Every New Year, friends and I gather at a local bar in Grand Rapids to talk about the year that was and the year that is to come. It's become a powerful tradition in our lives, giving us an opportunity to reflect and vision cast as a community. We each set a theme for the year, sometimes shared, sometimes not.
2012 was the year of being invested. Every decision I made about how to spend my time was all about that one theme. Being invested. Overall, I think it went well.
This year, I sat and thought quite a lot about the past few years. Pretty much since graduating college, I've been planning on going to graduate school for games. I've applied several times over the last couple of years to different schools around the country, but haven't made it in yet. Currently, I have an active application at the University of California at Santa Cruz. I don't feel especially great about my chances.
If I don't get in for fall 2013, then, clearly, the last couple years have not given me the experience I need to get in to grad school. How, then, do I get that experience?
I present to you, Creation Year. This year, my goal is to create something every month and present it for critique to those that know more than I do. That way, I can both add to my portfolio and gain a better perspective for my abilities among my peers. No more of this big fish in small pond business.
I spent January teaching MDA 480 - Video Games Theory and Criticism at Cornerstone.
February has given me this:
This is my first experiment with Source Filmmaker, Valve's cinematic creation toolset. More thoughts to come on that business.
Feedback is welcome. More Creation Year products to be displayed here.
Showing posts with label internal locus of control. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internal locus of control. Show all posts
Saturday, March 02, 2013
Thursday, November 01, 2012
Grad School.
This is a big time of year.
At work, students have just finished their midterm projects. They're crewing up for their final projects (which means I've had producers asking me lots of great questions).
At church, we're really into the swing of the school year again. We've started new small groups - both in student ministry and in adult ministry. To be successful, both of those require a high level of investment.
Oh. And I'm applying to grad school.
I've applied a few times before. I was even accepted once, which was great. $90,000 was a bit steep, though.
This month, I've decided that I'm going to use every spare moment to get into school. If I don't make it in, I'll at least have done everything in my power to try and I'll have a year to try again. (And I have plans for that year...)
Right now, the Digital Arts and New Media program at UC Santa Cruz is my top choice. But I've made some connections at USC that suggest that could be an exciting program as well.
Over the last year, I've discovered that publicly saying that I'm going to do something helps. (See my Blogging Challenge from a year ago or my recent Points Project...) So this is me publicly saying that I'm going to apply to grad school. Both of them. And work really hard to do it. This month.
That is all.
At work, students have just finished their midterm projects. They're crewing up for their final projects (which means I've had producers asking me lots of great questions).
At church, we're really into the swing of the school year again. We've started new small groups - both in student ministry and in adult ministry. To be successful, both of those require a high level of investment.
Oh. And I'm applying to grad school.
I've applied a few times before. I was even accepted once, which was great. $90,000 was a bit steep, though.
This month, I've decided that I'm going to use every spare moment to get into school. If I don't make it in, I'll at least have done everything in my power to try and I'll have a year to try again. (And I have plans for that year...)
Right now, the Digital Arts and New Media program at UC Santa Cruz is my top choice. But I've made some connections at USC that suggest that could be an exciting program as well.
Over the last year, I've discovered that publicly saying that I'm going to do something helps. (See my Blogging Challenge from a year ago or my recent Points Project...) So this is me publicly saying that I'm going to apply to grad school. Both of them. And work really hard to do it. This month.
That is all.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Points Project (round two).
Apparently a few people liked this idea of the Points Project. I'd love to hear about your system in the comments. Does it work for you?
Saturday, October 13, 2012
The Points Project.
For a few months now, I've been engaged in something I call the Points Project. It started as a way for me to keep myself accountable to actually doing something with my days in the summer, but it's morphed into a general metric of becoming, I guess.
Here's how it works. I made a little spreadsheet in Google Docs. It looks something like this:
I figured out the goals of my life. Not in the sense of what I want to accomplish as much as who I want to be. There's a place for emotional development, spiritual development, physical development, whatever. Then, I made up some activities and disciplines that need to be present in my life in order to grow in that area. Each one gets a point score, depending on how difficult it is or how tricky it is to motivate me to do that item.
The system is not perfect. I've tweaked it a number of times to try to be more accurate or more motivating. I've added quite a few activities that are worthy of my time and interest so that, hopefully, my points help me track my growth as a person.
