About me
My name is Giovanni Sierra, I am a Game Design M.S student at Full Sail University. As a Technical Game Designer, I am deeply passionate about creating games and immersive experiences. My goal is to continually create games using game documentation, prototyping, scripting, and playtesting to provide the best experience possible. My objective is to secure a role with a AAA opportunity within a game company and continue to evolve my knowledge. In my free time, I enjoy playing video games, traveling to unique places, and trying new foods.
Links
Intention Statement
I started the Game Design Master’s degree in 2023. My intention to join Full Sail University Masters Game Design degree is to further evolve my skills within Game design process and be challenged in the field to be industry ready for any game studio.
I have obtained several skills from Full Sail University during my bachelor’s degree and further gained even more afterwards with working with some studios and personal projects. I plan to make my skills within game design and programming even stronger though the Masters Program.
Throughout the year I am looking to increase my standing in the game industry. I plan to further learn more game design concepts and techniques so that I can make my games faster, better and within scope. I am looking to further grow my iterative game design process which involves documenting, prototyping, and testing.
As a previous student at Full Sail University Bachelors program, I can say that Full Sail University has given me the necessary skills needed before to evolve and now I want to take the Masters program enchance those skills I have learned previously and consider them master level skills.
On analyzing the course pre information I can say that I am thrilled to start my journey at Full sail university and participate in game jams and other events to expand upon my knowledge. I am very passionate about learning game creation at a professional level. Throughout my journey I will invest time on the Indie studios because I love to create games that are for entertainment and players and immersive themselves in.
I am looking forward to meeting new developers within the Master’s degree program, further increase my connections and learn from people in from their own perspectives. I worked with different team sizes and people. I am looking to expand my list of people to know and learn from. I am always glad to keep evolving and learning.
Inspirational
Terry Lee McBride(2013, August). Retrieved February 6, 2023 from https://youtu.be/cJMwBwFj5nQ.
Bruce lee listed in a speech “You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.” This thought always comes to mind when I'm am making any type of creation which is to be adaptable like water. Find the flow to be shapeless.
Inspirational post
This famous quote by Hideo Kojima shows that everything in life can be accomplished if you put the time and effort to practice it.
Citations
Kojima, H. (n.d.). TOP 25 QUOTES BY HIDEO KOJIMA. A-Z Quotes. Retrieved February 13, 2023, from https://www.azquotes.com/author/46240-Hideo_Kojima
Mastery Journey
In my time in Methods and User Experience course with Professor Robert Kennedy. I developed a more user-focused mindset by understanding the different threats to validity and better understanding how the system and the human should be considered as a single component called the Human machine system. During my time in the course, I was able to understand how transduction works for a human being. This allowed me to think about how colorblind people work and the different colors that can be adjusted so that games I create can have a wider audience. I researched scientific studies on how games can be beneficial to people. As a technical game designer focused on system design, my research during the class proved that adding system design into game design can help a person have enhanced problem-solving skills. This is great to know since system design is something I want my lifelong life to be, I want to always be learning and growing. The research on Parkinson's disease also allows me to think more about different types of people and consider adding systems that have accessibility settings to most of my published games to have a larger audience of players that can get immersed into the games that I have worked hard to create. I have received advice from James Leonard, my project lead for Zygobots Studios about my topic but at the time did not have a specific mentor that agreed to be my mentor.
During my participation in the "User Research Data Analysis" course, I utilized my time wisely and was able to enhance my writing and research skills. Through my research, I discovered several scientific resources that demonstrated the positive effects of gaming, for those with disabilities or learning disabilities. This further proved my case that games are beneficial. The course has enhanced my knowledge in gathering quality research by learning about different threats and errors that can threaten the validity of an experiment. In my time this month, I recruited several QA testers to play our project so that I can gather feedback to improve the quality of the game. In watching those recordings through the videos and survey. I made adjustments to improve systems and fixes to the Unreal project.
Lisica Post Mortem
Lisica is a 2D platformer classical game with unique shapeshifting powers. That features strong narration and different styles of gameplay that challenge the player. It was created by a creative team of individuals from the studio Good a Nuff Studios. The team included a narrative designer, a programmer, and two-level designers who already have a history of working with each other. In having a strong bond with the team, we developed a prototype of the game using the narrative as a key aspect in the design of the 2D platformer.
Pros
The team had many pros working with each other. The first noticeable pro was that every member of the team already knew each other from previously working with each other. This allowed the team to quickly plan and protype without any issues in getting to know each other. We also knew each other’s skillsets which allowed the team to quickly choose roles and tasks without consuming time in developing the game. This strengthens the production of the game by creating features and documenting at a faster pace. The game idea that we crafted feels that it can be expanded more into a larger project. This allows us to possibly in the future make it into a larger game that can be published on a larger platform.
