“‘Be shapeless and formless.. like water’ (Bruce Lee)” by Akinini.com is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

“Have a mind like water.”

― David Allen,  GTD

SUMMARY

This week, I wrote everything that I needed to get done down in my GTD system. I was introduced to “Construct 3,” a game development platform online. I messed with it and created a fun little WIP product.

PRACTICE ROOM (TUTORIALS)

Unity – C#

I completed the course.

CLASSROOM (THEORY & ANALYSIS)

Advanced students can extend Construct 3 by writing their own plugins and/or behaviors within JavaScript. There is flexible licensing, it is easy to add and remove seats from your plan.

LAB (THEORY PRACTICED)

OUTSIDE (PRODUCTIVITY & THE BRAIN)

During my walk today, I thought about what I need to get done today. I want to work on my presentation for Biology, do some Geometry homework as well as study for an upcoming test in the same class on Thursday, and work a little on my English project. I aim to get that all done before midnight tonight. I put all of this in my GTD system.

STUDIO (CREATIVITY)

I started working on something for fun, a toy gun that shoots sparkles but the twist is that it plays a audio and the higher your mouse is, the higher pitch the sound gets. The lower your mouse is, the lower the pitch gets. I’m just experimenting and this is not complete.

WHAT I LEARNED and PROBLEMS I SOLVED

I learned some of the basics of Construct 3. I am currently working on resolving some of the errors within my project.

Teens are overwhelmed, partly because they don’t yet have the skills to manage the unprecedented amount of stuff that enters their brains each day.  – from LifeHacker.com

“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”

“You can do anything, but not everything.”

― David Allen, (GTD) Getting Things Done for Teens: Take Control of Your Life in a Distracting World

SUMMARY

This week, I found my trusted system for getting work done in school.

PRACTICE ROOM (TUTORIALS)

Unity – C#

Completed Unity C# on SoloLearn.

CLASSROOM (THEORY & ANALYSIS)

Getting things done can be tough for some people. Some people are big procrastinators and don’t get things done on time, or efficiently. Working from home during the pandemic makes it worse because we have all of these things in our home that can distract us from working efficiently. Using things such as a reminder app, Trello, etc. can help you get things done on time.

LAB (THEORY PRACTICED)

Examine Two GTD Maps: Basic and Detailed

1. Detailed map by guccio@文房具社 icensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
2. Basic map from BiggerPlate.com embedded below

GTD-based Trusted System

I used the reminder app on my iPhone as my trusted system. It helps get work done efficiently.

OUTSIDE (PRODUCTIVITY & THE BRAIN)

STUDIO (CREATING MAPS)

Things that I need to work on were added to my trusted system.

WHAT I LEARNED and PROBLEMS I SOLVED

I learned that using a trusted system helps you get work done a lot more efficiently, and helps get it done on time. A problem I solved was figuring out how to use the reminder app the correct way so it can remind me to do something at a certain time.

“Day 092/366 – To Do List” by Great Beyond is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Your toughest work is defining what your work is! –  Peter Drucker

SUMMARY

This week, I learned how to stay organized. I also learned about how I can/should set reminders so I can get work turned in on time.

PRACTICE ROOM (TUTORIALS)

STEP 1: MAKE A LIST

STEP 2: NOTICE WHAT YOU NOTICED

STEP 3: SET A TIMER

OUTSIDE (PRODUCTIVITY & THE BRAIN)

• Set a timer
• Spend up to 20 minutes in this ‘room’
• Watch the first 30 seconds of this Oct. 2020 interview with David Allen

• Reflect on GTD and getting to the top of the colorful list above for a minute
  • How can the GTD process help you tame the crazy-busy dragon of modern life?

• Then, go for a 15-minute walk, if it is safe to do so
• Write a few sentence reflection
• DELETE ALL OF MR. LE DUC’s INSTRUCTIONS, AFTER YOU ARE DONE

I am better at organizing what is important to do and least important to do. I have set reminders for all of those things that tells me to do them so they are not turned in late.

WEEKLY ACTIVITY EVALUATION

• Give feedback on this week’s class Content and Process
  • Fill in the Weekly Activity Evaluation
• DELETE THIS WHOLE SECTION, AFTER YOU ARE DONE

SUMMARY

PRACTICE ROOM (TUTORIALS)

These tutorials are scripting tutorials for the programming language C# within the Unity game engine. These videos were uploaded by the official Unity YouTube channel. The channel has been verified by YouTube.

