Until January

It's been almost three weeks since I last posted, but it feels like I only updated this yesterday. When I last wrote here, I was getting ready to present to make it past vertical slice and to take Spellbook Rush to the next level. I was scared and nervous that I would mess up, or that what we created would not be enough. That the project that my team and myself poured our lives into was going to be all for not. It was terrifying and I doubt I will ever forget it. 

I'm am glad to say that Spellbook Rush has made it through to next semester! Over the past few weeks we have spent time recovering, drafting members from teams that unfortunately did not make it through, and prepping materials for their on-boarding process. We have more then doubled in size going from 4 to 10, and I can't wait to see where our team will go from here. 

Beyond that, however, I want to talk about the game and the team behind it. I poured my soul into making this game work, and I asked my team members to do the same. To say that they followed me in that vein is an understatement. Each and every member poured all of their passion and love into this project, endlessly fussing over the smallest of details to make sure it was perfect, or as perfect as we could make it in the short time we had.

Emma's energy and talent was like an unstoppable wave throughout this project. The original idea that had sprouted in her head, rooted itself in the team, and she never let it go dry. In a project where artist are often criticized for not putting forth enough effort, she was the antithesis of that. Pushing farther on our project than any of her other work, we were the lucky recipients of her wealth of talent, as she pushed further then any of us could have ever asked or dreamed for. She was reliable, creative, and focused, and I'm proud to have had the pleasure to work with her.

Ryan kept our project grounded, polished, and technically agile. As always, he was determined in every task we gave him, hardly ever turning down an idea or possibility from a technical perspective. He made our lives easy, streamlining the design and art pipelines to a point where it was nearly plug-and-play. His work from a graphics end gave life to an otherwise static screen. He was, in many ways, the structure of the team, the skeleton to the teams body.

When we were putting the team together, we had myself, Ryan, and Emma. We had no idea who might be added, and there was a small fear that we would have to simply carry the person added. When Winston was added, we no longer had to worry. Winston immediately meshed well with our style, our ideas, and our group as a whole. He has added engaging systems, developed all of the levels in our game, and been a bright spot on the team since the beginning. He has been professional, skillful, and engaging to work with throughout.

And to complete this entry, I simply want to say how proud I am of what we have made. We spent so much time working on the game, and it is truly something that I believe can be great. I have always been a very harsh critic of myself because I want to be regarded as great by my peers and by those around me. With this project, I truly believe that I can look at the work that we have done and call it great.