Final Journal Entry

With the capstone festival just two days away, this post marks my final journal entry. Reflecting upon the past two years, I think what strikes me the most is just how fast those two years went. I remember Dr. Tao telling us at the beginning of the CS Online program that the next two years would be a busy affair, but that it would ultimately fly by. He was definitely telling the truth.

I have learned a great deal since the start of the program. At the program’s onset, my computer science knowledge amounted to basic programming, and some various skills gained from my hobbyist projects. With that in mind, the following lists some of the classes I have taken over the past two years:

• CST 338: Software Design
• CST 363: Database Management
• CST 334: Operating Systems
• CST 311: Introduction to Computer Networking
• CST 336: Internet Programming
• CST 370: Algorithms
• CST 328: Digital Art and Design
• CST 383: Introduction to Data Science
• CST 438: Software Engineering

After reviewing this catalog, and reflecting on my initial skillset when starting the program, it is safe to say my computer science repertoire has grown tremendously.

My path going forward is somewhat undetermined. That said, I am excited to have come this far, and am looking forward to what the future brings.

Logging off,

Jake

Capstone Project Update 7

What project milestones did you accomplish this week?

Last week was mainly spent implementing bug fixes for issues reported during user group testing, and preparing for the capstone festival. Progress towards objectives included some refinement of search map editing, including the addition of a brush-size slider.

What is your plan for next week? 

The capstone festival takes place next week. As such, any work still taking place on the project will be confined to bug fixes. Most of my time will be spent preparing for the capstone festival.

What challenges, if any, are you currently facing in project development?

No significant challenges were encountered during the past week.

Capstone Project Update 6

What project milestones did you accomplish this week?

Over the past week I mainly worked on polishing existing features, and fixing bugs in anticipation for user testing. These fixes included some slowdown issues regarding the rendering of specific object types, and general edge-case fixes for the editor.

What is your plan for next week? 

Next week is the final week of development before the capstone festival. As such, I plan to continue making finishing touches, and will generally prioritize improving program stability and reliability.

What challenges, if any, are you currently facing in project development?

No significant challenges were encountered during the past week.

Capstone Project Update 5

What project milestones did you accomplish this week?

As anticipated, with the application's foundation completed, last week's work represented significant progress towards the completion of the project. WED / polygon editing is finished, along with much of the area editing functionality regarding actors / containers / doors / traps.

What is your plan for next week? 

I plan to finish up the application's core features next week, as well as release a pre-release version to testers to gather feedback. Development is entering its final phase, with milestone completion / polishing touches being the primary objectives.

What challenges, if any, are you currently facing in project development?

No significant challenges were encountered during the past week.

Capstone Project Update 4

What project milestones did you accomplish this week?

Last week primarily consisted of implementing an efficient way to handle rendering / interacting with objects in the editor's viewport. With that capability now in place, progress towards the final deliverable is anticipated to accumulate quickly moving forward.

What is your plan for next week? 

With the core capabilities necessary for area editing completed, the next couple of weeks will be dedicated to completing the remaining milestone objectives, running user tests, and polishing existing features.

What challenges, if any, are you currently facing in project development?

Last week's development time dealt with fixing weaknesses in the program's core code. Now that this aspect has been improved, work towards finalizing the project can begin.

Capstone Project Update 3

What project milestones did you accomplish this week?

Last week I implemented the ability to view and edit area polygons, as well as the ability to overlay / modify the positions of certain area object types, such as creatures.

What is your plan for next week? 

The goal for next week is to complete several core area editing features, such as tiled object creation, height map / light map / search map editing, etc.

What challenges, if any, are you currently facing in project development?

The implementation of area editing features has highlighted some weaknesses in the program's core code, which has caused some development time to be shifted away from implementing new features, and towards improving this core code.

Capstone Project Update 2

What project milestones did you accomplish this week?

Last week I completed the ability to export data ingested by the program back into file formats that the Infinity Engine can read, along with some basic editing functionality to test this capability.

What is your plan for next week? 

The goal for next week is to make progress towards implementing a number of area editing features, such as wall group editing (drawing / manipulating polygons) and tiled object creation (objects that change between two states based on player interaction).

What challenges, if any, are you currently facing in project development?

Certain features are taking longer than anticipated to complete. The hope is that these difficulties will be overcome soon, and that the rate of progress increases in the following weeks.