Learning to communicate

Without using communication, most projects would fail pretty quickly. This blog only has many dedicated followers (*trollface*) because Dan, Ryan and me discuss it regularly.

An actual photo of me in a video conference with Ryan and Dan

  Without this discussion, we wouldn't be able to share ideas and arrange times for doing our other work and I would completely forget about posting here. We were told to find a useful video about communication so i decided to look for the most random video on the topic I could. After minutes of searching, I managed to find this:


Isn't it informative.  

Liam.

Impulse Buying

I don't know whether this actually covers Project Management or not but in terms of games I've become somewhat of an impulse buyer lately. Once upon a time I had no money and no job (OK I had that one job for six months but I didn't even work the full hour so got like £2 a week), but here at Uni I've been given about £60 a week to live off. And when I don't drink and food stuff costs less than £20 then I'm getting £40 spare, a tenner of that at most being spent on going to the Student Union bar thanks to cheap drinks.

So Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 were recently part of a Steam sale and I got them both for under £8 together. Instant grab, even though my brother has the Xbox versions. Gears of War, preowned without a single scratch or mark on the disc - £3. Final Fantasy XIII - £20. All pretty good deals. And this final one was when I went into Manchester today.

After finishing Programming and making a Pokémon card for Ziga Zigha, I went into the Manchestershire in search for a sci-fi shop. Since I don't know the area well I checked on Google Maps before hand to be sure of where to go. I went to the ticket office at the station but it was shut so I had to travel the whole 5 minutes and pay over double of what I would have paid just because some guy decides 2.30 is a good time for a lunch break. Walked for another 15 minutes and I end up in a rather rough area of Manchester, the shop has closed down, some Spanish kid tries to mug me so I do the typical English thing and shout loudly before punching his 14 year old face in (I kid, but he did try to mug me) so I quickly nip back to Primark where I'm nice and safe apart from the calling voice of the gaming T-shirts. "Come and buy us Dan. We're really cheap. Bow-ties are just £2 and you know that bow-ties are cool." But I don't want a bow-tie and besides I can't see them. "Oh. Look at these retro gaming shirts then." That's me £6 out of pocket just because I like the look of a Pacman shirt.

So the conclusion of this little trip out saw me head into HMV where I go downstairs to find what is essentially Game or Gamestation and then an area dedicated to customers to play games. I managed to pull myself away but instead ended up in the Xbox 360 aisle where Saint's Row 2 stared at me. I stared back, then looked over to Fable III and Rock Band 3. Then over to Pokémon on the DS. Then back at Saint's Row 2. Yes I bought it. Call it impulse.

In Soviet Russia, impulse buys you.

Dan

Master of the Semi-Colon?

*Opens folder, sees the homework wasn't just to find salaries but also to blog, turns around and gets typing*

Since I was about 7 all I've wanted to do was make games. Actually no, that's not strictly true. I wanted to make games but I also wished to be an author, doctor and a milkman. In terms of doctor I've never come close to achieving that although I did train to be a milkman but decided it wasn't for me. And in my spare time I write scripts - most of them fan scripts for Doctor Who and a piss-take of Skins that went too far and ended up being my own series which I'm now working on writing. But back to games. Where have I got with that so far? I've dabbled in Flash, Game Maker and RPG Maker but never really made anything that stood out. And by stood out I mean half-decent.

I've always had a keen interest in drawing. Although since getting an E in Art at GCSE I've given up somewhat on that being a career plan. Seeing the 3D modelling side of Art & Graphics has made me think that maybe the 3D modelling is where I want to go. Having said that I'm really interested in programming. Looking at the job lists over on gamesindustry.biz, there are all kinds of programmers who make Physics Engines to Animation and even Sound. Rather than having just one area to focus on though it seems that being all-round good at everything is the best way to go.

