Day 18 - March 19

Friday - Obscura Digital

Today I was given smaller projects to work on. This involved researching a few different components and attempting to factory reset them so they could be used by Obscura for one of their projects. It turns out that it is substantially easier to work off a clean slate (the factory reset version) than trying to figure out how something was used last and work from there. In addition, some devices (especially those that deal with cyber security), have reset buttons in the back that are made not to work and throw off simpletons. Anyways, I'm glad to say that I stuck with it. I was then given a challenge to try and program a script that will sort through the computer's directories (folders), list the ten largest folders, list their file paths, and list how much space they take up. This would have been substantially easier had I known or been familiar at all with the what I was working with. It took me the rest of the day to utilize various online sources to do sufficient research so that I could actually create the script. That being said, I was very diligent about doing so and flet very accomplished with my results. Today was my last day so I personally said thanks the people I had talked and worked with throughout the Systems department (everyone), except for my SH. Even though I did wait for a good amount of time for the man who set up my internship, I had to leave to work on my project. However, we did exchange meaningful text messages. I felt very validated, proud of all that I had done, and thankful for the opportunity to work at Obscura with their phenomenal staff.

Here's an excerpt.
Me: Unfortunately, I actually have to go home to study. Thanks so much Sean for the opportunity to intern with systems at Obscura as well as the chance to talk, meet, and assist others at Obscura too. Also, thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to talk to me and make me feel welcomed.
SH: No problem. Glad I was able to give you the opportunity. Sorry I wasn't able to say bye. I think you kicked a$$ here ... I really believe that you'll pursue your passion and succeed. Your maturity shows. If we end up with a real internship program I'll keep you in mind.

Home

After more grinding, I finally fixed the instantiate. It turned out that I had been implementing the instances in global space versus local space. Global space is all relative to a specific set of axes, while local space is relative to another Game Object.

Day 17 - March 18

Wednesday - Obscura Digital
I got to talk to more people in the office. I got to shadow more people. I got to help more people. The conversations have been very informative and deep as well. Now that I have been talking to a lot more people (and in different departments as well), I feel like much less of an outsider and more welcome. It's a shame that I leave tomorrow. I'm really getting into it this week despite not having any active projects around that I can help with.

Geez- writing within the confines of a non-disclosure agreement is hard.

Home
I did some research into a bug I kept hitting when programming the instantiating code I mentioned in previous blogs. I think it has to do with how the location, rotation, and hierarchical position are stored in different ways. A very basic oversimplification is that objects in the extreme foreground are a part of the UI, user interface, and are located in two-dimensions. In contrast, objects in the background can be located in three different dimensions (in order to convey depth). For that difference, there is a rectTransform and a regular Transform. My instances are not being moved into the User Interface and are not rendered in the right position, if at all. I think I need to wield the two transforms to make them work together.

Day 16 - March 17

Tuesday - Obscura Digital
Today was less busy in the office. Most of the projects had moved out to their respective sites leaving most people to work on research and development. This gave me the opportunity to talk to many different people in the office (both inside and outside of systems) about what they do, their backgrounds, their work, and personal affairs as well. Because I got to talk to so many more people than before, I got to hear about many of their projects. However, I was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement and cannot blog or talk about much that I did (or will do) at Obscura.

Home
Before passing out, I cleaned my blog of content that might of violated the NDA. These edits have been labeled with the following message:

...Removed in agreement with NDA...

All I can say is that not only does my blog look a lot more boring now, it reads a lot more boring too.

Day 15 - March 16

Monday - Home
Decided to stay home and work so I cold get laundry done. After waking around 8;50 AM, I actually sat at my computer for most of the day and just programmed more of the Space Designer. I got the first two check boxes off the checklist done! I finished the grid system and programmed a way to select and deselect the grid tiles. Although I had ideas to do it off a double click system, I eventually found a way to do it off a left click system that makes for me to program future functions using the middle and right mouse click features too! I also got halfway through the square instantiation. See, I want the user to be able to create an instance of a square (or "instantiate squares") in each tile by doing an easy right-click and open a menu with a middle click. This current code allows me to incorporate that later on- a success for me. I can also use the same script for as many gird squares as I want- re-usability, another win. Now to work on getting the right-click to instantiate squares in the right category so that they actually show up...

