Learning out of necessity is the best way to learn new things fast

I just finished my newest game related experiment in another "music video game" This time for Wasteful- this took a couple days working part time-

What I aimed to learn with this was third person character controls- I did that a little bit with the Cold Pizza music video but this one has a biped character running around, jumping, and attacking- something my other project didn't have-

These projects are not polished or optimized as thats something I'll learn later- I just want to get some practice with the basics first-

If you want to learn something new and fast- take on completing a project that in order to complete will REQUIRE you acquire the new skills you desire- if you complete it you WILL learn-

Learning through tutorials is great too BUT for me its more difficult to make that stuff stick- watching someone else do it is one thing- going through the motion of doing it yourself- knowing WHY and HOW you're doing what you're doing is the most effective way of learning in my experience-

I learned a TON of stuff in my ten years making animated feature films- each film I would add on something new to learn- a new skill or ability I wanted to add to my arsenal-

I didn't learn all there is to making cg films but I have MUCH more to learn in the world of game development than I do in the world of filmmaking- having said that I can still use and practice my filmmaking skills in my upcoming serious game projects-

I'll probably never return to the world of film- I made three features on my own- I did what I wanted to do and I'm proud of it- pure film doesn't excite me anymore-

Speaking of films-

I met with Endika, the composer of my 2012 film Heart String Marionette a few days ago-

I pitched him the concept/story for my first serious 3d adventure game-

He loved it and jumped on board the project so we're working together again starting now- I've only been working on it for about 2 weeks so we'll be developing it together from here on out-

 I told him a little bit about what is possible with music creation/performance in a game environment with some friendly state machines and he was SUPER stoked to build some scripted live performances- when I told him about if/then statements and how to set variables and how they could be used to create interactivity with music in a game live -well I haven't seen him that excited in years ^_^

I'm SUPER excited about the game project we're collaborating on- I'll release the title/concept art and details about it as soon as I have it all on paper-

I've been playing games since I was a kid on an Atari 2600- so I've been into games from the start- I'm looking forward to throwing my hat in the ring and showing the world what I can do in the game space ^_^

A lot of people have asked me to make straight horror games- those will come in time- but for my big projects it has to mean something more to me- trying to scare people doesn't ignite my passion- but trying to move people and ignite their passion is what does it for me- so thats the kind of stuff I'll continue doing-