My goals for the week

Must: discuss character model + storyline with team, make a preliminary version, and learn about rigging + animation

What I was able to accomplish

• Put in consistent time in Blender, completing parts 10 (lighting) and 11 (compositing) of the online tutorial.
• Attended a Concept Art Workshop with Kira on Friday and sketched out some possible assets for the player models / props / characters
• Also discussed ideas for the context in which our game takes place.

Reflection

I’m proud of myself for making for 30-60 min each day to work through that Blender tutorial. It was also really nice to spend some time at the concept art workshop talking about the project and getting other peoples’ feedback on our game idea. One attendee in particular really inspired Kira and I to dig deeper into the story behind our game and characters. This got me excited, as it helped me reconnect to the world building / storytelling aspects of game dev that I feel I lost sight of by focusing so intently on finishing tutorials the past couple weeks.

Specific goals for the next week

• [ ] Check-in with team regarding character models + backstory
• [ ] Create and export one character model to be placed into the game
• [ ] Learn about animation + rigging → Sebastian Lague tutorials

What I learned (and did I expect it?)

This week I was reminded to enjoy the process. As it’s my last quarter of undergrad, I’m making a concerted effort to be fully present and enjoy whatever it is that I’m experiencing. I’m grateful to be on this project team, learning different elements of the game dev process and contributing to something greater than myself. Someone reminded of the cliché saying, “… it’s the friends we made along the way,” last Friday, and I’m learning to appreciate the lil moments we have as a team outside of business talk. Maybe we should make more time for them?

My individual morale

🌟 Going strong! Feeling inspired by the notion that I just need to show up every day and put in the work. I’m excited to breathe life into this game and flush out the backstory more with my teammates.