Also, it's already 4:30 and I should probably actually go do my laundry...

Day 14 - March 15

Sunday
HA! nope.

Day 13 - March 14

Saturday - Home
Spent most of the day working on the task that Tom and I agreed upon before splitting for the day yesterday- the Space Designer. I did a lot of programming. See, there are always many different ways of approaching the problem, just like math class. While many ways are effective, some ways are much more efficient than others. I spent the day programming an inefficient way, realizing there was a much more efficient way, and then restarting from effectively scratch. So although I have almost nothing to show, I'm on the brink of releasing the fundamentals of something that'll work efficiently! I also added a checklist to the Trello page for the Space Designer so I can see how much I have to do in general and how it breaks up in to smaller steps.

Day 12 - May 13

Friday - Drew School
Despite staying from 8 AM to 10 AM, little was achieved. This stemmed mostly from the fact that the Studio, which is typically unordinarily quiet, was ridiculously disruptive. It just so happened that many people had to come in for various meetings and the result was a very distracting environment and little work done. It didn't help that Tom and I had an off day together and were constantly at each other throats. By the end of the day, we got plans in place in terms of where we wanted to go next but Friday was pretty dissatisfying.

Day 11 - May 12

Thursday - Drew School
Met with Tom and Garrison this morning. I shared with Tom the ideas I have for the tree farm. He also got me set up with Trello, a sort of online bulletin board where we can organize which tasks and components we want to prioritize first. I have seen it used for other video games, such as Insurgency (see their Trello here) and a Trello will be vital for our project's organization. Tom has also expressed his concern that the both of us will have to spend even more time on the project, which is fair. I dont think that either of us expected AP tests and Badminton to take up so much of our time, but this is something we definitely still can do. Prototyping is definitely feasible. Lastly, we talked about current  next steps and, tonight, I'll be working on building classes (not academic classes, but programming organizational classifications).

Obscura Digital
Even though I'm not a morning person, I made it in at 9:45 by accident. I took a brief break from the  project and racked a server with RY. ...Removed in agreement with NDA... Then I helped out CH do some of the typical chores around and do some installations. It was almost 3 when I left.

Home(ish)
I did some more brainstorming regarding how Tom and I are gonna do classes (again, object-oriented programming- not academic) and I had a few good approaches. I realized that it is harder for me to program without insight into how Tom wants the game to be designed. This means I should be calling, texting, and messaging him more so there isn't nearly as much overlap or irrelevant development. Though I still can do brainstorming.

Day 10 - May 11

Wednesday - Obscura Digital
The LED panels are really coming together quite nicely and it is awesome to see my the people at Obscura work and even more exciting to see how my assistance has actually been helpful! While I'm feeling a bit lazy and reluctant to describe everything I did, I have included pictures of what I have been working on with Obscura Digital for a certain successful search engine company. I've learned a lot over the internship; not just about tech, but about productions as well. After all, their work only is shown for a limited time, like most plays and performances. With this time crunch and pressure, unorthodox solutions are can be integral in bringing a project into fruition. This is can be paralleled to set design in the plays for our own school! Anyways, we got ... Removed in agreement with NDA...

... Removed in agreement with NDA...

... Removed in agreement with NDA...

... Removed in agreement with NDA...

... Removed in agreement with NDA...

... Removed in agreement with NDA...

Starbucks Coffee
In an attempt to stall, I spent my time waiting at Starbucks to actually work out some details and ideas for the programming, especially regarding the tree farm. I was thinking about how certain variables will be necessary when creating a template-style prefab (for more info, see object-oriented programming). I even went so far as to brainstorm certain function, arrays, and UI elements that can be programmed into the project.

This might have been written on a napkin

Home
Spent three hours programming again tonight. Worked through more C# basics and spent some time exploring Visual Studio's nuances. I love staying up until 1 AM. :/

Day 9 - May 10

Tuesday - Obscura Digital
Today was moderately bad and moderately okay.

