Digital Dave

I’ve been spending my off time catching up on some math topics needed for this graphics course that I am taking.   There isn’t a lot of math required for Computer Information Systems students.  I have an Analytical Geometry and Calculus I course finished, and another upper level course that reviews an array of math topics.  That is all that is required for IS majors.  So that means that I get to spend my off time learning what I need to know, when I need to know it, or just for fun.  So these past few weeks I’ve been covering some trig, linear algebra and some vector algebra.  I’ve never really messed with vectors and I found them to be pretty interesting.  It’ll be nice to apply some of this to the graphics course.

I’ve also started to run through several OpenGL tutorials at neon helium, and a few tutorials for Orge3D.

Speaking of this graphics course.  Supposedly this is an advanced course for an undergrad.  That said, it’ll be interesting to see how it turns out.  There is a ton of material that we’ll be covering.  From basic display systems (clipping, view normalization, 3d graphics data structures, shading and illumination) to fundamental topics in realistic rendering (ray tracing, radiosity, texture and bump mapping, and splines and cubic curves).

I’m pretty excited for the course, but it’ll definitely be a huge load of work.

In addition to my independent project course, of which, I’ll be making a game for.

I FINALLY got a game ‘genre’ down so I can start building some systems.  My concept changed a few times, especially in light of this graphics course.  I will start coding on this game tomorrow.  I’m already behind, and kicking myself.

I’m getting pretty anxious for my first trip to the GDC, and back to California, in general.   I’ve scanned all of the events that they have listed on the site, so far, and I’ve found several programming and design topics that I will be hitting up.

I’m also looking for some gatherings to attend in the evenings.  I’ve been invited to a gathering that the GameCareerGuide.com is hosting Thursday, and apparently there is a ‘Suite Night’ that a bunch of students attend after it that I will be snooping around at.  If you’ve made your way here through myGDC, feel free to contact me (aim: aim marine || msn/email: dlmcgraw at ksu doht com) if you have anything that I don’t know that is open to the public.

So, I took an extended break away from the blog and away from, almost, everything else.  I decided to spend some time playing games while I have that luxury during school breaks.  During the semester, I rarely play anything.  This was a good time to relax and fiddle around.

One game that I played, and that I highly recommend is called ‘Peggle.’   It is a really simple game.  Pretty darn good design.  It will have you laughing for the first couple of boards.  The presentation had me rolling.  I showed it to Megan, and she was laughing pretty hard, too.  The game actually reminded me of Plinko from the Price is Right, which is still my favorite game on that show.  The objective of Peggle is to fire your ball into a maze of blue, red, pink, and green pegs.  Once all of the red pegs have been hit, then that level is complete.  Also, any peg that you hit is removed after each turn.  There are really interesting power ups for each stage that adds some flare to the game.  My favorite is the dragon ball. >;oD

But, yeah… Go try the trial.

So, my schedule for this semester is finalized.  I have the hardest time coming up with a legit schedule.  I hate taking simplistic classes for an easy A, and I don’t like classes that will not benefit me in any way. I attend classes with an open mind, and I am willing to learn about anything, which I couldn’t say while I was growing up.  I took education for granted growing up in a family where graduating high school was a rarity in itself.  I’ll write more about this later.

• General Psychology
• Intro to Operation Management
• Enterprise Information Systems (Database Class. PHP, MySQL, MS Access, Web Design)
• Interactive Computer Graphics (OpenGL)
• IS Project

Snowball Fight has been thrown to the side.  I had fun, and the project was something decent to introduce me to network coding, but I just don’t have the time (or desire at this time) to direct toward it.  The game is nearly playable 1 vs. 1.  My hopes is to get that working, and call it good.  I have a semester game project starting, and that will get my full attention…….

If I could decide what, exactly, I want to do. ;|

I must have thought about 50 different things through the break TRYING to come up with a semester project that is A) Not out of reach, and B) Something fun.  I keep running around in circles, thinking that I should just ‘clone’ something that is out there.  Or remix it somehow.  I have one unique idea that would be feasible, but it needs a lot more thought put into it.

I’ve thought about doing a 3D Bomberman that would get me introduced to the world of 3D.  In addition, I also thought about doing a 2D clone type game of Harvest Moon (a favorite of mine).  I also thought about taking a board game, and developing a computer game based off of it –  Khet, Ticket to Ride.  The interesting aspect of porting a board game is that I could code a networked portion of the game.  That is purely for fun.  These games would definitely be better implemented online and distributed through something like Facebook.  That is, if you could avoid getting sued (see: scrabulous)…  I also thought about doing a casual game, like Bejeweled.

GDC is a little more than 4 weeks away! Woofa, time is flying. O_O! *bites nails*

I did find somebody to stay with.  So that should help a lot on the finance side of things.

I’ve selected the business card that I will be distributing, and it’s off to the printing presses now.  I’m getting 250 cards, which will be way more than enough, but I don’t need to risk NOT having any since I’ll be there the entire week. Thanks Darius, and all the other individuals whom gave me feedback on my card designs.

How about the Stock Market? Cup of Recession, anyone?

*equips -The Ak’na Plate of Recession- armor* Hope I can heal myself from this one.  Good luck, if you are in the market.  The market is already down 9%, and it’s only been 17 days… ;|

I couldn’t forget to blog about the wedding.  We have our location booked, and our photographer booked.  We have set the date of July 25th, 2009.  Yes… That’s right… 18 months from now.  We have this ball rolling already.  That does mean that I might be moving to California alone while she gets everything ready.  Oh well, at least I’ll be able to give full attention to my new job.

I fully anticipate and expect a challenging course for an intersession course, but this class that I was going to take just blew me away.   The course only lasts 15 days (actually 12).

Just a few points:

1. Class goes from M-F from 1:00pm to 5:30pm including 1 Saturday.
2. Daily Quizes
3. Daily Assignments (Including Readings, etc…)
4. Research Presentation that includes collaborating with about 4 other people, writing a proposal, writing a report, and then creating the actual presentation.
5. A final writing that revolves around a book

So, essentially, you’d spend 4 1/2 hours in class, collaborate with your peers for 1-2+ hours, read for the daily assignments, and complete a quiz every day for 12 days (3 days are omitted, because those last three days are presentation time).

I understand that it’s an intersession course, but dang!  This class is incredibly interesting, and the professor is amazing, but that is just an incredible amount of work for 12 days and I don’t feel like going into hibernation to get what was supposed to be a ‘fun and interesting course’ to take during intersession.

Ah, well.  Things happen for a reason.

I found a Marketing class that revolves around marketing on the internet.  I’ve been involved and have witnessed independent projects go from design->development->release,  and the most critical problem that I see is the failure to get their name/branding OUT there!  Independent developers do not have any space for lack-luster effort if they expect to get at least a little compensation for their time and future projects.  Face it, you might not think that you care about making any money, but if you spend 3 to 4 years developing a project and crunch many, many hours, while spending your own money on the project for art assets, music, or other things, you are going to need some sort of motivation to continue pushing yourself to develop another independent project.  Likely, you will want to create a better game, so that money will only help you progress toward your dreams.

Now that I have another couple weeks before the semester starts, I plan on finishing the snowball fight, pending that I can get a distribution package to work.  ;\