Greetings To 2017

2016 became a meme for being bad but despite everything that happened I still think 2016 was a fantastic year. I wish I had made set of resolutions for 2016 as a good way to remember what exactly I wanted out of the year. Here I am, enjoying a comfortable night in Cambridge and thought it would be a good idea to write out some resolutions for the highly anticipated 2017.

How A Programmer Deals With Depression

It is (or was) World Mental Health Day. For many people, this will be a day to see mental health as a problem 'over there' that does not and will never affect them. I used to be one of those people who saw it this way. I always appreciated the seriousness of the issue but never imagined it affecting me. How can it? If it's something in my head then it can't really affect me. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, most of all when focusing on the errors in the past. If I wrote about all my mistakes in my blog then it wouldn't have months long gaps. No, this is about where I was in August, and where I am now in October.

Depression and Gamification

This isn't an easy topic. In fact, it's the hardest thing to think about let alone talk about. The very concept of depression is downright frightening if you consider yourself strong willed and stable. The reason why it's scary is it doesn't care about your strengths at all. It will tear all your defences down in seconds and leave you to cope with your darkest thoughts with a wall to climb each time you want to feel like yourself again. It is completely apathetic to what you want and can arrive at the very worst of times. It knows your every weakness including the ones you ignore.

What's This About A Development Society?

With ComSoc having the AGM soon I thought it be important to say I will not be going for the Game Development Coordinator role next year. Instead, I’m going to be building a whole new society on the role. The reasons why I think that’s a good idea take a bit longer to explain. In true computer science style I’ve decided to make a blog about it. So here are a list of reasons I think it’s a good idea. If you’re a computer science student and/or someone in the university interested in making games, please read on. People who aren't into making games but are into making software please read the * at the bottom. Also, I have added animal gifs.

Global Game Jam - From Failure to Success

Two years ago had a big moment for me. It was the first time I had the opportunity to not write about success and how great everything is in University. Instead it was about failure, which is something no one likes to talk about but has plenty to learn from. What I’m talking about is the Global Game Jam 2014 blog post where I made a list of the essentials in a game jam. Now in 2016, I want to see what I still agree with and have taken to heart, what didn’t matter to me and what new things I have learned.

First off, Global Game Jam 2016 went really well for me and my team. We placed first locally with a small, mostly newcomer, but still dedicated group of contestants. Before I speak any more about me and my team I think everyone at the Hull site did amazing work and my respect goes out to the Hull College team who persisted. Well done to all. If you'd like to see the game check it out at the Global Game Jam page.