Aquma

Yo, I finally feel like I’m at that point in my game-design practice where I can make the cool shit that’s in my head and it’s actually kinda good. I know what I know how to make, and I can design around that. It feels so good. I’ve been on this game-making hustle for like 2.5 years now. I’ve loved the ideas I had for games at first (stick-shift driving sim, a pot-smoking VR couch-sitting sim), but it was so frustrating trying to make them because I would get stuck trying to figure out the software, or how to understand code I would look up (don’t get me started on forums), or how to even go about making digital game experiences. But now I have a groove that I’ve found, and opinions and philosophies that I’m naturally developing that might be worth sharing. 

This message to creative people from Ira Glass got me through grad school.

I still have so many things I need to learn and improve on, but I know enough now to really express myself. It’s such a rush. So much so, I roll up to USC for like 12-13 hours/day to work on it. It’s obvs not all working time. It’s split among eating, lifting, meetings, and socializing, etc. But I try to really focus and keep putting the time in. You realize how much of a difference it makes to put time and effort into anything, but especially with creative work. Making games is a sport and needs to be approached in a competitive athlete type of way. Not in a compete against other people type of way, but in a balanced training for a marathon type of way.

The weird thing is it doesn’t feel like a grind. And I think that’s because when you genuinely love what you’re doing, it’s not work. What more could I ask for?

Project: Code Glitches, Get Money (tentative name)

This on-rails floater is a prototype I made for my upcoming thesis. It’s part of a larger performance piece where the game is projected onto the wall. My DJ plays through it, sending low-poly gold man (who is supposed to represent me) through the air collecting money. While this is happening, I rap about making games for money and the various things I would do with the cash . There’s more to it than that, but that’s all I can share for now! 

Play in browser (don’t use Chrome).

Playtime, an Oculus Rift-enhanced interactive music video. By Aquma, Zekia, and Ascot Smith 

We made this for a group project in Interactive Design and Production 1 at USC last year. We had some trouble in the first part of the development process. We wanted to make an interactive music video with virtual reality and a narrative...and it was looking like none of those. We shifted gears more than halfway through the production schedule (12 weeks), cutting things and retooling, and ended up with something not that bad!

For this project I did programming, some 3D modeling, sound effects and music, and game design. 

-Aquma

Throw your hands in the air, and wave 'em like you just don't care. It'll put digital paint on the wall! I made this using Processing and LEAP Motion. It's hard to draw things precisely, but it feels good to make a mess. No cleanup required! 

-Aquma

badGlitches( );

Download/play in browser (Give it a min to load. Mac OSX: use Firefox/Safari)

I made a game! It's more of a sitting simulator than a walking sim. 1 minute of gameplay, 2 endings. 

The title and handwritten code are vague references to the Rae Sremmurd song "No Type" (an instrumental version plays in the background). At least that's how the project started. It ended up becoming an allegory for the growth of my game dev practice. I felt constricted before. I unintentionally wrote stuff that didn't work (glitches). Then I got better, and now I write glitches that do work on purpose. Or something like that. Hope you enjoy it!