ShaunsClassAnnouncements

Hi all, I come bearing gifts.. Due a surgery I had two weeks ago I'm finding it difficult to spend much time at a computer so haven't been able to give the level of feedback I would have liked to. Image: Gifts In order to compensate for that Sundays project blog(Week 10) and Week 11 Project blog are on me. I will update Moodle for everyone for these two tasks, please still complete Feedback and Comments tasks. Of course this doesn't mean you shouldn't continue to work on your project, On Wednesday the 19th we will meet at 9:30 in D028 to present our final projects and discuss our plans for next semester. Keep an eye out for further details!

Image: FAQ's I've had a few queries in relation to the workload as we near the end of the semester, this week and next will see the end of the readings and Unity tutorials so that you can concentrate on your project and providing feedback to your peers. The Unity tutorials at this stage should not be additional work - you're probably in the position of trying to get components of your project working and your selection of tutorials should be helping you towards this goal. Some of you have also emailed to say you've reached the grade that your happy with this semester and are asking can I finish up now. the answer is Yes and NO. Yes you don't have to complete any Reading, Unity, and Feedback/Comment tasks and the NO is the project must be completed to a reasonable standard ie a small but perfectly formed game, if your unsure if its complete come and see me during a Lab/Lecture slot

A big thank you to everyone who completed the Progress Task, last week - they provided me with enough solace that we as a group are progressing in the correct direction. As we set out this semester I set several objectives for us to work on, and I mean "us"! if you remember they were; How to manage our time, ie making space for this module and engaging with the material on a regular basis.  I had to figure out how to manage to get useful feedback to you and I have to admit still struggle for consistency? To improve our reading and critical analysis of the reading by reflecting on it - through many of you have found this a challenge the evidence in your blogs is that you have risen to it - I am particularly proud of each of you in this, for me this is the most important skill you can learn at ITB to gain an appreciation of a gaming engine, this is evident in your project work, if anything, its trying to get you to slow down in your excitement to create that is proving a w

Image: Unity tutorials So this weekend you have been finding your own tutorials and applying them to your prototype, Jayanam has some really good tutorials, you may find elements that you would like to apply to your game. The work that I've seen so far has been great, Keep up the momentum!

HI, all first apologize for not getting feedback to you this week so far, I intend trying to get most of it back to you tomorrow - if your awaiting it before moving forward feel free to come to the labs on Wednesday I can offer my feedback during that time. here was also a mistake in relation to dates on Moodle, this week is the normal assignments as per  yesterdays post - I have amended Moodle to reflect the semester calendar

Not sure about you but I can feel the cold today as we start Week 7! You might feel that you have hit a wall remember there is more than one way past a wall. Image: Winter is Coming! I have listed this week's tasks below, we're in the creation phase of our project and to support this please find 2-4 Unity Tutorials that you have identified for creating your game and try them out. The next few weeks Unity Tutorials will be all about learning to create the vision you have for your game. Keep up the good work, as always I will be at all Lecture/Labs slots this week, call in and let me know how your getting on! READING Tuesday due date: READING    4 points  appx. 1 hour Do the  Reading  assignment for the class : Kinds of Fun, Kinds of Players Unity3D Thursday due date: Unity Introduction 8 points  appx. 2 hours You will be completing this week  Lab on Unity PROJECT - FEEDBACK - COMMENTS Here are the final assignments for the week:

Great to meet everyone today, there is a great buzz within the class, I do miss the face-to-face interaction! Please continue to reflect on your journey, that is the important bit i.e. continued progression towards your goal of making a simple game in Unity. I'm really excited about what you will be creating. For those of you are finding this new teaching style difficult, don't let the system beat you, at this stage, it is important to recognize that it's working for the majority of the class, What can you do differently to improve your experience? and What can I do to help you? Image: Catching up Enjoy the long weekend, take advantage that you have no classes tomorrow and try to get a step ahead in your work. As always I will be in all Labs/Lectures next week, I look forward to supporting anyone who needs a helping hand.

Hope everyone had a refreshing reading week. This week I would like to meet up and have a discussion around the tasks that we have coming up, how we're getting on with our project and when we plan to finish up. so this weeks lecture is mandatory! I have read everyone's GDD (those that completed their declarations), there are some very good examples - this week we need to concentrate in adding sufficient detail, have a look at the examples provided- my most common comment to each of your work has been to write your GDD as if someone else is going to make your game! Image: Graduation No labs this Friday as our CDM students enjoy their graduation!

