Task09: Time Strategies

Time - such an elusive concept. One moment you're tapping your foot, checking your phone every few seconds as you wonder when the lecture's over. Another moment you're sweating as you pull an all-nighter hoping you can submit the assignment you just started  before the deadline. Either way, it's always a battle against time. No? Maybe it's different for you. But for as long as I've remembered, I've always struggled with time management. 

In this post I will list out a few ideas on how I'm planning to approach assignments for this and other modules - featuring some tips that were introduced to us. 

Ideally, as per the timetable given to us, I'd prefer working on one module a day depending on whichever module was assigned to us on any given day. Of course, that is easier said than done - especially if you're working part-time. There will be much larger assignments that need to be broken down and completed over a period of time. Here's where the next point may come in handy. 

Checklists

This is something that for the most part, I already do and I recommend doing. It doesn't have to be super -detailed. Even writing down the assignments/task you're given and the due dates can save you confusion and time checking the moodle course page every 4-5 times because you weren't sure when the deadline was coming up. It does bring some relief and satisfaction when you know you've checked it from the list and you don't have to worry about it any longer. 

If you want to expand checklists, especially for bigger projects that need to be turned into bite-sized daily/weekly goals, then here's some tools to help with that. 

Pen & Paper

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Classic but personally, I think this is the best way to make checklists. We already use a lot of on-screen tools as it is. It can be difficult to keep track of them all. Having a pen and notebook at your side can make life a little easier. Although I understand this may not be everyone's cup of tea.

Habitica - Gamify your life

The video is 5 years old but it still explains how Habitica works.

Habitica is an online task management and habit-building tool which can also be installed on iOS or android. The tasks you complete or habits you build have the same functionality of a checklist with many classic RPG aspects to it. You start off as a warrior. Habitica  treats your tasks as a game, and by completing them alongside quests, you earn experience to level up. When you reach level 10 you get to choose one of the10 classes available e.g Rogue, Mage, Healer and more. One of the great things about Habitica is that you can team up with others to complete quests (by doing your tasks) so you don't have to do it alone if you don't want to.

 When you complete your tasks you earn rewards and coins which you can use to spend on a treat (you can make up a treat yourself e.g Watch Netflix or buy something for you character in the shop). It's really up to you to what extent you want to use Habitica - whether it's just for your studies or planning your entire day.   

Trello

Image by Caylakwiki

Trello is another visual planner where you use cards to add digital checklists. Different cards can represent different activities or projects and they're all displayed on a board and you can use more than one board for different aspects of your life. Each time you check something form your list it adds to a % on the progress bar until it's completed. I remember using this a few years ago. I'm considering trying out again for this semester. 

If you want to read more about checklists then here's a link to an article that talks about The Psychology of Checklists by Lauren Marchese featuring Trello. 

Another article which I found useful was 3 Steps to Recapture Time by Joynicole Martinez. This article is more about reflecting on what's holding you back and adopting a mindset of letting that stuff go. These may be things that we already know about but a lot of us do not take action on. It emphasizes on spending the first 15 minutes planning out your tasks for the day. Rather than diving straight in the work, it's a good idea to have a plan, so we don't diverge from it as the day goes by. I feel like it also brings a sense of accomplishment when you know you've done the work that you had to do that day. 

Another point I found useful is the art of saying 'no'. It's definitely not the first time I've heard of it, but it's something I sometimes struggle with. Sometimes it's hard to turn down an offer to hang out with a friend, especially when  you feel like you could use a break. But it's one of the reasons that I may be falling behind and it's something to work on. 

I may update this post when I come around to discovering other time-management and/or study techniques. For now, this a goodbye! 

Task07: First Impression on Class Assignments

 This post is rather nice and straight to the point. I will be providing feedback and initial thoughts on class assignments for this module and how they're laid out. BUT ladies and gentlemen - let's begin with a round of applause for our one and only Multimedia Development 1 lecturer, Shaun! 👏

I just wanted to say, I appreciate  having the syllabus - with all it's tasks and reading laid out clearly in the website. It really does simplify things for students and takes away from the stress and confusion. Thanks for that!

Now, to get to the task at hand...

