Well hello there! If you’re getting an email saying a new blog post has been uploaded and your first reaction is “What the heck is that?”. That's understandable because I have been away for a while. About 4 ½ months to be exact.
I know, I know it’s been awhile since I posted one of my blog posts and I’m sure my fan club is either worried sick about me or super pissed that it’s been more than 2 weeks since they’ve gotten their sweet sweet content.
Or, if you’re like me, you’ve been so busy that time has just gotten away from you and you didn’t realize how long it’s actually been since this blog has been updated.
Whatever the case may be, I have great news! I am back and ready to blog once more! Since it’s been so long, I've wanted to catch you guys up with all that I’ve been up to.
So, let’s start from the beginning!
Animating Some Games!
First off, the last time I left you guys I had recently gained my certificate of completion at Animation Mentor. It was a bit of a slog at times, but I managed to pull through and grew so much in my animation skills.
Well not too long after that I decided to take a game animation workshop that AM was offering. It was a 6 week workshop, so it was significantly less time than the core character animation classes, but I still learned a lot along the way.
It was really cool to learn how to create 3D animations in Maya and then import those animations into the Unreal Engine. Seeing your animation come to life in the game world is super rewarding and such an awesome experience.
I can’t tell you how many times a smile crept onto my face every time I moved the analog stick on my controller and saw my character running around or jumping off of objects.
Even when the animations weren’t super polished, it was still a joy to see these independent animations coming together to create a character that I can control and engage with.
There were some interesting struggles along the way. Unlike the character animation shots that I have on my reel, I wasn’t just working with one camera angle for these animations. I had to consider how my shot looked from all angles, since the player would be interacting with the character in a 3D world.
At the same time, I had to consider all the principles of animation when creating shots like my idle pose or attack animation. The tricky thing is, as a game animator, there are unique limitations you have to consider as well.
For instance, my attack animation can’t be too long because when a player presses a button they expect an immediate response. So, I need to make the animation as fast as possible, while at the same time, making it very clear to the player what the character is doing and selling the mechanics of action.
These obstacles were difficult to maneuver at time, but they were welcome challenges. These were the kind of challenges I would love to figure out as a game animator.
The workshop really helped solidify that this is the kind of work that I want to do all the time. I’m eagerly awaiting for the next AM game animation workshop to be released, so I can continue to learn more game animation and work in this fun medium once again!
Here's my first ever game animation demo reel that I made from the class!
Romance is a Brewin'!
The next thing might be a bit of a shocker to you guys, but I have a girlfriend now! I know it’s crazy. The Spiderman nerd got a girlfriend. Who would've thought?
Her name is Mary Grace, or as I like to call her, MJ (I’m sure you can guess why). We started talking at church and hanging out. I wanted to take it slow at first because it’s been awhile since I was in a relationship and I wanted to take the time to get to know her before I jumped into anything.
That involved talking and learning about each other and playing a lot of board games. And I mean a LOT of board games.
Well, after a couple months of hanging out we decided to do this thing and start a relationship together. Yep, I laid down the old Dean charm on her and she fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Or maybe she took pity on me. Who knows?
Anyway, we’ve been dating for about 4 months now, so you can imagine why I haven’t been around much.
I don’t want to brag or anything, but she’s pretty great!
We have a lot of the same interests, such as Marvel, videogames/board games, traveling, and we both love and pursue Christ.
She also gets me food sometimes, which is amazing! Plus, we know how to joke around with each other, so we’re always having a good time.
We’ve been able to talk and grow a lot together in these few short months. She’s someone who I can trust and I can always rely on her to be in my corner. Also, she’s an introvert like me, so we’re not hitting the town every night (thank God!) and just focus on enjoying each other’s company.
Honestly, she’s the best girlfriend I’ve ever had and I can’t imagine being with anybody else <3.
Awww, so cute! <3
Alright, now that I’m done flexing about my cool girlfriend, I can talk about the next big thing, which is super exciting!
My First Game Developer Interview!
As you guys know, I’ve been trying to get a job in the game industry for a few years now. I’d love to work in games and create some awesome, memorable experiences for people.
