Week 1 - orientation

This is my first week of the Indie Game Development master at Falmouth and I'm very excited to kick it off with the module 'Development Practice'. This module requires a critical reflective journal, or CRJ for short, to keep track of the progress and to reflect on what happens every week. Since this is my very first entry I will start of with a small introduction on who I am before digging into the task of this week.

Who am I?

I am Anouk and I am currently a Product Owner at UbiOps, a software company in the Netherlands. I have a background in Nanobiology and Computer Science and always have had a love for art. The last few years I have been looking for a way to combine my need for a creative outlet and my passion for coding. Game development appears to be the perfect answer for me! So that is why I started this MA programme. I have experimented with game development before and 3D modelling in Blender is a hobby of mine, but now I'm ready to polish up my skills and fill in the gaps in my expertise. And who knows, perhaps I can start my own game studio somewhere down the line?

This weeks activities

This week was all about orientation and getting to know your peers. We started off with a recap of the Agile principles as described by Measy (2015). Scrum and Agile were not new to me as we practice a modified form of Scrum at my work and during my bachelors we used it all the time for projects as well. The refresher was very welcome though, you tend to get stuck in your ways when you are doing something for a bit longer. It was good to read the original definition of the Product Owner role and reflect on how that compares to how I currently fulfill that role.

After the Agile and Scrum refresher we had to create a composition using objects from around our home. The composition should tell a story about who you are, or show items that have specific personal value. You can view mine below:

A short explanation why I chose these items:

• The laptop: Most days I spent behind my laptop (I mean who doesn't with covid of course?). Primarily for hobby coding projects, for making 3D models in Blender or for gaming with my boyfriend or brother.

• The notebook: A notebook is a must-have item for me. I have a pretty chaotic mind but by working with a notebook I have become pretty organized and it helps me keep overview of everything I need to do.

• The wooden box with my name on it: My dad made this box for me and filled it with old art supplies from my grandfather, who was an artist. It is my "art box" for whenever I'm drawing.

• The sketchbooks: I've got countless sketchbooks, filled with drawings from when I was 13 up until now. Occasionally I like to look back at them to gain inspiration from old sketches.

• The dragon eye drawing: I had to include something about dragons as I've been fascinated by them ever since I was little. They are my go to thing to doodle and I'm always curious to learn more about them.

• The tea and the soft blanket: I am purely fueled by tea, can't live without it. And another thing I cannot live without is a soft blanket. Gotta be comfortable when working hard right?

I really liked the challenge activity and it was a moment to reflect on what is really typically me. It was quite hard to catch that in material objects I found, but I decided to stick with objects I cannot do without. In the end I think it does do quite a good job of summing up the basics of who I am and how I work.

It was also very enjoyable to see the pictures of all the others. Eventhough everything is remote and I have not met them, the pictures gave a glimpse into their personalities.

List of References

Measey, P 2015, Agile Foundations : Principles, practices and frameworks, BCS Learning & Development Limited, Swindon. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [5 June 2021].