Academic Response to Readings

Quite daunting to say the least. Personally, I do not mind reading. It is a hobby that I enjoy, especially if it's related to my interests. Well... I do enjoy games, and it will be interesting to learn about game ideation and design. However, the first part that I find alarming is the academic writing. I haven't written too much in an academic style of writing. So I don't feel very confident in that area - although I do appreciate the resources given in regard to that. My second concern is  that including the reading time, I feel like may I over-spend time on this assignment more than a person normally would. I do understand that an academic writing piece does require a substantial amount of reading time. I'm going to have to be wary with the amount of time I'm spending on this specific assignment.  

Unity3D

Image: Unity logo

Probably one of the most exciting tasks is getting started with the tutorials as well as getting to learn how the game engine works. I find it it kind of crazy to think that games like Rust, Ori and the Blind Forest, Hearthstone - all  thousands of active players was made using Unity - and that we have that technology on our finger tips. 

Project

I'm not going lie, I'm a little nervous about the code and how the final result will look like. At this stage, however, I guess it's about the exploration and  getting our hands in the muck. Looking forward to the possibilities and perhaps creating something fantasy based where I can incorporate some drawing skills. 

Comments and Project Feedback 

Image by manfredsteger on Pixabay

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I'm not a blog fan. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against other people's blogs. I just don't like putting myself out there. Here we are nonetheless - better to make something good out of it! I will look forward to project feedback however. The experience will give me the opportunity to understand what people are into, their experience as a player and ultimately discover where I need to improve. 

Extra Credit

The main two tasks that I'm drawn towards in this category are Growth Mindset and the Tech Tasks. I've mostly talked about Growth Mindset in my last post, but to  summarize I'm hopeful that by learning more about it, I will be able to manage my assignments in a healthier and stress-free manner. Tech Tasks will be useful to learn more about the Blogger and other tools. Since we are going to be using them anyway, it would be nice to get more creative with it. 

Overall, aside from the familiarity of Blogger and Twitter, most of the class tasks that we'll be doing in this module will be new to me. 

Task06: Opening up to Growth Mindset

 

LoveofLifeQuotes.com

I've never really put much thought on the kind of mindset I have when it came to encountering challenging tasks wherever they'd pop  up - whether it's a school assignment or a specific goal that had to be met at work. When I try to think about the way I'd approach a difficult task or any task really - I'd view it as something that just had to be done. I'm usually caught in this 'doing' cycle as the work piles on that I never really stop to consider or appreciate doing the work. So, it was quite refreshing and an eye-opener for me when I was introduced to Carol Dweck and her work on Growth Mindset.

Found this cool cartoon on Laura Gibb's blog post Growth Mindset & Feedback Cats

Currently, I see my self in a Fixed mindset. The reason behind this being that I tend to take quite long doing a task because sometimes I have high expectations for myself (this could also relate to a fear of making mistakes). However, this tends to backfire as there are deadlines to be met and suddenly the work doesn't turn out to be that great (or enjoyable for that matter). Now that I've become more aware about these two mindsets I would be very open to learn more about them and learn about myself in the process. My goals for this semester is to get a good grip on time management. I know I have a good vision for a task; it's just about being strategic on how tackle them without  succumbing into negative and stressful mindset. The top three modules that I'm currently looking forward to are:  Visual Design, Multimedia Development and Website Design. I hope to implement the growth mindset into each module this semester and if things begin  start to get out of control, I'd return to the Growth Mindset videos and articles as refresher.   

Task05: Introduction to a Wayward Wanderer

Greetings! I'm JRLOI - second year here, and as the title suggests I am still pretty lost when it comes talking about where I see myself in the future. So, I'm sorry to say, but that hasn't changed.😅 I've been staring at one of the introduction prompts related to career and then it dawned on me - oh 💩! I have no short-term or long-term goals, no practical goals, no big dream goals. I have NO career goals! To top it off, I'm still unsure whether this course is a right fit for me. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the modules, I certainly did. I'm curious if anyone else is feeling like a tiny friggin' sardine in vast ocean, just swimming about while trying to not get sucked in to a current that leads you to a 9 -5 that you'll grow to d r e a d. 

