Lerpz (Part Three)

Hey, guys!

I AM GEEKED! I got my new computer yesterday and went right to work! A few days ago I got my taxes and me and my lady decided to take a trip to Best Buy immediately. We browsed for a few minutes but we already knew what we came for. I had my eyes set on an Asus laptop and she decided to get a Lenovo. Originally I was going to get a different Asus because of the price but we decided to splurge because this one has a Nvidia graphics card and an i7 core processor. Before I landed on the Asus I was thinking about buying an Alienware laptop but after talking to some people about it, I decided I didn’t want to buy a “suped-up Dell” for that amount of money. (Even though it looks really cool.) They told me it was going to be a week’s wait, which kind of pissed me off but there were no Asus laptops in any of the city’s stores so I had no choice. Surprisingly it came way earlier than I expected. I’ve actually never received a computer this fast!!! I hopped right on to Unity and was blown away at the speed and quality. Now I am flying through my Lerpz. After a while though, I hit a wall! I have five error messages I can’t figure out how to fix to save my life. One is in the level status scripts and the other four are in my third person status script. I've done everything from rewriting the scripts to going to the index and copping the full scripts. Still nothing works! I looked on Google and found a little help. It fixed four errors but I can’t get rid of this one error. It’s a bad bug! It won’t let me play the game at all. I'm going to keep working on it for as long as I can, but if I can’t figure it out I guess I’m going to have to ask Mike for some help in the morning....

Life as a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

What’s up, guys?

In the past week I’ve learned that marketing can be rewarding, yet frustrating. Darrin and I have been very busy with getting our marketing plan together. We already know our target market. We have been working hard on our business model canvas (BMC) and completing our Udacity training. What is Udacity, you say? Udacity is a free online school that has lessons on various subjects such as start-ups, computer programming and entrepreneurship. I like it a lot. Right now I am taking the “How to Build a Startup” class.

Since we as a team have picked our intellectual property (IP) and genre, Darrin and I have been working on figuring out the best way to reach our target demographic. We've done a lot of research....A LOT! But it's really paying off. We've figured out what forums/ web sites we can advertise on for free and we did our homework on paid advertisement. We have a pretty good idea how we're going to get the game out there. It’s not going to be as easy as making a Facebook page. Steve and Chris put a survey together on Google Docs to gather some feedback on what people want in a game. The feedback has been really helpful to us in marketing because we can really zero in on our target customers. But with that being said I need to get back to doing some more research. Data is key!

Lerpz (Part Two)

Hello, again.

I'm hella frustrated! Lerpz is kicking my ass (and my computers’ ass). I have an HP laptop that I’ve had for a couple of years. So, not very long. I thought it would be strong enough to run Unity...WRONG! Every time I try to test out what I’ve done Unity force closes! I’m not sure how I’m going to complete this project. It’s to the point where I have to work on my project as much as I can at home and then test it when I get to class. I see that I'm going to have to buy another computer when my tax money comes in. Lucky for me Mike understood and he’s cutting me some slack. I just don’t want him to think I'm not taking the class serious. I got a nice chunk of it done today in class but all I can do is wait until my money comes in.... I hate being late. It’s bad enough the project was due the day I started the class. I just don’t want to fall too far behind and fail... I want this too bad to fail!

But, oh well... all I can do now is wait!

We Are Newbie Games!!!

Hello World!! Welcome back.

Things have picked up! We have set up our corporate structure. I chose the role of co-Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) along with Darrin Alston. We also appointed our Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chief Technical Officer (CTO) and Chief Information Officer (CIO).

Steve Chepp - CEO

Chris Rich - COO

Matt Fields - CIO

Nick Powell - CIO

Ian Richard - CTO

D’Merro Hull - CTO

Dowell Epps - CFO

Jordan Pinkos - CFO

We've also drafted all of our legal documents. We now have a mission statement and declaration, non-disclosure agreements (NDA), Working Agreement and IP Ownership Agreement. Now the fun begins.

414 Interactive Studios

Hello world!

