//My First Year and Next Year

My First Year

It has been over a year since I started on my journey to start my own company. I have learned so much in such a small amount of time. One year has flown by. With all the ups and downs, I am very proud of myself and how far I have come since graduating.

Small list of the past year!

  • 3D Rendering
  • Marketing
  • Graphic Design
  • Virtual Reality
  • Video Production
  • Learned Auto CAD and Inventor
  • Website Development
  • Improved Time Management
  • Attended 3 Expos with my VR Demo
  • Connected with Hundreds of People

My Next Year

I hope this year will go a little smoother than the first, yet have more challenges for me to overcome. It will be very exciting to do more projects for companies. I have my sights set on advancing not only my business, but my career as well. Game design has always been the dream so we will see where it takes me next. Hopefully to the dream company, on the beach, surrounded by people like me. 

 

//Post Educause 2017

Haven't done one of these in months but I feel like an update to the website calls for one. Educause 2017 just wrapped up last week. For those who don't know, it is a tech related educational convention aimed at all levels of learning. Booths ranging from start-up companies to big names in education such as Pearson or McGraw-Hill. I was fortunate to go with Nova Industries as their Virtual Reality Developer. On display I had one of their past classrooms they did from Florida Atlantic University recreated in VR. The feedback I got was amazing.
Most of the people who stopped by were in the I.T. department from every university from Maine to California. One of my personal favorite experiences was with the I.T. heads of a university from Guatemala. They were blown away by my presentation and before I knew it were talking with the sales team about a timeline for new desks. 

Towards the end of the conference, a group of attendees came up and said they had heard people talking about my VR in breakout session. That alone made my day.

"I'm looking forward to the future, and feeling grateful for the past." - Mike Rowe

 

// Starting An Empire

Who would have known my college career would bring me to building my own business. Honestly, I could have never seen this coming. Without even knowing, I find myself am spending countless hours perfecting demonstrations, business plans, and every other little thing that comes up. I am truly happy in the path I am laying out before me, and very proud of the work I have put in. I am also very appreciative of all the people who have supported me and gave me advice along the way.

In the future ,when I look back, I will appreciate all the times I had to lug my equipment in and out of different businesses. Hard work pays off though, so I am fine with making a couple trips every time. Hopefully in the future I won't have to make any trips, or at least I hope I invest in some sort of kart.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by...And that has made all the difference." - Robert Frost

// What I Have Done - Proto to Demo

Since the start of my college career I knew a bit , but now I have learned so much more. In High school I made a First Person Shooter with two of my friends. The graphics were not optimized, the assets were barely there , and the programming was about as graceful as a duck with one leg trying to swim. It was a great learning experience and the start of everything. Shortly after that, I made an interactive tower defense game in one-fourth of the time it took me to make the first game. Slowly I could see myself getting better and better.

Fast forward to college, learning a little about of lot , focusing in on certain subjects that spark my fancy. With each quarter I went through, that feeling of progression was constant as I continued to learn new things. Coming into my second year of college I started to develop small prototypes of games just to see if I can make them. In the next couple months I had put down bare bones of a 2D platformer, a card game, a real time strategy game, and a first person survival game. None of which I pursued heavily, just dabbled in to see if I could do it.

Now towards the end of college I focused in on a few prototypes. In two quarters I produced a demo level for a third person shooter with two other class mates. My team production really taught me a lot about what it is like to work in a team environment. Shortly after that, I took my RTS prototype and fleshed it out to a demo level in less than 8 weeks. Both of these games show the amount of improvement I have made since I started four years ago.

Currently I am working on a VR demo to show at my portfolio show. This will be a new milestone as I set forth into the VR world and all of its complications. However in the future I cant wait to see how far I've come.

"When you get where you are going don't forget to turn back around" - Tim McGraw

 

//Fun Times and Hard Work

Coming into the last quarter of school, everything seems to be getting easier and harder at the same time. The hard part is the amount of work that seems to never be fully done for an artist. The easy part of it though, is now I am spending time in projects I want to define me. 

One thing for sure though, these little days I spend relaxing ( kind of ) have been some very good ones. Trip to downtown to have some delicious deep dish pizza is never a bad idea. As well as having a blast taking photos and getting character inspirations at the Renaissance Fair. All of these good times spent well with my friends.

Excited to start my last quarter and my career.

//Starting A Website

Today I started my website.

Being a twenty year old who is still figuring out how to do things on his own, today marked a very interesting period of my self growth. Going from a small town high school and thinking
"Yeah, I want to make games",  I didn't know it would bring me this far, I'm glad it did though.

My time here in college has been one I will remember how fortunate I am to have these opportunities.

 These next few months I feel will really define who I will be and what I will become. Once I get where I want to go, I can't wait to help the next one in line.

"I've made myself from nothing. It has been a long journey, but now I'm here. Just like people helped me when I wanted to start chasing my dream, I want to help someone else, someone like you."

-Niall Campbell