I thought I'd take the opportunity to really reflect on the last 4 or so months. The main thing to say really is that I'm rather appreciating the break at present, it is giving me time to unwind (despite not knowing how on edge I'd become towards the end of the semester).
Overall, it was a very insightful glimpse into the world of coding for games, and I found myself taking to it a little more easily then I took to Quick Basic back in my college days. I continue to find Futureworks to be an absolutely amazing place to study, almost entirely practical and when written work IS involved, it remains relevent to what we're doing. So no learning about french flaneurs while studying film.
For the most part, I found the lessons to be well paced, although reflecting backwards, we possibly spent far too long working on the text adventure assignment, which made the following lessons seem a little too rapid in comparison. I know I started stumbling and no longer understanding the work quite as deeply as time went on. I also know that the tutor did strive to help us out at all times, which to go back to the theme of the previous paragraph... is a vast improvement over being told to simply look in a book of the work we were doing in Computing. Understanding why something does what it does is a good thing, and fortunately for the most part, it segued into XNA admirably.
And again, as in a previous POST, I'm still not entirely sure if I'm going to consider working much deeper into programming as a career choice. At heart, I'm more of an ideas person as well as an 'artist'... but on the other hand, I'd love to be able to work on my own ideas and create working concepts. My goals have shifted since I started this course in Games Development, and I'm slipping from wanting to work for a larger company to being capable of popping out smaller games that are simply fun to play. I feel I'm learning the importance of games simply being fun, and that there is still a tonne of potential for new ideas and mechanics even within the restrictions of 2D or lower end production. I've always believed that good art design and good gameplay should be valued when designing any sort of game, and to be able to put those ideas into practice would be a dream come true.
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