In The Middle

I just aced my first final of the day and now I'm in the computer lab studying for my next one. I ended up with a 98% in the class, which is really good, but I'm kinda down because I spent 3-4 hours last night doing homework and a reflection paper that would have put me over 100%, but since I didn't turn them in before the test I didn't get credit for them. It's not really a big deal, on transcripts an A is an A, but I'm pretty sure the prof thought I just blew off the last assignment because I had my grade padded enough that it wouldn't matter, but I really did do them! Anyway, I've gotta get back to studying, this next final requires a lot more studying than the last one did.

Reflection Papers

As an extra credit assignment in two of my classes I had to write a short paper about what I got out of the class and how I felt the class worked. I wanted to post them here because... well because this is my blog and I can.

GSP220 Math for Game Programming:

Going into this class I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was hoping to take out of it some of the math concepts that I would need to program games but I ended up with a lot more. I had taken up to Pre-Cal in High School so none of the concepts were really new to me, although I did need a refresher for some, but I learned a lot about how they relate to game programming. One of my favorite things was working from the first couple weeks on our Point class, then building on that for the Vector class, and finally using that along with our Matrix class to play with the shapes for the final project. I had heard the class was a lot different with other professors and I think that our class got a lot out of it that wouldn’t normally have been offered. Although this was not a C++ class and a lot of what was going on in the program we looked at was over my head, having a chance to put my hands in it and play with what’s going on was very interesting. Not to mention the things we were able to do with what we learned about matrices was just awesome.

I was very comfortable with the pacing and structure of the class, but I think that was largely due to having a basic understanding of the math and C++ coming into the class. If I had to find a flaw in the class I think it would be that some people were overwhelmed by what was going on. To improve this, the school could make a C++ class a pre- or even a co-requisite for this class. All in all though, I got a lot out of this class and had a lot of fun doing it, I’m very glad to have taken it when I did.

GSP240 Fundamentals of Game Design:

Game Design was the first class I’ve taken at DeVry that I was really excited about when I signed up for it. Having a chance to learn about the game development process was a very interesting process. In addition to all the technical terms for things that I already knew I learned a lot about what goes into making games in a professional environment and the kind of effort that needs to be put into each and every game, even though most of the games that will be pitched won’t ever be made. Professor Maynes also brought a lot to the class that had nothing to do with the book, such as the importance of pitching the game and being confident in telling stories and presenting in front of a group in a highly stressful environment. Although I did know a lot of the concepts that were explained particularly in the last chapters that were covered in class, having an actual knowledge about it is better than the general understanding I had going into this. There was also a lot that had to do with the way levels are designed and the type of information that needs to be done before any work can start on a game.

My favorite part of the class was working on our own game as well as seeing everybody else’s presentations. Working on our game and being able to play off of each other’s ideas was a lot of fun and interesting to see what we came up with. The presentation itself was also an important learning process because the Professor gave the class as a whole feedback that I had never heard in a class before. Learning about what works and what doesn’t work in a Power Point presentation was a nice bonus to the other things I learned in the class. To improve the class I would have loved to have more time to spend tweaking and refining our game, including more than one presentation to see how everyone’s game changed over time, but that isn’t going to be possible with the semester changes that DeVry is adopting.

No Extra Credit

I missed an A in COLL148 by 10 points because the prof didn't add up my Extra Credit right. I hate her.

dr00d

My new Druid build

I've decided that I want to get back into WoW for sure. It may not last long, but I intend to play a druid. If things don't work out with that then I'll go back to my original idea of a Belf pally... again. The only problem is where to play this new Druid. I could always go back to Ravenholdt with Chuck and them, who apparently have a decent guild going now. But Chuck's a big fat Republican and not the best player, not to mention the server fucking sucks. Appolonius wants me to go back to Maelstrom, and I've already got a 20 something Druid there, so that's a bonus, but while I don't have anything against App, he's not my favorite person, and his gf is flat out annoying. My current choice is on Zangarmarsh with Jenn, but that comes with enough problems too. For one, Jenn and I aren't exactly close, we play at way different times, and I'm not even sure we'll ever get to play together, due to her being busy on her Shammy and her jealous, assface boyfriend thing. I also thought about asking what server Anthony from my school plays on, they seem like good guys and they do some casual raiding, which could be fun even though I wanna focus on PvP. Why do video games have to be such a pain in the ass?

Injustice

According to Access Services' Website, they have a vision. They accomplish this vision by "Providing quality, efficient and dependable ADA paratransit service." I may be crazy, but I don't think that quality, efficient and dependable service would leave a handicapped person in the cold just because they weren't waiting in the street when their transportation arrived nearly 20 minutes late. It's pretty appalling that they have such blatant disregard for their customers. The drivers won't go out of their way to find a passenger and usually late or early, making it almost impossible to go anywhere that requires an appointment, such as a doctor's office or, god forbid, most social events. I think the point of Access is to make handicapped people just stay at home. Access exists because a state law requires there to be some form of transportation for handicapped people but they really need to step up their service in order to represent the state in a positive way.