Development Blog 5
Another semester is almost over and a new host of lessons have been learned. I am so glad I got a full semester to act as a sound designer because it taught me so much information that I can use in capstone. In some ways I am glad about the way that my team faced some conflict because I had to learn how to step up into a more leadership position during the times when our two producers would be occupied with other things. I have also grown quite close to the programmer, Neal, because of the amount of work meetings we ended up having together. The lions share of work each sprint got done in these meetings, and next semester during capstone I will push for these meetings to happen as frequently as possible. Hopefully, with no COR classes and a lightly course load next year I can encourage the team to do these frequently.
The main lesson I’m glad I learned this semester is how to use Wwise in a unity project. The things I’ve learned these past few weeks can be made into a variety of videos and short demonstrations that can do wonders for my portfolio. let alone what I will be able to do next year with a team working fully in 3D. I’m excited to use the spatial audio features within Wwise to make extremely interactive and diverse soundscapes. Allowing me to make something that can really wow potential recruiters or smaller studios, depending on if I decide to go freelance or not.
Not everything was sunshine and roses. I tried out a new work flow compared to previous production cycles where. in past cycles I would very slowly spread out my planned work for the game. the issue is that I would find myself burnt out before getting completely done with the work I had planned out. This time I front loaded myself with huge amounts of work in the early weeks and in the later weeks all I would have to do is mix SFX and some minor additions. This worked really well if this was my only class, however, thats not the case and my grades in other classes suffered as I was too busy with work for the game and then I was too burnt out from the work in the game. this might work in the future when development is my only responsibility, but for as long as I have other classes I’ll need to find another workflow.
With these lessons In mind I’m hoping my work in capstone will be successful and I can find myself in the games industry in some capacity. Whether that means freelance or with a stable position in a larger studio.
- Ian