The trouble I've had lately is that I've not had a reason to get more points. I'm far too sensible for it to be some kind of monetary goal. I've got enough of those as it is without figuring out some kind of payout for points. My new strategy is to post my scores online. Hopefully, that will motivate me to keep getting my scores back into the 200 or 300 range, rather than the abysmal 100ish I've been getting lately...
So join me as I spam my blog and twitter feed with a contest that I'm playing with myself.
Here's how it works. I made a little spreadsheet in Google Docs. It looks something like this:
I figured out the goals of my life. Not in the sense of what I want to accomplish as much as who I want to be. There's a place for emotional development, spiritual development, physical development, whatever. Then, I made up some activities and disciplines that need to be present in my life in order to grow in that area. Each one gets a point score, depending on how difficult it is or how tricky it is to motivate me to do that item.
The system is not perfect. I've tweaked it a number of times to try to be more accurate or more motivating. I've added quite a few activities that are worthy of my time and interest so that, hopefully, my points help me track my growth as a person.
The trouble I've had lately is that I've not had a reason to get more points. I'm far too sensible for it to be some kind of monetary goal. I've got enough of those as it is without figuring out some kind of payout for points. My new strategy is to post my scores online. Hopefully, that will motivate me to keep getting my scores back into the 200 or 300 range, rather than the abysmal 100ish I've been getting lately...
So join me as I spam my blog and twitter feed with a contest that I'm playing with myself.
Friday, November 04, 2011
Creativity.
Another short post today, since I've spent most of the day in a hospital hanging out with my sister (who is doing well, by the way).
While she distracted or unconscious or something, I pulled out a book I haven't picked up in a while.
Yes. That's right. Orbiting the Giant Hairball. Great title. Its subtitle, "A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace," really does describe a large part of the content of the book. It's about how to be creative in an environment that isn't always creative. It's about not releasing yourself in wild abandon to pursue creative things outside of any system, but using the good things of those systems while transcending them. It's a really good book.
After reading just the first two chapters, I may have to add another point to my list of ways I'm creative. Read at least two books about creativity a year. Maybe more. I dunno. We can play with the number later.
The moral of the story is that I need to be inspired. I need to be reminded that I am, in fact, a creative person. I need to be challenged in a more broad sense.
Sometimes, when I get into the mundanity of creative output, I forget about the creative part. When I write, I think about my story structure analysis. I think about my characters and their goals. I think about the point of the whole story and why I'm writing it in the first place. I start relying (rightfully so) on systems and rules that have helped me make a better product in the past.
But in all of those details, I forget what it is I'm doing. I am creating something (hopefully) fresh and new and interesting and unlike anything the world has seen before. I am using my brain and imagination to echo the creative God who gave me both. It's a huge privilege and tremendously fun while carrying a gravitas that I almost never realize.
The creative act is, I think, a bigger deal than we typically make it out to be. It is books like Orbiting the Giant Hairball that help me remember that.
I leave you with chapter 19 of Orbiting the Giant Hairball, in its entirety: "Orville Wright did not have a pilot's license." Go ponder that for a while.
While she distracted or unconscious or something, I pulled out a book I haven't picked up in a while.
 |
| Image shamelessly stolen from Amazon. Clearly. |
After reading just the first two chapters, I may have to add another point to my list of ways I'm creative. Read at least two books about creativity a year. Maybe more. I dunno. We can play with the number later.
The moral of the story is that I need to be inspired. I need to be reminded that I am, in fact, a creative person. I need to be challenged in a more broad sense.
Sometimes, when I get into the mundanity of creative output, I forget about the creative part. When I write, I think about my story structure analysis. I think about my characters and their goals. I think about the point of the whole story and why I'm writing it in the first place. I start relying (rightfully so) on systems and rules that have helped me make a better product in the past.
But in all of those details, I forget what it is I'm doing. I am creating something (hopefully) fresh and new and interesting and unlike anything the world has seen before. I am using my brain and imagination to echo the creative God who gave me both. It's a huge privilege and tremendously fun while carrying a gravitas that I almost never realize.
The creative act is, I think, a bigger deal than we typically make it out to be. It is books like Orbiting the Giant Hairball that help me remember that.
