How I Failed Thesis: Reflection on a Semester
Disclaimer: I didn’t fail Thesis (to my knowledge), this is about how I feel about my efforts toward Thesis.
Last friday night was my thesis night and finally showed everyone my project: Degradation. For those joining in on this journey, Degradation is a turn-based battle where the player must defeat the boss. The player has options on how to defeat the boss but in order to win, they need to remove abilities in order to get stronger. This mechanic is to help show player’s that you become better by focusing on few things that you’re good at. Failure is greatly encouraged in order to succeed.
During the showcase, it was exciting to finally see how the general public would interact with this bizzare game. It felt good that people complimented me on the models and how the game looked (whew, got that right). However, I did notice some people turn their heads or the usual “huh…” when explaining the gameplay to them as it’s not conventional gameplay.
The night really revealed how important it is to have your pitch and try to morph it depending on the audience (a lot of improv happened). Overall, it was just exciting to release your workout into the wild.
With all that, my final product is something I’m not happy with. Looking back, it’s funny realizing that I had to relearn my life lesson of focusing on what matters the most to me. This life lesson is emulated to my thesis where you focus on one ability you’re good at. Understanding my scope and what’s needed can not be stressed enough. I didn’t get this until spring break (8 weeks into the semester). Knowing all of this happened when I went out of my way to find the feedback I needed. It’s very crucial to get as many eyeballs on your prototypes and I’m grateful for the people that gave back valuable feedback.
As much as this project fell, there was some things that shine through. Since I wasn’t proud of the programming or design, I focused more on the cinematography, modeling, texturing, and lighting. The cinematography glowed when working with Cinemachine on Unity. These tools were really similar to working with real cameras in movies such as creating shots and tracks. The modeling was an excuse to explore Autodesk Maya since I want to pursue 3D modeling if that’s a possible avenue for me. Texturing wasn’t supposed to be exciting until I was introduced to Substance Painter which helped my thesis become moderate to extraordinary for modeling. And finally the lighting, this was the icing on the cake as I could create my own filter in Cinemachine and tweak color filter and the skybox in Unity. Lighting can be about the light sources but also how the objects interact with the light as well.
To the future seniors in the Interactive Multimedia program,
Never settle with “It looks great.” If you’re not hearing what you need to hear, go out and find it. Ask professionals in the field, there are too many platforms to contact them to not hear what they have to say. Surround yourself with people who care about your craft, not your feelings.
Know your strengths and weaknesses. Through the years, you pick up talents you have a knack for and others you rather ignore. Thesis might be your chance to knock on those closed doors. Thesis is also a chance to really show people what you really want to work on. This is one of the only chances you have to express you. Embrace that, it’ll be exhilarating. Also get some sleep.