Since I graduated college, I’ve been beefing up my portfolio, going to networking events like ECGC (even though talking to people is an introvert’s nightmare), and applying to game companies where I can.
It’s been kind of a slow struggle over the years. Everybody wants job experience in the people they hire, but I can’t get job experience without, you know, a job. The only other option is that you typically need to know someone in the industry to help you get your foot in the door.
However, despite my attempts to network with people, I haven’t been able to find someone with that VIP access yet. So, it often feels like job opportunities in this field are pretty limiting to me.
Well, as it turns out, someone who works at a game company called Plasma Games started coming to my church and my pastor connected us together. We talked for a bit and I got connected to a few other people in the company and before I knew it I was sending out my resume and portfolio.
Crazy right?
I did a little research on Plasma Games to see what I was getting into and man this company sounded awesome to me! Basically, the company makes games to teach kids about science and STEM skills, which to me sounded super cool! I’ve always been interested in developing games beyond just entertainment.
As you might have read in some of my other posts on the site (if not, go and read them right now. I’ll wait.) I’ve touched on how games can be educational and used in places like schools and as training simulations. There was also a post I wrote about that explained how games even have the potential to teach people about religion.
So, seeing a company whose goal is to use the gaming platform to teach kids valuable educational skills, seemed like right up my alley. Anyways, a couple months later, I got an email from one of the employees asking if they could schedule an interview with me for a Unity Developer position.
I was pretty surprised to see that in my inbox because this is the first time I’ve ever gotten asked to do an interview for a job in the game industry. In the past, whenever I had applied to a job I would typically get a generic rejection email or, more often, I would never hear from them at all.
So, I was kinda baffled to see this email pop up on a Friday afternoon. It was almost surreal because after a while you just assume that email might never come. But lo and behold, it was right there waiting for my reply.
I responded and had an interview with them the following Monday, but I wasn’t sure what to expect. This is the first time I’ve gotten to the interview stage of my job search, so I wasn’t sure what kind of questions they were going to ask me or what they were looking for.
It was a pretty nervous time for me. But, I went to the interview, met some folks, and answered some questions. You know the typical interview stuff.
It went pretty well. I felt like I was able to answer their questions and I got a good sense of what the company was about. At the end of the interview, they asked me to do a game test in the Unity game engine to see if I was up to snuff. It sounded cool to me, so I was pumped and excited to get to work!
Then it dawned on me that I hadn’t worked in Unity since college…
I was pretty familiar with Unreal, but Unity kinda came and went for me.
Plus, this test required me to code in C#, which was not exactly my forte.
So, I basically had 2 weeks to relearn Unity and C# and create a game all while trying to work and do adult things with my life.
Needless to say, the pressure was on!
The first couple days were very exciting. I downloaded the Unity Engine to my computer and was watching tutorials on Unity Learn and YouTube to quickly refamiliarize myself with the engine and how the heck coding works again.
I also spent those first few days brainstorming what my game would be about. I decided I would make a drag and drop game that introduces students to the basics of chemistry.
In the game, players could drag different elements/components into boxes and create new compounds by clicking a button. When they combined all the elements together a text would pop up describing what they created and how all the components they used produced the given result.
It was a simple enough concept for a game that I could create in 2 weeks, but still engaging and fun for the players and something I think the company would like and appreciate.
By the end of the first week, I had a very basic prototype in place.
Although, once the second week hit, I was starting to feel the stress. I was struggling to wrap my head around the programming language and I was feeling a little burnt out because I was pouring all my time and energy into this game.
I really wanted to produce something great and I didn’t want this opportunity to pass me by, so I was putting my nose to the grindstone everyday trying to overcome the obstacles ahead of me.
There were times where I was doubting whether the game was any good or not. I wasn’t sure if I had wasted my time or was putting it to good use. I was in my head a lot and going back and forth as to whether the people at the company would love or hate it.
It wasn’t until there were a couple days left until my deadline where I started to see it all come together. I remember playing the game through and realized that it was actually pretty good!
I hit all the requirements that were asked of me and was able to come up with a cool concept in just under 2 weeks. This was the first game I made in awhile and it wasn’t complete crap.
Seeing the final product in front me reaffirmed myself that this was something that I could do. I won’t lie, there’s been a lot of self-doubt over the years over if I had what it takes to make it in the industry.