After being stuck in the Muni underground for almost an hour and being declined for a summer job that I have held for the past two years, I spent my morning back downstairs in the hardware department. The big project right now is for a ... Removed in agreement with NDA ... That means that a lucky intern (me) got to spend the morning un-plugging, untangling, and re-wrapping all the cables behind the physical displays as well as the computers that powered each one. That was tedious (to say the least) and it didn't help that I was tucked against a dark wall doing it all. I am grateful for the existence of headlamps but a nice Johnson & Johnson's De-Tangler for computer cables wouldn't hurt. After a lunch, in which my girlfriend surprised me with a homemade apple crisp, I talked to some random people in the office before heading back down. Instead of unplugging cables this time, I was plugging them in! Specifically, I was ... Removed in agreement with NDA... This was much more fun for me since there were people I could talk to while working (and they were also funny). I was so helpful, that I lost track of time and ended up staying until after 3:30 PM working on the test build.

Home
Later on, I hopped on for another four hours into the night to dabble some more in Unity. I got some features working, such as Button Events and accessing variables in different methods, but am still stumped by sliders... My process involves experimentation, success, thinking of something harder to do, failing at it repeatedly, and repeating the process all over again.

Day 8 - May 9

Monday - Home
Did a little more experimentation. However, my day was taken up by the AP Physics Exam and I let that take priority over the rest of my day. Little progress was made.

Day 7 - May 8

Sunday - Home
I watched a few videos about Unity and programming for the User Interface but, come on... It's Mothers Day and it's Sunday...

Day 6 - May 7

Saturday - Home
After having uploaded the last few blog posts (that I had written in my phone's notepad awhile back), I spent 4+ hours working though sample projects and videos related to the Unity work space, programming, design vocabulary, and organization. I also read over Tom's Design Document closely as there have been many more updates since I last checked it. While there is not much to write about today's work, lots was done.

Day 5 - May 6

Friday - Drew School
Before I left for the BCL Badminton Tournament, I met with Tom to discuss project guidelines. After all, the first week has made little time for us to collaborate together. Upon careful consideration, we have decided that it would be best if I spent more time working at home, instead of feeling obligated to come in to Drew to work every day. Even though there are certain distractions at home, I am losing around three hours a day to transportation (even more the last Wednesday) and it's ridiculous. We plan on using a VOIP Utility to communicate or whatnot. In addition, we have made it official that Tom, Mr. Garrison, and I will meet after lunch on Fridays to meet up and discuss challenges, progress, and other such details. In addition, I will actually show up to Drew on Fridays to work with Tom and collaborate in a close environment. This is not to say that me coming in to Drew is confined to those days so much as it required.

Day 4 - May 5

Thursday
No progress was made today. I came in to school for the AP Calculus test, grabbed lunch, and then left soon after to join the Badminton team on the bus for our last game against Athenian. Despite leaving before 2 PM, we got back to Drew after 6:30 PM. Exhausted and in preparation for the tournament the following day, I passed out when I got home.

Day 3 - May 4

Wednesday - Obscura Digital
Today I went upstairs to the Software Department. After being introduced to the head of the software department by SH, I sat with JD, an interactive engineer who used to work downstairs in the Hardware Department with systems. She spared more than an hour to talk with me about not only about what she did as an Interactive Engineer, but many other things as well. She talked about her time in with systems and how it differed from software. JD told me about the most stunning places she went in addition to the greatest productions she staged with Obscura. I was given insight on her most challenging job as well as the differences inherent it production-style work. On another talked about colleges (both mine and her alma matter of UC Santa Cruz), engineering school, and opportunities worth seizing. I even asked about what it was like being in such a male-dominated office. We covered many topics in our conversation and it was a fascinating discussion to say the least.
I spent the rest of the day with WN, another interactive engineer with Obscura. I got to shadow him as he worked on... Removed per NDA ... It was awesome watching WN use Touch Designer as he was able to explain what he was doing as well as his thought process. Before I left, WN and JD showed me what the older legacy projects looked like, rife full of bugs, errors, and poor organization, as well as his bug fixing process. I left early (before 3 PM) so I could make it to Badminton practice.

Day 2 - May 3

Tuesday - Obscura Digital
Today was my first day at my internship. I arrived at ten to silently audit their staff meeting. From there, I was taken down to the hardware floor. Everyone knows that traditional intern work consists of filing and copying. However, this changes if your a tech intern. Instead, I got to wrap cables. Considering how many cables this company most go through to organize huge productions, there are a lot of cables involved. Not only do they need to be organized, they need to be wrapped up so they do not get tangled- that's where I came in.