I leave you with chapter 19 of Orbiting the Giant Hairball, in its entirety: "Orville Wright did not have a pilot's license." Go ponder that for a while.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Why I killed the internet.
I got rid of the internet on Sunday. A couple weeks ago, I called up AT&T and said, “Can I cancel my home internet?” My former roommate and I had secured a yearlong “introductory price” of $20 a month which I suspected was about to expire. That would double the price to $40 a month. You know what? I just don’t think home internet access is worth that to me.
So I call AT&T and tell them this and the lady says, “Sir, did you know that, here in the retention department, we can apply other discounts to your service if price is the only factor.” I didn’t know that. I ask her when the discount is set to expire. “December.” When I get a new roommate anyway, so there’s no difference in price to me.
Well, dang. Just like that, this nice lady at AT&T took away my only economic reasons for canceling my internet service. But I still told her to cancel it.
I don’t think that’s a terribly common decision for a modern 20something to make, so I thought I’d briefly explain my counter cultural actions.
A while back, I wrote a post about ways to be creative. Inspired by another blogger, I made my own list of ways that Kemp is creative; tangible things I can do to make myself more creative. Briefly, here is the list:
Read.
Cultivate and pay attention to fun.
Listen to music intentionally.
Write 250 words a day.
Be impulsive.
Be bored.
Having the internet kills every single item on that list. Especially number six.
Facebook, marvelous though it has been in connecting us to people, has destroyed our free time with worthless gossip and “catching up.” YouTube, while revolutionary to the distribution of media in the 1st world, means that we never have to be bored again. Though Google Reader allows me to follow way more blogs than I ever could before, how many of those posts do I actually think about anymore and how many do I just read so I can check them off my list? On the internet, there is always something to do, but you never actually get anything done.
So I killed it. If I thrive on boredom, I need to make sure I’m more bored. And guess what? Already I’ve written more, thought more, and engaged more with what I do. I no longer peruse Hulu for new shows just because I have nothing better to do. (But seriously, check out Spy. It’s a Hulu exclusive and it’s hilarious.)
I mean, sure it’s inconvenient. I can’t follow my shows. Writing emails on my phone is tedious at best. Maintaining my blog-a-day challenge has been… irritating. (I didn’t really think that one out, did I?) But if I had easy internet access, would I still be writing this post? Or would I have checked the new item in my feed, added someone as a friend, and clicked links until 1am?
This has been a worthy endeavor so far (I write on day two…). I’m sure there will be further updates about life without internet, but for now, how could you survive with less internet access? Could you survive? Do you think you could be more productive/creative/relational/etc…? Think about giving it up for a day or two and see how you change.
So I call AT&T and tell them this and the lady says, “Sir, did you know that, here in the retention department, we can apply other discounts to your service if price is the only factor.” I didn’t know that. I ask her when the discount is set to expire. “December.” When I get a new roommate anyway, so there’s no difference in price to me.
Well, dang. Just like that, this nice lady at AT&T took away my only economic reasons for canceling my internet service. But I still told her to cancel it.
I don’t think that’s a terribly common decision for a modern 20something to make, so I thought I’d briefly explain my counter cultural actions.
A while back, I wrote a post about ways to be creative. Inspired by another blogger, I made my own list of ways that Kemp is creative; tangible things I can do to make myself more creative. Briefly, here is the list:
Read.
Cultivate and pay attention to fun.
Listen to music intentionally.
Write 250 words a day.
Be impulsive.
Be bored.
Having the internet kills every single item on that list. Especially number six.
Facebook, marvelous though it has been in connecting us to people, has destroyed our free time with worthless gossip and “catching up.” YouTube, while revolutionary to the distribution of media in the 1st world, means that we never have to be bored again. Though Google Reader allows me to follow way more blogs than I ever could before, how many of those posts do I actually think about anymore and how many do I just read so I can check them off my list? On the internet, there is always something to do, but you never actually get anything done.
So I killed it. If I thrive on boredom, I need to make sure I’m more bored. And guess what? Already I’ve written more, thought more, and engaged more with what I do. I no longer peruse Hulu for new shows just because I have nothing better to do. (But seriously, check out Spy. It’s a Hulu exclusive and it’s hilarious.)
