Development practice

Fig 1. Fishbone timetable visualising Development Practice through weeks 1 to 12

All posts for Development Practice:

Summary Module Description: To deepen your sense of development practice through a focused personal case study. This module introduces you to a shared notion of ‘development practice’, anchoring your existing conception and experience of creative technologies and development approaches in your domain to a common transdisciplinary vocabulary. It establishes divergence and synergy as key themes. You establish a commonality and foundation through the process of becoming a reflective practioner—through cross-disciplinary exploration, experimentation, appraisal, and discourse with your peers. By devising a series of small-scale creative artefacts, you will employ your prior and current notions of ‘development practice’ and then experiment with new approaches to challenge such notions. These will then come together to form a collection that will enable you to construct a personal case study, from which you define how to expand and enrich your practice. Beyond the personal case study, you will gain a broader sense of the contexts in which these practices are applied across disciplines. Comparing your practice and the practices of your peers to those employed by professionals, you will highlight the synergies and tensions between artistic, scholarly, and commercial endeavours” (Falmouth University 2020).

For all posts relating to Development Practice by Sprints

For all posts relating to Development Practice by The Five Reflective Domains

For all posts relating to Development Practice by Research, Development, Activity and Planning


  • Week 1 Orientation
    My background and introduction I worked for The Open University, assisting the delivery of vocational qualifications by distance. I offered learner support including IT support, communications and maintenance of our customer-facing website, learner resources website and e-portfolio. Since leaving The Open University, I offer ad-hoc photography and WordPress design. What do I hope to achieve … Continue reading Week 1 Orientation
  • Week 1 A research list
    Setting up Once I received my student number, email and information I began right away to research access for free software. Importantly if I want to commercialise a game some software I am accessing will no longer be free, I will be mindful that this may become unaffordable for a small indie games developer like … Continue reading Week 1 A research list
  • Game reviews
    ‌An academic review of indie games and indie game studios related to my practice: Astrologaster (2019) Can games focused on history find success in the gaming world? Education, history, a great sense of humour Astrologaster is a blast. It is informative, as well as good fun and witty. Playing as Dr Simon Forman, a real person … Continue reading Game reviews
  • Week 2 What is creativity?
    Spark Forum: “Think about times when you have needed to channel your own creativity. What did you do to foster this and did it change the way you see things” (Falmouth University 2020)? A blank page or canvas is something I spend a lot of time staring at, and I can find the same difficulty … Continue reading Week 2 What is creativity?
  • Week 2 Challenge Activity
    “Now we have explored a variety of techniques for helping to foster creativity and generate new ideas, let’s experiment with some of these ideation techniques. Begin this activity by selecting one or more of the ideation techniques discussed this week, then apply them to the following challenge:1. Choose an existing artefact that is the output … Continue reading Week 2 Challenge Activity
  • Adobe Creative Cloud – Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects & In-design
    While undertaking intensive courses in Photoshop and InDesign, our tutor has not only supported our learning of two highly valuable tools but also best design practices. The course covers terminology in design, design practice and how to use advanced features of Adobe software. Accessibility and design are two essential practices in games development. How to … Continue reading Adobe Creative Cloud – Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects & In-design
  • Week 3 Spark forum
    Thoughts on my Spark Forum post: I signed up to the games jam for Women In Games to participate, but I did not want to pressure myself to finish a game. I wanted to set unrealistic targets, learn ambitiously and see how successful teams approached their games jams. While I planned not to submit a game, I … Continue reading Week 3 Spark forum
  • Week 3 How AI is being used
    How is creativity being used by Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Colton’s (2020) discussion on Computation Creativity first struck chords of 1984 and other dystopian novels. AI ‘creating’ without any intervention from humankind, at the moment, is not possible, but even with human intervention, it feels a little creepy. “Creativity— the ability to produce ideas or artefacts … Continue reading Week 3 How AI is being used
  • Week 3 Challenge activity
    “One of the best ways to hone your prototyping skills is to reverse engineer the finished work of other practitioners you admire. This allows you to practise with the various tools and unpack the design theory behind the work in question. To complete this activity, identify an artefact you feel is particularly interesting. This could … Continue reading Week 3 Challenge activity
  • Sprint 1 Reflection
    Material Week 1 Orientation Getting to know each other Setting out our goals for the module and our future Week 2 Creativity What is ‘creativity’? Creative techniques ICEDIP Week 3 Prototyping Reverse-engineering Narrative prototyping Personal Development Twine – “an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories” (Twine 2020). Getting to know the September 2020 cohort … Continue reading Sprint 1 Reflection
