So, I have an unfortunate confession to make. I was not prepared for this class in any way, shape, or form. From the description and emails exchanged with my international advisor, I believed I was equipped with the experience I needed to handle this course… but I was completely and totally wrong. Gameplay Prototyping is a year ahead of the curriculum I was following in the States; I had never taken a coding class, and I had to google lists of game mechanics to get an idea of what the entire course required from me. Even though I went to almost every lecture and practical, I was never able to make myself ask for help because I struggle with depression and anxiety, which has been magnified during my months trying to adjust to living in a new country.

About a month ago, I realized that while I loved the idea for my first game and its mechanics, it was simply too complex of a scope for my level of skill, which is zero. I ended up scrapping all but a couple of pieces of code and started over. I chose one mechanic over several, and have been trying to slowly piece together a simpler, easier to compile game than I began with.

I’m disappointed in my lack of preparation and my inability to catch up to the requirements of the module, but I’m hoping that I will be able to finish with a relatively satisfactory project. And, regardless of the finished product, I learned soooo many invaluable things from the lectures and through trial and error in Unity. I’m definitely excited to continue learning after this module… at a slower pace 🙂