I mean, sure it’s inconvenient. I can’t follow my shows. Writing emails on my phone is tedious at best. Maintaining my blog-a-day challenge has been… irritating. (I didn’t really think that one out, did I?) But if I had easy internet access, would I still be writing this post? Or would I have checked the new item in my feed, added someone as a friend, and clicked links until 1am?
This has been a worthy endeavor so far (I write on day two…). I’m sure there will be further updates about life without internet, but for now, how could you survive with less internet access? Could you survive? Do you think you could be more productive/creative/relational/etc…? Think about giving it up for a day or two and see how you change.
Friday, December 18, 2009
On goals.
Every time I look forward to a new phase of life, I tend to write back here on the good ol' blog.
(Side note: it drives me crazy when people put the apostrophe on the wrong side of the contraction. Like 'ol. I've seen it.)
Today was my last day of work until January 11, when I will triumphantly stride back into a newly reorganized CAMS to greet the J-term-ers. So that leaves me with almost a month of free time to manage.
I've been looking ahead to this time, thinking about what I want to do with it and I needed to write it out (so why not publicly? This is the digital age, after all...).
Goals for Winter Break 09-10
1. Read the Qu'ran. I need to expand my mind like my public school friends had to do.
2. Finish applying to Grad schools. Which leads into the next goals...
3. Make a game. A short game, naturally, but something to add to the ol' portfolio. I may actually run some beta versions of the games I have on paper, too.
4. Write. Every day. Again. Some more. Blog, journal entry, poem, script, ideas, short story, anything.
5. Ideate. I need to keep stoking the fire of my imagination again. I want to lead and cast vision (How did that metaphor even start? Casting vision? Flicking the fishing rod of our eyes into the stream of the future? I dunno...)
6. Read a fiction book that isn't part of some canon of things I'm "supposed" to read. I can't even remember the last fiction book I read, let alone the last fiction book that I wasn't forcing myself through...
7. Keep thinking about things. All kinds of things: God, leadership, life, writing. Anything but getting stuck in ruts of thoughts.
8. Love people.
9. Have fun. All this goal setting scares me and exhausts me before the break has even started... Sheesh. I just bought Rock Band 2 and I need to finish The World Ends With You. Lots of fun to be had.
Anyway. That's my list. It's longer than I expected, but that's what I get for wanting to be better at a lot of things...
(Side note: it drives me crazy when people put the apostrophe on the wrong side of the contraction. Like 'ol. I've seen it.)
Today was my last day of work until January 11, when I will triumphantly stride back into a newly reorganized CAMS to greet the J-term-ers. So that leaves me with almost a month of free time to manage.
I've been looking ahead to this time, thinking about what I want to do with it and I needed to write it out (so why not publicly? This is the digital age, after all...).
Goals for Winter Break 09-10
1. Read the Qu'ran. I need to expand my mind like my public school friends had to do.
2. Finish applying to Grad schools. Which leads into the next goals...
3. Make a game. A short game, naturally, but something to add to the ol' portfolio. I may actually run some beta versions of the games I have on paper, too.
4. Write. Every day. Again. Some more. Blog, journal entry, poem, script, ideas, short story, anything.
5. Ideate. I need to keep stoking the fire of my imagination again. I want to lead and cast vision (How did that metaphor even start? Casting vision? Flicking the fishing rod of our eyes into the stream of the future? I dunno...)
6. Read a fiction book that isn't part of some canon of things I'm "supposed" to read. I can't even remember the last fiction book I read, let alone the last fiction book that I wasn't forcing myself through...
7. Keep thinking about things. All kinds of things: God, leadership, life, writing. Anything but getting stuck in ruts of thoughts.
8. Love people.
9. Have fun. All this goal setting scares me and exhausts me before the break has even started... Sheesh. I just bought Rock Band 2 and I need to finish The World Ends With You. Lots of fun to be had.
Anyway. That's my list. It's longer than I expected, but that's what I get for wanting to be better at a lot of things...
Sunday, January 04, 2009
New Years.
I know I'm quite a bit late on the New Years' bandwagon, but I really wanted to do one of these posts (like everyone else in the world [that I read, at least]).
