Skills

My key skills for game development include the following:

// managing time and collaborating with others

// blocking and design for maps

// encounter design

// scripting

// general and competitive playtesting

// mechanics and abilities

// note-taking and planning

// sketching

Below are 3 primary skills I possess and have examples of in action.

Design

Design is the process of planning or brainstorming to create something. In my eye, design is also being able to be creative. In my case, I use design to create video games. I have come up with ideas and started some games from scratch and also used other peoples' ideas to expand on. My skill in design is to plan out a game design project and be able to flexibly change any idea with ease. I have developed projects such as Last Resort and Wailing Whales with mostly my own thoughts. I needed this skill to successfully design a game so it could be finished before the deadline, like a game jam that lasted one week.

I created these models in ARTS 395 using Rhinoceros 3D. We printed these models and tested them in person. I had to present these projects in front of the class, and explain the purpose behind them.

The skull is a punisher-themed phone and charger holder. It is meant to be a portable sound amplifier as well with an opening on the side. The knob on the top rotates to coil the charger. It stays together with mini magnets. This was displayed at ODU's Barry Arts Building for one week.

The sphere is an art piece that has a hidden mechanism on the inside that opens the sphere to show a gem on the inside using springs. These pieces are to show creativity and a new design in the world.

Here are some animations I created for games using Aseprite. It shows the frame-by-frame animation of each object. The top strip is for the game right here, the two below are from Wailing Whales, and the last one is from Last Resort on the Home page.

Communication

Communication is being able to talk and work together with others. I am well-versed in communication since I have been a part of many game design groups and were forced to communicate ideas to each other and cooperate to get the job done. I was tasked to be the leader of two specific groups at ODU. One during the Mars Game Jam since I was the primary coder, and the other for GAME 450 as the head of the programming group.

This paper is a research presentation I gave during my public speaking course at Reynolds Community College. The video is linked within the paper, but it is only spoken to my family since COVID was at its prime during this time. I spoke about how video games could help develop better brain functionality. The course CST 110 was significant in the fact that it helped me prepare research to be spoken to in front of an audience.

This presentation slide show was from my sociology class during my first two years at community college. I led a team with meetings and responsibilities to explain how COVID affected social media and personal relationships. This experience aided me with confidence in my leadership and communication skills with a small team.

This art comparison essay is significant to my communication skill since I had to go in-depth about the differences between the two paintings. One was Woman with a Rake and the other was Woman with Parasol. Professor Fehner in ART 100 taught me to be able to communicate what I see, and I did that through this paper. I was able to effectively communicate the differences and similarities between the two artists. This paper supported my skill in analyzing and communicating.

Programming

Programming is the skill to script and write code. I have this skill due to the need to code for game design projects. Many hours went into simple functions such as making the player crouch. Programming is needed to get far to develop a complex game. Adding something other than collecting coins and moving the player will require some programming experience, and I learned this through YouTube and ODU courses. The courses I took at ODU have helped me develop a better understanding of C#, C++, and UNIX.

This video shows the completed project of the code to the right with each function working as intended.

The picture of the code above is from my game that I am currently working on now in GAME 395 with the video in the Design section of my skills. This code is about the player attacking an enemy. It checks to see if the user inputted the left mouse click, and if so, the player will attack with an animation. The Update function also houses a delay to the attack. I was able to code this piece through my own knowledge at ODU with CS 150 and 250 and through the use of research. This was made with Visual Studio C#.

The code above is from my CS 250 class at ODU, and it is a section of code that is associated with the video below. The project is to be able to append, add, or delete letters in specific spots on the array. The code from the picture shows a constructor and deconstructor for the buffer function and a print function. This was made in Code::Blocks C++ with two Abstract Data Types.

The picture of the C# code here is for a menu system built into Unity that acts as different button functionalities. I learned this process through GAME 395 and through research on the internet. This type of coding was used in multiple of my gaming projects for ODU. I learned that code can be reused, and it is in fact encouraged to reuse code that you have already done so you can speed up the process. This code was changed however for the different circumstances it was used for into each game.