The Internet and my Education

If you had asked me when I graduated high school if I would be completing my college education through an online school like DeVry - I would've thought you were crazy.  However I never thought that without this giant tool called the internet would allow me to learn so much from the chair in front of my computer.

When I began my search for higher education, I knew that I wouldn't be able to take time away from work in order to pursue my goals.  I would already be taking out loans to get college squared away, how much more for living?  The fascinating part about looking for schools that would provide online classes is that there is such a wide breadth of them out there.  From schools that required physical books in your hands, to ones that touted that they could be accessed from any tablet, which wasn't as popular an option 4 years ago. 

All of these options from a single internet connection!!  I had never felt so overwhelmed and excited by the possibilities in front of me.  The choices I would make next would change the course of my life.  I actually have one particular person to thank for assisting me in sorting through how I saw myself in the future.  She talked with me on the phone for far longer than expected and asked all the hard questions I would've never asked myself.  Suzanne Fritch provided me with the grace to look behind me to get to my future.  I can, and will never thank her enough.

The joy of finally being in a classroom environment from the comfort of my home was thrilling.  I could do things I'd never done before - participate in class at 2am, in my underwear while listening to youtube videos in the back round.  It was loose and yet so very regimented at the same time.  The biggest take-away from this kind of setting made me realize the importance of time management and where my energy goes.  The internet bringing school to me, on my terms and on my time. 

Without this wonderful internet, I would be in a different place in my life.  I cannot imagine how my life would've been today but I am grateful for the chance to change my future.

Now not that the internet is the perfect - it also comes with its own flaws.  The biggest drawback to my relationship to the internet is the level of dependency I have upon it.  The moment the internet is out is the moment I have no access to the entirety of my work.  That moment is one filled with anxiety and fear that I won't be able to get to it again.  This dependence has resulted in a lifestyle where I'm always near an internet connection.  Wi-Fi access spots, friends network passwords, 4G supported internet - This is what I need to go forward and that is altogether very scary. 

Beyond that fear is something more.  I've spent hours reviewing online videos and tutorials.  Hours looking for that scholarship that will let me take the next step in my journey. 

I just want everyone to take a step back and remember where you might be if you couldn't search that recipe on the spot, if you couldn't find that precious algorithm that is perfect for your recursive function, if you couldn't check a friends status from a glance.  It becomes so easy to take it for granted, but I'm grateful for the way online connectivity has changed my life.

How much time do you spend in a Queue?

This week I find myself learning about how to properly program Queues in C++.  I can't help but observe a couple things that you may or may not have noticed.

first - how much of our lives to we spend in a queue?  Whether at the market, waiting on a server queue or even the doctors?  I've spent a decent chunk of time this morning with my mother walking around in a hospital going literally from queue to queue to queue.  This really is what caused the question above to become a point of conversation today. 

Just by doing some very simple math we can see how much I might actually be spending my life in a line.

Lets say that we measure this in minutes per day.

So lets say I spend minutes in traffic = 5
Waiting on load times at work = 20
at the market = 5
loading times in games = 10 ( this would include mobile, pc and console)

so per day we see approximately 40 minutes in a queue.


per week that makes it = 210 minutes or 3.5 hours
per month 14 hours
per year that's 1 week in queue. 

Now in learning how to program a queue we look at the ability to place data elements in a stack and remove them from a stack. To enqueue and dequeue respectively.  It essentially comes down to looking at how to modify a list but that is another way to even take a look at some of the things we have in life.

SO many topics so little time

Soooooooooo - totally forgot about doing this for a while.  This year has been well..... full of life and full of work and full of - well everything.

One of the most significant things I came back to this on this breezy summer night is that I wanted to use this to chronicle my time in online school, learning how to become an adept code ninja and make some games.  However this has become more of a way for me to list off observations and interesting events in life.  Almost like a diary (ps Work diary - I'm not cheating on you!)

Now I find that sometimes it is when you are really strapped down for time that's when you SHOULD really look at what you are accomplishing with that time.  I know we are all guilty of saying "Holy shit - I do not have time for this!' But we are living and why do we find ourselves so un-enamored with life?

All this stress and we tell ourselves optimistically that it will all pay off.  I know that I may actually sound like some sort of crazy Disney movie moment right now but we often forget that its in these crazy times that we forge and break some of the best relationships in our lives as well as define what we want in the future.

