Society and Societies

I thought for my newest blog I would talk about my thoughts rather than what is happening in my life. Two things are on my mind recently; the society I am president of and the society we live in. I am not sure if everyone knows about this but recently Sonia Burgess, 63, was pushed in front of an oncoming tube train during rush hour and no one, as of yet, can say why. She was a human rights lawyer and also a Trans women (born male but chose her gender as female). This happens just weeks after a spout of American gay teenagers commit suicide. It just makes me wonder what is wrong with the society we live in....

On a lighter note I am trying to build up the reputation of our university’s LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans) society and promote equality within our union and across the university. I do realise that while our university is great on equalities and providing equal chances many students are ill educated and intolerant of LGBT students. It’s why I am going to be launching a series of posters and advertising campaigns to tackle this. I think in this day and age it’s important for people to be true to themselves and be respected for that!

So this blog has been more of a reflection which I seem to be doing more and more lately. I think it’s because when I realised I am in the third year I stopped and thought “I got to grow up!” Yes I am immature but as Chili Davis once said “Growing old is mandatory ~ Growing up is optional!”

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Daniel Lernihan

Game on!

Well this week we are finally getting moving with our game for games development. By the end of my third year me, and my team, aim to have a full working game! I am in a team with 4 other people and each of us have been given a role. There are two designers and two programmers and as I have a knowledge of the programming language we are using (C#) I am an inbetweener. So I will do a bit of designing and a bit of programming if need be. We are doing a side scroller game so this is a game where the camera only can see the action from the side of the game and generally the character will move from the left side of the screen to the right.

We also will have a number of obstacles for our character to overcome throughout the game such as blocks to climb and enemies to defeat which will depend on which level you are in. For example one level we will build is a desert level and one of the enemies I had to create was a scorpion (see the image below). As you most probably can tell we are not aiming for realism but we aim to create a game for kids and as such we have went for a more cartoon feel to the actual game. My next step is to get all the characters modelled and I can move onto weapons. We have decided as a team that our main character will be a rabbit that fires rabbit pellets with his catapult! I have to say this is one part of my course which I am finding the work comes quite easy other tasks such as research essays take me forever but hey you got to do your research before making any games otherwise they will just have no substance. Anywho check back on my blog for more updates on my game soon!

Sick Day

As per usual I am keeping you all up to date with what is happening in my life and I bring you exciting news! Well actually I don’t instead I am sad to report I am ill with potentially a deadly strain of man flu! For those that don’t know; women get a cold whereas when a man gets a cold he is dying and therefore has man flu! I still am attending university however as I have a ton of work to be getting on with and half the time I need to get it done. I think the worst thing about being ill is there is no quick cure and when I say I am ill I do realise I am being over dramatic. It probably is just a cold or it could be the infamous fresher’s flu.

Fresher’s flu basically is a cold you get when all the new people arrive at university. Why? Because when all the new people arrive at university they release their germs into the air which we breathe in and our body goes into attack mode, as it does not recognise these nice new germs, which leads to fresher’s flu. Yes I am aware it’s not truly scientific and it’s not nice but hey I want to give you a true account of my life at uni. Anywho apart from the whole being ill thing I have bought a new film called Robin Hood with Russell Crowe taking the lead role. I would recommend this film as it was full of action and is one of the first Robin Hood films that’s not cliché as it provides the story before the Robin Hood we all know and love. Well that’s all from me and in case you are all wondering why I have three blogs all going up at similar times it’s because I have been lazy and not keeping up to date with my blogs but I will promise to be up to date in the future!

Work, work and more work!

So another week and another blog to write....

Well an update on what is happening with my course can be summarised in one word; overloaded! I always knew third year was going to be hard work but I did not realise how much change there is to undergo. I remember day 1 of my third year and how my lecturer told me about the big project (that makes up a quarter of my final year) and how I need to make a game with half the number of people industry has, half the time and none of the resources. EEP! So first week back at university and I am in panic mode!

However a few weeks have passed since then and I am a lot calmer. It seems the big project is not so big when broken down; it’s just a lot of really hard work. That does not surprise me though as it’s meant to be the piece to show potential employees that you’re the right one for the job and you can deliver. The game also is going to be hard work but now I am in a team of 5 and we are pushing on together to get the game done. 

Another problem for me is money it always seems I have none and I have finally found out why! Someone called “Bill” keeps taking it all! As a result I am now working a few shifts at Avery Hill doing higher education fairs or helping out on the phones or something along those lines.

I think it’s at times like this (being swamped down with work) it’s good to know that there is always someone to help out. For example my games work has now been made easier as I have a small team to help me out and I also have help with my project as we all have been given a supervisor. Even first years and second years have help out there too. It’s just vital you know when to say enough is enough and ask for help!

 Anyway I am back off to work so that’s all from me this week...

First Week Back!

So it’s all been rather hectic in the past few weeks what with trying to ensure nothing goes wrong when I move onto the third year of my course. You see I had to resit my animation project which upset me but I was expecting that to happen as basically I did not try hard enough. This then meant that I could not register till the 27^th after my results had came back. It was finally on the 28^th that I could register so I went through all the stages and bam! I had a problem with the finance section which I had to resolve by submitting an online query. However 24 hours later I was all registered and ready to go! It just goes to show that if you persist you eventually get there!

I was recently in my sound design lecture and one of our tasks for the week is to sit back for 15 minutes a day (possibly while you’re on the bus…) and note down everything you can hear around you. I quickly became amazed at how much we tune out from our everyday life. What seems to happen is we get used to the sounds in our environment and over time it does not seem as important as when we first heard the noise. So my bit of advice this week is start to pay attention to what is around you; not just sounds but the people around you. It’s important to remember that while you are moving onto bigger and better things at university it’s also important you don’t leave behind everyone or everything else.  On a more important note, sleep is not optional! Don’t find out the hard way like I have: