Blog 7 - Second Interview Preparation

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?  If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert?

There are actually currently three mentors I have along with Clerisse, all of whom are prospective interviewees for this upcoming session:

As mentioned multiple times in my previous posts, my foremost established mentor is Tracy Fullerton, a seasoned experimental game designer, director of the USC Game Innovation Lab, author of the textbook Game Design Workshop, and Associate Professor of the Interactive Media Division. By description alone, she should have proven herself several times over to be a credible source of expertise for my topic, game design. Her primary work space is in the USC Game Innovation Lab, where she coordinates with multiple teams in designing multiple projects. She teaches several courses for game design students at the university. Her past developments include flOw, and she is currently working on The Night Journey as well as Walden.

Elizabeth Swenson and Sean Bouchard have been our go-to mentors on days where Tracy isn't around, but at this point, they have earned the right to be deemed mentors, full stop. Both are also staff of the Game Innovation Lab in USC who love designing educational games, but their talents are not limited to those genres. Both Swensen and Bouchard have received Masters of Fine Arts (MFAs) in Interactive Media, and are currently working on a game that simulates the field work of researching primitive life forms beneath the earth. Swensen and Bouchard have their own websites with information of their game productions, respectively here and here.

2.  What five questions will you ask them about their background?

- In brief, what college courses/internships/etc. did you take when you were first entering this field of work?

- In your opinion, what traits are most indispensable for a game designer to be well-off in what they do?

- What would you change about the journey you had taken to where you are now? 

- What were the biggest obstacles did you come across when you were still in training and/or academics? What are the biggest obstacles now?

- Who/what do you feel helped you the most to guide/motivate you to your current position in career?

Blog 6 - Advisory Prep

1. What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year?  What has made it a positive experience for you?  

I can confidently say that the best part of senior project thus far has been my mentorship experience. It has been filled with nothing but layers and layers of enjoyment; not only had I managed to get my first choice, but my mentorship takes place at one of my favorite universities. On top of that, I've been blessed to experience all this alongside my dear friend Clerisse, who I would be lost without (literally, too. I don't know my way around downtown LA and probably would have been kidnapped by now if it weren't for her). Simply traveling to our mentorship has become a learning experience thanks to her.

Meeting our mentors Tracy, Sean, Elizabeth, and the many frequenters of the USC Game Innovation Lab has been another grace in the mentorship. These people, who have all earnestly done everything they can to pass down their knowledge to us in game design, have put so much kind and sincere effort for us and have asked nothing in return. They are encouraging, frequently asking us what we plans we have for independent components and already suggesting ideas. They have made senior project infinitely more positive than I could have ever hoped, and I really hope that as we finish up the project, Clerisse and I will have independently created something worthwhile in the name of these people.

2. What are you finding difficult concerning senior project?  How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you?  How might the senior team help?

Concerning senior project, I would say the biggest difficulty I have found in senior topic is narrowing down my topic, since it seems to be a requirement. I'm not sure how specific of our topic the senior team wants us to have it, and even if I knew, I'm having trouble realizing what my narrowed-down topic should be. I already have an idea of what I would like to do for my independent component, but any independent component idea won't be approved until later. I mentioned in a previous post that this idea is to create a small game using a software that I have, which will be set in a virtual IPoly. The story is yet to be determined. This is something I absolutely want strive to complete in this project, but if I want to go through with it, I have to mold my topic/EQ to the game project (or vice versa), but that lends itself to me asking: is this something I should be doing?

Blog 5 - Interview 1 Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?

What I learned from the interview was not something I gleaned from the content itself (though that, too, was valuable and insightful.) Rather, the most important lesson came from the whole aftermath of the interview, as I listened to the audio again to transcribe it. I realized with much mortification that I didn't fulfill my role as the interviewer as I had hoped. Right before our session commenced, my interviewee Luke Peterson, had asked me to not ask many follow-up questions, since he was actually a last-minute stand-in for someone who originally was meant to be my interviewee but couldn't make it. I had eventually realized now that, despite his request, I should have found a way to make Luke comfortable to the point that he didn't even realize he was answering the follow-up questions that he apparently seemed to dread, being a rather reserved but sincere individual. Both of us had been nervous, I'll admit, but the faults of the interview that I identified subsequently were all on my behalf. There were many questions I failed to ask due to my 

Luke was an absolutely fantastic interviewee; he was friendly and gave valuable responses to all the questions I had asked. More importantly, he had been kind enough to accept the interview within such a short notice. He's actually a game design animator, and I'm regretful to have not asked more specific questions to this aspect of his field, since I myself am interested in this creative design of the field. I still don't know if this will pertain to my EQ or if it will even be my topic narrowed down, but asking Luke these questions would have let him know that I was more interested in his work beyond what I was required to know. Though I would never intentionally want to be rude, I should have at least tested the limits of Luke's request by sprinkling in some simple but non-redundant questions. Then I would have asked if it bothered him, rather than take the safe route entirely. Or, at the very least, I should have emphasized to him that follow-up questions were important for me to learn more.

