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Perspective
Apr. 16th, 2010 06:19 pmEvery once in a while, I need perspective. I've spent most of this week either laying on the couch trying to concentrate on stuff (and failing and just playing AstroEngineer) while my back spasms, or staring at stats and numbers and trying to make them make sense to people that are Not Me. As the only engineer working full-time at my company, I am in a constant state of translation (programmers, educational designers, grant writers, business and finance people ALL have different vocabularies) and sometimes this means a lot of repetitive tasks to make it all come out right.
So after a spasm in my back today made it so I couldn't sit at my desk, I came home, sat on the couch, and watched a couple TED talks. And it gave me some perspective.
When you're in the middle of something, focused on your little piece, you sometimes forget how awesome things are in the bigger picture. Maybe it's just my ability to be optimistic again, to think Epically or something, but it kind of hit me what my company just created. We just made a 3D immersive racing-style game that teaches engineering and science concepts. Over a hundred kids have played it now, and my current headache is going to help us figure out whether it did actually teach something, and how kids played it.
But really, it's the simple fact that it has been created that amazes me. See, the whole VALP platform idea started 3 years ago, right around when I got hired. It was just a grant awarded by the NSF to explore gaming and STEM (science technology engineering mathematics) concepts. I spent that first summer reading and learning and developing the first clunky (they were clunky, I mean, I was an engineering student, not a game designer XD) examples, which we made in Flash. Yes, as in the stuff you see on annoying ads on websites. Our first game was a basic Robot Shot, which you were trying to hit a target and you got to see the path it took and got to adjust the angle and initial velocity (it was teaching basic kinematics).
And today? We have an actual game that a couple hundred students got to test out in their class over this week. And something must have worked, because the organization we partnered with for distribution wants to give it to 6000 teachers next year. Next year. Three years ago I was scratching my head to make a really stupid edutainment model into something fun.
This is big!
And we're not a big company. Ten years ago when I first came in contact with this company it was in one room, with card tables and big CRT monitors and lots of shenanigans. It was someone's graduate thesis.
What fucking awesome times we live in. When I think about my coworkers, I have to start thinking about the awesome friends I have, and all the potential there. It almost makes me want to start some seriously crazy side projects. I mean, when I think about the things my friends do on WoW or in fandom or things they can create, papers they're writing, stories they're sharing, I am just... I feel like times may be better for dreamers.
So, I guess, thanks for being awesome, dudes. Keep up being awesome. We can do so much more.
Apologies for the cheese, I am having an overwhelmed by awesome moment.
So after a spasm in my back today made it so I couldn't sit at my desk, I came home, sat on the couch, and watched a couple TED talks. And it gave me some perspective.
When you're in the middle of something, focused on your little piece, you sometimes forget how awesome things are in the bigger picture. Maybe it's just my ability to be optimistic again, to think Epically or something, but it kind of hit me what my company just created. We just made a 3D immersive racing-style game that teaches engineering and science concepts. Over a hundred kids have played it now, and my current headache is going to help us figure out whether it did actually teach something, and how kids played it.
But really, it's the simple fact that it has been created that amazes me. See, the whole VALP platform idea started 3 years ago, right around when I got hired. It was just a grant awarded by the NSF to explore gaming and STEM (science technology engineering mathematics) concepts. I spent that first summer reading and learning and developing the first clunky (they were clunky, I mean, I was an engineering student, not a game designer XD) examples, which we made in Flash. Yes, as in the stuff you see on annoying ads on websites. Our first game was a basic Robot Shot, which you were trying to hit a target and you got to see the path it took and got to adjust the angle and initial velocity (it was teaching basic kinematics).
And today? We have an actual game that a couple hundred students got to test out in their class over this week. And something must have worked, because the organization we partnered with for distribution wants to give it to 6000 teachers next year. Next year. Three years ago I was scratching my head to make a really stupid edutainment model into something fun.
This is big!
And we're not a big company. Ten years ago when I first came in contact with this company it was in one room, with card tables and big CRT monitors and lots of shenanigans. It was someone's graduate thesis.
What fucking awesome times we live in. When I think about my coworkers, I have to start thinking about the awesome friends I have, and all the potential there. It almost makes me want to start some seriously crazy side projects. I mean, when I think about the things my friends do on WoW or in fandom or things they can create, papers they're writing, stories they're sharing, I am just... I feel like times may be better for dreamers.
So, I guess, thanks for being awesome, dudes. Keep up being awesome. We can do so much more.
Apologies for the cheese, I am having an overwhelmed by awesome moment.