I want to do some many things. among those are:

1. Review games - This guy is someone I see as a peer and see going places
2. Jump out of a plane - yes I am that crazy
3. Become a pilot - everyone dreams of flying right?
4. Make a 'successful' app
5. Create a game that makes someone smile wide enough they need to show someone else.
6. Cook more
7. Play more
8. Write more?

So that list is in no way in any order that I'd like to actually do it.  Either way we all need some more life affirming, rose smelling, delicious pie eating kind of time.  I encourage you to do something of that extent today

E3 BANANANANANANANANAS

Phantom Dust

Really - This was a fantastic title back in the day and THIS was my highlight of day one.


Also Werewolves.
and Arthurian legends and the Order 1886 is going to be fantastic.

Please do yourself a favor and check em out!

I'm Josh and I'm a Game Designer

I'm also participating in the Logitech GTV Contest #GottaGetTwitter

But that is not what brings me here today. 

I'm here to do a long overdue update to this thing. So here goes!!!

PAX East was last weekend and it was A TON OF FUN.  Seriously - if you like games in any sense it is a must attend show.  I met soooo many people, people who are my gaming heroes and people who are making some of the games I'm truly excited for. The sore feet and the lack of proper rest over a 4 day period was worth the experience.
 I played Chase the Sun on the Oculus rift, Galak-Z, Ascension - I know, not a vidja game, and tons more.  I attended tons of panels on gaming, getting into the industry, making creative projects work, managing these things and how social media is 24/7 thanks to Jake Baldino and his panel and this gave way to new thinking.

Why not?

I know it doesn't make sense yet but here's how I see it -

Often things get in the way and people have immediate issues that need taken care of and yet the thing that drive me to pursue this goal of creating games is the first thing shoved back to the bottom of the list.

So why not other things?

Why replace what one wants to do with some other empty experiences?

Why not do passion first and everything else later?
Why make the motivator the last item I come around to?

Life is full of unique ways to look at things and is equally full of ways to interpret them.  Everyday is a game with each person having wildly different objectives.  It's just a matter of seeing what it is and showing the world the way I see it.

I'll be putting up as much as i can here for people to see and as much as I can think and type for people to read.  Obviously share your thoughts and comments!

New Chapters

So today is officially the day that we let the world know that I'll be moving to the north shore of long island.  In less than 2 months we will be moved into a super energy efficient home with our friends Chris Hanson and Steph Sanford!!

Now to come up with a proper name for this location that will literally be housing all of this awesomeness.... suggestions anyone??

On a different note I'm currently studying Data Structure and how recursion and different methods of sorting lists are so damn different when it comes to coding it.  It is fascinating to see the concepts that I'm learning relate to games and seeing how this really work and perhaps how those systems might be taxes and changed due to the restrictions on a system.  Craziness.

Ryse and why the combat looks glorious

Ok so there are literally hundreds of other subject I want to talk about but this one is something that strikes me as a person who is studying game design has happened to notice and would like to share with the world.

Here we go:

If you haven't seen it I would recommend you check the gameplay demo for Ryse: Son of Rome which is simply incredible.

One of the biggest points of contention I hear with plenty of people is that it looks like a shallow, pretty gameplay driven mess.  I wonder why this is and the answer I get most from people is that QTE are terrible gameplay implementations.  Really thought why are they so bad?

In many console games we are all literally hitting buttons to see a result on the screen.  QTE are the quintessential instant gratification in a piece of interactive media.  So again why are these so incredibly associated with many hard-core gamers to be a negative thing?

Is it the lack of skill needed to complete them?  perhaps many gamers just having the observation of 'press button for pleasure' pointed out to them.
As the warrior in the demo it seems you need to have an active and readiness about you in order to not only survive combat but be rewarded for it.  With the power of these new systems touted I wouldn't doubt if there weren't hundred of execution style animations waiting to be discovered by eager players. 

Would you, as a player, prefer the style of mashing the buttons on your controller to try and succeed while claiming that you've accomplished something OR attain something representing a combat resolve that you were able to skillfully work your way through?

Still this hatred for QTE events lingers, when they are done right and in seemingly the right franchises those games are rewarded. There are plenty of blatant disregard for the intelligence of players with the implementation of certain QTE's, the new and integrated way we see them should be welcomed. I personally can't wait to see these implemented in other types of games, let see how the mold is reshaped over this new generation of games. 

Also lets marvel at their beauty - Seriously go look at a game 5 years ago and then what is on our horizon.