Statement
As highlighted in the previous posts, I would see myself progressing onto getting a graduate or junior role at a studio to build upon my existing knowledge of the skills picked up at university. I may even have to learn new skills to facilitate this.
Strengths & Weaknesses
I can see myself using the software I am comfortable with, like Maya, Blender, Unreal Engine, etc. to create environments that could potentially used in a portfolio. I could even go beyond that and include additional elements like easter eggs and more advanced material textures to enhance the scene.
One of my main weaknesses is that I’m impatient. I don’t like playing the waiting game a lot, which leaves me mere frustrated. Another thing I often do is lack some confidence to do something I couldn’t normally do or come across something new to fix it. Certain things I lack the perseverance to do. I’m also showing my nervous side by thinking about how I would do this. This is why I sometimes struggle with new things, which could be attributed to my autism and learning difficulties. I still need help with some general skills.
I also found it difficult working with new people and trusting them, with this course also providing me with this experience to better. Both Team Project and Professional Practise gave me this situation where this type of difficulty was challenged and gave me an understanding of how to approach this.
How I would address these chosen weaknesses?
Perhaps the biggest and obvious step to rectify this is to be patient and learn the new skills required to live life. Nothing ever really pays off when I become impatient and increase the workload that I’m trying to learn, which ultimately results in a subpar or broken output of my learning. If I don’t understand how to do a certain thing on the first attempt, then I should go back to see where I went wrong and try to fix this. This is also a great problem solving technique, as anything I follow perfectly will break upon testing it will also fall along the same path. Building upon my mistakes makes me better at my skills.
The Steps
“Even if you make a game and release it on itch.io, it counts as a shipped game.” – Stuart Lilford (2023)
Networking and getting to know everyone who works in the creative industries is also very important for me to do, as it builds upon a good connection with one another and allows them to collaborate if necessary. I have begun to go to many networking events to chat to game designers and hopefully gain insight about what it’s like working in the industry.
Building upon my portfolio on ArtStation is also a very important step, as some of the content that I have already shown on there are semi-professional and out of university itself. I can use that to my advantage to showcase my passion for the jobs I would want to apply for.
“Be passionate about what you do, as that can pay off in the future.” – James Berry (2023)
“Just keep doing stuff, making them in your free time.” Adrian Mills (2023)
I have a rough outline about where exactly to work. I ideally would want somewhere within an hour of Hull and be easy to access, even if the studio I apply to is not as simple to get to.
Contingency Planning
If at all any of these options yield no success and all applications get rejected, which might be possible, then I have acquired some additional contingency ideas about my career choice.
“Avoid actually being single-minded about where you want to go.” – David Grant (2023).
I have an idea about my Plan B in the event of if all of my applications to game companies are rejected, then I could always find myself going into design stuff such as developing 3D assets for a video or a TV studio. I could even find time to develop more extreme Photoshop skills should I go onto this route.