weren’t wrong. Unlike a lot of other fans, I really didn’t remember strongly disliking Halo 5’s campaign before playing it again here recently. Upon finishing it up a little under a week ago, yeah, I can now reaffirm that it’s definitely not great.

Overall, there isn’t one major thing I can point to in Halo 5 that makes it a lesser experience than every other entry. Instead, it’s a death by a thousand cuts situation. Most notably to a lot of fans, myself included, playing as Locke and Osiris Team for 80% of the campaign isn’t as fun as it is to play as Master Chief. Then there’s also the fact that the squad-based gameplay that 343 tried to lean into with this entry just doesn’t work well at all. Since the game is more focused on fighting as a team, 343 littered the environments with way more enemies than in past entries, leading to me and my companions being downed in this installment way more than any other Halo campaign. Plus, I cannot begin to express how lame it is to have to fight one boss nearly ten different times over the course of the game.

There are some redeeming aspects of Halo 5, but those mainly are present in the game’s multiplayer offering, which, as I said, isn’t being taken into account here. As such, Halo 5: Guardians easily stands as the worst in the series and makes me somewhat nervous about Infinite‘s prospects later this year. If anything, I’m glad that Halo 5 at least prompted 343 to return to the drawing board and create an entirely new engine before continuing on with the development of the franchise.

6. Halo 4

This one was actually really tough for me because largely, I think Halo 4‘s campaign is pretty darn good. For 343’s first outing, Halo 4 ended up boasting a tight, concise campaign that feels excellent to play. Like, seriously, before 343 really mixed up the franchise’s control scheme with Halo 5, 4 was the best installment in the series by far with the “classic” shooting stylings. Not only that, but all the new additions to the game in the way of new enemy types, new weapons, and new vehicles all felt great to me.

I think the only reason it didn’t end up going higher on this list is just because I really cannot get invested in the new direction that Halo 4 took the series’ story. Look, I’m not a big Halo narrative guy by any means. I’ve never read any of the novels, listened to spin-off podcasts, and honestly, I don’t care if that TV show ever gets up and running. Still, I just find it hard to care about Master Chief’s current struggle with the Forerunners. DualShockers‘ own Steven Santana wrote a piece for us a few months back talking about how Halo‘s storytelling felt better when it was smaller, and I totally agree with that. For all of the qualities of Halo 4 that I like, I wish it was a bit easier to get invested in.

5. Halo 3

Despite being the game where Master Chief finishes the fight, Halo 3‘s campaign isn’t as great as I remember it. Yes, there are standout levels like The Covenant and Tsavo Highway that are excellent, but it’s the missions in between that I forgot were so straightforward and bland until this recent replay. This isn’t to say that the campaign is bad though, because it absolutely isn’t. Halo 3 has so many memorable moments, it ends on a high note, and altogether just wrapped up the initial Halo trilogy in a fantastic way.

Halo 3 is arguably the zenith of the franchise’s popularity and it’ll likely never get bigger than it was when it launched in 2007. Even though it’s my least favorite installment in Master Chief’s original three-game outing, Halo 3 is still excellent in its own right and is a game that an entire generation of players will look back fondly on for years to come.

4. Halo: Combat Evolved

It’s honestly wild how well Halo: Combat Evolved holds up. For a game that is nearing its twentieth anniversary (that’s so bizarre to even say), Combat Evolved still feels fresh to this day. Having played through the game countless times in my life already, I was really surprised in this most recent playthrough at how fun the game still is. This just speaks to how well-polished and realized Bungie’s initial outing was on the original Xbox.

Comparatively, Combat Evolved doesn’t reach the same highs as other campaigns in the series, but from front to back, it’s still a much stronger experience than a handful of other installments. As such, it slots in nicely right here in the middle of the pack.

3. Halo 2

In the opening hours of Halo 2, Master Chief prevents a bomb from blowing up his ship. He then drags that bomb with his bare hands to an airlock, jumps out into space with it, flies into the middle of a Covenant ship, and then detonates it before safely landing back aboard his own aircraft.