Hope you enjoyed the conference yesterday - some great presentations. I was struck with the common themes that kept appearing. The idea that no one is an expert - that we all need to keep teaching ourselves. What are the implications for our learning here at ITB?  Also reminded of the idea of presenting our work early and often, that's why we blog and make comments in the module, create small pieces of work, reflect on them and then share! Image: Inspiration After yesterdays inspiration, I went home and began reading some of your blogs and was inspired again, In particular , Robyn's Blog on the weeks reading was an excellent example of the depth and attention to detail required when completing the reading blog.  Please have a read and leave a comment with your thoughts!   This weeks Project is to create a draft of the GDD. this should be in the region of 5 pages (1500words). Might seem like a lot but if you have put the effort into the vision document this ju

Thanks for the replies from your feedback yesterday, I was keen to have everybody who emailed (as per the brief) receive feedback early in the week and may have rushed in some cases focusing on the negatives. Everyone who submitted deserves praise for trying hard and making an attempt. Trust me this is the learning happening! It's about making connections between the readings, the tutorials, and applying them in the project, Well Done! If you would like some follow up feedback come speak to me tomorrow during the conference or Thursdays lecture slot. Again today I've had a couple comments about workload and I just want everyone to know I get it, its difficult allocating 8 hrs per week for this module, you might feel that your other modules don't require this amount of work, they should do! So I ask you to keep a few things in mind: If your work is honestly taking more than 8 hrs please come and see me - let's work out how to reduce it but still meet our goal

At this stage, anyone who has completed the Week 04 Project task on a vision document will have received feedback(as long as you sent me an email as per the instructions). I hope it makes sense, I really enjoyed reading everyone's pieces and it is clear to me that your trying very hard which is great! A few suggestions, read the linked document in the brief, it presents a good guideline for writing a vision document,  2pages means about 600 words, that much writing was required to get the level of detail needed this document will help feed into your GDD And here are a few good examples from your classmates https://annananieva.blogspot.com/2018/10/game-vision-statement.html https://thesingularmedia.blogspot.com/2018/10/game-vision-statement.html https://robynmulhall3.blogspot.com/2018/10/game-vision- https://clarkeschats.blogspot.com/2018/10/vision-statement.html https://krislexic.blogspot.com/2018/10/game-vision-statement.html This evening I have visited every

Image: Great Job Really enjoyed the second group of face-to-face meetings today, again a lot of energy and honesty from all of you, it is much appreciated. I hope it has been of some benefit to you, maybe its helped you to refocus on the task, clarify any niggling doubts or in some cases a big kick to get you moving! After speaking to all of you I am doubly sure that you are more than capable of completing the tasks and hitting your deadlines for this module, there is no one who is not able. I had several interesting conversations in relation to many of your passions and expectations for the next 3 years and how this module might fit into them. Unity is a great gaming engine, but its much more than that, during next semester and indeed the next couple of years we will explore how we can make a gaming engine relevant to you, but unfortunately we need to learn the basics and 'gaming' is the vehicle for this semester. I really like the project ideas, this week

Great to meet one half of the class today, really enjoyed the conversations. It's great to see the energy and enthusiasm in the class. Keeping working towards your goal of a working game. Based on these discussions I will be adding some coding resource to Moodle and hope to have a Google doc created where we can share tutorials we find. A few of you haven't added your name to the list for a meeting, Can you please make your self available during the lecture slot tomorrow.

Image: Meeting reminder Reminder face-to-face meetings take place this week make sure to book yours here . If you can't make the time please email me to re-arrange. This week we can discuss the project during the meetings, See you then!

I've really enjoyed reading your blogs this week, A few tips to help improve. wh when writing your blog post about the readings it should be with a critical eye as opposed to whether you enjoyed the content. Less a personal view and more an examination of the content and your work should be presented in a more academic style . follow the link to read more. The unity tutorial blog post are brilliant, I'm really getting a feel of how you're getting on, again attempt these early and if you hit a difficult bit come to the Lab/Lecture slot for support! The images for these blogs would be best if they were from your own attempts of the tutorials. The project blog has also been great, remember that when they are finished you need to email me with the correct subject line as per the declaration and insert a copy of the declaration into the email. Don't forget to complete the Declaration in Moodle when you have sent the email! We are approx a quarter of the way through

Remember next week we are having mandatory face-to-face meetings, please fill in this sheet with your name in a slot that suits. Image: Face-to-face meetings Also, I emailed a few students at the beginning of the week asking you to make contact, please do that before Friday 16:00!

Tutorial 3 Unity - First person controller Image: Unity Asset Store Some of you are having trouble finding the standard assets for the first person controller needed for Tutorial. In the older packages of Unity, it preloaded the package, in the newer versions you have to download and then import from the asset store. You should see the tab for the asset store under the play button when the store loads search for standard asset and download then import. Tomorrows Lecture If you come prepared with your 1 idea for the Project this week to the lecture I will help you get you all the content you need for your blog, if you bring your laptop you could have it written before you leave

Hope the beginning of the week has been kind to you. Firstly a couple of opportunities that you may like to take advantage of this week. 1st - If you finding the workload too much - come to your lab this week and I will see if we can devise a plan to deal with it. You should not be doing more than 8 hours for this module per week if you are and finding it difficult please come and see me this week! 2nd - As a follow on from the previous section - to help you with the project assignment this week come to the lecture slot and present your 1 game idea -I will there to give feedback and you should be in a position to write up your complete project idea during the lecture slot. 3rd  - if you have completed your Project blog but haven't sent me an email I can't provide feedback, Please send me that email as per the task instructions and I will try and be quick about the feedback! Image: Time for Review Finally next week I would like to meet every one of you individual