Well, isn't this positive start to this post? For real though, I feel like most people who got their degree and gradually grow accustomed at workplace in their career they've chose may think - "Well, this is it. I've studied 1,2,3,4, 5....  years to get where I am. This has to be what I want. I can't turn back now." 

Well, I work for a business man, he's married, and is a father to a sweet little boy. He told me straight up, that even he doesn't know if this career is what he wants to do. I don't why, but I've always found it a safer option if I know where I'm heading. I suppose the take on here is if you like something go for it and it may open things you're into until you can pinpoint your niche.

Just like that double diamond we all love seeing in our lectures...

Alright, I'm going off an a tangent. 

Since this blog will have content based on readings related to games - let's talk about games, nerds! 

I don't consider myself well -versed in the gaming culture. As a kid, I naturally wanted many things. I remember how much I wanted a Nintendo DS and spam Mario. Nope. I wanted a switch. Nope. I didn't bother asking for a PlayStation. 

So naturally I turned to pc games - the free ones of course (I'm going to spare myself some embarrassment here.) However, games that I've played recently include League of Legends, Minecraft, Among Us, Valorant. I might add a game wishlist here later.

 Well folks,  I'll wrap it up here for now. I might come back at a different date to delete everything add more points. For know, I'll leave you with this jumble of thoughts - who really knows what it means. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  Take what you will from it. 

Among Us

by axel795 on Pixabay

Task03: Favorite Game

Minecraft screen title

Flickr

Introduction

In my opinion, Minecraft is a 'one of a kind' game. It is considered a sandbox game meaning it gives the player creative freedom do to anything they desire at their own pace. It was developed by Swedish game studio -Mojang Studios. Minecraft  officially launched  on May 17, 2009 and initially gained popularity among 'nerdy' adults. However, it quickly blew up as children grew to discover this interesting blocky game. Since it's release, the game has made sales of 200 million units. (source)

Gameplay

You begin by spawning in a three-dimensional world of  'blocks'. The game is very much the player interacting with the environment and constructing something in the process, whether it's a structure or creative art piece.  The game consists of various game-modes. I will however, gloss-over the main three:

Survival 

This is the most common game-mode. The player spawns with no items and no levels. As the game-mode suggests the goal is to survive. The player has health and hunger bars as shown in the image. If the player dies, however, they can respawn but they will lose all items that were in their inventory. They must gather resources which are then  stored in their inventory. Those resources display recipes to the player which can be used to craft items.  Item recipes are not shown to the player until they interact with a block - usually by breaking it. I like this aspect because it really gives that sense of discovery and progression as you play along. If the recipes for all the items were to be immediately revealed, I feel like it would really spoil a lot about the 'adventure' and 'discovery' aspects of the game.  The crafting table is the most important block in this game as only with will you be able to create your items. The general advice for when you first spawn in survival is to gather and craft a few items and build a den before dark. At night hostile mobs such as zombies or skeletons appears which will put you danger.

Creative

In this game mode, the player does not need to worry about the health and hunger bar - because there isn't one. Players in creative mode have infinite access to all the blocks in the game. They can also destroy blocks much faster than they would in survival mode without the need of tools such as a pickaxe. Another great feature is that players have the ability to fly. This allows them to get to a certain area much faster than would by walking. Overall, this game mode is generally used for the sole purpose of building - at a much faster rate without needing to gather resources or concern about staying alive as you would in survival. Some players like to test out their builds and contraptions in survival before going ahead with a project in survival mode. This helps save time in the long run.

Hardcore

For veteran players and those who like to be challenged. The hardcore mode functions very much the same as survival aside from one key feature: the player will not be able to respawn if they die. It is also restricted to hard difficulty. This can be frustrating and intense game-mode. One slip-up and everything you worked for could be lost. Be warned!

I joined the Minecraft party really late and I still consider myself a 'noob' - I have yet to learn the mind boggling machinations of red-stone. Yet I have chosen to write about this game because I'm currently immersed in it. I don't personally consider it a 'repetitive' game like many other games that anchors you to a strict levelling system or some other form of progression system. In Minecraft you manage your own progression system. If you have a specific project in mind, there's nothing really to stop you from having a kick at it right a away. 'Your limitation - it's only your imagination' as they say. There's always a new build or contraption to try out.