Games Programmer
Starting From the Beginning
Things Done in Year 1
While I had tried my hand at coding with True Basic in high school, my first year at university was when I first found practical use of it, in the form of C++. This included mostly the basics of programming; such as how code is read/compiled, learning syntax for control statements, etc.
When we were not being taught C++ however, a module required the use of FLASH. Combining that with assets such as sound and sprites taken from the internet, provided experience in putting it all together to produce a playable game.
Of course, programming wasn't all that was taught in the first year. 3D Animation was a module too, where the aim was to make a small animation using a 3D modelling program. While it may seem out of place, it helped me understand how it time consuming creating, modelling and animating could be.
GBA Game
The programming module that taught C++ mostly involved recreating a game with a certain mechanic in its bare form. I chose Mario and his iconic jumping mechanic as the first thing I could think of and tried my best in making a platformer. Coded using Notepad++, 5 levels were made, with the goal being to simply avoid the enemies and exit each one level by running to the right. Touching an enemy would result in instant death, putting the player back to the starting level. I made the textures and sprites for the game, with the premise of the player being princess Kaguya (a character from a Japanese folktale) trying to escape her house being overrun with Yokai (supernatural Japanese monsters).
Being the first game I coded from scratch, there was a lot of room for improvement. However, I'm proud of what I had accomplished in making.
(You will need a GBA emulator to run the game)
Flash Game
My first experience with flash was not great in that I could never properly understood what I was doing. Because of this, it is very difficult for me to get into flash even until the present day. However, despite all of the problems and my experience, I was still able to finish making my game.
Like with the GBA module above, aspects of video games were discussed in the starting lectures. From there the goal was to create a game using flash, whilst recreating some aspects discussed during class. What I made was an On-Rail Shooter for two players, where the objective of the game was to shoot the oncoming enemies, get a high score than your partner and survive for as long as possible. The sprites, that I also made, were created to show both a Mech and a Spaceship fighting through a constant wave of various enemy spaceships. The reason for the different sprites to distinguish the two players, was due to them having different firing options. The Mech would fire a burst of fireballs that deal a lot of damage per ball, while the Spaceship deals significantly less damage per shot, it could fire continuously.
While I was proud of how the game turned out, once the sounds and music I found on the internet were added, my only regret now was not having adding in several things such as; a start screen, a retry option and a credits section (as I have lost the original code for the game and only have the application left).
3D Animation
This module focused on using the 3D modelling program, Maya, to create an animation that would last for about a 30 seconds. A model was provided, as mentioned already, while the lectures provided a series of tutorials to help ease people into using the program effectively. Despite all of this, due to encountering a bug that crashed maya on start up and froze the pc that I was using at the time. I then asked and was given permission to use a different modelling program, Blender, to create the animation instead.
Naturally I was not given any help with using Blender, as the course focused on teaching Maya. Thankfully, I already had experience with Blender from having my brother introduce it to me half a year prior for fun. Utilizing the models I created and ignoring the model provided (I found it too creepy to look at), I made a short animation of a character trying to escape. I had initially wanted to animate some kind of fight scene but could not do so due to the constraints on having a maximum duration on the animation (it had to be less than a minute long).
The 3D Animation that was Submitted