Humble Beginnings
At the start of my journey as a college student, I was not sure what to expect in my new environment. Only a few months after my high school graduation, I stepped into a new world of responsibilities that come with being a college student. Near the beginning, I did not have a concrete path that I wanted to follow for the 4 years of school. I figured that as time went on, I would find what I was looking for at IUI (Indiana University Indianapolis). It was not until my second honors course, H-200, that I took in the second semester of my freshman year that I began to more seriously contemplate what I wanted to be. I wanted to be a game designer so I could create experiences that people of all ages can enjoy.
Who I Was
"Right now, I am a rookie game designer, but by the time I graduate from college, I want to become an adequate game designer. This means, for me, that I want to become good at coding games as well as making the models for the game. I have dabbled in these aspects before, but I think that I can get a lot better with professional teaching.
Starting with coding, I need to learn this because it is vital to making video games. It is responsible for a lot of the functionality of video games. There are hundreds of languages that you could potentially use, but I plan on only using C#, Java, and potentially C++. This is because those are some of the most commonly used languages, so it will be very beneficial to learn them. Right now, I am pretty good at C#, so I want to focus on learning Java and C++ in the future.
Moving on to modeling, modeling is very important for 3d games. This is because learning how to model can help with making video game characters. It is not as necessary for 2d games, because it is mostly sprite-based, but it can still be good to know. Right now, I know a little bit of the Maya engine because I am taking a 3d modeling class, but hopefully I get a lot better in the future.
So to conclude, I want to, by the end of college, be a better game designer. I want to achieve this by improving my abilities in modeling and in coding."
This is Sonic Revel a fan game i made on Roblox in 2021
Snippet of code in the Lua programming language for a jump simulator game
Who I Am Now
A video that showcases a cutscene test for my game, Health Guru
A video that showcases a system of equations calculator in C
Today, I am an accomplished game designer who has developed a variety of games individually and as part of a larger team. I have learned many things about programming and game design over the last 4 years and am confident in my skills. My main game engine of choice is Unity for more general projects. Due to this, I typically use C# in most scenarios, but I also use C++ and Java when needed. When building games, I lean more towards developing 2D games over 3D games due to their being less complex. Adding the 3rd dimension adds a challenge to ensuring a good game feel, which might not be possible due to time constraints.
To better assist with game development, I have taken a multitude of Computer Science and Mathematics classes to further increase my programming skillset. These classes help me think logically in scenarios where the solution is immediately obvious.
Complementing my game design journey, I also learned more about 3D modeling to help aid me in 3D game development. This has come in handy several times when I needed to build placeholder models for playtesting reasons.
As I move towards the future, I would like to spend more time learning Java and C++ for future use. I believe that strong knowledge of these programming languages will help me find work doing what I love.
Reflection
Looking back at the last 4 years, I have learned many valuable skills that will come in handy in future endeavors. When I was a freshman, I believed that I knew a lot about making games, but I could not have been more wrong. My programming skills at the time were rather basic, severely limiting the complexity of the games I could create. I was not aware of essential programming aspects such as object-oriented programming, vector math, or reference and non-reference types. After becoming more skilled with programming, I realized just how many problems I could solve, both new and old.
My 3D modeling skills have also seen a dramatic improvement. I am now much more confident in my ability to 3D model and texture if the situation calls for it. I have also dabbled a bit in rigging and animation through college, but I think it still needs some work.
All in all, I believe I achieved what I wanted to based on my past wishes. As time passes, I will continue to strengthen my skills so that I can deliver the best work possible.
Journey Map
During my H-200 course, I created a journey map detailing where I wanted to be at the end of my four years at IUI. The main aspects I wanted to prioritize were 3D and game design as I felt this would best prepare me for my future outside of college. At the time i did not have a concrete plan on how I was going to achieve this so it served more as a marker of progress than as a strict timeline.
My old Journey Map
Present Day
Compared to my original map, I prioritized programming much more heavily than I expected. I realized around the end of my sophomore year that it would be very beneficial for me to look into computer science, so I could improve my coding and logic-based skills for game development. This led me to push for a CS minor alongside my major in Media Arts and Science. Due to my increased focus on CS, I became more aware of the tools that my preferred game engine, Unity, provides for game developers. This significantly increased my productivity in the engine, which directly improved my ability to make games.
My 3D modeling skills have also received a dramatic improvement, mostly due to the first half of my 4 years being dedicated to 3D. I am now more familiar with the basic pipeline for making models for games, including modeling, texturing, and animating. I have not used this new skill set too much for games yet since I prioritize 2D, but I still believe it was worth learning.
The one thing that I did not focus on as much as I thought I would was Unreal. Personally, Unreal is not my first choice for a game engine because the comparative simplicity of building games in Unity provides for me. This has led me to neglect working with the engine to the same extent as Unity, leading to a large gap in efficiency. While not directly tied to Unreal development itself, I have become much more familiar with the engine's scripting language, C++, so I believe that if I give the engine more time, I could make great things with it.
My new Journey Map
Looking Back
If I were to show my past self from 4 years ago my journey, I would be surprised just how much I managed to achieve based on my original journey map. It is easy to set goals to achieve, but it is 1000 times harder to see them through to the end. I have run into countless situations where I wanted to quit, so I would not fail, thinking that I would never fail if I did not try. In reality, however, if you never push yourself to be better, you never will get to where you want to be; it is like walking in that sense. I think the biggest example of this is my mathematics journey during the second half of my 4 years. Due to a bad experience with Calculus in my sophomore year in high school, I became terrified of math and wanted to avoid it at all costs. This led to a bit of a conundrum when I started taking Computer Science classes since the two are so intertwined with each other. Since I wanted to receive a minor in the field, I had to push through something that I thought was out of reach for me. This required me to dedicate weeks to relearn most of the topics you would normally learn in high school just to qualify, but it was worth it in the end. I learned a lot about math these last couple of years and no longer see it with the same amount of fear as I used to.
“There is no progress or accomplishment without sacrifice.” - Idowu Koyenikan
While not to the same extent as my experience with math, this extends to the majority of my experiences in college, whether it was learning C++ or adjusting the lighting of a 3D to get it just right. I am glad that I put myself in these uncomfortable situations throughout my 4 years because I believe it has set me up for great success in the future.