All of this chagrin has led up to a better understanding what I must do for all my other interviews. Next time, should my interviewee ask a similar request as Luke's, I'll let them know about their importance. I won't hold back any more of my questions, even if I accidentally spill out a redundant one; I would rather take a chance of asking too many questions than repeat the role I had played in this recent interview. That is not to say, of course, that I won't be careful to filter some questions. I want to be as courteous as possible, because I owe the team at USC who has helped me thus far in the mentorship so much, and it's the least I can do.

2. Did I get additional resources and contacts?  What is the most useful?  Why?

Yes! Luke offered plenty of resources - mostly books that I will most likely use for my research - and contacts. Half-Real by Jesper Juul, The Art of the Game Design by Jesse Schell are two books he likes. He's offered to have the graduate students or even incoming students to be some of our interviewees in future sessions. This is perfect, since having experienced and beginning a game designers would be refreshing for research. This is the most useful, I would say, since these students game designers are the closest game designers I can possibly have for Senior Project. 

3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me? 

Lucas Peterson is a game designer working in the Game Innovation Lab at USC, which (as I have mentioned multiple times before and would like to apologize for doing so) has the number one ranked game design program in the US. He is currently working with Tracy Fullerton, director of the Interactive Media Division and associate professor, as well as my two other mentors. He works on the animation of the video games, one of the prominent aspects of the field. Animators, I have learned from my mentorship, are so valued and essential of a game development team member that they are one of the most "wanted" in the field at USC.

Blog 4 - House Advisory Prep 1

What do I hope to accomplish through my senior project topic, which happens to be game design?

In the literal sense, my greatest hope is to learn the basics to design my own video game, however primitive it may turn out, by using the role-playing game software my brother had given me. Besides my appreciation for these digital outlets that had shaped my childhood, my brother's gift was one of the things that had pushed me to choose this topic. The concept of the game I have in mind will have I-Poly's setting recreated, and will take the player through a virtual allegory of the most important ideas this high school has given us.

In the figurative sense, I want to find myself. Specifically, my goal is to explore this field, which is a prospective career of my choice. I love video games well enough, but the real, underlying personal goal of this project goes beyond that. Is this something I will be wanting to do after high school, professionally? There's no guarantee that I will even find this answer by the end of the year; after all, there's only so much I can discover within a single year, and I might still need a better "feel" of what this field is like. But I'm glad I'll at least be taking the chance to dive into it.

Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  Why?

I'm very fortunate to have up to three mentors who are good candidates for the interview: Tracy Fullerton, Sean Bouchard, and Elizabeth Swensen, who have been mentioned in my previous posts. Seeing as how we will be doing two interviews throughout Senior Project that will allow mentors, any of the three are possible candidates for this first one. Clerisse and I are sharing this mentorship, but there are many ways we can get around how we will interview; both of us can ensure that we each have different sets of questions prior, and then we conduct the interview at the same time, taking turns asking and receiving responses. Or, we can each decide on any of our mentors, and as the year progresses and we must have additional interviews, we switch and/or rotate our mentors as the interviewees. 

Tracy, Sean, and Elizabeth are all prospective interviewees for the assignment. I have decided that for this first one, I will be interviewing Sean Bouchard. This will be a perfect introductory setup for this project component, seeing as how Sean (as well as Elizabeth) are Game Innovation Lab Associates in USC. Not only is he one of my mentors, he is also well experienced in the art of game-making, particularly ones that are aimed to educate youth. I am confident that he will offer a lot of valuable advice and information regarding this topic of interest. Through this, I hope I'll narrow my topic of "game design" to something more specific in which I can channel my energy and work towards for Senior Project. 

While I'm only interviewing Sean as of now, one thing is true about all three of my mentors: each has their own unique wisdom to be shared in the world about their passion and skill in game design. Through these interviews, I am hopeful that their positive and sincere influence in a work that they love will be spread to all passionate people.

2.  Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask.  What additional questions do you plan to ask?  

• What made you realize you wanted to do game design for a living?
• What motivates you to create video games?
• In your opinion, what is the best part of being in this field?
• Did you envision yourself becoming a game designer when you were younger? 
• If yes, how did you achieve this vision?
• If no, what changed your mind?
• What has been your greatest accomplishment in this field of work?