I'm still not finished processing through preparing for the year, but I wanted to chronicle what I've got (sort of like how Mr. Ransom did it; I'll do a follow up with some more specifics [mostly for myself and my records]) Here are some of my thoughts so far:
It's my senior year. That has so many ridiculous ramifications that it's... ridiculous. It is literally impossible to predict what my life will be like past June. Lord willing, I'll be in California doing a sweet internship. Or I could be in Grand Rapids, living with Buddy and Kyle for a bit doing... something. Or I could be in Albuquerque, living with someone and doing... something. Or I could be in Florida... You get the picture.
I have really gotten a lot of inspiration from the various blogs I've been reading and the movies I've been watching. God is really trying to tell me something. I think the credits song of Yes Man says it best: "It's time to man up." Of all my priorities and goals, it's time to actually start doing. Anything.
I want to establish my lifestyle this year. This has a lot to do with my reading on The Simple Dollar and The Art of Manliness, in addition to my convictions about how Jesus would have us live. There are so many dreams I have for the future, but they almost all involve how I live.
One of the things that I don't think I can commit to this year (but want to as soon as possible) is to spend one hour a day learning one thing for one year. (Again, I refer to the Simple Dollar link above.) There are so many skills and knowledge I want to have. For example:
I'm still not finished processing through preparing for the year, but I wanted to chronicle what I've got (sort of like how Mr. Ransom did it; I'll do a follow up with some more specifics [mostly for myself and my records]) Here are some of my thoughts so far:
It's my senior year. That has so many ridiculous ramifications that it's... ridiculous. It is literally impossible to predict what my life will be like past June. Lord willing, I'll be in California doing a sweet internship. Or I could be in Grand Rapids, living with Buddy and Kyle for a bit doing... something. Or I could be in Albuquerque, living with someone and doing... something. Or I could be in Florida... You get the picture.
I have really gotten a lot of inspiration from the various blogs I've been reading and the movies I've been watching. God is really trying to tell me something. I think the credits song of Yes Man says it best: "It's time to man up." Of all my priorities and goals, it's time to actually start doing. Anything.
I want to establish my lifestyle this year. This has a lot to do with my reading on The Simple Dollar and The Art of Manliness, in addition to my convictions about how Jesus would have us live. There are so many dreams I have for the future, but they almost all involve how I live.
One of the things that I don't think I can commit to this year (but want to as soon as possible) is to spend one hour a day learning one thing for one year. (Again, I refer to the Simple Dollar link above.) There are so many skills and knowledge I want to have. For example:
- Learn French well enough to be conversational. Enough to watch a movie, for instance.
- Read music and play piano.
- Perform basic car repair.
- Draw locations and characters (for concept art).
- Program in C++ or C#
- Write. From blog-style to articles to screenplays to prose to...
- Photography.
- Cooking.
- Physics. I love physics and wish I could learn more.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
New disciplines.
As is my custom for school breaks, I have made a small list of things I want to accomplish with my break. There are books I want to read, relationships I want to cultivate, games I want to play, etc...
This break, I have decided to write 500 words a day, 6 days a week. It can be anything: a blog post (heh heh...), a journal entry, a screenplay, a radio drama, a poem (I count poems as the full 500, though. They're hard.), etc... The point is to make a habit out of writing.
It has been about as hard as I expected. Naturally, I have only written maybe 1000 words so far. The other night, I actually let myself get by with the excuse that I didn't have anything to write, that I was dry.
That's sort of the point of a discipline, isn't it? That you do it even when you don't want to or feel like you can't?
I hope it doesn't degrade to me updating this blog over and over again in a desperate attempt to boost my word count.
This break, I have decided to write 500 words a day, 6 days a week. It can be anything: a blog post (heh heh...), a journal entry, a screenplay, a radio drama, a poem (I count poems as the full 500, though. They're hard.), etc... The point is to make a habit out of writing.
It has been about as hard as I expected. Naturally, I have only written maybe 1000 words so far. The other night, I actually let myself get by with the excuse that I didn't have anything to write, that I was dry.
That's sort of the point of a discipline, isn't it? That you do it even when you don't want to or feel like you can't?
I hope it doesn't degrade to me updating this blog over and over again in a desperate attempt to boost my word count.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Dreams.
