Author: Briana M. Andrews

Creative thinking content creator, photographer and filmmaker. Staunch advocate for diversity and representation in television and film.

Certificate of Appreciation, Merry Christmas from INSPI

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Biography, Personal

This past weekend I attended a Christmas Party / Potluck at INSPIMIND.  I completed a Video Production / Multimedia Internship with them this past summer.  I drove all the way up from Glassboro to Paterson during finals week to bring my Guyanese Chow Mein dish.   As expected, I had a total blast and I commend this organization because I identify with their mission and will continue to support the cause.  To my surprise, both the Outreach & Retention Team, and the Programming & Research Team awarded me with Certificates of Appreciation.  Happy Holidays!

  • Certificate of Appreciation Received from Programming & Research Team and Outreach & Retention Team

Unity3D, Semester Reflection – RTF 03394 – New Media Production

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Personal

Over the past few weeks, I looked into the various ways Unity3D has been used in the industry.  One of the things I found most appealing and interesting about the possibilities and uses of this platform is mobile technology.  Unity3D accounts for 50% of mobile games.

Check out this clip of my first rodeo in Unity.  This game is unpublished, still a work in progress and I’m still learning how to use the game engine.  I call this game “Runna Boy.”  Eventually, I’ll work on developing an infinite runner game (think Subway Surfers and Temple Run).  This New Media Production course was great overall, because in addition to working my usual Adobe Apps (Premiere Pro,PhotoShop), I was able to delve into Fuse, Mixamo, Unity and work in HTML tocreate an interactive narrative.

DRAFT – Runna Boy Subway Jamal Unity 3D Game – Unpublished

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Assignments, New Media Production

Please note, the game “Runna Boy Jamal Subway” is no longer being submitted as my final project.  Rather, this is a display of my progress in creating the game.  This process is very time consuming and I couldn’t complete within the time confines of the semester.  My final, an interactive HTML narrative created on Wix along with partner, Chris Rivera is here.

This video shows me playing the game on the backend.  Initially, I thought I’d be able to use a standalone player or export for play and publishing through Google Drive or DropBox.  However, I recently learned they discontinued that functionality.  I registered for an account on Wooglie, a Unity 3D game portal.  However, you have to complete a process of being accepted as a developer before you can publish.  Ultimately, the semester is ending and I am running out of time to complete the Unity game.  You won’t be able to see it in final form, but through this screen grab video, you can see my progress.

 

 

Final Project – Reflection & Conclusion

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Assignments, New Media Production

Working on the final project was a tremendous learning experience.  Ultimately, I wasn’t able to get the Unity game to my satisfaction (good thing I had a contingency plan).  I am not sure how to post the game because DropBox no longer lets users render HTML content.  I would like to share so my peers can view my progress and provide feedback, however, I feel like it is somewhat glitchy as a standalone export.  I worked on this roughly 2 weeks and worked solo on it.   With additional time I can make a solid mobile game using the Unity engine.

I worked on an Interactive HTML Narrative with partner Chris Rivera and we developed “Last Call.”  The most important factor was ensuring functionality, appropriate images, and a story line that is easy to follow, and relatable to our target audience.  In this HTML story, the user makes selections to help the character Ariel Combs get to class on time.  It was hard figuring out what things did at first, but once I got in the pattern and learned how to navigate using the Wix platform, it was easy and straight-forward.

Final Project – Progress & Challenges

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Assignments, New Media Production

I am going through the process of creating the road, environment and character.  The final product should have one button play to start.  I am trying to develop a basic game.  I am still toying with ideas for a name.

This process is actually harder than I thought.  It’s very time consuming and challenging, especially in a time crunch.  Some developers work on projects for months, even years before publishing.  I have been reading articles, watching videos and spending hours trying to configure what will ultimately be a quite basic game.  I will figure out how to publish on a website, since I won’t be able to display a mobile interface to the class.

Unity 3D: Final Project Proposal & Game Idea

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Assignments

I started to develop a game in Unity 3D.  I wasn’t familiar with the game development engine prior to doing research for this class, but I was astonished to learn about half of the existing mobile games were developed using this platform.  I’ll admit I am still toying with the idea of doing a narrative, and possibly even finding a partner. However, as of right now … I am moving forward solo with my game idea.

I will have a lot of work over the next couple weeks familiarizing myself with the interface and developing a functional game.  I am working on creating am arcade-type, endless racing (or infinite runner) game.  This will feature simple gameplay and one motive: to keep going.  I’d like to make it colorful and fun.  I am still trying to figure out to how implement a character and so forth. There are several apps that are comparable, such as Minion Rush, Temple Run and Subway Surfers.  Nonetheless, I am looking forward to gaining proficiency in this platform and can imagine loads of future uses.

Project Snapshot:

  • Working Solo
  • Using Unity
  • Infinite Runner model
  • Building visual design elements in Photoshop

Feel free to share insight with how you feel about my idea.  I am reading through peer blogs and can see quite a few interesting proposals.  Best of luck to you all, I am eager to see what you all come up with.

Interactive Projects: Skill Development – New Media Production RTF 03394 [Sampler]

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Portfolio

Below, please find an interactive project new media sampler consisting of snippets from projects completed this semester.  I am completing both Post-Production and New Media Production with Professor Erika Tsuchiya.  For those courses, the method of submission includes an separate class EduBlog (visit my temporary class site here), and heavy use of private Google Docs portals.

I am excited about using Adobe Animate, Mixamo, Adobe Fuse, MIT Scratch and Unity3D.  Before this course, I had no idea almost 50% of mobile games are developed using Unity.

HW – Research Review – Unity3D

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Assignments, New Media Production

Unity is the creator of the world’s most widely used real-time 3D development platform.  Over the week, I looked into the various ways Unity3D has been used in the industry.  The first version of Unity was created in Denmark and launched in 2005.  The creators were determined to generate an affordable game engine for amateur game developers.  Several major versions of Unity have been released since its launch, the engine can be used to create simulations, as well as 2D and 3D games.  The platform gives developers around the world technology working with the likes of Facebook, Google, and Microsoft for the latest releases.  It offers an easy workflow, simple asset pipeline, and drag-and-drop interface of Apple’s Final Cut Pro product.

One of the things I find most appealing and interesting about the possibilities and uses of this platform is mobile technology.  Unity3D accounts for 50% of mobile games – Source: https://unity3d.com/public-relations.  There are hundreds of games, and some of the ones I recognized include Angry Birds 2, Angry Birds Epic, Sonic Dash and Pokemon Go.

Basketball Bust -About Me [Scratch MIT]

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Assignments, New Media Production

Check out one of the animated interactive story I created on Scratch.  On the attached link, click on the green flag to start the script.  Or, you can view it in action by clicking PLAY on the video below.  I’ll be sure to share some other creations and provide feedback on the Scratch creations from my peers.

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/260476214/