Halo 2 is far and away the most memorable campaign in the Master Chief line of Halo titles, which is crazy because you don’t even play as Chief in about half of the game. Bungie’s bold idea to place you in the shoes of the Arbiter, the initial antagonist of the first Halo, paid major dividends in this sequel. Not only did this decision help spice up each mission a bit and make them feel more varied, but it further fleshed out the world of Halo to great effect. The way that Master Chief and the Arbiter’s stories also end up crossing over near the conclusion of the game is also fantastic.

Halo 2 also just has so many little things that really put it over the top, too. The game’s score features the work of legendary guitarists Steve Vai and John Mayer, the ending cutscene is perhaps one of the most iconic in the history of video games, and the Anniversary edition which launched with Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a truly fantastic remaster. If Combat Evolved was the game that brought console shooters to the masses, this sequel is what made Halo a household name.

2. Halo: Reach

From the outset of Halo: Reach, you know how the campaign is going to end. Not only had Reach’s history been well-documented in Halo lore, but the campaign opening itself makes it clear that you will not be surviving this mission. And with this at the forefront of your mind, it makes Reach all the more compelling and intriguing to play.

Even though the entire Halo series is set on the backdrop of war, Reach is really the only game that captures that wartime atmosphere. Some of the missions within Reach are set on the backdrop of massive battlefields, reminding you constantly that you’re just one cog in this larger scheme. Plus, Reach is one of the few Halo entries that actually makes the Covenant feel threatening, unlike the fodder that they can sometimes be for Master Chief. Reach also makes you feel overwhelmed in the best way possible, with the epilogue mission really nailing this idea more than anything else.

Bungie really went out on a high note with Halo: Reach. Not only is the storytelling and journey of Noble Team perhaps the best single arc in the series, but some of the new ideas, guns, and mechanics that were introduced here worked incredibly well and are still present in the franchise to this day. Bungie was really starting to take the Halo saga in some interesting directions before its work on the series ended. At the very least, I’m glad that the studio gave us Reach before moving on.

1. Halo 3: ODST

I’m going to be honest: I’m shocked that Halo 3: ODST ended up reaching the top of my list here. To me, stepping into the shoes of an overpowered super soldier is half of the allure in playing each Halo campaign. For the best installment in the series to end up being the spin-off entry of Halo 3 that doesn’t have you playing as a Spartan and instead forces you to utilize a faceless, voiceless soldier shouldn’t work as well as it does, but here we are.

Compared to every other Halo entry except for maybe Reach, ODST just oozes a distinct tone and feeling that is never present in other campaigns. Backed by the best Halo soundtrack of them all, ODST‘s focus on isolation in a somber environment makes it wholly unique compared the loud, bombastic tone that is frequently found in other installments.

More than anything though, I think what I realized I loved the most about ODST was just how the campaign was constructed. Instead of just going from one mission to the next without pause, Halo 3: ODST is a semi-open world title for some brief portions. You’ll have to wander around the streets of New Mombasa and try to figure out what happened to the rest of your squad before being launched into a flashback sequence that details what they’ve been up to. It’s a simple idea on paper, but it’s one that makes ODST feel more cohesive in its storytelling than any other Halo campaign.

I’ve had a lot of ideas in recent months about how 343 Industries should look to construct Halo Infinite’s campaign and I really hope that they look to ODST for inspiration. While we don’t know what Infinite might look like just yet, if the game does go in a more open-ended direction, ODST‘s template blown up on a larger scale could potentially work out really well. If the Halo series wants to bounce back moving forward, 343 would be smart to borrow ideas from the franchise’s best campaign of them all.

April 9, 2020 2:30 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/04/the-definitive-ranking-of-every-halo-story-campaign/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-definitive-ranking-of-every-halo-story-campaign

[liveprojectyoko-blog]

Thursday 22nd March

My plan for today was to get the design of the tickets pushed through as a priority, hoping to get an ‘initial’ final design that we could have finalised by Monday- latest so that the client could approve and make amendments. As a group we realised the priority of getting these tickets finalised by next week to be able to get them sent out as soon as possible was crucial. I keep strictly reminding myself and others in the group that once we return from Easter we will be very pushed for time especially regarding the content for NIL, as I believe it will all come flooding in at once. Therefore, our current strategy is to get anything that doesn’t rely on the NIL photoshoot done this week to be able to take the pressure off the weeks remaining after Easter.

