This trimester we covered a lot of different topics that can be used in a wide variety of ways. With the variety of topics and the teamwork projects I learned a lot about a bunch of topics by implementing them and making sure i knew how to implement them in a variety of ways. Each task we completed this trimester had its own pitfalls and highlights.
Optimisation
The first programming specific task we were given this trimester was to optimise a raytracer (Raytracer DevDiary). This project had some very obvious pitfalls where it was mostly ignored for a long time due to being unable to figure out how to compile libs. As a result I was unable to optimise the project as much as I wanted to but I was able to learn how to do multithreading not just in c++ but in unity where I will use it a lot more often.
Networking
The next programming specific task was to make a program find, connect and then draw to a server. We had done some smaller networking programs in class which gave us a bit of a backbone to work off of. The task itself was not exceptionally difficult as we had plenty of documentation given to us that explained how it was done, though I did find myself having a few errors and conferring with a fellow programmer to figure out my problem and complete the task. In the end I was able to get it printing to the server and I learned from the process. The part that gave me a better knowledge of how to structure networking packets in the future came from our small in class task where we designed the packets for a game but didn’t implement them.
Shaders
we had one class on shaders where we used shader monkey to fiddle a little bit with some shader ideas. But in there we did not do much that was complex so I ended up learning a lot more from making a shader specifically for my final project (dev diary here). The shader was still a simple one but because of it i’m far more comfortable working with shaders.
Teamwork Projects
While we had these small projects they were not the major focus of our trimester, the teamwork projects were. Spark and Slashy Towers were with the same team of myself and two game designers, unfortunately Slashy Towers flopped but Spark was a resounding success. Working with VR was quite an experience where although it was not that different from working with a tablet or for pc it was interesting due to it’s limitations. On these two projects I learned the most about how to actually optimise a program. That I learned from having to sit with Greg and optimise the code and effects to run on the Oculus Go.
Overall
I feel like I learned a lot over the course of this trimester even though I feel like I didn’t work enough on some projects and could have done more especially in regard to maintaining documentation, dev diarys, and hack n plan. I got better with hack n plan this trimester, though still not nearly as good as I would like to. The one thing i’ve improved on the most is in optimising games.
Anne Hibble 