Author: rrabanal

Bob

I know that I may be biased when I say that Bob had my favorite presentation from the three since he is my professor. I thought it was interesting to see all of the of the game experiences he has had over the years. His experience in the field has been interesting. From Barbie to the Bible Game, Bob has done a lot in the video game industry.

Alex

I liked how Alex took inspiration from her children for her work. She thought that something like having children would be a hindrance to her, but it inspired her later work. I am glad to see that her children mean a lot to her and her work. It is amazing to see where people are able to draw inspiration from.

Joe

Joe’s presentation was surprisingly fascinating. Instead of reflecting on several photos at a time, he showed work that he has been in the making for years. He had a wide range of pictures dating back to the late 90s. I am not a photographer myself, but that must be plenty of dedication just to see this project through.

This new journey into college has been fair to me. There really a few moments where I thought that something was hard, but it was mostly a lot of work. I have found this semester to help me with planning my schedule ahead of time. When I get an assignment, I already of an idea of when I should take the time to work on it. This will prepare for the next semester.

The Seminar in Visual Studies was just fine for me. Most of the time, I was not really that engaged in the presentations shown. I did find some presentations to be interesting though. I think it is just my personal preferences that got in the way. The class was only on Fridays for one hour, so I do not have much room to complain. It was an interesting concept to bring all these different yet similar majors together, but it could have been better. If I had to mention something positive about the class, I do like the idea of having blogs. It gives us the chance to be able to be more expressive in a class with a little less than a hundred people.

Overall, this year was just an opportunity for me to see how I would fare in college. I went to a prep school, but they did not give me a good idea of what college would really be like. I have done better than I thought I would have this semester. It is hard to say that I am nearly finished with my first semester of college. I feel like I barely just started this semester yesterday.

Indie Developers from Worldwalker Games talked about their upcoming game Wildermyth and how game development works in different types of game development. It was cool to be able to have people like Anne and Nate Austin talk about developing a game from the viewpoints of an artist and programmer.  They also talked about how game development is different when you are working by yourself, a small team, or a large team of developers. Besides going over how game development works, they went over the history of Wildermyth’s development and the hurdles they had to get over as developers. I really appreciate the fact that this game is self-funded. We live in a time where people rely on Kickstarter and other crowdfunding websites in order to begin their game development. There have been so many many crowdfunding games that have either been released as a terrible game that lacks what was originally promised or have never been finished because of mistakes made with calculating the funding goal in some extreme cases. If there was something new that I have learned from their presentation, it was the difference between an alpha and a beta of a video game. I have heard alpha been used a bit, but it makes more sense that it means that it is a build of the game that is not ready for the public to play or see. I have seen many videos on unreleased games and they would always refer to the builds shown in the video as alphas.

Question for the Faculty

What is the most ridiculous thing you have ever done with your art?

Alejandro Ura

I found Alejandro’s presentation to be more informative for what I am going to be able to do within my field. The gaming industry has many different types of jobs and Alejandro’s work with Riot Games and SXSW Gaming really shows this. The noob commercial for League of Legends was something that I had no idea he worked on. He was also informative about the different types of internships that are available and how we should market ourselves in order to get a job.

Anthony Zubia

Anthony’s work as a freelancer was hilarious. It was very hard to control my laughter when he was showing the work for the testicular cancer awareness advertisements. I found that most of them were very clever such as the Christmas ornaments poster. Anthony really shows how much range and freedom you are given as a freelancer.

Edith Valle

I thought Edith’s designs were the most visually pleasing. I found her work to be interesting yet somewhat complex. My favorite creation of hers was her work for the I heART Justice exhibit. Replacing the Statue of Liberty’s flame with butterflies was a nice touch that has a deep meaning behind it yet it is beautiful.

Internship Opportunities That Intrest Me

All of these hold my interest because I have had some experience in the past with some of the programs that are mentioned and I am willing to learn more about a program I do not know how to use in order to meet the requirements.

Animation Intern (Rooster Teeth)

https://stedwards.joinhandshake.com/jobs/1115140/share_preview

Intern Gameplay Engineer (SubVRsive)

http://subvrsive.applytojob.com/apply/job_20170828225539_UUCGN24ZDQHNFRFE/Intern-Gameplay-Engineer?source=INDE

Software Engineer Intern, Web & Mobile (Blizzard)

http://jobs.jobvite.com/careers/blizzard/job/ome75fww?jvs=Indeed&jvk=Job&jvi=ome75fww,Job&j=ome75fww&__jvst=Job%20Board&__jvsd=Indeed

Jimmy

I thought it was nice to see Jimmy’s work with the risograph. It really helped bring out the best of his art.

Jenna

I thought it was pretty cool to be able to see what Jeena worked on for a travel app. I wish that the work I have done could be used by companies in the future. You do not give much thought as to how worked on designing the app.