... Removed in agreement with NDA ...

 I went back to wrapping cables and then was taught how to terminate cables. Terminating cables is the process of adding the physical ends to them (the individual plugs or the jacks). Lastly, I did some shadowing of a guy who worked with various video systems.

I left before 3 so I could make it to Badminton game against Lick Wilmerding.
I didn't take lunch because I didn't feel like it. It was cool, I had a good enough time that I didn't mind working throughout the entirety of my time there.

... Removed in agreement with NDA ...

Terminating Cables

Day 1 - May 2

Monday - Drew School
Today was a nice slow start into the project. After coming in to Drew (at 7:50) and doing some extra calculus problems, I worked on my project through sometime around 12:15. Before I can program physical components of the game, I am waiting on Tom to finish up the "Design Document," featuring more than twenty pages visual displays of different aspects, views, and menus of Pre-FaB. In the meantime, I should put more time into sample projects of my own until the design  doc is done so I can familiar with this new language and re-familiarize myself with programming logic. (So far, I've been looking into programming the UI, user interface). All of the stuff mentioned above (and more) was discussed in a meeting between Tom, Mr. Garrison and I at Drew. I'd call Day 1 a success.

Research Post #4 - Political Issues

On Political Issues
Although early video games surfaced in a peaceful capacity, such as Pong, there have also been many violent video games as well. An old instance of violent video games include Death Race from the seventies, where the player would physically run over gremlins in their car. However, violent video games have transcended running over pixel art gremlins indistinguishable from a piece of dust on your screen. Nowadays, franchises exist such as Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat, Call of Duty, and Assassins Creed which are centered around violence, whether it be through shooting, stabbing, raping, or even genocide. One can definitely say that games have been linked to sex and violence. Curiously enough, the United States army found no problem with this at first. In fact, they considered violent games as "a useful took for training children," (Owens) probably through the desensitizing of violence. However, it's video gamers like the Columbine shooters who bring massive scrutiny to violent video games. After all, both of the murders in the Columbine shooting were linked to playing a notoriously violent video game called Doom.

There are many and deep views regarding this complicated situation. Parents have taken on a certain hysteria regarding video games. Not only are many parents worried about all video games negatively impacting their children (not just violent video games), they blame the misbehavior of their children on games. Many have even gone so far as to ban all video games within their household. In fact, it is that very concern of parents that politicians and the media have manipulated. In fact, there are many who use violent video games as a scapegoat for the violence in their country. As mentioned earlier, the link between the Columbine shooters and the video game Doom has been used to blame video games for a county's violent tendencies (even in the wake of a militarized American police force and other television influences). In contrast, gamers themselves find little fault in the video games but in the parents themselves. After all, all video games have ratings (ranging from E-Everyone to M-Mature) allowing parents to get an idea for the appropriateness of a video game without having to do deep research. In addition, many video gamers blame parents for the improper supervision of their children and a failed education of morals.

It is hard to determine who is to blame and whether or not certain claims can be trusted. Considering the depth of the views above, blame is challenging to determine and that debate goes fairly unsolved. However, the effects of violent video games comes less in-determinant. In fact, there is lots of evidence that links violent games to short term aggression (Owens). This makes sense considering the psychological nature of "phases" and the way certain games glorify violence, criminality, and even suicide bombings. However, there fails to be substantial evidence in the long run. Most of this evidence is not hard, but soft, and is still widely and commonly pushed by various media outlets as if they were solid and reputable.

With the unfortunate amount of disagreement and uncertainty, there is a lot to wonder about and a lot of research to be done, regarding violent video games and video games in general.

Owens, Alisdair. "Political Issues In The Video Game Industry: Violence And Gaming". 2016. Presentation. <http://zaltys.net/uni/awoies.ppt>.

