1. What has been your most difficult mentoring challenge so far? Why?

The most difficulty I faced with mentoring was getting a mentor for my project. I contacted several people throughout my efforts to get a mentor, and I got my mentor thanks to a contact of a contact’s contact. The mentor I now have is Mr. Jason Harrison, who works at the Unity Headquarters and has a teaching license under Unity. The outcome was ideal as I am using Unity as the game engine for my project, which meant Mr. Harrison was the perfect fit. A common issue was the people I contacted specialized in not game design/development but programming.

Initially, I had reached a spoken agreement with my teacher from outside of school to mentor me. He taught me coding with Java and Python, animation and 3D modelling with Blender, editing with Pixlr & Photopea, and had previously worked with me on other game & app projects. That included Microbits, Unity, and a variety of other basic programs like Scratch. However, due to his work contract clashing with the volunteer paperwork, he had to step back from the role. (Bound by the same terms, his coworkers could not mentor me either.)

I then asked my eldest brother (who studies at BCIT) if he knew any friends or professors who would be willing to mentor me. My brother does not study game design/development specifically but does programming, which made him unable to mentor me directly. The search for a mentor amongst his contacts at BCIT ended up being unfruitful.

Next, I contacted my cousin (a GM at Samsung HQ) and asked if he knew anyone who would be willing to mentor me. Like my brother, my cousin professionalizes in programming and not game design/development, so he could not mentor me himself. Unfortunately, I could not get a mentor through my cousins either.

At a loss, I talked with Ms. Mulder about my situation, and she suggested that I ask the teachers in the Technology Education Department if they could mentor me. Ms. Mulder also suggested talking to peers who have topics similar to my In-depth topic. So, I sent Mr. Linburg and Mr. Findley e-mails inquiring if they could mentor me. I also asked Braeden if he knew someone that could mentor me because our projects are very similar. And it was through the contact Braeden introduced – Ms. Lena Bagh – that I eventually got Mr. Harrison as my mentor. 

2. What is working well? Why?

Communication between my mentor and I has been solid throughout the project. Through a combination of weekly check-ins via Google Meet and e-mails through Outlook, I have been able to stay in close contact with my mentor. A degree of respect sprouts out of that communication. For example, when one of us misses a meeting, we e-mail and let the other person know ahead of time. When my mentor or I cannot make a meeting, I send him my progress report through Outlook. I also ask him any questions I have so that a missed check-in does not present itself as a huge setback.

3. What could be working better? How can you make sure this happens?

Although meetings have generally been going well, I believe there is room for improvement. We have missed quite a few check-ins due to emergencies and business-related events. While work and emergency issues cannot be dealt with too well, I can be more diligent with my e-mail progress reports in the absence of Google Meet check-ins. Furthermore, I can think more about what I need to ask my mentor before check-ins. 

Progress Report (Previous Progress Recap)

Experimenting with buttons: (Triggered animations and coded actions)

This is a small older project that I did to mess around with different components – mainly the button component. In the test, I created an elevator that moves up and down when a button is pressed. The moving of the elevator was done by using the “Transform” program in Playmaker. Using the box colliders, I was able to control when the elevator stopped (when it reached the top and bottom platforms). Furthermore, I added in animations to make the door open and close once it reached the platforms.

Experimenting with Bones, Skinning, and importing PSD files: (Natural character movement/animations & coded triggers)

Another skill I tinkered with was drawing a character and importing it as an asset into the asset library. By drawing your own character on a program such as Photoshop, Pixlr, or Photopea, you get the freedom of choosing how your character will look like. For example, you can choose to create a shorter character or have a bigger character and have different nuances depending on the angles and colours you use. All that plays into mending your game into a coherent project, so they should not be overlooked. Additionally, by drawing a character and separating the body parts into separate sections (e.g. head, left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg, head, neck, torso), you have more liberty when animating the character. To make a character’s movements more free-flowing and natural, you can easily change the positions of different body parts while animating by using this method. (This skill is not only useful in Unity, but can also be used for programs like Adobe Animate, Spine, and other game engines.)

Once imported, you simply build bones on the sprite using the sprite editor under the asset library. Bones are built by using the left and right mouse keys to create, release, and connect bones. In most cases, the center/anchor bone will be created in the torso, and the other bones branch out. Next, you use the skinning tool to choose what areas of the character are controlled by which bone. By using the skinning tool, you essentially make an area of your character magnetize to a specific bone, and move with that bone. The skinning process can be done manually or via Unity’s automatically generated skinning. I personally think automatically generating the skin and editing manually afterwards to correct any mistakes by the AI is the most efficient method. After that’s all finished, you can create an animation for your character, add code, and make the character move.

(I used the Pokémon Lucario as a model for my test, though I made other experiments using my own characters.)

(You can edit skinning by using a weight brush. You select a bone, and shade in an area of the character to match the colour of the bone you want it to follow. By controlling the harshness of the brush, you can more gradually transition in between segments.)

(The above images show the animation process using key frames on a timeline – called a dopesheet. The image below shows how the animation looks like in the curves setting.)