Taun

This was one of the first times I have seen a mood wall. I believe that it was in Tuan’s presentation. It is interesting to see what people put up there to help them work on their art projects. Taun to have some good work that reminds me of the one class where he showed off some art he worked on. Some of his designs were familiar.

Bill

The thing that I found the most interesting was Bill’s presentation. It was visually appealing. I still cannot believe that those are real-world objects that he took pictures of. His photos were so colorful and it was impossible to tell what those pictures were originally of. I did not understand what he was trying to do though.

Plan

I’d like to be able to take advantage of how many development studios are within Austin and try to get an internship in the near future. If possible, I would try my best to make my way to the top of the development team by starting at the bottom. It might seem like that is odd, but this degree will teach me the ins and outs of the video game industry.

What I believe the bands My Bloody Valentine, Lush, and the Cocteau Twins have in common with the style of their music videos is that they try to use very distinct effects for their videos. The effects seemed to be experimental due to how different they are from other music videos I have seen. For example, the music video for “Heaven or Las Vegas” by the Cocteau Twins split the video to make room for three different images at once. I found the editing and the effects go well with the music. Videos from My Bloody Valentine were chaotic when the music would start to be chaotic.

The music for each band has music that goes for a calm tone. What helps the music keep this calm tone could be how the singers for these songs are hard to follow unless you look up the lyrics. There is less concentration for me on what the singers have to say as it comes off as gibberish.

I feel as though that the music that I was listening to was trying to calm me down. I was not really able to because the songs would use instruments in ways that I am not used to. “Only Shallow” by My Bloody Valentine could be considered relaxing, but the guitar riffs sound abysmal. This may be due to my preference of more traditional instruments and music genres. The Cocteau Twins were my preference out from the bands assigned. The songs were less experimental and less irritating to listen to for me.

I believe this major is the right one for me. For most of my life, I have been fond of video games. Being able to research how to develop video games would not come to me as a chore. It would actually be something I would enjoy to accomplish and make a game out of. I do not have a back plan set in place yet in case this does not work out for me.

Freshman Year (2017-2018)

First Semester:

History of Video Games

Foundation of Art and Design

Rhetoric & Composition II

Pre-Calculus

Freshman Studies

Freshman Seminar Class

Second Semester:

Worldbuilding

Principles of Digital Media & Entertainment

Religion Class

American Experience

Speech

Summer:

Spanish III

Sophmore Year (2018-2019)

First Semester:

Computing Concepts I Lab

Computing Concepts I

Introduction to Digital Music and Audio

Drawing

Second Semester:

Computer Graphics and Animation

Interactive Storytelling

Computing Concepts II Lab

Computing Concepts II

Junior Year (2019-2020)

Game Design Studio I Lab

Game Design Studio I

Intro to Entrepreneurship

Second Semester:

Game Design Studio II

Game Design Studio II Lab

Stage and Screen Writing II

Senior Year (2020-2021)

First Semester:

Digital Media Production Planning

Topics in Games Studies

Second Semester:

Topics In Visual Studies

Mathematics: An Idea for a Minor

I think that if I were to fall back or to minor in something, it would minor in mathematics. Math has been one of the easiest subjects for me to be able to enjoy. I usually believe math to be a series of challenges. This is why I always do my Pre-Calculus homework days in advance. Not because I can, but I just want to. I could easily bring this minor into just about any kind of job.

 

Rhetoric and Composition II

1. My greatest strengths in Rhetoric and Comp. II include: I always make time for my assignments. I am able to go into the class prepared and I never miss a class.
2. For greater success in this course, I need to improve my skills as a writer. My content is good, but I cannot really get into an essay easily. I need to improve I structure my essays.

History of Video Games

1. My greatest strengths in History of Video Games include that I have previous knowledge of the video game industry due to my hobbies of playing video games and researching the history of games and developers that I am interested in. I take notes on a regular basis and I make sure to study.
2. For greater success in this course, I need to: I still need to work on essay structuring and I need to remember more of the specific knowledge of the material that we study.

Foundation of Art and Design

1. My greatest strengths in Foundation of Art and Design include: I can come up with many different solutions to the projects that are given. I also do my best to use my time efficiently.
2. For greater success in this course, I need to figure out better ways to execute some of my projects. I also need to

World Building In Dystopias

1. My greatest strengths in Worldbuilding in Dystopias include: I always make time to read the material that we are assigned in class. I help bring in more in-depth discussions about the text in our class.
2. For greater success in this course, I need to: As I mentioned before, I still need to work on writing my essays. I also need to do a better job at understanding some of the symbolism that is in the books we read.

