I'm actually very shocked it's over so fast! I always remembered from my childhood that the winter months always dragged and then it felt like a travelling in a tornado in the spring months but this whole year has felt so fast. I guess when I think about it you don't notice when your mind is constantly occupied with something.
The First Semester was something I felt I always missed in school. I was never taught the basics of drawing and I knew it always crippled me but now I know how to think of everything correctly, although I might not be there perfectly with these things, I've definitely improved because of these things. Semester one was for the most part informative in every class. Game Production was one I found to be the most complicated of course but really the simple things we were given to make I felt like I achieved a lot of learning while doing them.
Semester two was more creative and I really enjoyed it a lot more because of it. The project briefs, although some of them were boring, gave me a chance to really try and be creative with the things in my mind. I found though a lot of the things I thought I really, in myself, didn't like. I think that's really something I'll have to try and get over is getting attached to my work. People are going to tell me they don't like it and I need to make sure that I'm ready for that. Game production felt very short. The projects were a lot more bulked construction and work wise but it felt like I missed on learning more in this semester.
Overall I think I've come out of this year a lot better then when I started but I really, REALLY need to work faster. That's my biggest downfall is not being able to improve on this. I have done more work but I'm still not doing as much as I want to. I'm going to keep myself busy this summer to get these ideas out of my head and also get the ball rolling with working faster. I have a placement back in Derry with Black Market Games and while doing that I'll be continually practising everything I've learned in year one. I'm going to try and get these done better and faster. 3D is something I really want to work on. I never expected that I would be doing so much of it when I started the course but I've really grown to like it this year and I'm enjoying seeing these models take shape. I'm going to try out more character modelling and maybe even do my Project have fun idea! I know it's frowned upon on the course but I'm also going to be drawing what I like to draw. You might class it as anime or cartoons but I'm not doing it to reduce my IQ, I'm doing it because I want to add realism into it and make more detailed but unrealistic characters. League of Legends is a perfect example.
A positive thing I can take away from this course is that I feel motivated to work during the summer. It's not something I've ever done and I'm incredibly shocked I want to but this is the only time in the year where I have freedom to challenge myself in my own ideas, not ideas set in briefs.
Bring on year two! I'm actually looking forward to it then fearing it no matter how much harder it'll be!