Having seen videos of tours around several developer's studios it seems that being a part of this industry in any capacity is fun. Some have workout rooms, Epic Games have a slide, it's all very fun. The same with the Animation industry. I watched a documentary about Pixar a few months ago and they have scooters to travel around the offices with. While the work is hard, there is certainly a lot there to ease the mind and ensure that in a cut-throat industry everyone is feeling good.

The Slide at Epic Games

Dan;

Art Attack!!!

The dream job I would like is obviously to be a game designer, I’ve always played and loved games all my life and to actually see how they get designed and what process it involves would be pretty cool. From what I’ve seen on TV and also read about, it seems that the environment in a game studio seems to be a fun place to work and everyone gets on well with each other.

The specific job I want in the games industry so far is to do something with creation, I like creating things and seeing how I can improve on it and see what happens if I included this or that.  In CVG we do Arts & Graphics where we have to create our own environment by drawing it out to give ourselves an idea; then create it on 3ds Max.

I am not a big fan of programming, I can do it but I don’t really want to go down the route as a programmer like the rest of my fellow classmates. For the time being, I am leaning towards a character designer or a level designer. I would like to design something and see it in a game and I also think designing would keep you interested and awake then programming.

From what I’ve seen advertised on games studios websites, you do need to have many skills as possible and also need a basic knowledge of programming. For the time being I am just building on my skills and see where it takes me.

       "Dont worry, i'm not insane! Isn't that right talking statue"
Ryan.

Splitting the Work

On Thursday we decided to split the two assignments between us.

For the 3000 word essay we split it into three smaller 1000 word chunks which we would each do. Once they have all been finished they will be put together. For the presentation it has been decided on 2 slides each. Ryan will be doing Project Lifecycle and Time Management, Liam will be doing Risk Assessment and Budgets & Schedule while I'll be handling Team Structure, Roles and Responsibilities and Quality Control & Assurance.

The plan is to have these done and finished with a bit of time to spare before the deadlines, with the January hand-in done before Christmas so everything can be checked over plus so there isn't much to do on the 3 weeks we have off. You may ask why I am writing this at about ten past eleven on a Saturday night. The truth is all of my other housemates have gone home and I'm waiting for ITV Player to update with Harry Hill's TV Burp.

"Blooming heck, Zuby does give you a lot of work doesn't he?"

 Dan.

Too many words, not enough funny pictures

I started reading the Project Management Article today and its was going well. Until I realised the pages were double-sided. At that point, I decided to put that down and do something else. From the amount I read, I learned there are multiple ways to effectively manage a project while keeping the moral of your team high (and that I cant tell when the sentence I'm reading changes half way through). There are probably more important facts in there and I'll get to them... eventually.

Liam.

        

I've read it!!!

I was on the train today and i thought, the journey is going to take over 50 minutes so i might of well start reading about Managing Creative Projects. At first glance of the sheet, it seemed quite intimidating but after the first two pages i got into it. It was quite interesting to see how a Project Manager (PM) operates and what they actually do.

Ryan.

Possible Projects

Being honest I've not yet read the article that has to be read for this Thursday and having a glance at it there seem to be quite a few words I've never seen before. However there is plenty of time to read it before then.

Looking at the first assessment which is the 3000 word essay, a few projects have come to mind. While I've yet to discuss these with Ryan and Liam (although I aim to do so at some point tomorrow), I will list them here - the ongoing 12 years in development Duke Nukem Forever, the rather unsuccessful APB which saw the collapse of it's developers and Super Elf Wizard Tournament 2010. Although that last one is fake and we can't do made up projects.

While writing this essay we will probably be using the terms which we recently learned - SWOT and PESTLE - along with some citation of the product lifecycle from Initiation to Closure. And by mentioning closure I will finish this post with a funny picture. Until next time.

Will Duke Nukem Forever ever be released or are Gearbox trolling us all?

 Dan.

The First Post

Hello there readers. This is our first blog for the University of Salford Computer and Video Games course in Project Management. Bear with us as we post over the coming weeks and months about our experiences on the course.

Dan, Ryan and Liam