Beat the Blocker!
Day Ten Home Run @gamedevhq
GameDevHQ interns refer to them as “blockers”. Probably a sports analogy, in any case, blockers prevent the developer from moving forward while building a game. Trust me, there are plenty. Why? Computers only do what they are instructed to do, the instructions are code. We developers are the privileged creators. Remember, garbage in, garbage out.
Monday morning 6:30am bases loaded starting my first line of code. I stepped up to the plate and took a swing at installing Virtual Studio for MAC yet again to eliminate those pesky quirks and errors. MAC was rejecting the download it deemed foreign yelling “boo” from the bleachers. With no desire to be sent down to the minors, the Google community is scoured for tips to identify the blocker.
Armed with the knowledge of a rookie but with the determination of Babe Ruth, I know full well troubleshooting proper installation on MAC is one of deduction and problem solving. Sometimes this requires patience when terminology requires a search. Time to clock in…
… Sign in to Slack homebase only to learn I’m selected team-f lead. Timely encouragement for a professional cutting new careers treads! After meeting with my new awesome team-f and again with all team-leads, I’m in the queue for two of GameDev’s pinch hitters — 9:30 Dan and Austin hop on the call to troubleshoot the block. With desktop shared I discover I pulled up a Virtual Studio notepad — really? OK, Let’s click on system preferences, then over to external tools… Oh, I see, I didn’t check the box, built-in packages. Now checked under external tools is: Local Packages, Embedded packages and Editor attaching too! Reinstall.
Go back, double click on player in the projects arena and boom. Virtual Studio pops up but this time MonoBehavior errors. A Unity specific command. Being the stickler for editing, I noticed Unity tosses in an extra “u” where the English Language uses no “u”. Bingo, problem solved. Add that “u” back in spelling “Monobehaviour” and for goodness sake save it. Error gone.
Confidence exudes from the GameDevHQ pros, Jonathan & Al and top performers. Somehow the team has found the best of the best, no bad actors, all with a desire to allow self problem-solving until we’ve hit an absolute productivity block. Then, in they fly to save the game.
These are the moments where inner determination is pulled up from within. Believe anything is possible even when hard, we’ve got what it takes. None of this: “For goodness sake, its been ten days, you should have nailed this”. The key is daily steady progress, with a realization that all interns began right where I am. Before you know it, it will all click together and we beginners will be well on our way to grasping this new fascinating language so to produce compelling games and more for the masses. We’re preparing ourselves to meet market demand!
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