Its commonly said that the elements you think will take the least amount of time will always take the longest, and this applied to the tickets. A task I considered would take a maximum of a few hours ended up taking the full amount of the day without them even being fully finished. This task has really impacted how I will now ensure to allow plenty of time for all tasks, planning ahead and making sure everything can get finished in the time allocated to it.  

It was the beginning process of the ticket creation that was slow. The task of creating something quite simple but that also had restrictions, regarding written information and content, whilst also trying to make it aesthetically pleasing and varied from last year proved difficult. I think the moment we began moving away from feeling stuck with last years ticket designs and realising we had free reign with many elements our creativity was able to be let loose and ideas began flowing. Below are screen shots of the tickets last year for both the Bournemouth show (afternoon and evening showings) and GFW tickets.

I decided to do a quick SWOT analysis of last years tickets just to analyse any current successful or unsuccessful features that could be kept or improved upon this year. I think SWOT analysing previous work from last year and the years before can really help to help progress this year, making it bigger and better.

SWOT BOURNEMOUTH SHOW TICKETS

STRENGTHS

-The colour palette has been used across the tickets well. It is clear, evident but used in moderation.

-All important information is clear and easy to read. There is little chance of confusion with information displayed.

-AUB logo displayed on front of ticket makes it clearly identifiable to the university which is important.

-Varying colours for night and day shows is important and a good technique to differentiate them from each other.

-Considering user friendliness and CRM the tickets achieve this well.

WEAKNESSES

-Font is a quite clunky and oversized in areas.

-Ticket feels quite cluttered with some unnecessary information being displayed or written in longer format than is necessary.

-Ticket size is very large is this a convenient size for people to hold and put in purses, bags etc.

-AUB logos on both top corner and bottom corner is a little much especially at the size they are both at, unsure whether this is necessary or just filling gaps?

-Smaller font writing in top rip off section is quite clustered together making it difficult to read.

-Back of ticket, number spacing looks messy.

-Too much variation of text sizes makes it difficult to direct eyes to where crucial information is being displayed.

OPPORTUNITIES

-A minimal combination of perhaps two varied type faces could have directed the eye of the reader to the greater more important rather than feeling overwhelmed with just the one very bold type face.

-Discussion behind necessary content being displayed to free up any unnecessary elements further promoting a minimalistic style.

THREATS

-The white colour combination is quite bland, and it must be considered that buyers don’t get both tickets, so they make view the ticket design as poor if one feels different to the other.

SWOT GWF SHOW TICKETS

STRENGTHS

-The colour combination here is more accurate than on the Bournemouth tickets. Its bold, eye catching and will draw people in to read the information further.

-The design feels more considered and refined that the other tickets.

-It is important to make it clear that the ticket is for AUB as there will be lots of universities showing at GFW and the tickets need to be make clear and concise.

WEAKNESSES

-Is the admits one as crucial information as the Arts University Bournemouth this can be prevented by alteration in size or font type face.

-They have used a completely different type face here to the Bournemouth show and NIL Magazine it all feels a little miscommunicated and skewed.

-Sizes of the boxes storing information on the back of the ticket don’t align and look messy.

-Font choice on back of ticket is hard to read, very thin.

-Unsure with the information displayed on ticket, whether some of it is necessary etc.

OPPORTUNITIES

-Discussion of necessary content needs to be made.

THREATS

-Does the date need to be displayed on the front of the ticket- as to me that is quite crucial information?

The SWOT analysis allowed me to consider all elements crucially that I felt could be left behind or perhaps elements that worked well and that needed to be considered. I am really aiming for this year’s identity to differ from last years, so it is important that we put our own stamp on the tickets.

We began by setting the InDesign document up the same measurements as last years tickets. As we currently unsure on the possible restrictions with tickets sizing, and content being displayed on the ticket we will need to speak to Iain about this on Monday to check everything through. But it was better to just push on and get started than wait for this information.

