USC Ch.2: Lots and Lots of Things

Currently writing this in on a dorm bed placed taller than your average midget can reach, in an awkward slanted lean against the wall and facing the window.

Whew - 6 weeks in and there's so much stuff. I'm now a fairly competent beginner at C++, and while I'm totally unprepared for midterms coming this Thursday, I'm surprised to have come this far at all after 2 years of coding C++ diary entries on the bus back home.

I've also picked up Maya, and holy amazeballs does it rock Blender's socks out. You can actually select things with left click! And switch between views by spamming the space bar instead of freaking numpad! Get a hint, Blender. And here's a late Friday night's work stolen straight from lesson 1 of OnlineMediaTutor, a pretty good channel that begins to approach Tutor4u's standard:

A shame that Maya doesn't seem to render transparency in the images, but still. As OnlineMediaTutor eloquently describes -- sexy.

And in other news, game jams are million dollar experiences. Finally I get to put 6 years of pixel art expertise to use! Being able to carry an entire department in a team, working without pause or interruption in a room of world-class talents with deep atmospheric VGM on repeat in noise-cancelling earphones -- that's the true feeling of badassery, man. I can still feel that intensity boiling in my veins while trying to shake off the 3am chill in the computer lab. Golden times.

And my team won Best in Show, holy crap! Here's the game available for download -- Humane Society Simulator, a collection of 5 minigames where you play as a puppy trying to get adopted by a choosy little girl. Steal her heart! I take near full credit for the art assets in this game.

Up next -- currently trying to pick up HTML and CSS to build my portfolio site, in an urgent attempt to rescue a fading connection with a company CEO. And also to quickly shove into my resume for the career fair in 2 weeks. You're mine, Summer 2017 art internship!

#C #progress #learning #modeling #game #graphics #sickness #texturing #longpost #Maya #spriting #USC