Research Post #3 - Career Paths

On Career Paths
Programmers are the archetypal bay area tech workers, but there is actually a lot more going on. Within programming, there are different branches. Common examples are of "developers," who often program for computers and other physical devices, and "web developers," who program for the internet and various websites. Though now there are many newer branches such as game development, mobile development (yes, for your phone), and enterprise development (because businesses require more efficient and durable software/programs than the common consumer). Each branch of development requires slightly different skill sets, mostly rooted in the various or specific programming languages that should be known. For example, a web developer will want to know python, java script, ruby, and maybe some PHP while a mobile developer will want to know C#, pronounced "C Sharp," and some Swift. So in order to be immersed in these markets, one will want to get familiar with various programming languages and learn about programming logic. This can be achieved a variety of ways. While some people go take programming classes in their local community college, there are also others who get degrees in Computer Science, which has the perk of reducing the professional "ceiling" when certain positions require specific majors and qualifications. However, there are also a myriad of programmers who just learn for themselves from books, via YouTube videos, or just online. Although this will not always grant a specific degree or certificate, this is a great way to get in to programming, especially if one does not have much free time as one can go at their own pace. Lastly, a theoretical knowledge will often limit how one can get a career in programming. It comes down to projects and work experience to distinguish interview candidates. For this reason, many professionals keep an online portfolio exhibiting their projects or include an additional section in their resume listing the various projects they have worked on.

Believe it or not, the tech industry consists of more than just programmers, no matter how iconic the image of a programmer coding in a hipster coffee shop may be. For example, there are certain companies that must deal with huge quantities of data in various databases. Think about the health industry and how much patient information must be kept track of. Not only must the databases stay maintained, but they must be well optimized too. This makes space for that Database Administrator. Now let's imagine that all of the hospital network's patient information is super confidential and must protected- introduce cyber security specialists. Cyber security specialists able to protect information because of their knowledge of hacking (similar to how doctors are able to both end life and save lives). It is assumed that all of that data (protected by cyber security specialists) must be stored somewhere. Specifically, these data are stored on physical servers which also must be continually updated and maintained. After all, certain pieces of hardware are expected to fail (eventually) and impact of these failures typically should be minimized. The System Administrator typically keeps the servers running smoothly (which typically do not run on Windows or Mac OS X, but another operating system called Linux). Lastly, all of the servers, devices that link with the servers, and administrators need to be able to interact and stay connected. The solution is through networking, a mixture of both private networks (inaccessible via the public internet) and connections to the Internet. The Network Engineer keeps track of all of the networks and keeps them running. This involves tampering and adjusting the settings for numerous routers and range extenders that are strategically placed throughout the physical work space as well as many other tedious tasks.

Though I may have used the word "lastly" above, there are still many new positions that are constantly being created. These include "data algorithms, machine learning, social networking, predictive analytics, big data storage and analytics (like my contact V who works with Hitachi Data Systems), mobile marketing" and many more. That being said, none of those positions even include the numerous non-technical positions that must be in any company. After all, tech companies still have payroll departments, human resources, public relations, advertising, and many other professions involved. To be quite frank, one doesn't even need to be a technological wizard to be in the tech industry. Though there are definitely numerous opportunities there.

Various Authors. "What Are Different Career Options If I Am Interested In Computers?". Career Village. N.p., 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2016. <https://www.careervillage.org/questions/1547/what-are-different-career-options-if-i-am-interested-in-computers>.

Research Post #2 - California Bay Area Connection

On California Bay Area Connection
Technology, invention, development, and design are popular association that people make with the California Bay Area. Nicknamed Silicon Valley, there is no disputing the connection between California Bay Area and technology. After all, Silicon Valley is home to many large companies such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Salesforce, and many more.
The origins of the connection between technology and the California Bay Area actually arose out of Cold War tensions. When the Russians launched Sputnik, the first artificial man-made satellite to orbit Earth, Americans were shocked by the communist's massive scientific leap forward. It didn't help the American psyche that Russians even launched Sputnik II into orbit before the United States could. As a result of competitive Cold War interactions between the United States of America and USSR, Americans "feared that the Soviets' ability to launch satellites also translated into the capability to launch ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons from Europe to the U.S." (Garber, 2007). This fear did not limit Americans; it drove many deep into scientific and technological development. This led to the invention of America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which required advanced conductors and semi-conductors for various technologies.

