Tag Archive for school

My First School Year as a Substitute Teacher

I started working as a substitute teacher last December, but haven’t written much about that in this blog. In addition to substitute teaching and writing, I am also working as an English as a Second Language teacher remotely now. I will write more about substitute teaching and ESL teaching in the future. For anyone interested in what my experience working as a substitute teacher was like, I wrote the following article:

My First School Year as a Substitute Teacher

After finishing my BA in English and Creative Writing, I was still having trouble finding a job I’d like that was directly related to my degree. The idea of teaching wasn’t even on my radar, but I saw a job listing looking for substitute teachers for districts in my area. The education requirements only called for a bachelor’s degree in any field, and at least some experience with children. Since I did have some experience working with children in a previous position at a museum and as an after-school reading tutor in high school, I thought I might as well apply. This seemed like a job where I could really feel like I’m making a difference in the community and am doing something worthwhile.

Read the rest…

Game Over: A Short Story

Game Over: A Short Story

I wrote this story for a creative writing class while I was a student at Lorain County Community College. The assignment was to observe people around campus, and use some of them as inspiration for a character in a story. There really was a gamer’s lounge at LCCC. Theodore is based on several people I observed, people I know, and, regrettably, some of the worst traits I saw in myself at the time. As Theodore’s story shows us, we all have room to improve, as long as we recognize the things that we need to work on.

 

Game Over – A Short Story – Part 1

“Die alien scum!” Theodore shouted out at the TV screen in mock anger as the crowd cheered him on. “Your mother put up more of a fight than this last night!” His friends roared with laughter as he reached for his half empty bottle of Mountain Dew, his only sustaining life force.

It was a day like any other on campus. Theodore Lucas Fisher spent hours in the student lounge playing video games with his fellow nerds and social outcasts. Though he rarely attended the few classes he had registered for, Theodore spent most of his time here at his community college, for he had nowhere else to be (and even if he did, he couldn’t get there, for he still didn’t have his driver’s license, despite the fact that he was 19). He also didn’t have a job or a girlfriend, and he still lived with his parents, though from time to time he would stay with his older brother Joseph for the night or the weekend. Aside from the people he played video games with at the college, Joseph was really Theodore’s only friend.

From the outside looking in on this group, you’d think that they were the closest of friends; they laughed together, spent hours a day together playing video game, and all seemed almost the same in personality and demeanor, but Theodore rarely conversed with these people outside the student lounge in the context of first-person shooters and RPGs. Though he has been out of high school for a year now, Theodore still had not picked up the finer points of social interaction and for the most part, his socializing consisted of nothing more than a regressed form of parallel play with nothing but a television screen and a few game controllers holding the closest things he had to interpersonal relationships together.

SNHU

I’ve been pretty busy with schoolwork and finishing up editing a new book that I hope to self-publish before Halloween. I haven’t told many people yet, but I am going back to school via online classes at SNHU now.

I was originally going to get my bachelor’s degree in video game development, which is what my associate degree is in, but I changed my mind and have switched to creative writing. I have a number of reasons for making this switch. I believe that I could combine these two skill sets and become a writer for video games someday, or simply be a freelance writer or independent author while also working on the occasional indie game. I think this is just a better career path for me (not that many people even end up working in the field they majored in anyway!).

I also had significantly more credits that could be applied to the creative writing degree, which is the difference between being in school for just over one more year, or for just over two more years. An extra year would mean significantly more debt.

I will save reviewing SNHU until after I have taken more classes there. I chose SNHU because it is a fully accredited university with an actual campus. Taking online classes is the only way I can keep working while also going to school full-time.

I just wanted to write a quick update, since I haven’t posted anything in a while.

Busy Bee

Combee - Pokemon

This semester has been super busy so far. Between my four classes, planning my wedding, and keeping Dinosauring.com updated, I haven’t had time to blog here.

For Advanced Game Programming, I have to make a game and sell at least five copies by the end of the semester. I chose to make a 2D side-scrolling beat ’em up game. I haven’t thought of a name for the game yet, but you play as a flower who has to save a garden from evil weeds (like dandelions!) who are trying to take over. It will be for PC, and I’m using XNA. I’ll post more details about it here later with a link to purchase. It will likely be between $0.99-$1.99.

I’m also working on a game for Serious Games and Simulations to help students study math. I haven’t gotten much done for that game yet since the first project I was going to be working on for this class fell through. I originally was going to do a different educational game that one of the instructors at the college wanted, but that project had to be cancelled do to administrative decisions that were made regarding the department that I was working with. But I was able to come up with another neat idea for my project anyway.

