I'm Andy, a freshman at DHS. I enjoy reading, writing, and playing the violin. I also enjoy running, and am a member of the Cross Country team here in Darien. I originally thought that my project would revolve around writing, since it has always been a passion of mine. However, after some thought, I decided that I would feel more accomplished developing a new skill than refining a pre-existing one. It is for this reason that I decided upon my current project.

My Project

For my project I decided to learn the coding language C#, and use this knowledge to create games and simulations inside of the program Unity. I also plan to document the process along the way, and post the downloads to the completed projects here on the Achievers Program website. I have very limited experience with coding, so much of this field is completely new to me, but what I have decided is to make limited use of online tutorials. What I found while researching and experimenting with coding is that when I followed an online tutorial I retained very little knowledge. Once I followed every instruction and had a completed project, I found I couldn't replicate any of it by memory. It was in my research that I came across another person that had my same issue. They strongly recommended learning by experimentation, and not by the exact dictation of a person on the internet. So far I have found this method to work better than any other, and I now feel much more accomplished.

End of year reflection/Advice for future students

Overall, I'm proud of what I accomplished over the year. Like many others in the project the goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the year were larger than I could have reasonably accomplished, but I believe having a goal that is too large is better than having a goal that is too small as it can be easily scaled back. With a goal that is too small much of the project often has to be reworked in order for you to feel accomplished by the end of the year, but with a larger project you can just eliminate some unnecessary parts and work on the larger project. On achievers night I presented a demo of my game and showed people how changes in the code affected the game. One of the things that made my presentation successful was the interactive demo that people could use. It gave them something interesting to play around with while also serving as a great way to explain the project, as I would change parts of the code so they could see the effects one small number can have on a game. For new students to the Achievers program I would recommend choosing a project that gives you plenty to do (as I mentioned earlier you can always scale back your project). I would also recommend keeping the end of year presentation in mind as you work on your project throughout the year. This really helped me put the Achievers night presentation together as I had been thinking about what I would do for a while beforehand.

Mini Goal #4

My fourth Mini Goal was more of a research and adaptation portion of the project. I made many decisions on what my game would be, where it would be made, etc. In the end, I decided while I would use the Modrokkr software, I would put most of my efforts into making a game with Unity. This decision was made because I already understand Unity on a certain level, whereas Modrokkr is brand new to me. Making the main game that I plan to present in Unity would allow for me to make a more polished end product.

Mini goal #3

For my third Mini Goal I originally intended to begin work on my final game. After meeting with my mentor however, I ended up changing much of my project following his suggestions. He explained to me that creating a game using a game engine such as Unity doesn't teach you the coding language, but instead how to use the game engine. He recommended that I don't use Unity, and instead create my game using a different language, Lua (as opposed to C#). As of now, my new project is to create a game using Lua, and publish it with Modrokkr (a software developed by my mentor that functions as a cloud-publishing service).

Mini Goal #2

For my second Mini Goal I created 2 test projects that helped me understand the Unity engine and its functionalities. I created both a 2D "Flappy bird" style game as well as a 3D program that allowed you to control a character in first person. I will soon add links to these programs onto the website so that you can try them out in order to see my progress.

Mini GOal #1

My first "Mini Goal" was simple, to get a basic understanding of the programming language "C#" as well as the functionalities of the Unity software. After some initial research I even began to experiment in the program as afore mentioned. I am proud of my progress so far, however I look forward to what I can accomplish in the upcoming weeks.