I showed the group my mood board of ticket design that I had created the day before to show them how we could work with bold colour palette whilst aiming to keep the minimalistic theme throughout. A design feature that had been used on the mood board was having the tickets as portrait rather than landscape. I loved this style and think it offered something quite unique to the layout of the tickets. We all agreed upon this style, it would also help to differentiate from last years tickets due to the orientation of it.  

I felt it was best to begin by getting the desired information down at first and the begin to adjust the layout and style afterwards as we were getting pretty flustered with the design. Obviously, we were trying to make it in keeping with the fourth edition of NIL magazine, and the colour palette used across the whole design identity. Below are the various designs we trailed with feedback alongside each one, hoping then to reach a consensus to create a more finalized concept.

I really like the colour combination of this ticket design. I think using the blue as the primary background works well, with the pink and white popping off from behind it. We used a similar style to the NIL magazine logo by boxing areas of the ticket, such as the date, the individual sections of the tickets, and obviously the AUB logo used a similar technique. As picked up from last years ticket design we decided to use bigger, bolder fonts for important information such as dates, times, details. I would say we could experiment with stroke more making certain elements even bolder to pop of the page further. I think the placement of information is strong as it keeps the minimalistic style throughout and feels a lot less cluttered than last years ticket design. The AUB logo in the top left-hand corner may be slightly too small now looking at it and could do with increasing is size slightly too.

Here also displays the alternative colour combination for either the evening or afternoon show. I think the colour combination here works well. My only concern is that both tickets do not incorporate the orange tones which are to play a big part across the design identity of this live project so perhaps a colours scheme incorporating these elements should also be considered.

This design incorporated the areas required for change with the last design. As you can see the main information ‘AUB Fashion Show’ with the starting times etc have had stroke added to the text which makes it a lot clearer to read, it fills the page better at directs the eyes of the reader straight away to the most important information. The AUB logo in the top left has been made bigger and it fills the space a lot better and is clearer to read now. With the design the colour combination is practically the same except the main bold words are all in pink. However, I think I preferred when highlighted information was in pink as it sets it apart at makes it easier for the viewer to read.

Therefore, here a design using both white and pink for the title font. It works well with the slightly thickened text.

The other potential colour combination that will be used for either the afternoon or evening show is also displayed here. I think the thicker text pops of the pink a lot better whereas before the any text in white was harder to read, so that is important.

I then began considering how we could incorporate the orange tones in. I first tried to attempt something less bold, using the colours in moderation. So, I used all white backgrounds using colour only for the text. Initially trailing using the orange as the dominate colour for this combination. However, I think the look is really washed out and doesn’t feel creative, bold and eye catching. It gives it a feel that it hasn’t been aesthetically considered or refined. I think this isn’t the way to incorporate this colour combination into the tickets, and further trialling will need to be undertaken.

This just displays the alternative colour combination, I do prefer the blue being the dominant colour however, I definitely think more can be done combining both the blue and orange.

This design goes back to using block colour as the background however using the colour combination of blue and orange to do so. I love this design I think the colours work well together. My worry with the pink and blue combination is that the pink dominated ticket is quite feminine in look as you have to remember that if someone is solely getting that ticket they may feel the how design identity is feminine- when a lot of collections are unisex, female, female and childrenswear.

This design works with the same colour combination but using orange as the dominate shade. I was weary to use orange in such a dominant way as it hadn’t looked good previously. For this design I think it works well, the contrasting blue text pops of the orange and the white text is easily read too. It has two colour combinations that work well for options for both the evening and afternoon ticket. 

Here I have experimented taking the other colour combination out of the design and using just white text. I think it definitely works better with the blue text font as well as it shows the colour palette well and makes it more interesting than previously.

This is just an alteration with the dominant colour as being blue just using the white font. I think this colour combination is easier to read than the orange and just white font however I think incorporating the three colours works best.

These were the initial ideas. We then worked of four final ones to show to Karen that afternoon to receive some feedback to make sure we were headed on the right track. Below are the final selected four.

Karen received them well and like the design and concepts. She personally prefers the blue and orange combinations, so we will work upon these rather than the blue and pink and hopefully have a final draft by next Monday. I will continue my work tomorrow with the ticket design to hopefully draft a final design for the ticket. I also need to consider the GFW ticket as well. But am pleased with todays progress.