I’m also learning Unreal Engine 4 in 3D Game Level Design, and Xcode and Android Studio in the Mobile Game Apps class.

As I expected, I’m the only student in Advanced Game Programming, Serious Games and Simulations, and 3D Game Level Design this semester. It is what it is, I guess. It might actually be a blessing in disguise, however. Being the only student means I can make my game projects on my own without worrying about any teammates. I’ve always disliked group work, as I either end up having to do the whole thing by myself anyway while still having to give credit to the other group members, or they completely ignore most of my ideas.

Since I’m working on my game on my own, it makes things easier from a business standpoint (no one to argue with over profits and ownership and such). My beat ’em up game will be the starting point for my business, Nýbiru Studio. I’m planning on having the website for my business up and running by the end of the semester where I can advertise and showcase this games and games I create in the future.

I’m going to be graduating from LCCC this spring. I’m thinking about finishing my bachelor’s degree online now, so that I can keep working and won’t have to move to finish school. There’s an online program I’m looking into right now.

Aside from working on my school projects, I’ve also been busy planning my wedding. We have our date and venue set. I got my dress already, and it’s pink! I got it from WeddingDressFantasy on Etsy, and it’s amazing! It was a sample sale, so I got a good deal and it shipped super fast. Plus it fits well and I don’t think I’ll need any alterations, other than to add a bustle, which I think I can do myself. I’m not going to post any pictures yet, because it’s supposed to be a surprise! There are still a few more details we need to get sorted out. I’m also going to refrain from posting too many details about the date and location until after the fact, since any creeper on the internet could potentially be reading this, but it’s going to be at a super awesome venue!

That’s about it for now.

Dinosauring: My New Web Comic

Sir Stegingtonworth from Dinosauring

I’ve been wanting to start a web comic for several years now, and finally did it! It’s called Dinosauring. The site and my first comic went live last week, and I will post a new  one every Wednesday. Check it out at Dinosauring.com.

Dinosauring is a web comic about a herd of stegosauruses and their dinosaur friends. It will be filled with pop culture references, dinosaur humor, and fun for all ages!

My original ideas for Dinosauring involved photographing plastic dinosaurs and combining them with crayon-drawn backgrounds. I wasn’t really happy with how that turned out, and put the whole project on the back-burner again.

I started making Sir Stegingtonworth for my final project for my 3D Modeling class. At around the same time, I started thinking about actually going through with doing the web comic I had been wanting to start for quite some time now. I really liked my Sir Stegingtonworth character and thought he would be great for my web comic, so I got started on making a few more characters in the same style. I haven’t seen anyone else do a web comic by combining 3D and 2D art together, so I hope people will actually like it.

I got several of the characters, the first two comics, and the website finished just in time to show it for my final presentation last Wednesday. The first comic went live last Wednesday, and the second one will be posted this Wednesday. I’m working on plenty more, so look for a new one every week on Dinosauring.com!

Just another Update

Sonic on a Segway

I didn’t realize it’s been so long since I posted an update. Anyway, spring semester started in January. I was originally supposed to take three classes this semester, but two of them were cancelled at the last minute due to low enrollment. The 2D programming class is being offered as a 10-week online class instead, which I guess is better than nothing since I need to take that class this semester to graduate in time. I’ll have to take the mobile apps class whenever they decide to offer it again. The only class I’m taking in person this semester is digital illustration, which is on Friday and Saturday. On the plus side, this schedule allows me to work more hours than I had originally planned, so I can save up a little bit more money for school.

I’m not going to lie, I was pretty angry about the classes being cancelled. Since that happened, I’ve learned from other people in various other degree programs that the same thing happened with their classes. I’ve heard from numerous people that they’ve either had to push back their graduation or have quit school altogether because LCCC cancelled classes they needed for their degree programs.

This is absolutely unacceptable. No wonder the graduation rate at this school is so low. Right now, my plan is still to finish this associate degree program and then transfer to Kent for a bachelors degree, since LCCC is still significantly cheaper and this will give me another year to save money before transferring (and moving further away). I’m just afraid that the same thing will happen with some of the other classes I need next over the next two semesters and I won’t be able to finish this degree next spring. I’m not willing to push back getting a two-year degree even longer.

With the number of students in the intro class last semester, I really can’t understand how only three people (including myself) registered for the second semester classes. I have heard that a lot of CGSD students never finish the degree because they fall behind in math. I could go on and on about  students not being ready for basic college level math by time they’re in college, but that particular rant might be best saved for it’s own post (protip: being good at math isn’t about memorizing boring formulas. It’s about actually understanding the concepts so that your brain can do cool problem-solving things.)