  • Week 4 Rapid Ideation One approach and planning
    “One of the exciting aspects of a rapid ideation (RI) session is there is often a big reveal in terms of the theme or brief. Even the organisers do not know what the theme is until the start of an event. This is done through the use of random generators, such as Brian Eno’s Oblique … Continue reading Week 4 Rapid Ideation One approach and planning
  • Week 5 Reflective Writing
    For Week 5, we are looking at Reflective Writing in more detail. I have been practising writing in my blog for a few weeks now and reflecting on the materials, discussion topics and the challenge activities. For the Spark Forum, we looked at Reflect on-action, in-action and for-action. “Reflection-in-action is reflection during the ‘doing’ stage … Continue reading Week 5 Reflective Writing
  • Week 5 The Five Reflective Domains & SMART Goals
    Week 5 Reflective domain chart “Step 1 Review each of the entries you created in your journal one at a time. Which of the five reflective domains are mentioned? Edit each individual entry and use the tagging system to tag it with the reflective domains mentioned. Multiple domain tags can be used for a single … Continue reading Week 5 The Five Reflective Domains & SMART Goals
  • Week 5 Rapid Ideation One (Part One of Two)
    The Game Jam started Wednesday 14th October 2020, during our evening webinar. The first thing I did is play an hour of Among Us for inspiration. The second thing I did was plan my SMART goals. Dixit is always a wonderful instigator for creativity, and the surrealist illustrations lend themselves to this type of activity and … Continue reading Week 5 Rapid Ideation One (Part One of Two)
  • Week 6 Rapid Ideation One (Part Two of Two)
    Alchemy’s End Featuring no alchemy! Play Alchemy’s End – Featuring no alchemy! https://impalpable.itch.io/alchemys-end Week 6 Progress Week 6 I focused on animation and interaction. I explained how I started to create interactive boxes in my Week 5 blog post. Making parts of the game interactive is a lengthy process, so I spent most of my … Continue reading Week 6 Rapid Ideation One (Part Two of Two)
  • Sprint 2 Reflection
    Material Week 4 Time Management Week 5 Reflection The Five Reflective Domains Week 6 Reading Week Rapid Ideation One Personal Development The Open University course ‘Succeeding in postgraduate study’ Games and Books reviews Develop:Brighton Reflect-in-action Please see my blog posts for Sprint 2 for my reflection in-action. Reflect-on-action Cyberpunk 2077 has been in the news … Continue reading Sprint 2 Reflection
  • Week 6 Book and documentary reviews
    Book’s that have inspired and informed my imagination, creativity and creation in Development practice. This is not a complete list of my reading material during Development Practice. The Freelancer Bible (2012) – Essential reading for anyone looking to begin offering their knowledge, skills and experience as a freelancer. Horowitz, S. and Toni Sciarra Poynter (2012) … Continue reading Week 6 Book and documentary reviews
  • Develop | Brighton 2020
    Develop:Brighton Digital 2020 Event: Nailing the Pitch: Practical Skills for Securing Multi-Million Pound Projects Objective-based document design (Wicks 2020). Nailing the Pitch, was a practical talk on how to present your game. As part of our assessment for this module, we are being asked to produce a capstone video, pitching our idea for a game … Continue reading Develop | Brighton 2020
  • Week 7 Version control
    Week 7’s focus is on Version Control. While practising HTML5 and CSS for short courses on website design and development, I have submitted my work in GitHub (version control) for feedback. I also use GitHub to backup website projects I am working on sometimes. My Rapid Ideation 1 project Alchemy’s End made in Unity was saved and … Continue reading Week 7 Version control
  • Week 8 Spark Forum
    “In this Spark activity, you will need to place yourself in the shoes of the Ethics Review Committee. Read the case studies below, then share your answers to the discussion points in the forum below. Please take no longer than 15 minutes on each case study” (Falmouth University 2020). Case Study 1 “Tyrone wants to … Continue reading Week 8 Spark Forum
  • Week 8: User and Audience Research and Activity
    Eric Geelhoed (2020) discusses the potential use of the online community for qualitative and quantitive methods of research. I have participated as a play tester in the following forms of user and audience research: OpenDev call for HumanKind – Played through three different setup examples of gameplay including combat, settling a city and resource and … Continue reading Week 8: User and Audience Research and Activity
  • Week 8 Rapid Ideation 2 (Part One of Two)
    “As long as we have each other, we will never run out of problems” Global Game Jam (2009). The Rapid Ideation 2 theme is “As long as we have each other, we will never run out of problems” (Global Game Jam 2009) followed three randomly generated articles in Wikipedia. I loved this idea along with … Continue reading Week 8 Rapid Ideation 2 (Part One of Two)
  • Week 9 Networking, conferences and communities of practice that align with my aspirations and goals
    Networking, conferences and communities of practice that align with my goals in art and animation, creative writing and research. Networking and Conferences As a naturally shy and awkward person, networking and conferences are something that I am still practising. My role at The Open University did involve attending conferences and talks (usually as part of … Continue reading Week 9 Networking, conferences and communities of practice that align with my aspirations and goals