This is where Silicon Valley makes its way into our story; it was that need for powerful components that created the demand satisfied by the California Bay Area. In fact, Fairchild Semiconductor, creator of semiconductors, was the first manufacturer in the Bay Area and spurred "Silicon Valley’s innovative, risk-taking culture" (Haroun, 2014). At first it was the hardware companies that emerged. Companies such as AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel (all still thriving today) spearheaded hardware development by creating processors and graphics processing units (also known as GPUs). After hardware followed the software industry (like Adobe, Symantec, and VMWare), who specialized in programming and software engineering. Finally, the Internet industry came to Silicon Valley (often characterized by the later development of the Cloud). The result is an entrepreneurial hotbed of both well established companies and smaller start ups with room for programmers, hardware specialists, as well as hundreds of other working professionals willing to immerse themselves in the future.

Garber, Steve. "Sputnik And The Dawn Of The Space Age". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. N.p., 2010. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

Haroun, Chris. "A Brief History Of Silicon Valley, The Region That Revolutionizes How We Do Everything". Entrepreneur. N.p., 2014. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

Post #7 - April 26

So last week was pretty cool. I followed up with SH and actually got to go in to the office at Obscura Digital last Friday (at the expense of my AP Calculus class...). Let me begin by saying that while the building's exterior seemed both industrial and generally drab, the inside felt like something out of the movies. Specifically, the movies with all the super cool modern tech companies. Not only was the interior sleek and clean (void of fluorescent lighting), they also had some of their own works on display as well as some pretty cutting edge technologies (like OLEDs). Anyways, the office visit started with a brief interview with my contact SH. I talked about my interests, experience, and background to SH. From there, SH told me about how the office works, what goes on each floor, an overview of each department, an overview of the kind of work that is done, and opportunities for me in the office. After that, we talked briefly about my schedule (which is mostly up to me and my own availability). From there, he took me on a tour of the building and personally introduced me to all of the software and hardware staff that were in that day. It was actually a super exciting visit and SH has confirmed my internship starting Tuesday, May 3, 2016 at 10:00 AM.

Summary: Went to Obscura Digital to meet with SH and now my internship is official

Post #6 - April 19

Ay! I got an internship! After leaving two messages, SH returned my call. Even though I was in Philadelphia for the White Privilege Conference, I picked up the phone immediately and talked with SH. He graciously gave me the internship so I'll get to intern with Obscura Digital! He plans on getting me to shadow someone who is a Software Engineer, which is very relevant for me. If you could not tell by my last post, I am very excited to work with Obscura Digital. At this point, I've emailed SH my contact information, available hours, available dates, and when I will be able to come in to visit(that will be explained a little later). Currently, we are discussing hours and an exact schedule. I wish my schedule was not so complicated but various AP tests have make my proposed schedule seem quite... complicated. Oh well... Not much I can do about that part.

Also, SH has requested that I come in to the office sometime soon to meet the team and get a feel for how the office works. This will only last an hour, yet I am excited to do that too. Available times were emailed to SH and hopefully I can get the office visit accomplished this week.

Summary: Internship is official, planing on visiting the office soon, waiting on exact schedule.

Research Post #1 - Funding

On Funding
The video game market may seem only accessible to a few people, but has developed substantially over the years. Even if one glimpses simple profit stats of the video game industry and compared them to the film industry, there is no comparison. According to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the companies that do all the ratings for film (such as G, PG, PG-13, etc.), the global box office for all released films was $35.9 billion dollars in the year 2013 (MPAA, Inc., 2013). While this is a huge amount of money, the video game industry made $70.4 billion dollars according to the Global Games Market Report of 2013 (Newzoo Corporation, 2013), more than thirty billion dollars more than the film industry. Even though video games may cater to much more niche demographics, there truly is an abundance of funding.

Curtly, funding of the video game industry comes from sales. As with most industries that rely in sales, such as the film industry, advertisements, exposure, and publicity are crucial to the release of video games and video game systems (such as those of Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo). However, not all of the publicity is done via conventional advertisements. Online forums and popular internet video/YouTube sensations carry a lot of influence. When considering the top factors influencing decisions to purchase video games, word of mouth is the third most popular factor after price and interesting premise (ESA, 2015). The result is a culture that not only is willing to purchase the physical games, but a culture that can be profited off of by selling console systems, console accessories, extra in-game content, extra in-game currency, early pre-release orders, special edition copies, and endless merchandising. Not only is there a lot to be sold, but there a lot of willing purchasers. In fact, that very culture consists of approximately 155 million Americans who play video games (ESA, 2015). However, it should be noted that this does not include the many other gamers across the planet (especially Britain, Australia, China, and South Korea). Furthermore, that statistic doesn't even take into consideration the developing mobile market. While many are resistant to buying game consoles, the ownership of smartphones has become so typical that mobile games have increased in popularity. This is also contributed to the convenience of online mobile game marketplaces such as the App Store and Google Play). The video game industry has become more accessible to the general public and increased in size, making for a large increase in funding. 

