Category: Uncategorized

I feel as though I had too many roadblocks this term. I’ve had many issues with the compatibility of the project on my PC, which is strange, considering I had no issues making changes last term, and I made the 2nd commit to our repo. Our group got disbanded, which I suppose is partially my fault, just wish I could access the stuff we worked on as a team until then, because of the before mentioned compatibility issues. I’ve been working my way through this by simply powering through it, I’m not done yet, but I am still pushing through. And still plan to have what I need to be completed by the end here. I didn’t have too many expectations going into this project, but I feel that I am getting a good feel for producing a game. Its something I’ve always wanted to do, and I always imagined I would start with something 2D. I also always thought that 3D would be out of my league, but here I am, working in 3 dimensions in both of my classes this term.

All in all, I feel pretty overwhelmed this term, but I also feel like I am managing it, at least barely. I am most enraged by how strange my PC is with this project, but working on my own now I think will fix my issues with that. I feel like I didn’t get to learn a whole lot about working in teams, we never even had a discussion about disbanding, or ever really talked about any issues that have arisen. I feel like my system compatibility issues have a lot to do with it.

Anyway, I’m glad I’ve made it this far, and hope to keep pushing onward through the coming term and beyond.

– David

The project seems to be going pretty decently so far. I feel that my team is working quite well together. We generally have been communicating well, in spite of what feels to me are constant set-backs. Life continues to get in the way for some of us. two of us have gotten very ill in the past couple of weeks, the ice storm held us back a bit, I’m having issues with my phone and my two-factor authentication, and I am currently experiencing issues with data corruption with my previous contributions to the project. Somehow, I’m still optimistic. 

      Redoing my work shouldn’t be too much of a hassle, and we have a lead on what to do to prevent this in the future. I’ve been able to continue getting some much needed work done for the project, in finding 3D assets to use and also finding sources to find more. I’ve been continuing to think about some of the more big picture stuff for the project, which may be a little unnecessary since it may be more of a sprint 2 focus but that is coming up! These ideas pertain more to the theme of simulation. 

      At least since I’m feeling a little behind, I’m also finding it quite motivating. It’ll be nice to get even more familiar with the game engine, and get some game development experience, as that is something I am quite interested in. I have some ideas of my own that I would like to develop for my own personal projects in the future, and this may be a good way to get me even more motivated to get those started. I can’t get too ambitious though, its fun to day dream, but I need to focus at the task at hand. The idea of making an escape room makes me think of solving puzzles in Zelda games, which are my favorites, which also gives me some inspirations for the level design. 

      Here’s to hoping that this project exceeds all of our expectations!

            - David

Hi, the project seems to be going smoothly. My team seems to be full of knowledgeable people which makes me a little concerned about my place within the group. I want to do well and contribute as much as possible to the project too, so I hope that at least counts for something. I had some minor gripes in that one of my teammates wrote redundant stuff in our design document, in that they wrote in the category that was supposed to be my responsibility without telling me. So that made me feel a little frustrated and sort of undervalued, I guess. I did still do what I could, and I feel at least my technical writing skills came in handy while I was proofreading other team members’ segments of the document.

All in all, I am looking forward to this project. It will be a lot of fun, and I’m glad I’ll get some experience making a game since that is something I am interested in doing even in my own time. The task just always seemed so daunting I had a lot of trouble getting started. I also had a lot of trouble just getting things set up, whether it be my rusty C++ skills in writing classes that depended on other classes or having a hard time linking a library to my compiler.

I am happy to be here!

– David

Hi, I am David McVittie, I’ve been an on and off again CS major at Oregon State University. I’m happy to have finally come this far! I am currently living in the Portland Metro area, so I am in the PST time zone (UTC-7). I have a pet pug named Java, and he is going to be 1 year old this November, so he has so much energy! I recently got married a little over a year ago, and that was quite exciting. I’m currently working two jobs, though I’m thinking of quitting my job as a cook in Oregon City, in favor of my other job working in preload at UPS. (Which is a great way to get your tuition paid for by the way!) A technology that has really piqued my interest is Quantum computing, it seems to be a new emerging technology that I think could be lucrative to get into, though I’m not sure how well traditional CS education fits into that particular field. Maybe that’s more of a physics, or graduate program focus sort of thing? One project that caught my attention was building an emulator to run space invaders on, as I am quite the fan of emulation, and the modding communities, and might be the push I need to join the randomizer community for The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask as a developer.

Dark Horse is a comic brand that was established in Milwaukie, Oregon, in 1986 and quickly reached the height of competing with larger comic brands DC and Marvel Comics. Seeing as this is a relatively large business, it would appear to be organized as more of a hierarchy. With this in mind, however, the work place itself appears to be more laid back. Though still in cubicles, employees are allowed to do what they will with them to decorate their workspaces, and I don’t imagine they would have a particularly strict dress code.

This company is comprised of multiple buildings all on the same street, which is in Milwaukie, Oregon. The work seems to be team oriented, though that apparently is a bit of a struggle for those working between buildings, though at the same time employees may work on things alone, so long as they can make their deadlines. As far as the location of Dark Horse, Milwaukie is actually where I grew up, and is a very mellow area. The cost of living is reasonable, though I’m sure that will change seeing that this is in the Portland Metro area, which also means theres probably quite a bit of traffic. Crime is minimal, though Milwaukie, like any other place will have its fair share of it, though there has been talk about potential increases in crime because of the MAX train line that recently got put in linking Milwaukie to Portland.

Upon researching the conduct of Dark Horse Comics, it seems that this business attracts little attention as far as scandals or philanthropy goes. Mostly what their niche in comics and what they are known for is acquiring licenses to pre-existing intellectual property, and creating well crafted comics about them, some examples being Star Wars comics, Mass Effect comics and figures, and the release of the Legend of Zelda Hyrule Historia. The company has no mission statement on their website other than expressing their desire to continue creating quality content both of their own creations and expanding upon others.

The company originated as a retail comic store known as Pegasus Books in 1980, the CEO Mike Richardson decided to create his own publishing company known as Dark Horse Comics, in 1986. When it was founded, it had two titles being produced for it, and added nine more before that year ended. In 1988 it started its first trend of acquiring licenses to pre-existing titles with Aliens, and Predator, and in 1990 Dark Horse started the cross-over trend by starting Aliens vs Predator. They also began doing the opposite of taking movies and making comics out of them, by turning their comics into movies, with the release of Hellboy II directed by Guillermo Del Torro. The company also has many acclaimed story writers such as, Brian Woods of Star Wars, and lead writer for the Mass Effect series, Mac Walters.

To be employed at Dark Horse, one would need extensive knowledge in their field they are applying for, wether that be an artist or writer of some kind, or a licensing coordinator. Also having a creative sense, or having some comic knowledge would be a great help.

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