It's 3:00 am. I can't sleep. But I can't stop dreaming.
One thing that I haven't (but at the same time, have) been doing a lot of is dreaming. I've spent the past few years dreaming of who I want to become, but not much dreaming about what I want to do - specific things that I want to accomplish at some point in my life.
As I'm laying here, trying every way I know how to get to sleep, ideas of "doings" have come into my brainplaces and I might as well write them down. Some of these are definites, some are maybes, some are "it'd be kinda cool if's," but they're all dreams of things I want to do in my life.
Man, I wish I could sleep.
One thing that I haven't (but at the same time, have) been doing a lot of is dreaming. I've spent the past few years dreaming of who I want to become, but not much dreaming about what I want to do - specific things that I want to accomplish at some point in my life.
As I'm laying here, trying every way I know how to get to sleep, ideas of "doings" have come into my brainplaces and I might as well write them down. Some of these are definites, some are maybes, some are "it'd be kinda cool if's," but they're all dreams of things I want to do in my life.
- Live of off 60% of my income. That would leave 10% to church, 10% to short term, emergency fund type savings, 10% to long term type savings (retirement, kids college, etc.), and 10% just to give away at some point (in small or large doses, depending on God).
- Lead a small group of middle school or high school boys.
- Be a part of a professional video game - enough to get me on the credits.
- To be credited as a writer on some sort of art, be it film, TV, novel, video game, etc...
- At some point, to work with my wife in the sense of a job.
- To own my own small company for side projects (works well with the previous idea).
- Write a book (about what, I haven't the foggiest, but it'd be cool).
- Live the somewhat urban life.
- Live a somewhat rural life.
- Have a spiritual retreat weekend.
- Get married to the love of my life.
- Sing a solo in a musical. Maybe not a lead part, but that one character who shows up in Act 2 as being really important who gets a song or two to themselves.
- Institute some non-cheesy rites of passage for my son.
- Write a story that gets adapted to multiple media.
- Have best friends and hang out with them frequently as I have a family and as my children grow up.
- Assemble a team of some of the best people I know to accomplish something. (In other words, to have an excuse to bring together the talented people I've known over the years (and will continue to meet) for one (or two, or three) awesome project.)
- Build a dream house someday on some property with a good deal of woods.
- Own two dogs. At the same time.
- Have a Japanese themed kitchen, complete with tea set, bamboo placemats, chop sticks, and plates.
- Give away a car.
- Speak at a camp. (Like church camp.)
- Speak at a conference. (Like GDC.)
- Take a homeless man out to dinner.
- Write a certain number of words per day. (Starting small...)
- Meet with someone further behind me in their journey once a week. Buy them coffee.
- Meet with someone further ahead of me in their journey once a week. Let them buy me coffee sometimes.
- Be an above average dancer. Especially with my wife.
- Be an okay swordsman (i.e. learn to fence; not the creepy-foam-swords-in-a-park-on-Thursdays kind of swordsman.)
Man, I wish I could sleep.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Back of the head voices
It's funny. Every so often, I get these things in the back of my head that tell me things.
Lately, they've been saying a lot - get ahead on your homework, here's a story idea, be a game designer, Story is King, pursue God, etc. But lately, I've heard a new(ish) one about leadership.
I'm not sure what exactly it's saying, but I feel like I may need to do something leadership-y soon. If it really is a gift that people point out to me as they have, then I should eventually do something about it.
So that's something I've been thinking a little about lately. If any of you have an prophetic truth to speak into my life in this area, feel free to go at it. If not, that's cool. I'm sure God will eventually be pretty clear about the matter.
Lately, they've been saying a lot - get ahead on your homework, here's a story idea, be a game designer, Story is King, pursue God, etc. But lately, I've heard a new(ish) one about leadership.
I'm not sure what exactly it's saying, but I feel like I may need to do something leadership-y soon. If it really is a gift that people point out to me as they have, then I should eventually do something about it.
So that's something I've been thinking a little about lately. If any of you have an prophetic truth to speak into my life in this area, feel free to go at it. If not, that's cool. I'm sure God will eventually be pretty clear about the matter.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Setbacks
I thought I would chronicle my setbacks of yesterday. I've found it very healthy to retell them. I figure that way I will continue to view them simply as setbacks and I will learn more from them.
