Week 6 Teammates Capstone Ideas and more

Part 1: Capstone Ideas

Within our weekly group meeting, the team briefly discussed on the possible capstone ideas we could develop for the end of the program capstone course. It looks as though the team has set their eyes upon pursuing a video game development project. We discussed on the skills each of us hold and our experiences with developing games from previous courses and projects. Also contemplating on the type of games we would like to establish. From the discussion it seems Austin has the most experience as he's worked on individual projects in his spare time, Lex has had experience in her previous University courses, and Tim also has experience in game development from making a sidescroller game for a course prior. The group had also analyzed some of the previous capstone projects, and an interesting one that had caught our interest was the "A Bird's Song", a video game experience that utilizes real world issues as a method of activism for the environment. We decided we would love to do something similar to this where we incorporate a real world problem and use a video game to bring awareness to it. Another interesting topic we would consider is a social media app for connecting pets for a play date. Allowing owners to socialize with each-other while also considering their pets. We have came up with multiple ideas but those are the ones that stood out the most to me.  

Part 2: Update on the Week

This week's module introduced a variety of resources to enhance my future career and offered valuable suggestions for finding an internship or job. Dr. Tao's video about career development and "What Companies are Looking for in a New Hire" delivered beneficial information about the values a person requires to work in a professional setting. Many of the tips were dependability, communication, problem solving, teamwork, pro-activity, integrity, flexibility, confidence, learning, technical skills. The values and skills that caught my attention were communication, confidence, and teamwork. Personally, I would need to improve these skills if I want to get companies to hire me. Communication would be my number one focus, as I have difficulties outputting my thoughts coherently and through conversational activities; I stumble a lot on words and usually sit back and listen. Other materials that were insightful were the mock interview and the video on Cracking the Code Interview. After watching that video I found that confidence, along with the abilities to clearly communicate your reasoning and way of thinking, are highly important. These interviews not only showcase the abilities to code but also assesses the analytical approach and the communication skills needed as a potential employee. In addition, this week I was able to take a look at the syllabus of the next course, and the focus of the language is Java. I haven't really developed with Java in awhile as most of the course work I had before concentrated mostly on C++ and Python, so I am a bit anxious about this course, although at the same time I am quite excited. I'll definitely need to keep up with the coursework and find some time outside of them to practice Java. The team meeting this week focused on how we will approach the video presentation project. Discussing how we will present the video, video editing, responsibilities such as who will research certain topics, and overall planning of the entire video. This week we would establish a google document to brainstorm our ideas/research, and next week the plan is to start recording our voice lines and complete the video.