Progress Report:
Since my last blog post, I have finished planning out my game (though, along the way, details may change). My final project for In-Depth is to create a game from scratch that is not a direct replica of an existing game. I have started the early stages of making the game, which will be a 2D platform game, more or less.

I have also completed my challenge for my In-Depth, which was to recreate an existing game. “The Adventures of One Button Bob” was the game I decided to replicate. That mainly was because many of the components of “One Button Bob” are ones I will be using in my game. For example, I plan on randomizing the positions of points a player needs to pick up in a level to pass on to the next level. I got to analyze “One Button Bob”‘s randomizing bombs and effectively implement them in my game in the form of points for the player to collect. While I initially planned to recreate a linear 2D platformer like Geometry Dash, or the Google Dinosaur Game, I realized I wanted to create a less linear game. I wanted to make a game with more dimensions while also moving from one side of the screen to the other to pass the level.

The premise of One Button Bob is simple: the player can only use their left mouse key and must traverse through multiple levels to reach the boss level. Some obstacles are static, and other enemies follow the player in the game. (That was also a component I wanted to include in my own game.) This process was very beneficial as I got more comfortable thinking in the mindset of a programmer, although I did not use programming code and used visual scripting. Shifting my thought process allowed me to look at games differently by identifying aspects of games I know and challenging myself to analyze and recreate them. I believe that is why I had to spend the majority of the time dissecting the game and how I would translate it into the language I am comfortable with (Playmaker).

In-Depth Night:
I will present a game I created on my computer for my final In-Depth project. While building my game and posting a link on a blog post for people to play is an option, it will be more effective to display my game on my computer and let people play. I will take the measures to sanitize my station & laptop between visitors/rotations. Through the game, I will demonstrate many if not all of the parts of game design that I learned throughout the project. That includes – but is not limited to – character animation, using buttons, game planning, using a variety of components

1. What kinds of learning opportunities does the mentor provide to expose you to new learning?

While I got my mentor late into the project and have met up with them just two times now, they have given me resources and concepts to discover during those meetings. My mentor shared a helpful website called Kenney [https://www.kenney.nl/assets] in our first meeting. The website contains countless free game assets that can be downloaded and directly used in my Unity game. The steps are simple and only require you to import the game asset(s) you have downloaded into the game hierarchy/assets. While I plan on creating my game assets – or at least the majority of them – it will still be valuable to look at examples done by a professional to understand what makes a good and attractive game asset. Beyond valuable resources, my mentor has helped me view my project through a more detailed lens. While questioning details of my game that I had not previously thought of on my own, Jason introduced new concepts to me (or features I had little experience with). An example of that is when my mentor mentioned Input Systems in Unity. I had only heard about Input Systems and not thought of it as a realistic option for my game, but through talking with Jason and researching the concept on the Unity website and other sources, I learned that it is a technique I can use. (As my game will be 2D, I have opted against using a controller extension for my game. Although 2D games can be played using controllers- think of the classic Donkey Kong or Pac-Man games – I am used to playing 2D games with a mouse or keyboard. There is also plenty of room to experiment and play with input systems from the mouse/keyboard. All in all, between valuable resources and new concepts to explore, my mentor has provided me with considerable learning opportunities.

2. What kinds of learning opportunities exist to reinforce new learning?

While there are multiple ways for me to reinforce my learning – like researching to study the theory – the most effective way to do so is by practicing techniques. By focusing on and reviewing basics like animation, I can carve out an easier path for myself in the future. Practice can be done in the Unity game I will be using or in different “rough drafts” as I have been doing. Furthermore, by creating assets and using several tools (Photopea, Photoshop, Pixlr) to make them, I can become more familiar with the theory behind the process rather than becoming too attached to the layout of one app. So, by using a variety of tools and mapping out the commonality between them, I can reinforce my theoretical and practical learning.

3. What kinds of opportunities exist that might accelerate learning?

To accelerate my learning, I can incorporate more tutorials when practicing the skills I have learned. By increasing the amount of practice I put in, my learning would be accelerated as well. Lastly, I can try to figure out which concepts are essential for my learning and which are less valuable. Then, I will be able to invest my time wisely and cut down on the total time I spend by knowing which concepts are unnecessary. 

4. When you get together what do you talk about?

When I meet with my mentor, we talk about how much progress I made and if I think that I am on the right path. At the end of each meeting, we set goals for me to accomplish by the next meeting, so my mentor checks in to see that I was able to achieve my goal from the last check-in. During meetings, I ask my mentor any questions I have, though I also send him e-mails whenever a question pops up. From that basic structure, we usually go on tangents and discuss different concepts/techniques that might be related to my game.

5. What is going particularly well in your mentoring relationship right now?

In my mentorship relationship so far, communication has been going very well. We have been able to set up weekly meetings and converse via e-mail in addition as well. Thanks to the smooth communication, it has been easier to progress my learning and project, and clear any questions I have. 