CLASSROOM (THEORY & ANALYSIS)

Minimum viable product is the smallest thing you can think of, that will still give you useful data. To find minimum viable product, you can find the absolute minimum set of features, that will not affect core development. It is important that the core of the game works first, before you add more features.

Game Genres from the Simplest and Most Difficult to Create

1. 1. Racing Game
   2. Top-Down Shooter
   3. 2d Platformer
   4. Color Matching Puzzle Game
   5. 2D Puzzle Platformer
   6. 3D Platformer
   7. FPS
   8. JRPG
   9. Fighting Game
   10. Action Adventure
   11. Western RPG
   12. RTS

LAB (THEORY PRACTICED)

Game designers should experience games as a designer to help give them ideas, and to know the feeling. Try doing activities such as riding a roller coaster, or literally anything. Try to find the point where you feel happy in whatever you are doing. That can help give you ideas. Look through other games and see what neat little production tricks you find within them, to help performance, etc.

OUTSIDE (CREATIVITY & THE BRAIN)

My nemesis is school. Why is school my nemesis? Because of assignments, geometry, I’m talking to you. Geometry assignments are always getting in my way and take away part of my day after school which is irritating. Math homework will always be my nemesis.

STUDIO (SONGWRITING)

Idea 1: 2D Action Game

Story: You are a cube who must get through obstacles and reach the end.

Idea 2: 2D/3D Action Game

Story: Similar to Among Us, but only tasks. You do a lot of tasks to complete the game.

Idea 3: 3D Action Game

Story: You play with other players and there are minigames, once you die in a minigame, you’re eliminated. Last to survive, wins.\

Idea 4: 3D Fighting Game

Story: You have to work in a map of some sort to kill zombies in order to survive. If the zombies take all of your health, you die. Some zombies can drop health regens, and weapon upgrades.

Idea 5: 3D Platformer

Story: Do some parkour across some levels in order to complete the level. Some levels can be long and challenging.

What is Workflow?

Work•flow /ˈwərkflō/

“The sequence of industrial, administrative, or other processes through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion.” – lexico.com

Workflow is the way and sequence of how we work that is nice and organized so nothing ever gets loose and things start getting out of place or you get stuck behind. Developing a good workflow requires some experimenting to see what goes right and what goes wrong.

Stages of Creation Development

Inspiration

How do we find ideas to develop?

• WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE? Your brain, peers, Trello
• WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE? Brainstorm ideas with your peers, if you or anyone else has an idea, immediately put it on Trello so you don’t lose the idea.
• HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY? If there is a bad idea, then archive it, do not delete it because it may come back to you and may fit in with the project. If it is an idea that isn’t too important then throw it into the backlog. If there is a good idea then keep it in what should be worked on.
• WHO MEASURES QUALITY? You and your peers.

Intention

How do we clarify our specific goal(s) for a project?

• WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE? Your ideas, Trello, peers
• WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE? Make a goal such as “I want so and so to be in our game, it must make it into the final product” or something like that. Try to set your goal, make a Trello list dedicated to your goals. Put the features you want to  be in the final product in there, or put any other goals in, such as “I want the game to have a minimal amount of bugs”. That is your goal.
• HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY? Check the Trello board with your peers to see if any of your goals don’t seem right. If there is anything left out, add it! If there is something that isn’t super important then you can move it to the backlog.
• WHO MEASURES QUALITY? You and your peers.

Pre-production

How can we brainwrite, brainstorm, storyboard, and plan our ideas at this phase?

• WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE? Storyboard, Trello, role/task sheet
• WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE? Once you have your ideas in the Trello, you should copy and paste them onto the storyboard to get a base view on what the game will look like visually, and how it will play. Divide up all the work into different roles, such as sound design, level design, character design, programmer, etc. Now, come up with your pitch. Make sure it is an appealing pitch that isn’t too long, or too short.
• HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY? Once you feel that your storyboard is looking nice, check up on the role division sheet to make sure everyone in their appropriate role knows what they’re doing. Make sure you have a good pitch ready and be prepared to present your pitch.
• WHO MEASURES QUALITY? You, your peers, advisory members.

