hello words

along with being for me to keep a record of my own progress, this blog is for two types of target readers:

1. HR: people who are trying to decide whether to hire me or not for their studio.

2. Normies: friends, family, acquaintances and other people who ask me what I do for a living.

at time of writing this first post, I recently graduated in spring (BSc Hons CS + Cert in Game Dev \@ University of Alberta). Tried to get an internship at a mid to large size studio but that didn’t seem to work. So. I am trying to buff up my (admittedly sparse) portfolio a bit for the next 8 months or so - below are some things i want to accomplish:

• Skills - Unreal Engine 5: since I already have some experience with Unity and Godot, I want to try learning some basics for UE5 and hopefully make some small games with it.

• Skills - Shader Programming: “graphic design programming is my passion” … I’ve always wanted to work in the graphics / rendering / shaders side of things and I want to really practice some more advanced shaders and rendering techniques. Probably going to try and get through some recipes in this cookbook .

as well as some small games, each demonstrating a certain game dev skillset I want to master.

• Game Project A - Starfox clone (PCG?): a 3D on-the-rail flight shooter, possibly with procedurally generated level elements (environments, enemies, etc).

  • UE5 or Godot

  • gameplay programming (character control etc)

  • procedural generation

• Game Project B - walking sim : a 3D walking simulator with minimal gameplay and emphasis on environment and level design.

  • UE5

  • pretty graphics

  • env design

  • simulation (clouds, wildlife, foliage, water)

and maybe a third game, but I’m not sure yet what … maybe something focused on platforming?

Ok so that’s the gist of it for now. I will try to post regular updates on each thing as they progress.

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addenum

1. working hours & schedule - 8h x 4d* ~ 5d / week = 32h ~ 40h

   Mon : UE5 / Tue : Shaders / Wed, Thu, Fri : Game Dev
   * may find a part time job for one weekday + weekends

2. rough timeline

   1. UE5: 4~6mo (2024 Nov ~ 2025 Feb / Apr)

   2. Shaders: 8mo (2024 Nov ~ 2025 Jun)

   3. Game A: 3mo / 14w (2024 Nov ~ 2025 Jan)

      • PreProd: 3w

      • Prod: 8w

        • tech demo 5w + alpha 3w

      • PostProd: beta 2w + release 1w

   4. Game B: 3mo (2025 Feb ~ 2025 Apr)