First, the lectures every morning, while being a bit stiff at 9 a.m., were also full of important and interesting information I never thought about or related to the game design major. We went over the meaning of beta, alpha, and the golden spike; when the due date of every video game would really be (JUNE) in order to get in on the shelves before Christmas; how to paper prototype for both physical and digital games; the meaning of working together and the SCRUM process; and SO MUCH MORE. (Where all the information was then put into a huge midterm exam the day after a Disney trip when we got home at 2 a.m. but I'm not crying on the inside or anything.)
In the afternoons, the class would have lab. Here, we made projects in Unity, GameMaker, talked about other game making applications, the use of Trello as an organization and communication tool, how to write/what are postmortems, AND the talk about the dreaded, terrifying, tedious GDD (Game Design Document). The GDD is basically the Bible equivalent for a video game, where EVERY SINGLE detail must be included in order to make the game. The first piece of information about it I received was "Each one of you is going to make your own GDD for an original game"... okay, can do, it can't be that hard right? "Oh, by the way, a typical GDD is ranged from 50 to 300 pages." Say what. I basically had a mini heart attack, stroke, and developed cancer in two seconds (sorry, had to bring out the memes to explain my inner turmoil). Later I found out that we didn't have to reach that page requirement (thank goodness), but my final GDD did end up being twelve pages. I may post my GDD later as another sketchbook page because I am contemplating creating that original game this year.
During lab, the first project we had to accomplish was a recreation of a classic game. Inspired by my computer science teacher's room decor, I decided to recreate the classic Asteroids. We used GameMaker to make the game: I recreated both the art by myself and then had to code the game to my liking. We were encouraged to make the game as similar to the original as possible and then HIGHLY encouraged to add our own hacks XD Again, later I may post screenshots and a reflection on my Asteroids game. The second project was then one in Unity: we had to make a walking simulator. Basically, we had to create an environment, choose a song that evokes a certain emotion, and then time the walk to the song so that the person controlling the player in that world ends up feeling that emotion. With this game file, we had to create a PowerPoint and write a paper. Other hands-on activities included a paper prototyping activity where we got in groups to create an original board game, and the SCRUM activity where we again got in groups and built a Lego futuristic city using the SCRUM process.
My last lab project was actually my final project... that was also a group project (CRINGE). However, we were able to choose our own groups so of course I chose friends and we ended up brainstorming a reverse platformer. Instead of a male hero running from left to right to save a princess, we had a main character princess whom was tired of the male heroes failing to save her--so she breaks out of the castle herself and we have the game scroll from right to left (opposite of the traditional platformer). There was only four of us and only a week of work time so we tried splitting up all the hard work pretty evenly. I was the head artist who created 48 sprites myself and oversaw the rest of the artwork (220 sprites in all), I was a level designer who actually created the layout of 2 of the 3 levels, and I also coded the whole boss level myself. In all, we all had a hand in every aspect of our game to create our game which we deemed The Rising Sun. In fact, one of our TAs reviewed all of the student games over the summer so you can read his critiques and criticisms here: Student Game Review 2016.
Not only did we learn valuable lessons in the classroom, we also went on class trips to Activision and Treyarch and had guest speakers. I was able to walk into a professional game design building and meet the workers and ask them questions--it was an amazing eye-opening experience that made me extremely excited to start working somewhere. Our guest speakers were also people from game companies who came to speak about how they started, how they got their job, and what to expect. Their lectures seemed to comfort me--it made me realize that maybe getting the job of my dreams isn't as impossible as I originally thought. Plus, all of them seemed to really love their job which gives me a positive outlook on my future.
I also have to give credit to my amazing teachers, TAs, and friends at USC. Mr. Tom Sloper and Ms. Karen McMullan are awesome, talented, and caring teachers who come from full backgrounds in the gaming industry. They both helped me learn over the course SO MUCH, I can't thank them enough. And the TAs...when we needed help on our final projects, they were there. The TAs are also students who went through the same program and some who are in the computer science or game design majors themselves. Lastly, I met amazing teenagers who were interested in the same topic as me and I cannot wait to see them in the future (at our awesome game design careers of course).
Overall, USC was a great learning experience and life lesson and one of the best things to happen to me. Now I just have to choose between the coding and art XD
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