Continuous improvement is a thing for me. I am constantly taking classes and otherwise learning online, with plenty of hands-on application.
This year I decided to try a more structured approach to my classes. I looked at the class schedule at my old school, realized Spring semester started in early January and ended in mid-May. A full class schedule was 12 credits per semester, and a pretty standard definition of a credit is “1 hour lecture and 2 hours lab (hands-on) per week for 14 weeks.” OK, cool. That’s 14 hours lecture and 28 hours lab per week, so 168 hours lecture and 336 hours lab total. So I looked through the pile of classes I had already purchased and either never taken or half-assed. Selected a pile of them that added up to 168 lecture hours, and made the assumption that the lab work would go like it did when I was in tech school — I’d complete the lab work in as many hours as it took. If it took less than the time I technically allotted, sweet. If it took longer, I guess I found something I needed to work on.
Since I’m working on a number of projects for my sidelines, I focused on the skills necessary for those projects. 3D art (two Blender classes), AI (three classes on basic AI, behavior trees, and GOAP), C#/Unity (a Unity class and a C# design patterns class), and Web design including WordPress (a big web dev course and two WordPress classes). Those classes almost completely filled my 168 lecture hour requirement.
Then I added some classes on “softer” subjects like motivation and treating depression. It’s no secret I’ve had Major Depressive Disorder for my entire adult life. I was only diagnosed in 2001, but that conversation was along the lines of “so as you’re no doubt aware, you have some pretty gnarly depression.” “No shit?” These classes finished off the requirements.
I’m also recovering from a pretty nasty set of injuries. Between the dump truck incident and two hospital stays for foot surgery in the space of two summers, I have trouble walking. Because of my mobility issues, I’ve gained a lot of weight. Before I had these surgeries, I was a hiker. Now I have trouble climbing the stairs from the ground floor to my office and bedroom. So I added some yoga classes designed around people with similar limitations and who work office jobs basically chained to chairs.
Between the massive STEM load and the latter two groups (which I jokingly refer to as my “liberal arts electives”), I have just over 12 credits worth of classes. So in theory I just need to let my classes run for 12 hours a week, screw around a few hours every night after work, and give myself an A, right? It isn’t like I’m actually enrolled in a college somewhere. Yeah, no.
Instead of just going by the “hours completed” metric, I rolled my own. Two reasons for this:
- I knew plenty of people in tech school who just sat through the classes, did the basic lab work, and passed the classes, but I wouldn’t ever want to work with in the real world. There were a few who I refused to work anywhere near in class — one of these guys almost electrocuted a classmate through sheer incompetence, then managed to get and lose two jobs in the industry over the summer. I also knew people who had previous experience in related subjects who flew through the coursework and aced the classes while going nowhere near the required hours.
- This isn’t for a degree or bragging rights, I’m doing this to improve my skills. As I go, I’m demonstrably getting better at the relevant skills. You can see that simply by comparing Create28 2021 and 2022.
As a result, my metrics are focused entirely on results — I’m essentially rolling my own version of Outcome Based Education.
- For the “liberal arts electives,” they just come down to watching the lectures, absorbing the information, and doing what they recommend.
- The STEM classes also have similar requirements — listen to the lectures, do the coursework. But, since these classes are directly linked to my actual projects at MTS and Devil Monkey Games, I have a list of specific projects and their own completion metrics. It seems like a long list, especially for the video game projects, but there’s a lot of overlap especially since I plan on releasing none of these as-is.
- Vidgames: I have five projects to work on here.
- Get the FPS engine up to an approximately Shareware Doom level of completion.
- Upgrade my hovercraft and rokkit games into two separate games each. One will be about straight piloting skill — a hovercraft racing game a lot like F-Zero, and a precision flight rokkit game. The other will be more combative — think Road Blasters with hovercraft, and Solar Jetman for the Rokkit. Each of these will be relatively small — only 3-4 levels tops, none of them very large. Especially in the case of the hovercraft racing game, there’s only so much you can do with a racetrack before it becomes an endless slog rather than a fun race.
- Optionally, add an ARPG to the stable. Gameplay will be similar to Diablo, and will reuse assets from the FPS. If I do this project, the final version will have an overworld map and a half dozen “dungeons” of various sizes ranging from a Doom level down to a Diablo III random mini-dungeon like the various basements outside New Tristram.
- 3D Art: one of the classes has a bonus section on creating a video game asset pack. In addition to the basic coursework, I’m considering this a major completion metric. Luckily, Create28 overlaps quite a bit here.
- Web/WP: I’m in the middle of redesigning and upgrading at least four sites. Rock Solid Mamas, this one, MTS, and Devil Monkey Games. Plus some work for one or two clients. So as coursework, I’ll be working on all of these. No real metric for completion on any of them aside from “the owners are happy with what they get,” whether the owners are my clients, my wife, or me.
- Vidgames: I have five projects to work on here.
So that’s my project for the spring.