Blog 17 - Interview 3 Reflection

(Click Image to listen to Interview 3)

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  

Without a doubt, discovering that educational games - or, as my mentor puts it, games for learning - aren't limited to curricular subjects has been very important thus far. I honestly feel ridiculous for not having realized this sooner, especially since it seems like an intuitive thing to pick up. To some degree, I DID know this, but I never realized how this knowledge could have helped me for my Independent Component. 

As I was completing the pre-production for my video game in my IC1, I had settled for having the educational aspects in the game be put in the 16 puzzles that are intended to be in the game. However, I couldn't help that, in a very distant but still connectable way, this was basically another setup for a "glorified quiz"; there were basically 16 questions, with 4 for each core subject (Math, English, Sciences, Social Sciences). When I said that I wanted this to be a puzzle-horror game, my true vision for the game was to have the 16 puzzles to be ACTUAL puzzles - critical thinking problems, riddles, unconventional problem-solving that can be artistic or downright gruesome. However, I also wanted to educate something (hence it being an educational game), so I thought I should settle by having each puzzle in each of the 16 classrooms simply be a problem that is related to its respective classroom (for example, in Estrada's class, the "puzzle" will be a problem that must be solved using basic algebra). I couldn't help but feel unsatisfied by this, because it felt almost like a sort of rushed addition to make it into a game. 

But it never occurred to me that not all educational games have to be curricular. They can teach a concept, and or situation. 

That's where this comes into play: in addition, the actual narrative of the game had taken a direction that I didn't initially intend, which was addressing mental illness. The main character, Sunny, will be revealed to suffer from depression, and this in itself is one of the factors that fuels the nightmarish environment our protagonist must endure for most of the game. 

Everything in the game will remain the same in terms of my IC1 and IC2. In fact, surface-wise, nothing has changed. But I have a much more defined and uniform objective now. I'm no longer constrained in making the levels/puzzles mere conventional word-problems, but actual puzzles like I originally wanted.  Moreover, my goal now will be to handle the addressing of mental illness more carefully in the game now; rather than it be a type of plot device, it will actually be essential to the underlying message. Mental illness is often faced with a lot of misunderstanding, but I have friends who battle with it constantly, and I think it would be good if this game's goal was to educate people about misconceptions about depression. 

2.  How has your approach to interviewing changed over the course of your senior project?

I have been much more at ease in my interviews, especially compared to my first one. This recent interview was unintentionally the longest out of all the ones I've conducted, but it had been done so out of sheer engagement with my mentor's wisdom. Especially because we have much more freedom with the questions, I feel more open in asking what I need from my mentor. It's also helped by the fact that, whereas in my previous interviews I was doing general researching, this interview had a much more clear goal, which was to research for my EQ.

Blog 10 - Interview 2 Reflection

Click here for Interview 2

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else?  Are you shadowing?  Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic?  If so, what?  Are there other people who are experts in the location?  Etc...)

For the most part, our mentors always find something for Clerisse and I to do; while shadowing is certainly is one of those choices, we've done much more already. It's not routine, so there's always something new and different. We've helped brainstorm ideas for a new video game at its primordial state, play-tested some of our mentors' work-in-progress games, attended a very sophisticated assembly meeting pertaining to the economic affects of video games in our country, listened in on their meetings, completed an assignment that all USC game design students have done (which is to make a game board), played some of the games designed by other students, and of course, we have interviewed them. All of these have provided us with an undiscovered aspect of video games we didn't think about before.

All of this happens in the USC campus, but mostly we associate in the Game Innovation Lab, where our mentors frequent the most. Yes, the place is populated with nothing but experts, given that they are mostly the teachers/professors of the subject! To be honest, I am very proud to have met so many sincere, talented adults who contribute so much to their field. They often discuss innovative ideas. They're often busy, but just listening to them in their element allows you to glean things you might never through secondary research. They try their best to have us involved to what they do, even though I feel our input is at best amateur.

2.  How did you find your mentor?  How did you convince this person to help you?  

I was very fortunate to have been able to establish my mentorship with Tracy Fullerton through e-mail. I found her e-mail address in USC's website, given her important position in her division of work, and had sent a formal request explaining what the Senior Project entailed for me and for prospective mentors. I'll admit that I was extremely desperate at the time, and I repeatedly assured her that the very least she would need to do is allow me to shadow her in her work. Despite that, I made sure to explain everything thoroughly; not only did I explain Senior Project, but also the emphasis I-Poly has on projects.

Tracy was kind enough not only to agree, but expressed great interest when I talked about our high school. From the get-go, she has done more than the bare minimum that I asked her, which has been a blessing all on its own. She was honest enough to admit that she would be very busy some days, yet still introduced us to two of her associates - Sean Bouchard and Elizabeth Swensen - in her stead. Since then, I have been so grateful to have been bestowed with not one but three mentors. 

3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship?  How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship/with this person?

So far, I am comfortable with all three of my mentors and their colleagues I regularly come across. Since the beginning of the mentorship,  everyone at the Game Innovation Lab has been very kind and involved, often asking me questions that I sometimes forget to ask myself about our project. In fact, the entire Lab, with its gamut of encouraging experts, just automatically becomes a positive learning environment for us. If there's anything I'd wish to improve, it would simply be able to see them as well as my own mentors more frequently. While I can say that this comfort has grown from our time spent with them, it's easy to just say that the lab consists of naturally kind-hearted people. It's not just because we've visited there regularly. To be honest, I haven't been able to meet with my mentors as often as I'd like, mostly due to our schedule being cramped with assignments from our core curriculum. I would really just like to spend more time to learn from them.

4. What went well in this interview?  Why do you think so?  What do you still need to improve?  How do you know?  How will you go about it?

I was much better prepared with this interview than my last one, which had mostly been due to the fact that I was already familiar with my interviewee (my mentor). Because of this, I felt more at ease in asking her follow-up questions compared to my previous interviewee (who had respectfully and kindly asked me not to). In fact, I was able to fulfill this interview no more than a week after it was assigned to us thanks to how efficient our mentors were.

This interview did immensely in letting me feel closer to my mentor, Tracy Fullerton. In the past, we would see her much less than when we did with Sean and Elizabeth; truth be told, we might still see her less, because this interview won't change the fact that she has an important role to fulfill in the staff that obligates her to be occupied with other things on days that we visit. But in the time she manages to make for us, she is always helpful, earnest, funny, and always invites us to the most interesting events that relate to her (the assembly, for one). 

It's easy to figure out how much I was able to improve in this interview by using my first interview as a basis. However, something I realize as I was re-listening to the audio to transcribe the interview was that I often relied on my on body language and gestures to convey certain questions and comments, which can't really be detected in audio recordings.

For the most part, I made sure not to ask many follow-up questions within our 5 required questions because I was made to believe initially that we were supposed to only upload a 5-minute segment of the entire interview, and so I let Tracy know that any follow-up questions I wanted to ask during the main part of the interview would be asked later (I would jot down my question when I thought of them).

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 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?