Entertainment Software Association. "The 2015 Essential Facts About The Computer And Video Game Industry". 1st ed. Washington DC: ESA Entertainment Software Association, 2015. Print. http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ESA-Essential-Facts-2015.pdf

Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. "Theatrical Market Statistics - 2013". Motion Picture Association of America. N.p., 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

Newzoo. "2013 Global Games Market Report". Newzoo Insights. N.p., 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

Post #5 - April 12

So I have my first actual contact. For anonymity, I will refer to the contact as SH. SH works at an awesome company called Obscura Digital (link) that works in phenomenal large scale projections. If you have ever seen San Francisco's City Hall's 100 year celebration, the Exploratorium's opening on Piers 15 & 17, the Visa Superbowl projections, or the Pier 70 Super Bowl projections (linked here, here, here, and here), than you have seen their work and its grand spectacular nature. Not only would interning/shadowing for Obscura International be unbelievable, I think it would be useful. Any sort of production of theirs would require intensely close teamwork and collaboration from people in different fields. This reminds me of Tom and my own project since we will have to work closely even though we will be working different fields, his design and mine development. Anyways, I am excited to have not only this contact, but such an interesting contact. I have called him once today and left a message.

On another note, V, who connected me with SH, still plans on connecting me with more contacts until I manage to successfully secure an internship/shadowing/volunteer opportunity. I am very glad that she is tapping in to her personal and professional relationships for me. The real challenge for me will be cold calling and representing myself well. It will be quite the challenge!

With that being said, I am in a pretty good place right about now. While nothing is set yet, there's both potential and progression. The internship search is no longer stagnating.

Post #4 - March 22

This week has been a mixture of failures, with some limited successes.

My initial internship contact fell through. It turns out that this man, who works for Apple, works with too many classified products for me to intern/volunteer/shadow his work.. So... that isn't going to happen.

That being said, I have at least two more contacts! (I don't have their consent to use their names... so I'll just use letters).

V works Hitachi Data Systems (a company that deals with massive data storage for companies and enterprises). Although I asked her about volunteering, she felt that my time would be better spent with someone else. Luckily for me, she is checking in with other contacts of hers. While her contacts at Facebook and LinkedIn only allow college-level interns, she still has three other people she is contacting. She is going to get back to me as soon as possible and we are still communicating via email (primarily regarding volunteer/internship details).

B works for a company that makes products for "the IT [Information Technology] business space." Although she seems a bit too tied up to be able to support a volunteer/intern, she is checking in with other people throughout the office space. However, everyone she has connected with so far seems to have trouble supporting 15 hours a week... Thankfully, she volunteered to keep checking in with her coworkers and I have thanked her for that. Even though she has my phone number, she's communicating with me via text.

On a separate note, I have managed to install Unity on all my devices which means I can get started familiarizing myself with the software. I also have software that lets Tom and I collaborate on a single project from two different locations. This will let us be able to work from our own homes during Senior Project and communicate using programs like Skype (it's kind of like a free internet phone service).


This is where I am right now. Please comment if anything is unclear and/or requires clarification.

Post #3 - March 15

Here's my Essential Question: How can video games fulfill a public purpose, beyond that of entertainment and enjoyment? Furthermore, what does it take to actually program a video game? [Spoiler Alert: a lot of work]

Here's what's happened in the last week:
Tom and I met with both Ms. Ferrara and Amy to go over the feasibility of our project. While it was initially assumed that there would not be enough work for two people and, by extension, no reason for us to work on the same project, that assumption has been since dissuaded. Instead, the concern is that the project will be too much for both Tom and I. Although Tom and I agree that it is unlikely that we complete a final draft, we do believe that we can make a working prototype by the time Senior Project is due. Now that our project has been finally approved, we can really get started with the good stuff.

