Task 24: Personal review of the second year: Where do you want to go, and how do you get there?

I realise that the entire 3 years I am spending at university are all leading me towards my goals. The university is giving me the opportunity to learn the skills I will need to get a job in the games industry. It is providing me with information about the industry and the knowledge of how it works. The whole point in Universities are to provide courses and degrees for students so they can go out into their working lives prepared and capable of the demands of the work environment in their chose profession. They train you with the specific skills that will be needed for the jobs you will be pursuing and they train you to think as well as develop your talents and improve on your skills in general. This course is giving me the necessary foundations for me to be a contributing member to the games industry. It is teaching me how to create in game assets, environments, characters, texturing and lighting, its getting me to improve on my artistic judgement, on perspective, composition, presentation and how to develop ideas in a process leading to the finished piece. It is opening my eyes to what is truly needed to get a job in this industry. With all the talks from industry professionals, the feedback from tutors and other students, the Skillset accredited structure and the proven success rates in graduates, I have everything I need to help me achieve what I want.

But, this education is a two way process. While there is all this provided in the course over the three years, its up to me what I get out of it. Its up to me to use what I have learned and apply it properly. I have to take into account all the skills and attributes, the things I have been told to do and how, and I have to realise how I learned these things and where I want to go with them. Reflecting back on the past is a good way of putting my current situation in perspective. I can look at the steps I have taken to get where I am, and then I can use that knowledge to continue forward to the future. I have to apply my creativity and my skills, and keep a confident and enthusiastic approach to my work, to ensure that I am more likely to be successful. Its all been a process in developing the way I think. Making me think more clearly and get the most out of my ideas.

The blog tasks have been doing a good job developing this. Over the 2 years, I have learned a lot about the game industry, the history of games, how games are made and what makes them good and bad, what it takes to create a game, about creativity and composition and all other factors required in the industry.

This year has been really fulfilling, I have learnt so much and I have really begun to understand where I am heading and where the course is leading me and where I want to go afterwards. I really enjoyed all the projects set for me and I am very proud to see my own improvements in my life drawings, modelling and texturing and also my writing within the blogs.

I think especially the group project helped me to improve on everything and was really rewarding. Working in a team was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed being an active member in a group environment and collectively working towards the same goal. I really improved on my concepting and painting in general and also my modelling and texturing. It also helped to improve my time management skills. Working towards the deadlines and seeing all of our work come together was really rewarding. It was also excellent in making me realise what it will be like to work in the industry. We all had different roles and we had to keep to constraints that we had set, each of us had an important job to do and we were all part of the project. Each of us had a place in creating our horror level, and to see the end result was very satisfying. I look forward to utilising everything I have learnt so far in the coming years and I hope to continue learning and improving throughout my working life!