Pre-Calculus

1. My greatest strengths in Pre-Calculus include: math is one of my strongest subjects. I always enjoy going into the homework, because of the challenge and how I find math to just be a puzzle. I also have had Pre-Calculus and Calculus in the past and that makes the class easy for me.
2. For greater success in this course, I need to: I need to ask for help from my teacher when I do not understand a question. There was one question from the quiz that I did not understand how to solve at all and I felt like I could have done better if I asked about the stuff I did not understand.

Computer skills:

1. My computer skills include: I know how to write emails. I know code with some languages like Python. I know how to upload assignments. I know how to do just about anything with a computer that is necessary for any class.
2. I still need to learn: I wish I could learn other coding languages. I need to learn how to type more quickly. Outside of those two things, I do not think I have any problems that I have to deal with when using a computer. I practically grew up knowing all the bells and whistles of computers.

Research & writing skills:

1. My greatest strengths as a researcher/writer include: I am able to find any kind of article that is important to the topic of my research. I know how to write good content for my essays.
2. I need to work on these aspects of research and writing: I do not know how to structure an essay that can be acceptable for a college student. It is something I really need to work on.
3. I learn best & accomplish most when: I should go to the writing center more often when I need help for my essays. I should ask my teachers for advice on future papers.

Action Plan For Rhetoric and Composition II

1. I need to meet with my professor to talk about previous assignments and how I can improve from them for the next ones.
2. Get help from the writing center for essays and revisions.
3. Learn how to do MLA citations.
4. Learn how to structure my essays and be more clear with my wording.
5. Ask other classmates for help.
6. Look for resources that are physical, such as books and magazines, rather than relying on resources from the internet.
7. Get a better understanding of reading assignments that are given.
8. Use websites like Purdue Owl when I forget how to perform a certain task when writing a paper.
9. Plan to do my assignments even further ahead from the due date.
10. Ask an experienced college student that I know for advice on how to handle and structure college essays.

These are some websites of some people I look up to. I have enjoyed their work and the past and they have pretty decent websites and portfolios.

Tee Lopes

https://www.teelopesmusic.com

Tee Lopes was a composer for several video games. He has a pretty great portfolio. His about page details his history as a composer. He also posted each project he has worked on and also some original music tracks. The design of this website is stylish yet basic.

Mike Pollock

http://www.itsamike.com/

Mike Pollock is a voice actor who is well known for his many voice roles in video games, commercials, and cartoons. His website includes a resume and things such as reviews from the people he has worked for in the past and his résumé.

Christian Whitehead

http://christianwhitehead.com/

Christian Whitehead is a video game developer that is known best for his work on Sonic Mania. His site is very basic, but he still has some interesting things to look at. Not only did he post the games that he has worked on, but he also shows off some 3D animations that he has worked on in the past for company presentations.

Iain Lobb

http://iainlobb.com/

Iain Lobb is a freelance video game developer who specializes with the Unity engine.  There is a portfolio full of games and clients he has worked for in the past. He shows off awards that he has gotten from his work in the past.

Michelle (ARTS)

Michelle had a very interesting portfolio to show off. It is the kind of portfolio I can expect from an art major. I was fond of how her early work compared to her later work. It shows the type of improvements that have been made over the years. It was fascinating to see that she got an award fora project. It was disappointing to see that she does not get anything extra for working on those advertisements.

Hanna (GDES)

What I found interesting was how she mentioned that she that she did not originally intend to get into graphic design major. It must be hard to stick to something that you got into by accident. It was cool to see some of the designs she has come up with. I found myself a little unexcited in the beginning because I was waiting for the IGST major to present. (Nothing personal)

Clara (PHCO)

I found this presentation to be more insightful on photography. I have a friend that is going to major in photography and I had no clue as to what kind of stuff he was going to be involved in. It was interesting to see the type of pictures that are taken and the processes involved in those photos. I found the work that she titled “Layers” to be the most interesting work she showed off.

Alexis (IGST)

Alexis had a pretty interesting presentation because it was the field that I really wanted to enter. It was interesting to see the types of stuff she has created in her classes. I have already heard about having connections within the video game industry and to have a portfolio multiple times. I like how she started off talking about the games that inspired her. The games that people play are the reasons they are in that course. I was expecting to hear that it was hard and time-consuming work. I know how hard it is to be able to work on a game. The two things that really disappointed me about her presentation was that she did not talk about coding or about what you will get out of the field. You can make the argument that this is visual studies class, but coding is an important part of game development.

The two things that really disappointed me about her presentation was that she did not talk about coding or about what you will get out of the field. You can make the argument that it was a presentation meant for a Visual Studies course, but coding is one of the most important parts of developing a game. She does not even talk about the rewards of developing a game. This kind of depressed me a bit because she talked about how hard it is without mentioning why she wants to go into the field in the future.