6. What are you learning about one another?

Through our weekly meetings, I learned more about the type of work my mentor has dealt with in the past related to game development. I found out that he is a certified Unity instructor who works at the Unity headquarters. Rather unfortunately, I also learned that my mentor does not have as much experience with visual scripting as he does coding with C# or C++. However, he does have some experience with visual scripting, and as the theory behind visual scripting and written scripting is very much the same, there should not be too many obstacles. In terms of character/personality, I learned that my mentor is very detailed and organized. For example, my mentor establishes a schedule for our meetings and asks questions about my project/learning that I did not think of before. My mentor is also patient, something I felt when he explained how to download and sync several applications. Throughout the process, he explained all the steps in detail and made sure I had understood everything before moving on to the next steps.

Below is my TALONS Talk on the use of white paint to combat global warming:

https://sd43bcca-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/125-mjang_sd43_bc_ca/Ed96IYVnuiVJrgg0AnjcNCQBD7_ofdMkdNHfsnva7UfCPQ?e=xoAVlo

Thank you, and hope you enjoy!

360 Leader Reflection

     Reading the 360* Leader by John C. Maxwell, there were many thought-provoking ideas and key takeaways. Many lessons apply to the school environment, especially to TALONS and Leadership. For me, the message that maturity comes with accepting responsibility, investing in a vision makes it become your own, and the idea of competing with versus completing those around you stood out the most.

“Maturity doesn’t come with age. It begins with the acceptance of responsibility.” – Ed Cole (Maxwell, 2006). This quote stood out to me because I believe its message is something that I need to understand to grow in my journey as a leader. For me, this quote was a realization not to expect to mature just because I grow in age. Instead, take on more responsibilities and new challenges to grow as a leader and develop in thought and action. In fact, in his book, John Maxwell states that “…one of the quickest ways to gain leadership is problem solving.” (Maxwell, 2006). Not only can you mature through accepting responsibilities, it proves your abilities and will propel you to higher positions while also gaining the trust of others. Again, I chose this idea because it’s something that I believe directly applies to my own life, yet something I forget to carry out in my daily life a lot of the time. I struggle with taking up leadership roles, so this quote reminded me of the importance of taking on all chances given to me, actively seeking out more opportunities to lead and follow, and taking away from those experiences. While this quote applies to me personally, I think it can also apply to the TALONS program and its members. Considering that TALONS is a school program, there is an emphasis on growth – growth in the community, growth as an individual, and growth as a student body. Furthermore, taking initiative is an emphasized part of the program, so I think this quote perfectly ties in those two aspects of TALONS into two sentences that all members should understand. Overall, this quote was a wake-up call for me more than anything else that I can’t expect to grow my leadership skills while being passive. 

The second idea that stuck with me was this: “The more you invest in the vision, the more it becomes your own.” (Maxwell, 2006). In other words, the more you are involved with a project, the prouder you will be once completed, and the sense of achievement/accomplishment will be exponentially higher than if you weren’t as invested. Going beyond just the project itself, being more invested in a team or group project can allow you to form closer bonds/relationships with your group members. Naturally, as you all work towards a unified goal, you will become closer with each other, and John Maxwell even commented that “Relationship skills define 360* Leaders and separate them from other leaders.” (Maxwell, 2006) This message of investing in a vision, project, or goal is relevant personally as I often cannot jump headfirst into a new task. Such is the case if I get assigned to a project I dislike or have to work with someone I am not on the best terms with. However, as the first quote states, the more I invested into projects, I grew to like them more, and as I worked more with people I disliked, I began to enjoy working with them a bit more (most of the time). This concept of putting effort into something to make it your own is just as relevant in TALONS, where there are many group projects like cultural events, fall trips, and spring trips. While these projects aren’t long-term visions like the quote says, they still give students the chance to exercise their teamwork, leadership and the opportunity to make the project their own. Arguably, the TALONS program itself, trip planning, and projects are visions to some level – all of which are carried out by those in the TALONS program. To truly create a thriving community, everyone must take ownership and feel that the visions they work for are at some level of their own. This furthers my leadership by pushing me to participate more in the program and larger community to help those around me and improve my leadership skills.

Finally, the last point that left the strongest impression on me from John Maxwell’s 360* Leader book was the idea of competing vs completing when leading across. First off, what does leading across mean? In his book, John Maxwell uses ‘leading across’ to talk about leading your peers. Competing versus completing is the difference between competing with others around you to climb up the ladder on your own versus working with others to improve them and allow them to further you as well. As students, most of the people we come across in our daily lives are our peers – whether at school, clubs, or teams. Due to this being the case, I believe that learning to complete others rather than compete with them all the time is a valuable tool to have. In TALONS, this is especially true, where a hierarchy of sorts with clear responsibilities exists. In such an environment, everyone must work together to complete one another rather than compete. For how can the program run properly if the members that make it up to try to tear each other down? As for me, this concept can help me improve my leadership skills by understanding that leadership isn’t about being the best all the time, but being the best from where I am at and being a team player.

Jang Yeong-Sil:

Learning Centre

By Matthew Jang

Welcome everyone to my learning centre! This year for my Eminent Person Project, I decided to choose Jang Yeong-Sil. To show my learning over the course of the last two months, I have compiled a short book with facts about my eminent person. I hope you enjoy your read, and feel free to leave a comment or question down in the comment section below. Please use the full size option when reading the book for a better experience.