GAM - 495 ePortfolio
by Jeffrey Byrum
My name is Jeffrey Byrum and I am finishing the Video Game Programming and Development program with Southern New Hampshire University. Through out my time with this program I have worked on and developed various projects. This portfolio includes four of the projects that I have created and refined. They will be my representation on some of the skills that I have learned over my time in this program.
Coming into this degree program I had no real knowledge or skill in the tools used to develop video games and animations. I have learned how to use various coding programs such as Python, C++, and HTML, different animating tools like Adobe Animate and 3DS Max, and video game development engines such as Unreal Engine. The projects in this portfolio show some of my work using these tools and programs. I now know so much more on what goes into video game development and I want to keep learning more. The goal would be learning what all goes into developing and maintaining an MMO like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV. I entered this program with the goal of someday getting a job with Blizzard and get the opportunity to work on big games that I love. I will have time and work to do until this can happen, but I continue to look forward to this journey.
I started this program during the 2020 pandemic which created time management issues. I went from having all the time in the world and taking multiple classes at one time, to then being back at work full time and only able to take one class at a time. My job can get exhausting or have weird schedules that sometimes I could only work on course work over the weekend, which would get stressful. Along the way I learned time management skills that worked for me to not get too overwhelmed or tired from too much extra work on the weekends. A perfect balance between work and school really helped in the end.
I have learned so much through my time with SNHU and this degree program that I look forward to taking out into a job using these skills. It has been an exciting process to learn more about video game development. I look forward to keep learning more and continue to practice and hone my skills.
Artifact #1 - 3D Animated Book
Photo of the work view from 3DS Max where this was developed.
Turntable video of the book starting in black and white and changing to color.
Simple animation of a page turning.
Artifact #2 - 2D Animation
This is a 2D animation of a wizard that needs to cross the hole in the path. A pile of stones can be seen held up by a plank of wood. The wizard shoots a fire ball at the target causing the plank to fall and the stones to fall down into the hole. This then allows the wizard to cross and leave the cave.
Photo of the work space in Adobe Animate where this was created. I drew the background and environment separately on uploaded it to Animate.
This video is the full animation.
Artifact #3 - Website
This is the Pasta Amore wediste developed using HTML.
This video shows the interactive buttons for the website and all of the full pages of the website.
These photos are of all of the webpages.
Artifact #4 - Fuzzy Farmer
This is a game named Fuzzy Farmer developed in Unreal Engine. The objective of the game is for the player to run around the map collecting fuzzies. The player will be given a specific number to collect. Once the given number is collected the game will end.
Photo of the work view in Unreal.
Photo of the game after pressing start.
Video of a full play of the game.
Photo of the Unreal blue prints for the fuzzies. This sets what happens when the player interacts with them, how they will effect the "objective" widget, and activating the "finish" widget once the objective has been completed.