The Challenges
The con about this project was that this game we created was aimed for was class assignment. This can hinder our scope for the project for us to gather the best grade possible. In doing the game could change greatly in the future if we consider making it into a commercial project that we aim to compete with other 2D platformers like Ori in the Blind Forest or we can consider tossing it aside for coming on the game idea to quickly. We can adjust this feeling by investing more time within the game to make it better quality. There could also be a challenge where we are taking in too many projects at once. The team is currently working on a studio project which requires us to put little effort and time for the 2D platformer game and all energy and concentration within the game that is being set for commercial purposes. We could do a time management schedule and production plan to make things have the appropriate time if we consider doing the two projects at once or finishing one project at a time. The game Liscia didn’t get many non-designers to playtest our game. This challenge could affect our audience if left unchecked. We can gather more play testers outside the developer mindset and enjoy 2D platformers to provide us feedback in the future.
QA
As a team, we created a feature list each week and searched for AI images that revolved around the narrative of the game. Upon testing the game, the programmer added checkpoint systems to save the player's state after traveling so far within the level. The programmer created a Dialog system that can be customizable by our designers. This allowed them to add dialog lines to the narrative created within the game. In testing those newly crafted features we noticed that the checkpoints and dialog didn’t pause the timer. We scripted the timer to pause within those moments to provide the player with an accurate timer for level completion.
Stranded Postmortem - <Game Jam>
The Game
Stranded is a futuristic game where the player must fight multiple enemies and bosses with an arsenal of weapons. "The game was created in collaboration with my entire class of 2023 within a one-month time frame."
Game Trailer
Background
Producers
- Brandon Sivret
- Nicolas P
Programmers
- Giovanni Sierra
- Joseph Sobrino
- Josh Brooks
- Nicolas A
- Samantha Durfee
Level Designers
- Dawson Majors
- Jack Fritz
- Nikhil Agarwal
- Samatha Durfee
UI/UX
- Anthony Butler
- Robert Kiefer
The team had varying skills in game development and a strong desire to create realistic systems and environments. The group was formed for Full Sail University's Asset Management class taught by Roy Papp. Brandon Sivret and Nicolas P had given the team structure by setting up the production plan to track hours, and burn down charts, and maintained a positive attitude towards the team. The programmers, including myself, brought Stranded to life by creating its working systems and balancing the game. Level designers also brought the game to life by creating realistic environments that gave the player direction and balance. Anthony and Robert were responsible for providing the team with its UI properties and gave the UI an easy-to-learn feeling with their game design skills.
Tooling
The team used Unreal Engine 5, Blueprints and Blender to develop the game. Unreal Engine 5 Blueprints allowed us to create a prototype of the game quickly, within the given time frame and using only one project for the class.
Process
The team had a weekly meeting every Tuesday morning and evening to discuss our progress towards the milestones, setbacks we have faced, and the feedback provided by Roy Papp. Roy Papp's honest and valuable feedback helped the team to improve the game every week. During the meetings, we discussed our tasks, worked out the number of hours needed to complete each task, and if anyone faced any problems. We also prepared to present our gameplay and production plan to Roy Papp for the upcoming milestone and the cycle started again.
What Went Well
The first pro was that the team structure formed very early before the class, and everyone adjusted to one another faster. Early production helped keep the entire class structured in knowing what tasks to do and assist with if necessary. Most of the team were open to communication and showed eagerness to improve and learn. Second was the team was committed to testing the game for issues and then after listing the bugs within a report for the programmers to quickly adjust or fix. For the third pro, the team met frequently to understand each other's working styles, allowing members to provide guidance and support in creating the optimal system.
What Didn’t Go Well
The team faced some challenges at the beginning of the project. One team member was new to working with GitHub within a group environment and accidentally removed the git ignore feature from the repository. This resulted in large files and engine files being added within the commits, causing some difficulties. Another issue was that the team members did not get along well initially, which led to complications in the team environment. It took some extra time to guide them in the right direction. Thirdly, the team did not have the mindset to ship the product, which caused the game to be rushed and labeled as a game jam. However, with the help of honest feedback, the team got together to discuss updating the game, with the aim of improving it in the end. Finally, the production team faced some challenges in creating the burndown charts correctly which had caused some work not to be correctly shown for feedback.
Reflection
In the future, the team will work on team building to strengthen team communication, and trust and become more friendly towards each other. Team building can be done by playing games together or watching a movie. Second, we will improve our testing for better product quality by giving the team an early deadline to make room for code reviews, testing, and feedback. Setting up more time for production would have helped our game and team environment greatly. Having more time for the documentation and pro production would help us deliver a product that players will enjoy and buy rather than being rushed for a game jam.