Production

How do we communicate with each other and execute our plan for this phase? This is where we actually make the project.

• WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE? Trello, role division sheet, Unity, GarageBand, Audacity, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator
• WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE? Look at the Trello, start working on the important stuff that is your absolute goal to finish, make sure everyone in their appropriate roles knows what they’re doing and is working on their part.
• HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY? Check up on those important features, fix any potential bugs, fix them, then start working on some backlog features with the time you have left.
• WHO MEASURES QUALITY? You and your peers.

Post-production

How do we communicate with each other and execute our final stages of the project for this phase? This is where we publish the project.

• WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE? Unity
• WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE? Once your game is in a playable state close to presentation, then do a build. Make sure to ALWAYS test your build. There is a good chance that there will be bugs in your build that aren’t present in the editor. Fix those bugs and make more builds until there is a minimal amount of bugs in the game.
• HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY? Make sure that in your final build, there are little to no bugs, especially major bugs. Think about what you got done during the production phase.
• WHO MEASURES QUALITY? You and your peers

Presentation/Performance

How do we share our project with our learning community, advisory members, and the world?

• WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE? Google Slides, notecards, Trello
• WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE? Make your presentation, make sure you include screenshots of not only your game, but the process of making it. Such as screenshots of art being worked on, EQ in sound design, pictures of your code, make sure the code has comments in them!
• HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY? Check to see if there are any missing slides, if anything is missing then add them. Go ahead and practice present with your partners once that is done, once you have practiced enough and have your notecards, you are ready to present in front of the advisory members.
• WHO MEASURES QUALITY? You, your peers, advisory members

Feedback

How do we conduct a feedback session at the end of the project development cycle?

• WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE? Edublogs
• WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE? Review others presentations and maybe write about theirs. Write out a blog post about your game reflecting on what went right and what went wrong. Write about pre-production, production, post-production, etc. Include screenshots of the game and what you worked on.
• HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY? Once you met all requirements for the blog post such as screenshots, videos, etc. then publish it.
• WHO MEASURES QUALITY? You, the teacher

Who is one of your mentors?

Success is when you have done something truly inspiring. Success is when you create something, whether it be music, evolving technology, or anything else that can truly make a change. Steve Jobs had success because of his outstanding work around technology. He invented the Macintosh. The Macintosh changed technology for the good. A lot of people use computers for stuff like this. Without apple, Microsoft may not even have been a thing. Another great innovation was iPhone. iPhone changed the way we communicated. We no longer use flip phones or phones with plastic buttons. Like a blackberry for example. iPhone has digital typing, and not only can you communicate on it via SMS or calling, but you can listen to music, take photos, set alarms, use calendars, download apps such as games, and etc.

Personal Success Definition

Success is someone who has created something truly inspiring and evolving.

Steve Jobs has created Apple. Apple is one of the most successful businesses in the world. Bringing computers, iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, etc.

Skills for Success

Steve Jobs is a 1) computer programmer, 2) smart businessman and 3) risk taker. Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-founded apple in 1976 to sell Wozniak’s apple I computer. They both gained attention a year later with the Apple II. Jobs attended Reed College in 1972, but dropped out that same year.

How They Used These Skills

Wozniak had made the Apple I. Steve Jobs then joined him and co-founded Apple. A year later they both created the Apple II and achieved fame from that. “Jobs saw the commercial potential of the Xerox Alto in 1979, which was mouse-driven and had a graphical user interface (GUI).” Which then led to development to a couple of different computers, including the very successful Macintosh.

Challenges Overcome

Steve Jobs had forced out of the company in 1985 after a long struggle with the companies board. In 1997, Jobs became CEO of Apple to help revive it. He was very responsible for the revival. Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy, but Steve Jobs had revived Apple. Jobs had health problems in the early 2000s, he was diagnosed with cancer. Although he had many health problems, that didn’t stop him from working. And he would work on many new products such as the iPhone, up until his death in 2011.

Significant Work

Steve Jobs announcing iPhone in 2007.

Resources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

https://allaboutstevejobs.com/

https://www.biography.com/business-figure/steve-jobs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_I