Musiquestria is back for a second year! And what's more, the fun has been DOUBLED!

The premiere MLP music tour is raising funds for not one, but TWO tours this summer. The coast which raises more money after the month-long crowdfunding phase will be awarded with exclusive prizes at every concert, and the more money we raise, the more epic pony concerts we can create!

For more information and to show your support, check out the links below, and be sure to donate to the tour funding page of your choice. Every dollar helps!

Keep an eye out for more fun tidbits on your favorite social networks as we ramp up for another awesome year. To contact the tour directly, please email musiquestria@gmail.com.

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Walk north.

So, school. About that. Two quarters completed and what in way of games do I have to show for it? Nothing.

Well, not quite nothing. I did have to learn how to program first, and the only experience I had prior to college was some MIT course videos on Python and a few late nights reading up on C++. Now I'm starting fresh with a completely new language, Java.

I'm rather pleased with this, actually. You might think that starting off with anything other than a C derivative would be counterproductive to game programming, but we all have to start somewhere! In fact, a significant chunk of the industry, especially with web and phone development, uses Java quite successfully. Plus it's just a fantastic first language to wrap your head around.

Two successful quarters completed top-o-the-class, minus one slight lapse in memory regarding the very last assignment -- I will be kicking myself for years because of it -- and I finally feel confident enough to venture out into the wilderness. I must admit that I floundered at first. It feels like all the beginning game programming tutorials out there assume you know how to create a basic game. That's what I'm trying to figure out! ARGHH!!

Nonetheless, I retreated to the most reliable safe haven around for game developers, gamedev.net. I heavily recommend hanging around this place if you're trying to start yourself off as an indie developer or attempting to wedge into the industry in any way. They're quite a superb resource for everything on the topic.

Eventually I decided to jump right into C# programming using Microsoft's XNA Game Studio 4.0 and the free software pack that they have available here, which includes Visual Studio 2010 Express and all the framework needs. This will probably be outdated soon enough, but that's the way to go right now.

Aaaaaanyway.. that just about catches you up to my slow progress. Winter quarter here was a slam, so not much happened (thus the months of nothingness here). I have a relatively light load here for the spring, including an unfortunate lack of Computer Science classes, so expect more happenings!

Your journey begins here.

I'm going to be the next big game developer.

What? Oh, I suppose that is a tad large for an initial goal, but why not? It's been a passion of mine since I opened up my first Game Boy Color, stuck in Pokemon Blue, and lost myself in the 2.6" screen for the next year or so of my life. This was only intensified after the Christmas of my first console -- my beloved Nintendo 64. Years passed while games came into and went out of my possession. I hold my favorites high and shove the rest under my bed not to see the light of day again.

I don't even play that often for a kid my age. I tend to fall back into nostalgic patterns and shun the overpriced, innovative games of the new generation. It takes a special effort to jump back into the past and launch titles from before my time. I have a note on my phone listing all the games I 'need' to buy and play dating back to the first Bioshock release. Another lists the classics that I never touched. Mega Man? Final Fantasy? Sonic the Hedgehog? Super Mario Bros.?!

Clearly I'm not anywhere close to knowledgeable enough to hope to understand the forces behind great gaming. I don't deserve to add my thoughts into such a massive entertainment industry.

....

No, my ego can't handle that for an answer. I've made my decision. Earlier this evening I happened upon a seminar listed for current undergraduate students majoring in Computer Science, thinking it would be an educational use for my open afternoon. All I knew prior to attending was it would feature "representatives from large and small local high-tech companies [to] provide an overview of the job search and internship process..."

Blah, blah, blah. An hour of my life -- whatev~

One representative was Tam Armstrong, Animation Engineer at Bungie.

Huh? Yeah, that Bungie. After the panel I went up to Tam and discussed the video game industry with more depth. It is him I thank for sparking my mind back into full focus. 40 minutes later my mind buzzed with suppressed ideas from the past. I now realize how much potential I have in front of me. A university with a wealth of programming knowledge, websites rich with dev tools and tutorials, libraries upon libraries of documented coding books and gaming guides -- all within easy access. I'm ready to start this for real.


That was earlier today. Now I write. I write for anyone to read; I write for my own self-reflection; I write to keep a log of my progression. I write because I need an outlet for my passion for video games whilst my developing skills.. develop.

Want to join for the ride? Come aboard!