So, in my CSG-115 class we were split into two teams. The team I’m on is 414 Interactive Studios (I know, cool name). I was lucky enough to be appointed as Lead Programmer. This should be fun. I don’t mind taking on a lead role but I’m a little worried because I don’t know the first thing about being a programmer! Then again, that’s why I’m in school! My team mates are:

Steve Chepp

Jeff White

Jordan Pinkos

Shea Kampschroer

Eric Hosler

Anthony Turtenwald

Brel Schroeder

Ethan Pawinski

Lucky for me I have classes with Steve, Eric, Shea and Jordan already so we're already comfortable with each other. Next week we will have to choose between two projects to work on for the semester. One of them is a  3D virtual simulator of Downtown Milwaukee that will be displayed in Discovery World or something  and the other one is a Nursing School Simulator. There will be two presentations, one for each project. Then each team will pick or be chosen...not sure how this works yet. But I’m sure this project will be fun!

Lerpz (Part One)

Screenshot of Lerpz

Hello world! 

Today I started my CSG-115 class. I’m sad to say I didn't know it was a required class, so I started three weeks late. Unlike my other two classes, this class is more hands on, which I enjoy. My first assignment is the Lerpz Tutorial. This is my first time using Unity. So far it’s pretty cool. The Lerpz Tutorial is an introduction to the Unity engine. It basically shows you how a game comes together by compiling a bunch of assets and scripts. At least that's what I've gotten out of it so far. I know it’s not a game of my own creation, but I'm still excited to be working on a game! This class, much like my other two classes, is nothing like any class I've ever taken. Although I still have no idea what I'm doing it’s still a great experience. Learning coding is like learning a foreign language. The terms and concepts don’t make much sense now, but I can say I'm starting to understand the logic behind it. This semester is going to be pretty interesting. I just hope I can keep up.

First Impressions

The first day of my Intro to Computer Simulation and Gaming (CSG) class, I truly realized what I had gotten myself into. Our instructor, Emil, started off his lecture with "YOU ARE HERE TO FAIL!" I thought, really? WTF? As he continued speaking I started to understand the method to his madness. He said that failing is the only way we’re gonna learn because, “once you fail, hopefully you won’t make the same mistakes again.” He also said, “I am not an instructor, I’m a coach. You all are your own teachers. I’m only here to facilitate.” (I’m paraphrasing.) He kind of got to me. I’ve always worked hard on everything I set my mind on. I am at a point where I am tired of just getting by. I decided to do something about it. I’m the father of an eighteen-month-old little boy for whom I want to set a good example. I want him to learn how to ignore the naysayers and do whatever makes him happy. I also don’t want him to ever know how it feels to be in poverty. I have struggled my whole life… hell, I’m still struggling! I don’t want him to go through what I have gone through. But I am digressing. Emil split the class up into two teams and each team is a startup company. My team’s company is called Newbie Games, and I must say we have a pretty bad-ass team! Only time will tell who's serious or not, but I have a feeling this program isn’t for the faint of heart. I’m ready for the challenge. I just hope Emil doesn’t kill us in the process.

I Survived Global Game Jam 2014!!!

Global Game Jam 2014 (#GGJ14) was my first "jam" and a great look into the game development process. If I had to describe it in one word it would be intense. Originally I wasn't even going to participate in the jam, but on the way home from class I was talking to my lady about class. It went like this:
         "So this weekend they're having this thing called the Global Game Jam. You stay up for 48 hours and design a game," I said.
         "Sounds cool. Are you trying to go?"
         "Hell no! One, I don't know anything. Two, I don't think they'll like me without 48 hours of sleep. Maybe next year."
         She gave me a creepy grin and said, "You should go. It would be a great experience. You have a lot more to offer than you think."
         "Maybe."
I thought about it for the rest of week. In the end I decided to do it. Okay, I thought. It's jam time.

I was a part of the first/second semester student group, "the n00bs."

With some head-butting and a great leader, we successfully completed a board game called "Catnip Tails." We were also in the process of creating a Unity version of the game but we ran out of time. And energy. In the first 24 hours we had a full-functioning board game. By the middle of the second day we had the game fully tested.

Here's a picture of the board in it's infancy:

Here's some pics of the game in Unity:

Even when things looked grim while being energy-drink high and sleep-drunk, we managed to keep things moving. Personally, the GGJ was an amazing experience. I learned that I had more to offer than I thought. I ended up helping with the game design and I was the lead on the sound effects /music for the Unity version. I also learned that when working with a team you won't always get along, but when you play to your strengths, personally and as a group, great things can happen. We actually won the game jam! That's right, the n00bs kicked ass! I was surprised because there were so many other interesting games that I still would love to play. But it still feels good to be the champ.

Here's the finished board game: