New Job/Quick and “Dirty” Games
I want to be better about updating my blog again! I’ve done quite a bit of interesting stuff lately and am bummed I don’t have a log of it. I’ve got an insane amount of crocheted scarves that are just sitting in a trunk…but the idea of posting about all of them right now is overwhelming, so I won’t post about them just yet.
Anyway, I do have some things I can post about right now!
Update 1: New Job!
I left my job as a game developer and now work as a software engineering coach at a major retailer (who shall remain nameless, but a quick LinkedIn search shows who they are). I love my new job so much and am so much happier.
Update 2: Don’t Wake the Cat
Now that I have a new job and thus a new lease on life, my mental state has repaired itself to the point that I can do things other than sleep all the time. So, I’ve made two “quick and dirty games”.
The first game I made was a prototype of a concept I had been thinking about for a while: Don’t Wake the Cat. Its a game in which you have to maneuver yourself out of bed without waking up the cat sleeping next to you. It’s based on a game I play multiple times a day.
I spent about 2 hours one night slapping together the prototype, which can be played here: https://koalapenguin.itch.io/dont-wake-the-cat
It was exceptionally hideous, but for some reason, people enjoyed it. So, I hired my friend Lisa to make some updated art. It’s still pretty much in a prototype phase, but it definitely looks nicer 😀 You can play this “remastered” version here: https://koalapenguin.itch.io/dont-wake-the-cat-remastered
Update 3: Can’t Sleep
If you follow me on twitter, or here on wordpress, you’ve probably heard me complain about insomnia. I’ve struggled with it since I was a little girl and it’s primarily caused by my extreme intrusive thoughts. One night, I couldn’t sleep, so I made another “quick and dirty game”. This time, I made one about insomnia called Can’t Sleep.
In the game you must “squash” the bad thoughts before they reach the brain. You want to empty the brain so you can fall asleep before your alarm clock goes off. You can play the game here: https://koalapenguin.itch.io/cant-sleep
Update 4: In the Pipeline
I have quite a bit on cool things in the pipeline and hope to post about them! I’ve had more free time lately (since I don’t spend all of my non-work time in bed as a depressed husk of a human), so I am making time for personal projects. I’ve also got some cool, secret, contract work that’s coming up, so hopefully I can talk about that soon!
Chemical Reactions
In March 2017, I made a game about moving around atoms to simulate various chemical reactions for the company Legends of Learning.
You can find more information here.
Interviewed for a Gamasutra Article
I was interviewed for the following Gamasutra article about game developer burnout.
The Fire Fades: Dealing with the scourge of burnout in game dev
Oculus Launchpad 2017 Participant
In June 2017 I got to go to Facebook Headquarters and be part of the Oculus Launchpad program 🙂 It was a crazy awesome experience! I met some amazing people and learned a lot. I couldn’t really take pictures while there, but here’s a picture of the Facebook sign. 😀
I got some pretty nice swag and was able to pair up with my friend Meredith to make a Gear VR game. She needed someone to do the UI work and I needed someone to do all the other work! 😀 I was far too busy to make a game by myself at that time.
Our game ultimately didn’t win the scholarship, but I am very proud of the UI work I did and Meredith did an amazing job coming up with the concept and working on the game play. Here’s some in-game screenshots. I made an animated interactive messaging system on a tv screen. I don’t have any of the play scene UI.
Unity 2D Video Series
At the end of 2016 I began making a series of video courses for Packt Publishing.
The first video in the course is Getting Started with Unity 2D Game Development.
The second video in the course is 2D Game Programming in Unity.
In the second video I discuss how to make the following Minesweeper game:
Two more courses in the series are scheduled, however, I no longer have the time to work on the videos, so a friend of mine will be making the remaining two courses in my stead.
GameSmart Games 2016-2017
I can’t believe I never blogged about leaving my teaching job to work full-time as a game developer!
Back in September 2016 I left my full-time teaching gig to work for GameSmart.com, a company in Minneapolis that makes web games, as a Game Developer. Mid 2017 I was promoted to Senior Game Developer and was promoted to the Development Manager January 1, 2018.
I made quite a few games during 2016 and 2017 for GameSmart! I also learned 3 new game engines in the process. Here’s some thumbnails.
-
- 12/2/2016 GameMaker/GML
-
- 10/27/2016 v1: Superpowers/TypeScript 2/16/2017 v2: GameMaker/GM
-
- 3/15/2017 Construct 2
-
- 5/22/2017 Phaser/JavaScript
-
- 6/27/2017 Phaser/JavaScript
-
- 10/16/2017 Phaser/JavaScript
-
- 11/10/2017 Phaser/JavaScript
As a “New Years” thing I tweeted about the fact that I made a bunch of games in 2017. The tweet went crazy viral, which was overwhelming and weird.
BTW, if you’re looking at this post and thinking, “I only count 6 games on 3 game engines”, hold your horses! I have more blog posts coming 🙂
I’ve never used the “read more” tag, so hopefully it works. Read more to view a list of the games, along with publication dates, engine/language, and videos. And playable links!
Voice Over Work
My friend Lisa made a game demo for Oculus Lanchpad 2016 and needed someone to do a voice for the main character.
My embarassingly bad acting didn’t hurt her too badly, because she was one of the Scholarship recipients 🙂
Here’s a video of the game’s demo that includes my bad acting 🙂 I’m the girl, not the wand. The wand’s a way better voice actor.
Fortune Cat Fractions
Wow, my slackness for updating my blog spans a little further back than I realized. I never even posted the fact that I published Fortune Cat Fractions on mobile.
You can find more info and screenshots here.
Mastering UI Development with Unity
I’ve been so busy the last few years and haven’t updated my blog at all, so I’m trying to update everything I’ve done over the last 2 years 🙂
I’ve decided to make my first post since 2016 about my proudest accomplishment:
I wrote another book for Packt Publishing! It released in April 2018.
I’m retiring the pages for Academic Plush Dolls and Minecraft Inspired Perler Projects. I don’t make either of these things any longer and don’t feel they should be linked in my top menu.
However, if for some reason you’re jonesin’ to see these pages, I haven’t deleted them and the links above will direct you to them.
I am currently updating my blog with everything I’ve done over the last 2 years (and didn’t post about), so thinks are getting a bit of an overhaul.
Dr. Ashley Godbold's Blog 