For me that means installing the necessary software/programs and to begin giving myself exposure to the programming languages themselves (Unity, C#) so that I can be familiar with the languages before the Project weeks actually start. While I plan to do the software installation tonight, making time to actually start programming will be quite difficult with homework, badminton, and scholarships... We'll see what happens.

I do have a person with whom I could possibly have an internship. The gentlemen is in the game design industry and, hopefully, I'll be able to shadow him at his work. In terms of next steps, it's time to change a casual acknowledgement of my project and get him to formally certify the internship.

Post #2 - March 1

Sick and tired (midnight scholarship deadlines) but I'm doing it anyways!

I have zero progress on internship contacts. It really is time for me to start sorting that out before it is too late. I mean, I did a quick read through (emphasis on quick) of the list on the Senior Project site but I didn't find a particularly attractive or relevant contact- yet. This will require some more diligence on my end.

I have made some progress regarding programming fundamentals. Mr. Green lent me one of his books on the language Processing, the one we have had limited experience with in Intro to Engineering. While I originally borrowed it to help me re-make the classic game Pong, I think I want to work through as much as the book as I can. After all, I never really got to learn about Object Oriented Programming (an essential topic) yet, so I have decided to continue with this programming done in Mr. Green's Intro to Engineering class so I could understand the essentials with a language I am somewhat comfortable with already (specifically Processing). However, it is essential that I complete this quickly so I have time to to familiarize myself with lathe languages I will actually use for the PRE-FaB game Tom and I plan to produce. Tom and I have a great track record of working on projects together, but I can't be bringing anything less than my "a-game" to this project since the programming (that I am responsible for) and the physical design an research (that he is responsible for) will require lots of time during Senior Project.

By the way, everything I try to do this week will be further complicated by scholarships I am trying to complete (and I guess being sick too).

List all possible conflicts during the weeks of Senior Project. How do you plan to work around them?
I got to juggle Badminton, AP Physics, and AP Calculus over the weeks of Senior Project. I already had the foresight of quitting my job at the Exploratorium since I knew I wouldn't be able to handle that too. In terms of working around "possible conflicts," I literally plan on working around them. I mean, I will still go into school for the AP classes and I show up for Badminton practices but Tom and I have the tendency to stay up late- really late. I think we'll probably just end up working late into the night instead of doing homework or, er, playing video games late into the night. This isn't entirely unfeasible. For an A-Block Entrepreneurship project, him and I once spent a week working on a different game app. Specifically, we worked til midnights on app development and collaborated over VoIP (voice over IP) utilities, such as Skype. Back then, he was doing the programming and I was doing the front-end design elements (pictures, graphics, icons, and more icons) but based off the dynamic we had, I think it can work (even if I'm the one doing the programming this time). If worst comes to worst, I'll drop out from some Badminton practices to make time for the project.

I realize now that I haven't taken my internship into consideration yet... That is something I'll have to do.

Post #1 - March 1

I'm fairly behind. Despite having had a three day weekend to work on this, I managed to get bogged down by scholarships, family, usual homework, and some bronchitis-feeling illness... Hooray! That being said, I'm forcing myself to sit down and work on this so... I'll get to it.

Where are you currently in the Senior Project planning process?
Pending approval from the appropriate senior project persons, I plan to do a senior project with Tom L (blog) on video games that can actually make a difference. Both Tom and I are pretty avid video gamers and have an idea for a game that provides more than just entertainment, but a public purpose as well. So in that respect, I have an idea in mind. We also have an idea for how we want to divide the work. While Tom is fascinated by the aspects of sustainability and game design, I plan on embarking on the programming and back-end development for the physical application. While some people know my affinity for computers and interest in computer science, I actually have a pretty poor background in programming. Outside of Mr. Green's Intro to Engineering class, I have no real experience to fall back on. This is what will make it a challenge for me- I'll have to learn the premise of two programming languages (C# and the Unity language) in order to program a stable and functioning application. I have some ideas for where I'll learn this from. For example, there is a site called TeamTreehouse I want to use to aid my learning. In regards to an internship, I got nothing though. I had a contact who ended up being completely unavailable so I'm kind of on my own at this point.
As of now, I need to find internship contacts (hopefully in software engineering or game development) and I need to start learning programming fundamentals so I'm not absolutely clueless for the first week of senior project. Also, refining an essential question would be helpful. And getting rid of this ridiculous bronchial illness going on.