But after doing this project, I felt more confident and assured of myself and my abilities, despite some of the stresses and uncertainties I faced in the process.
Even if this game wasn’t what they were looking for and this job didn’t pan out, I was still satisfied with the work I put in and what I was able to create and that was enough for me.
So, on the morning of my deadline, I committed the last bit of my code and sent it off! Proud of what I accomplished…and maybe a little nervous too.
Not too long after, I got another email asking if I could do a second interview.
That’s right! They liked my game and now I was moving on to Round 2!
The next interview was great. I got to meet a few more members of the team and got to have some good conversations with them. At the end of the interview, I was asked to send my salary and expected start date.
I felt like I was in the home stretch and I could already see myself working there! All the years of hard work and determination were finally paying off.
So, I sent off my salary and start date and eagerly awaited their response within the next day and then…I heard nothing. That’s fine, It’s only been a day.
A few more days passed and still nothing. They’re probably just busy.
Close to a week has passed and I still haven’t heard anything. It wasn’t looking good.
One week later, I got an email and it wasn’t the one I was expecting.
Yep, you guessed it…It was a rejection letter.
I sensed that this might be coming, but it was still disappointing to read it.
It turns out, they went with someone else who had more job experience…you know, the one thing I didn’t have.
I know what you’re thinking. This is the part where Dean grabs a tub of ice cream and cries in the corner for days on end.
Well, it turns out that’s not what happened.
Yea, it was disappointing to hear I didn’t get the job, but like I said before, I was more than happy that I was able to create a game that they enjoyed.
Also, the rejection letter wasn’t the generic rejection letter I typically got in your inbox.
The person who wrote it told me how impressed they were with me. They couldn’t find any real faults with me and thought that I would fit within the work culture really well. They even tried to find a place for me in the Art Department because they thought I had a lot to offer. However, at the end of the day, the need simply wasn’t there and they had to pass me up.
I didn’t spend the next few days moping around and dragging my feet as I returned to the office of my non-game industry job. Instead, I was actually pretty optimistic about the future.
Yea I didn’t get the job that I wanted, but I got a lot out of the experience.
I was able to make a game within a tight deadline and learn a lot about programming and the Unity engine along the way. I was also disciplined enough to devote time to the project and not procrastinate with games or dumb YouTube videos.
I was also able to get pretty far in the interview process. In the past, whenever I applied to a job I could never even get to the interview stage. But, I was able to go through two rounds of interviews and deliver on my first ever technical test.
And probably best of all, they seemed to enjoy the game and were impressed with the progress I made.
So, even though it didn’t pan out the way that I wanted, I still count the whole thing as a win.
It showed that I had all the abilities to make a game and succeed in the industry. I was able to face some of the common struggles that come with this line of work and come out on the other side, satisfied with the product I made.
Plus, I made a positive impression on the people at the company, so there’s a possibility of another chance to apply for them.
They already know who I am and what I can offer, so if a similar position opens up, I have a higher chance of getting that job. Or maybe they know of another company looking for talent and they could pass my name to them.
The interesting part of it all was even though I got the rejection email, I felt more confident and inspired to push forward. I was reassured that my abilities were there. That I could actually make it in this industry. I just needed to hone my skills and wait for the next opportunity to come my way.
So, after I found out I wasn’t getting the job. I pulled my pants up and decided to get to work! I took a break from my animation work and focused on honing my game dev skills. I paid for some coding courses on Udemy and started learning more about Unity and programming. So, the next time I have to do a technical test I can make a game that’s better than the last one and really show what I got!
It’s been going well, so far and I’m still keeping an eye out for any jobs that pop up around the area.
It’s all just a matter of time.
P.S. Curious about my game? Just hop onto your computer and check it out for yourself!
I know this was definitely a much longer post than usual, but now you guys are pretty much caught up! And don’t worry, it won’t be another 4 months before you hear from me again. I had forgotten how much I enjoy writing for my blog and I have a lot of ideas of what to write about next!
So, stay tuned!
And with that, I’ll leave it here. Until next time!
Dean Willms
~Gamer. Designer. Friend
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