Anyway, I have only finished one assignment for my 2D programming class so far, but I’m enjoying it a lot more than any of the other programming classes I’ve taken over the years. We’re using the XNA framework in Visual Studio C# 2010 Express. Outdated, but effective. Programming games is a lot more interesting than making lame console applications and windows forms, that’s for sure.

In unrelated news, I was a finalist in Kotaku’s Photoshop contest last week. This was my “expertly” ‘shopped image of Sonic:

Sonic on a Segway

Well, I thought it was funny. And apparently so did the nice people at Kotaku… That’s the first time I made something for one of their contests. I usually don’t check Kotaku or Facebook as much on the weekend.

One Semester Down

JenniferAwesome.com

I just finished my first semester of the Computer Games and Simulation Design degree. I got A’s in all of my classes, including over 100% in both Intro to Game Design and Programming in C# (due to extra credit that I probably didn’t really need to do).

Next semester I will be taking 2D Game Programming, Game Applications for Emergent Platforms, and Digital Illustration. According to the course description, we will be using the Torque game engine in the the 2D programming course. I’m hoping the Digital Illustration class uses Adobe Illustrator, rather than some other lesser known vector graphics alternative, since I already have and use Illustrator.

Right now, I’m learning how to make games in Flash on my own. I was originally going to take a Flash games class, but they are phasing it out in favor of the Apps class instead, which will be a much more useful skill-set to have now that mobile platforms are so popular. Since I already completed another degree and am on financial aid, they wouldn’t let me take extra classes that I don’t actually need to complete my degree.

I’m hoping to get my game studio’s website launched early next year. I’ll be starting out small with a few free-to-play browser-based games. Eventually I’d like to expand to mobile apps and console games (depending on how Microsoft and Sony handle indie developers in the future). Everything will be ad-supported to start out with (no evil micro-transactions! Though I won’t rule that out as a possibility for my games way into the future).

In the meantime, you can play the games I made for school. Just click on the “games” tab at the top of this page!

Santa’s Arctic Escape!

Santa's Arctic Escape

Santa’s sleigh crashed in Antarctica (darn Apple maps!). He must find his sleigh so he can deliver his gifts to all the good girls and boys on Christmas Eve. Help Santa find his sleigh and escape from the frozen tundra!

There are many arctic creatures who don’t possess the spirit of Christmas and want to harm Santa. Be careful not to be attacked.

Santa’s Arctic Escape was the 9th and final game I made in Intro to Game Design last semester. I thought it was appropriate to make a Christmas-themed game just before the holidays.

Santa's Arctic Escape!

You can download it for free here:

YoYoGames

Santa

Santas Arctic Escape
Added: 17 December 2013
By: Nybiru

This game was based on the Pyramid Panic tutorial in The Game Maker’s Apprentice.

Beach Tic-Tac-Toe

Beach Tic-Tac-Toe

The 8th game I made in Intro to Game Design was this simple tic-tac-toe game. It was just to learn the basics of scripting. I used summery beach-themed graphics because I’m already tired of this cold weather. I’m sure most other people living in Ohio agree with that sentiment.

There isn’t really much else to say; it’s tic-tac-toe. Get three pairs of your sandals in a row before the computer.

I made it following a tutorial in The Game Maker’s Apprentice, as with the rest of the games I made for that class.

YoYoGames

Tictactoe1

Beach Tic-Tac-Toe
Added: 17 December 2013
By: Nybiru

Beach Tic-Tac-Toe has something for everyone! A girl in a bikini for the guys and shoes for the ladies.
Okay, that was mildly offensive. Ignore that comment.

Garden Wars

Garden Wars

Garden Wars was the 7th game I made in Intro to Game Design. It is about two flowers who are warring over control of a garden. Ridiculous concept, I know. I got the idea while playing the 3DS StreetPass game, Flower Town (I bought the bundle with all four StreetPass games). Anyway, Garden Wars is nothing like that. It’s more like a simplistic BattleTanx, but with flowers instead of bad-ass tanks.

Garden Wars is a competitive 2 player game. They can shoot each other with seeds and there are various other pick-up items

Anyway, as always, Garden Wars can be downloaded from YoYo Games here:

YoYoGames

Gardenwars1

Garden Wars
Added: 17 December 2013
By: Nybiru

Garden Wars is based on the Tank Wars tutorial from The Game Maker’s Apprentice.