Lot's of good feels this week as Unicorn Training continues to take shape. I've shown it to some new people now and confidence is through the roof with how excited people are when they see things in action. It might not be perfect to me but it's still impressive among my school's students based on what teachers prepared us to do (not much).
I also had a lot of school related thoughts this week. Some things about going to Full Sail in an alternate universe and getting a full-ride offer for Bloomsburg on Thursday. You can get all the details below the break for this week's status report!
Completed:
- Enemy Prefabs Complete
- World Map Scripted
- Working Item Shops
- Edited Item Shops (GUI Placement, Clover Tracking Salespony)
- My Laptop is Getting Old, I'll Need A New One By Graduation. Hope My Next Game Sells Decently.
- School's like Full Sail Aren't a Rip-Off. Every School is a Rip-Off.
- Notch Is In a Very Interesting Situation Right Now With His Microsoft Buyout Proposal.
I spent a lot of time this week wondering what my life would be like if I went to Full Sail despite all the bad things I've heard about it. Full Sail isn't so bad because ALL schools are scams. At least that particular scam provides the best possible curriculum and environment for self-motivated people to flourish. The real problem with that school is how it costs 4 times as much as the one I'm struggling with right now.
My current curriculum just feels like a grind and I don't feel myself learning anything useful in actual game development. The financial classes are enlightening but everything else is going through the motions for IT stuff that I won't ever be doing. The thought of Full Sail's laser-focused project based classes seem like a dream compared to the Linux command memorization, data algorithm notations, 4 hours of physics, and assembly language courses I'm doing.
I just want to work on my games in peace until I'm ready to go professional. I'm grateful for all the things I've learned and people I've met (especially my girlfriend) but none of that involved schoolwork. I learned gamedev on my own while classwork completely scared me away from working on anything I don't want to ever again. I'm sick of just going through the motions and I think it's disgusting how most people are okay with just playing it safe and getting by as conveniently as possible.
Now, about that Bloomsburg thing. My teacher brought up an interesting offer, saying that I have a real chance of getting a full-ride at Bloomsburg University's graduate program for Instructional Technology after I showed her my Phoenix Wright project I made for my Forensics class final. Apparently the guy who came in to talk to the seniors last week was looking for students interested in gamification and making educational games for either business training or school education. I can do that stuff easily and I can make the school look good if I produce good stuff there.
Trust me when I say that the last thing I want to do after finally graduating is take more classes. If the curriculum proves to be easy enough, I can take advantage of having an extra year to save up money, wait for my girlfriend to graduate (so we can move to Florida together), and finish Unicorn Quest (my senior project that won't be 100% done by graduation). I'm sure my parents would be thrilled to see more job opportunities open up to me if Yotes Games fails.
Besides, how impressive does it sound to say I got a full-ride at Bloomsburg for my Masters Degree just because I'm that good. Parents love that stuff. I'm leaning more towards the school learning version of their degree. The only way I could tolerate the classwork is if I'm allowed to do it my way. If I have to go by the book then no deal. The problem with educational apps now is how they aren't creative so I'll need the freedom to teach in the way I see fit.
Imagine me making the next Oregon Trail, getting a good contact through the school, and getting royalties for every copy or download sold! That's the only reason this offer interests me (aside from it being free). The final decision is still way off and I won't be hearing back from the guy anytime soon so that idea can be put to rest for now.
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Downloads:
It'll be weird seeing empty stats for iOS stuff once it all goes down in 13 days... I wish someone would put up a gameplay video of Fish Feaster. I can't record the footage from my phone and it wasn't even made in Unity. Feels like I'm losing proof it ever existed...
This is one of those emerging opportunities.
It really hangs on being free.
Despite that setback, there are high spirits over here at Yotes Games. Unicorn Training is coming along great and I can't wait to see where I'll be by the end of next week. Scripting all the baddies might take all month but it'll be worth it. Scripts are the last mountain and the rest of my list consists of hills and hurdles.