  • Week 9 Challenge Activity
    An informal Ethnography Report on Communities of Practice My focus for this ethnography report is on communities of practice I have recently begun to engage with on Discord (Ink, Spine and Adventure Creator). I am a fan of digital communities of practice that utilise Slack and Discord because I have more time to interact in online engagement. … Continue reading Week 9 Challenge Activity
  • Game Off 2020
    Game Off (sponsored by GitHub) runs from the 1st of November 2020 to the 1st of December 2020. The theme ‘Moonshot’ was announced on the 1st of November 2020 and entries could interpret the theme however they choose. A ‘Moonshot’, something unlikely to succeed but it does, is an apt theme. You could choose to … Continue reading Game Off 2020
  • Week 9 Rapid Ideation 2 (Part Two of Two)
    Puzzle Design and Game Mechanics Puzzle design and game mechanics were developed in the second week. Our first idea involved a torch that you could use to combat fear but it transpired that this mechanism was too ambitious to develop in two weeks. I liked the idea, that light could defeat fear and this was … Continue reading Week 9 Rapid Ideation 2 (Part Two of Two)
  • Rapid Ideation 2 An animation journey
    Rapid Ideation 1 My first attempt at importing an animated character into Unity was truly awful. Unity offers animation software, but it took several hours of research to begin attempting animation. I felt like giving up a few times. I used ‘bones’ in Unity to move my character (Fig 1). In theory, it sounded easy … Continue reading Rapid Ideation 2 An animation journey
  • Sprint 3 Reflection
    Materials Rapid Ideation Two Valuable feedback on my current level of practice and the results of Rapid Ideation Week 7 Version Control Week 8 Research & Ethics Week 9 Communities of practice Personal Development Photoshop Spine 2D Game Off Reflect-in-action Please see my blog posts for Sprint 3 for my reflection in-action. Reflect-on-action Balancing Rapid … Continue reading Sprint 3 Reflection
  • Week 10 Agile Development
    The Agile Manifesto: “We are uncovering better ways of developingsoftware by doing it and helping others do it.Through this work we have come to value: Individuals and interactions over processes and toolsWorking software over comprehensive documentationCustomer collaboration over contract negotiationResponding to change over following a plan That is, while there is value in the items … Continue reading Week 10 Agile Development
  • Week 10 User Stories
    What is a user story? ‘ “A user story is a tool in Agile software development used to capture a description of a software feature from a user’s perspective” (Rouse and Francino 2020). “An Agile user story is meant to be short, usually fitting on a sticky note or note card” (Rouse and Francino 2020). “They place emphasis on … Continue reading Week 10 User Stories
  • Week 11 Personal branding
    “Have you made any steps towards creating a personal brand? The idea comes naturally to some, while to others, the very thought of building a personal brand can make them cringe. If you can get beyond the marketing hype and buzz words, a lot of the time the personal brand is more about reputations and … Continue reading Week 11 Personal branding
  • Week 11 The Art of Approach
    Real Works, The Art of Approach The Art of Approach covers the following topics: What makes a great CV? Opportunity Spotting and Planning your Approach Researching Employers Legendary LinkedIn profile builder: Cialdini’s 7th Persuasion Principle: Using Unity Speculative Application Planner Perseverance and re-framing rejection The Art of Approach covers familiar topics for a freelancer and … Continue reading Week 11 The Art of Approach
  • Week 12 Free to play vs Premium
    In Week 2, our cohort discussed Free to play models of games. ‘Free to play’ games offer the gameplay free but ask for payment for upgrades for skins, weapons and upgrades. “In a week 2 video (around 10:50), the instructor mentions a hook (to bring players back) e.g. in free-to-play games you can buy a … Continue reading Week 12 Free to play vs Premium
  • Week 12 Finale
    The last twelve weeks. Participation: My grandmother graduated from The Open University with a science degree, and my grandfather studied but sadly died before he could graduate – I feel strongly about the opportunity to study in a flexible and distance institution.
  • Sprint Four Reflection
    Materials Week 10 Agile Development User Stories Buyer persona Week 11 Real Works LinkedIn Networking CV Week 12 Finalise Preparation for the next module: Game Development Ideas for The Final Project: Indie Game Startup Personal Development InDesign an intensive course Interactive documents Animation in PDFs Design terms Design practices Signing up for HTML5 Apps and … Continue reading Sprint Four Reflection
  • Activity, Research, Planning and Development
    R = Research – to write-up responses to what you have seen, read or watched. D = Development – to document the development of your research project(s) and assignments. A = Activity – to log your weekly tasks and activities. P = Planning – to document and planning for SMART goals.
  • The Five Reflective Domains
    D = Dispositional domain A = Affective domain I = Interpersonal domain C = Cognitive domain P = Procedural domain

List of figures

Figure 1. Fishbone timetable visualising Development Practice through weeks 1 to 12

References

Falmouth University. 2020. GDD710 Development Practice. Available at: https://falmouth.akarisoftware.com/index.cfm/page/module/moduleId/93151 [accessed on 25 September 2020]