Throwing Shade
What have I accomplished this week as a developer?
This week has been my absolute favourite of Studio 2 so far, not only did I get to make something cool but I learnt a lot while doing it. We were tasked with going to the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) and picking a piece of artwork which spoke to us. The work I chose was a headdress/dance machine made by Ken Thaiday Sr. From there were had to create a game which reflected the artwork, and it had to be completed within 1 week. I had a couple of ideas after seeing the amazing artwork but was struggling to whittle it down into something I could complete within 1 week. Instead of going for an interactive adaptation or recreation of the original work, I spent my time researching the beliefs and ideals of the artist. I trawled through GOMA’s terrible website and found some better information on https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/goma10hub/artists/sr-ken-thaiday and also the gallery of New South Wales webpage where he had also exhibited his works, https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/thaiday-ken/?tab=works. If you want to read the more about the development of “Mobilised Artefacts” check out my Post Mortem linked on my Itch.io page (https://sweetboysoftware.itch.io/mobilised-artefacts) I really enjoyed being able to create something creatively open whichs meaning was also open to interpretation. One of my greatest triumphs throughout the project was getting to work with shaders for the first time. I utilised the MetaBall shader from Keijiro Takahashi which gave greater meaning to my game. It was awesome to work with but was also incredibly frustrating, it was a real trial and error experiment as one small movement of the MetaBall renderers bounding box would bombard me with literally 1000 errors, or using the metaballs to add negative space to give the shark higher detail put me over the limit of metaballs allowed in the scene which similarly gave me many many errors not to mention headaches. Overall I feel after my last project taking a chance and going into a new engine I still took a major step forward challenging myself with trying something I had never done before. Up next we have a MusicVideoGame which is not only something I am incredibly interested in (as I have plans for a rhythm game) but something I have yet to attempt. Keep your eyes on this space as me and my team will keep you posted with our MusicVideoGame.
What have I learned this week about development and being a developer?
Even though it kind of happened on monday of week 4 I’m totally using the awesome guest lecture we had today from Marigold Bartlett. There were so many points she raised during her lecture that resonated with me which not only has added to my motivation but really cemented some plans which I had for the future. Marigold spoke about the amazing opportunities down in Melbourne, how not only the multitude of events chances of networking benefit a young developer but how the Victorian Government has tremendous grants to jump start the projects and careers of Game Developers. I had previously been thinking about moving to Melbourne at the end of my degree since I did have prior knowledge of how awesome it is down there, but today really cemented things for me. As an ambitious young game developer I want to take every possible chance I can to live my dream and if that means moving to Melbourne then you will see me on a tram next December.