Guest Lecture Synopsis and Review - Cameron Thompson (Angels Den)

 

Cameron Thompson is one of the heads at Angels Den, a website set up to help aspiring entrepreneurs meet up with keen business investors. The website, as described by Cameron, acts in a similar manner to a dating agency, helping two people come together in order to set up a business and market a product.

Cameron took time out of his schedule working at Angels Den today to give a lecture at the University of Bolton, which I attended.

The lecture focussed heavily on how to go about setting up your own business, with some fantastic advice given on how to deal with potential investors and what paths to take financially. Cameron spoke about Angel Investors and what appeals to them, suggesting that students research any potential investors backgrounds and studying their likes / dislikes before meeting up.

More advice was given on what to do when pitching an idea to investors, being told to always speak about the truth and to talk in a manner investors can understand- not being too technical. The 'touchy feely' parts of a business proposal were also discussed, with Cameron speaking about several items investors usually enquire about and why such questions are asked (for example; where you live, if you have any family, et cetera.)

I felt the lecture today consisted of lots of useful advice and quite a few items of interest (such as how to speak to potential investors) I should keep in mind for use in future endeavours.

http://www.angelsden.co.uk

Level 3 Team Project - Week 20

This week the team has been working hard on completing our Level Build and Test Planning documentation. As of today, we have two weeks to prepare for our testing plan presentation and three weeks until our level needs to have reached a final state.

I have spent time myself this week working extensively on the Test Planning documentation and have also spent time writing up drafts of the teams pre and post test questionnaires. These questionnaires will later be discussed with other team members and will be a valuable asset in the collection of test data during our testing phase. I've also spent time this week starting the layout of our Milestone III presentation. The power point has now been passed onto the testing milestone leader and I hope to spend more time working with it come early next week.

In the next week, I hope for our Milestone III presentation and test plan documentation to be at least 90% complete. After today's meeting with Brian and Phil, we've been considering the addition of test flow charts and research into existing questionnaires. Both of these two items will hopefully have found a place into our testing documentation within the next seven days.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Guest Lecture Synopsis and Review - Arthur Parsons (Travellers' Tales)

Arthur Parsons is an experienced Games Designer at Travellers Tales, designing and working on such titles as Muppet RaceMania, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex and most recently, LEGO Harry Potter. As a part of TT Games effort to become more involved with junior and graduate designers, the University had set up a guest lecture with Arthur in order to give final year students an idea of how a design team operates and to also give advice on how to secure a place in the industry.

I attended this lecture and felt the talk not only included some vital advice on how to deal with interviews and portfolios, but it was also very exciting to hear an experienced designer give his take on both game graduates and the industry as a whole.

Advice was given on what to expect once post-graduates enter the industry, covering the roles of Designers, Programmers, Artists and Sound Engineers. An important item of discussion to keep in mind was that potential employees need to be realistic with their way of thinking- you may not necessarily end up working on your dream game, though by acting sensibly and loving the brand, its good experience and youll constantly learn new skills.

It was once again mentioned that Q&A is a fantastic way of starting off in industry, with Parsons sharing his own story as a games tester and how it lead him to where he is today. Advice was also given that students should act keen when it comes to the industry, contacting developers and requesting if its possible to tour the studio. Not only would this be an interesting trip to take, but also would be good to include on CVs as it gives us a first-hand look at how a design team operates.

Talk was also made on the subject of releasing titles on time and cutting content, with Parsons making us aware of the sometimes difficult partnership with publishers.

I felt the talk today was very motivating and I look forward to any further guest lectures the University has lined up.


http://www.ttgames.com/

Level 3 Team Project - Week 19

This week the team has once again picked up the pace in preparation for our next Milestone presentation on the 4th of November. After a meeting with Brian and Phil, we came to the agreement our next presentation should cover our testing plan; of which justifies our means of testing, outlines the research performed into various testing methods and also educates lecturers on exact method of testing.

I have spent time myself this week working on the teams Final Project Report- starting by creating contents and abstract pages. I've also spent time working on the level design documentation in preparation for the Milestone IV presentation along with writing up and recording prototypes of our level build.

In the next week I hope to spend more time working with the level design documentation- begin working on the testing documentation and also pitch in and help get our final level build up to scratch.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Week 18

Throughout this week I spent most of my time helping produce the teams Milestone II presentation in preparation for the meeting with Brian and Phil on Thursday.

I felt that the presentation itself included all the information needed, though was a little disappointed with the run through of the testing level alpha build- with some unfortunate problems bringing the presentation down; with textures not loading and the fact the University computers were not set up to display the game screen on the projector.

The presentation felt more of a discussion with lecturers than anything else, however both Brian and Phil still provided some constructive criticism and look forward to seeing the final build on the 4th of November.

In the next week I hope to discuss with team members where we will be taking the level next and wish to contribute further to both the level design documentation and the testing research.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Week 17

The team has spent much time this week getting back into the swing of the work load and going over the tasks completed during the summer. In both meetings, a lot of time was spent re-capping tutors on what work is completed and what still needs to be done.

Currently, the project is in the 'build phase' with team members spending as much time as possible creating our final level build. So far, the environment has been created and population / scripting has been added to a certain degree. We aim to have the environment nearer a final state within the next few weeks ready for testing to begin during the first week of November.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Personal Portfolio - Now online!

During the summer break I decided to create myself a website. I did this with the intention of creating a place I could easily store and showcase any work completed while at both College and University. Although certain portfolio sections of the site are still work in progress the majority of the content is now live and viewable by using the address provided at the bottom of this post. 

I feel that online portfolios of work are a necessity for any designer searching for a place in the industry- and at some point in the future I also wish to produce accompanying business cards that will include the websites address.

Currently, not everything on the site is final, as I plan to edit several sections and, of course, upload more of my completed work. Please do check the site out if you can find the time and feel free to give feedback by using the form provided in the Contact section.

Thanks!

http://leesparkes.co.uk

Level 3 Team Project - Summer Post II

As the summer is nearing an end with work kicking off again at the end of this month, I've decided to upload finished versions of two pieces of research I have completed during the break.

After having a chat with the team, we've contemplated combining Milestone II and Milestone III into one, larger milestone. The original tasks set for both of these milestones will still be valid and ongoing, however we feel that merging the two milestones into one will help us easily get back into the swing of work once returning to University. Due to this, the change could possibly lead to our testing phase (Milestone IV) becoming slightly shorter than originally planned. This is something we feel would be a sensible and beneficial change, as it gives us a greater amount of time to perfect our NPC and testing level.

We plan to engage in further discussions regarding the change once back at University, as all team members will be able to easily get in contact with one another. Summaries of all meetings will be posted on the Team Fable group blog.

- "01. Human Emotion - Empathy and Sympathy", click here.

- "02. Human Emotion - Empathy, Chivalry and Sympathy", click here.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.