I'm super excited to be kicking off my time at Falmouth University studying an MA in Indie Game Development. This blog is my critical reflective journal documenting my journey through the course.
This week is about orientation and is the start of the development practice module. In this entry, I'll be covering:
- A brief overview of my background
- What I'd like to achieve from the degree overall
- How I approached the first challenge activity.
Where I've been
I've been working in the digital industry as a developer, interaction designer and creative director since 2007. I founded and then ran my own digital agency for ten years and have extensive professional experience working on national campaign level projects. A large portion of my experience in the last six years is in gamification and e-learning, and in April 2021, I moved on to pursue this in a new way.
Where next?
My motivation for starting this degree comes from wanting to focus on the craft of making games away from the client-led environment that I've been working in for years.
I am interested in the idea of games being a useful tool for learning and informing, whether on directly educational topics or through fictional story led scenarios that encourage critical thinking and problem solving, and I see this course as an opportunity to explore and research these areas of gaming further.
So as a result, I'd like to improve my serious games skills.
Probably, the most common definition of serious games is “games that do not have entertainment, enjoyment, or fun as their primary purpose”. Following this definition, serious games can be distinguished from video games by their design objectives in that serious games have a primary design objective other than entertainment.
(Laamarti, Eid and El Saddik, 2014)
I'd also like to upskill in Unity (Unity Engine, n.d.), develop my skills in longer feature games, as most of my experience is in gamified content.
Challenge Activity
This week's challenge activity was to gather objects from around the house to create an avatar of myself.
This immediately posed a slight challenge, as much of my belongings are in storage due to moving abroad in a few weeks, so I decided to break down my avatar into sections of my life and find items that fit within them.
- Work
- Reflect
- Play
- Responsibility
My forum post (Falmouth University - Week 1: Challenge Activity):
1. Work
I've spent 13 years working in digital, never far away from my Wacom tablet and notepad. They are two of my most used tools. The bananas book is because of my background and interest in using games to educate and a future project I'm hoping to work on to do with climate change.
2. Reflect
I'm a visual person, and photography is a hobby of mine. I use it a lot for reference as well as for documentation and reflection. The meditations book is because reflection has become part of my daily routine. I spent ten years running a digital agency in London in high-pressure situations. Through every work and personal challenge, it's been a critical tool for me in being pragmatic.
3. Play
Most of my gaming kit is in storage right now, but I still have the PS4 here. But it goes without saying, gaming is my thing. I did the "old man video game" illustration when I was in my early 20s and keep coming back to it. Although it's been a while since I've been able to grind on a game, it reminds me of how you can totally get sucked in and lost in a game.
4. Responsibility
I have three kids, two of which are preschoolers and the flattering pile of toys on the right represents the fun and chaos of having a young family. It's a huge part of my life and always my priority.
5. Music
The piano ties it all together. Whether I'm working, reflecting, playing or otherwise, I'm always listening to or playing music.
This was an interesting activity for me, as it forced me to work with the few things I had left out of storage and really reflect on what is actually important to me. I had to find items that fitted within those parameters, rather than being led by what was around me - When it comes to resources, this is quite often the way it is on real-world development projects as well.
List of Figures
Figure 1. Vestby-Clarke, S., 2018. Let's Get Started. [image] Available at: <http://indie.samvestbyclarke.com/bl-content/uploads/pages/e675ed77ccb93f53d28873db9609966f/LETS-get-started.jpg> [Accessed 4 June 2021].
Figure 2. Vestby-Clarke, S., 2021. Week One Challenge Activity. [image] Available at: <http://indie.samvestbyclarke.com/bl-content/uploads/pages/e675ed77ccb93f53d28873db9609966f/avatar.jpg> [Accessed 4 June 2021].
References
Falmouth University. 2021. Falmouth University - Week 1: Challenge Activity. [online] https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/912/discussion_topics/22191 [Accessed 4 June 2021].
Laamarti, F., Eid, M. and El Saddik, A., 2014. An Overview of Serious Games. International Journal of Computer Games Technology, 2014, pp.1-15.
n.d. Unity Engine. San Francisco: Unity Technologies.