I called the division chair at Ferris State University who is in charge of their game design program. He didn't pick up, so I left a message explaining a bit of who I am, that I want to take some classes at Ferris, and for him to call me back to talk about it.
Right after that, I decided to go pop in on Dave Anderson's office, just to see if he was there.
(He's the guy on campus that teaches story for video games at Ferris.) He happened to have been in his office, so I explained to him what I was trying to do at Ferris. Ultimately, he kind of skirted around telling me that it was highly unlikely to happen - at least, not without enrolling at Ferris quite separately.
So, one idea shot down. No big deal.
I continued to tell him that I also had an idea for an independent study course that would teach me video game design stuff. I told him that it would be a kind of guided reading course where I would read design books and articles, play some video games, and write some papers applying what I learn in the books to the games. Perhaps the culmination of the course would be in writing up a design document for an original game.
Now, as an aside here, my understanding of independent study courses was that they were just that. The professor who was tied to it was kind of a formality - someone who would check on you every once in a while, read your papers, and make sure you were making progress. This was not Dave Anderson's understanding. Apparently, independent study professors are supposed to have some kind of expertise in the field of study. So, he told me that he would be unable to help me (in a round about kind of way, though).
So that's two major ideas for my education shot down. Drats.
I was whining about this to Leesa Lehmann and she suggested talking to Perini. After all, he does design games. So I talked to Perini, who was much more helpful. He said that he would be open to it next Fall semester, as long as I got together as many resources as I could (books, syllabi, project rubrics). One of his suggestions was to email my future grad school department chair and ask him for suggestions.
So that's only one and a half ideas. That's good.
The last thing that really got to me was that I told the CEO of the company I'm trying to intern for that I would get him a resume by Tuesday. I stayed up til 3:00 in the morning to finish it, and, for the most part, it was finished.
That experience alone taught me a ton. Like the importance of a cover letter.
Tuesday kept going and I had still not put the finishing touches on the resume. It wouldn't take too long. But then I realized that I should type up a cover letter (they're a bit complicated...). Ultimately, I didn't send the resume until 10:00 Tuesday night with only a brief cover letter. I know that I still got it to him on Tuesday, but the implication was that I would do so in the workday. My not doing that small task on time may have shaken his confidence in my ability to do more important tasks in a timely manner.
This may not break my chances at that company, though (I think he's pretty desperate). If it does, I've learned a ton. I've updated my resume, learned about cover letters, and applied to a company - a step I've never quite undertaken before.
I can now take everything I'm learning to Silicon Knights, the Canadian game developer I would love to work for. I should definitely have a cover letter for that...
So that's that long story. Sorry bout that.
I called the division chair at Ferris State University who is in charge of their game design program. He didn't pick up, so I left a message explaining a bit of who I am, that I want to take some classes at Ferris, and for him to call me back to talk about it.
Right after that, I decided to go pop in on Dave Anderson's office, just to see if he was there.
(He's the guy on campus that teaches story for video games at Ferris.) He happened to have been in his office, so I explained to him what I was trying to do at Ferris. Ultimately, he kind of skirted around telling me that it was highly unlikely to happen - at least, not without enrolling at Ferris quite separately.
So, one idea shot down. No big deal.
I continued to tell him that I also had an idea for an independent study course that would teach me video game design stuff. I told him that it would be a kind of guided reading course where I would read design books and articles, play some video games, and write some papers applying what I learn in the books to the games. Perhaps the culmination of the course would be in writing up a design document for an original game.
Now, as an aside here, my understanding of independent study courses was that they were just that. The professor who was tied to it was kind of a formality - someone who would check on you every once in a while, read your papers, and make sure you were making progress. This was not Dave Anderson's understanding. Apparently, independent study professors are supposed to have some kind of expertise in the field of study. So, he told me that he would be unable to help me (in a round about kind of way, though).
So that's two major ideas for my education shot down. Drats.
I was whining about this to Leesa Lehmann and she suggested talking to Perini. After all, he does design games. So I talked to Perini, who was much more helpful. He said that he would be open to it next Fall semester, as long as I got together as many resources as I could (books, syllabi, project rubrics). One of his suggestions was to email my future grad school department chair and ask him for suggestions.
