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My name is Vito Morlino and I have been programming and designing interactive experiences since childhood. Through my degree program at SNHU, I have been taught and given the opportunity to practice many different disciplines that are required of game development team members, including, but not limited to, project manager, 3D artist/modeler, 2D and 3D animator, level designer, and web designer. That being said, the program was mostly focused on game programming and related subjects such as linear algebra. I am diving as deep as I can into the specialization of game programming; however, knowing at least the basics of what my team members do will lend itself to effective communication and better morale in the workplace. Among the programming positions I experienced through SNHU were gameplay programming (creating small games from start to finish), artificial intelligence programming, and plugin development; all in Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) with Visual Studio as the IDE and Git as the version control system (through Sourcetree). I also learned and practiced important skills such as planning, scheduling, documenting everything (concisely when appropriate), and communicating with industry professionals (team members or other developers) as well as communicating highly technical topics, understandably, to non-technical individuals.
Throughout my experience at SNHU, I’ve done my best to apply game programming best practices. All my work was heavily planned, well-documented, prototyped where appropriate, and completed in a timely manner. All my code is organized and easily readable through the use of descriptively-named variables and clear, concise comments. My systems were all designed with encapsulation in mind with each class and function fulfilling their own individual purposes and keeping data private when appropriate. Throughout each project I worked on, I followed agile development methodology (SCRUM) to employ iterative development and testing to keep the project progressing smoothly if changes were made to the original plan. I avoided feature creep and kept the scope of my projects manageable. Before coding something new, I always wrote my ideas in pseudocode to get them out of my head and legible as soon as possible. I also used industry-standard tools such as UE4 and Visual Studio while applying fundamental programming and game development concepts.
My experience with SNHU’s Game Programming and Development degree program has provided a major stepping stone to help prepare me as a game programmer – much more than simply learning how to code. In addition to a variety of programming languages, I was given the opportunity to experience learning other skills that are sometimes overlooked in the industry. I learned the process and importance of proper planning, scheduling, and documentation. I learned how to communicate effectively with cross-discipline team members and external, non-technical parties. Finally, I learned to appreciate all cultures in society, which will lend itself to working happily with cross-cultural team members, as well as developing games that appeal to different or many cultures. I will carry all of these valuable lessons with me into my professional, and even personal, life.