End of Semester

[Bond]

With the end of the semester having already ended or nearly ended... how is everyone doing?

[gekko]

Great. Thanks for asking.

[BlueFire]

I have 3 more finals..:| then I fly home Wednesday...

[Bond]

Gekko, have you made any games that we could play? Or is it too early for that?

[BreakABone]

Gekko, have you made any games that we could play? Or is it too early for that?

I played one of his games.
No school= no finals. :D

[Angrist]

I have a very tough exam on Wednesday, statistics again. This time I'm going to pass it (got a 5 last time). After that, I have 2 days to finish my Bsc thesis and hand it in. Then it's Christmas break for me. :) After that, internship.

[The Germanator]

End of semester was okay...Now I'm taking another leave of absence from school because we're going to start practicing and touring in February. Should be good.

[gekko]

Gekko, have you made any games that we could play? Or is it too early for that?

Depends if you plan on playing a game for some sort of enjoyment or not. But yes, I just need to recompile without all the dependencies on DLLs.

This semester we had to use a proprietary API that is as much of a pain in the ass as it is helpful. It had a ton of problems and brought on a bunch of headaches, but at the same time, it saved us from having to code the graphics and collision detecting systems by hand. It's a trade off, but it's still hard to give people who have never touched code in their life a program that's poorly documented and confusing as all hell, tell them they have a week to make Pong.

I won't complain though, it did its job. First week we made Pong, the next week we made a game called Mars Mission where you need to land a space ship on designated platforms. After that we had a vertically scrolling shooter which brought on so many headaches I deleted about 8 non-working features right before I submitted it. Then we made a horizontal side-scrolling shooter called Caves of Doom which also made me want to rip my hair out. Finally we made a really horrible platformer.

Then the last few weeks we had to make a personal game, which brought even more headaches because now there's a design issue where before it was "Here's the art, here's a finished version of the game, code it." Spent way too much time trying to get some of that stuff working, and didn't care to test the balance. Just wanted the semester to end. It's a 2D side-scrolling platform shooter where you battle against other cheeseburger toppings. I could rebuild it so you could play it, and everything but the high scores should work fine.

But we don't get into designing games anyone in the world may actually consider playing until next year. This semester we finally make the text-based game we spent all last semester designing, but no one plays text-based games. Next year we start the 2D graphics part, and make a 2D game. After that, junior year is the big game, the one everyone tries to get into IGF and Slamdance. It's not uncommon to spend the entire summer before, all winter break, and all summer after working on it. Then senior year, ideally I'd like to intern and not do a project that year. Anyway, junior year comes the 3D games with networking and all that other jazz.

Either way, there's way too much to know to rush people into development of a game. Unlike most schools, we don't have the luxury of just licensing out a engine and start making a game. We have to make the engine. That work starts this summer when I take Computer Graphics I :(

On a good note though, I'm done with Linear Algebra!!!!!... for a semester or two. That was, without question, the worst class I've ever taken in my life. And to leave on a bad note, I have 22 credits next semester :(

[Dylflon]

I've been off since the 5th and I'm having a great time!

[Typhoid]

And you have yet to call me.
Still.
And facebook wont let me send you a post.
So I am unable to talk to you and see if you want to sushi get in a while.
ARGH Dylan, ARGH!


oh, also - I don't have semesters. I am eagerly awaiting for my week and a half long break from work though.
Which I cannot stand waiting for.

[Angrist]

YAY! I finally passed Introduction Statistics!!! Hardest course I ever had to follow. It took me around 10 full days to study for it. :(

[KillerGremlin]

School is cool. I'm having a bit of a dilemma with my major. The dilemma being that I'm not sure if I want to change it or stick with what I'm doing. I'm a pretty go-happy people-person who loves to socialize. So I may stick with a technical major but shift a good amount of the emphasis to something that can put my social skills to good use. I might even make a drastic shift and completely go a different direction. So much to think about. I just want to make sure that in 10 years I'm not the guy who hates his life and his job.

[Dyne]

School is fine. A bit of the good, a bit of the bad.

The good is my B+ average this semester - not one C, and an A in advanced game design. All I did was make music and interface for a shitty RTS. Woop woop!

The bad news is my faculty is a piece of shit and I need to stay in school for a fifth year. And I have to, because there's this design course that starts next fall and ends next spring. How shitty is that. If I knew about this requirement I would've gone back in time and punched myself in the nuts before I finalized my courses this last semester.

Sigh, what can you do.

[Acebot44]

School is going really well.

Gonna be done with my General Education reqs next quarter and I'm already close to satisfying all my pre-reqs for the History major. I'm doubling in Political Science too, but those classes are always the hardest to get in to so I still have a couple classes to take.

I'm pretty sure that sticking with the Hist/Poli Sci double is the best thing for me. After graduating, I plan to take a year or two off to work before entering Law School and right now just enjoying college and taking subjects that are enjoyable makes sense to me. Been involving myself a good bit with the school as well through things like UCLA's Red Cross chapter, UniCorps (a free week long camp that volunteers run for underpriviliged LA youth), and Habitat for Humanity. Next quarter, I'm considering the pre-law society or the Law fraternity, but most people in those groups are kinda douchy. I don't know, we'll se.

[fingersman]

I haven't posted here in a bit but it's good to see the forum is up and running and some of the old member are still here.

School is fine...........opps forgot I don't go to school anymore.

Oh well enjoy your breaks when you can because when you start to work you only get a week or two for vacation unless your a teacher.

Hmmmmmmmmm that gives me an idea.