So that's only one and a half ideas. That's good.
The last thing that really got to me was that I told the CEO of the company I'm trying to intern for that I would get him a resume by Tuesday. I stayed up til 3:00 in the morning to finish it, and, for the most part, it was finished.
That experience alone taught me a ton. Like the importance of a cover letter.
Tuesday kept going and I had still not put the finishing touches on the resume. It wouldn't take too long. But then I realized that I should type up a cover letter (they're a bit complicated...). Ultimately, I didn't send the resume until 10:00 Tuesday night with only a brief cover letter. I know that I still got it to him on Tuesday, but the implication was that I would do so in the workday. My not doing that small task on time may have shaken his confidence in my ability to do more important tasks in a timely manner.
This may not break my chances at that company, though (I think he's pretty desperate). If it does, I've learned a ton. I've updated my resume, learned about cover letters, and applied to a company - a step I've never quite undertaken before.
I can now take everything I'm learning to Silicon Knights, the Canadian game developer I would love to work for. I should definitely have a cover letter for that...
So that's that long story. Sorry bout that.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Good news!
So all that internal locus of control stuff might actually work. Especially when others are playing along.
The CEO I was going to email today? Yeah. Totally emailed him.
He totally replied within 6 hours of my email. With good news. Possible internship news.
It still may be early for me to get my hopes up, especially since I don't exactly have any marketable skills - not even as a code monkey. But! There is hope.
So if you could continue to pray for me, friends (heck, even enemies. It'd be good for both of us.), I would be greatly appreciative.
The CEO I was going to email today? Yeah. Totally emailed him.
He totally replied within 6 hours of my email. With good news. Possible internship news.
It still may be early for me to get my hopes up, especially since I don't exactly have any marketable skills - not even as a code monkey. But! There is hope.
So if you could continue to pray for me, friends (heck, even enemies. It'd be good for both of us.), I would be greatly appreciative.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
An Internal Locus of Control
So I'm pretty much intimidated out of my mind right now.
I just looked through a few game design and development blogs. Almost every one of them has had a "How to break into the industry" subpage - since they get asked so often.
Examples (just for kicks):
Zen of Design
GameCareerGuide.com
Psychochild
Their advice is certainly informative, but disheartening. Let's take Zen of Design's list for example:
I just looked through a few game design and development blogs. Almost every one of them has had a "How to break into the industry" subpage - since they get asked so often.
Examples (just for kicks):
Zen of Design
GameCareerGuide.com
Psychochild
Their advice is certainly informative, but disheartening. Let's take Zen of Design's list for example:
- Entry positions are rare - Companies don't hire people straight out of school because there are always experienced people in the market.
- Get in the door any way you can - answer phones, do Quality Assurance work, whatever. Suck it up and get in.
- Build a portfolio - That's what college is for. Show potential employers some kind of finished product - whether NeverWinter Nights mods or simple flash games.
- Prove you can finish - Ideas are cheap. Everyone in the industry has about 100 great ideas they can use any time. You must be able to execute.
- Build networks - 'Nuff said.
- Do anything to get a game industry line on your resume - Intern, do freelance work, or work for a startup
- Accept that you'll be the low man on the totem pole - Be willing to learn. Don't be a brown-noser, but be humble.
- Excel - Be good at what you do.
- Hrm... I guess I can't do much about this except be good at the rest.
- I'm emailing a CEO of a small company tomorrow. I'll be emailing other companies in the next week or so looking for internships.
- I have two options here: wait for grad school to come around, or do something slightly out of the ordinary. I'm not much of an artist or a programmer and I don't have a team to work with (I believe that's been pointed out). What can I do? Story. How can I show them proof of interactive story concepts and execution? Dungeons and Dragons, baby.
- Well, this is probably accomplished by actually doing any and all of the above.
- Networking is always a challenge for me, but I'm seeing what I can do to go to the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco in March. Also, I'm going to ask said CEO if he might be able to be a contact for me just to grab advice from every once in a while.
- Again, internships.
- Honestly, this is a personal and spiritual growth issue. I'd like to be confident and know I'm good at what I do, but at the same time, I must always remember that there are others that are better. Especially there.
- Yeah... I guess I just need to do this...
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