Friday, December 16, 2011

The Path to Apple Certifications - Practice Tests, Studying, and Making the Decision to Do it!

In many cases a student may wonder if it is worth it to train for an Apple Certification or not. For anyone who is thinking about whether or not to work on getting your certificate, I do believe you should do it! The rewards immensely overshadows the risk. It can take time and effort to get ready for your certificate exam, nevertheless the end result is a certification that will help you to get a new job, elevate your income making potential, or possibly start up your own independent business. Listed here are some reasons why helping your Apple Certification is recommended.

You will learn something new. This would seem totally obvious, but occasionally people think they are fully aware almost everything you should know with regards to the certification area they're studying for. For instance, for someone preparing for the Apple Certification for the 10.7 platform, someone may assume that they are fully aware every little thing practical relevant to the operarting system. People will typically find out new things when learning for a certification. This new nugget you understand could make you more effective, enable you to create a awesome product, or allow you to trobleshoot and fix an issue that your enterprise has been having.

You are going to be a more significant worker. The economy remains in a very tough spot, and staff will need every advantage they can get. An Apple Certification will not only express your understanding to your employer, it will likewise improve your ability to be an resource towards the business that you work for. When faced with cutting positions or scaling back salaries a certification will solidify you as a valuable employee and someone that is worth keeping around.

You are going to start (or remain) your journey of continued discovery. One of the most thing that people can do in life is to regularly be mastering. If you are working in the modern technology business you will know the sector is continually morphing. The only method stay on top of the changes would be to continually learn. Apple continues to get share of the market and get more individuals in the business realm. Continued educating is one of many most important steps you can take to stay relevant in the modern technology realm.

It’s true. It’s demanding to take moments to look into the education and studying needed to get your Apple Certifications. But, invest the small steps and practice a little day after day, you can easily arrive at your objective of getting an Apple Certified Professional. Start out immediately!

I'd suggest starting with free practice exams and studying material. If you decide you'd really like to take the next step, you can venture into the realm of paid material.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Storyboarding a Video Game

For more on video game design, visit Video Game Design HQ.

Many people don't realize the intense amount of work that goes into the design and development of a video game. One of the often forgotten stages in the video game design process is the storyboarding phase.

Whether you're considering creating an iPhone app, a complicated game for the Xbox or Playstation, or a basic video game with simple code, the storyboarding process is essential. One of the main reasons the storyboarding process is so important for video game design is because it helps you think an idea all the way through.

Often times a designer can assume they have all of the game elements in their head, but when it's put onto paper they quickly realize that certain elements are missing. Here is a simple overview of what you should do when storyboarding for first video game.

Consider first the overall all game idea or concept. What the will the goal of the game be? Who the protagonist and antagonist of the game be? In general, what would you like the beginning and end of the game to look like?

After considering the high level concept for the game you should next sit down and create an outline of the story of the game. In the previous step you considered how you want the game to begin and end. In this step you take time to consider what happens in between the beginning and the end. You can think of this stage as creating the "levels" of a game. How do you want the main character to develop through the game and finally reach the end point you originally envisioned.

During this phase you should take time to sketch out what some of the scenes or levels might look like and take notes on the characters that might be developed during each scene or level. It's important to keep in mind that all games might not have drastic changes from level to level. However, even a simple iPhone app can have a story line that changes as the game advances (think of the iOS app Angry Birds as an example of this).

Check out this YouTube video as an example of the extensive Storyboarding that Pixar does in order to prepare for one of there movies. This scene wasn't even used in the movie!


The goal of storyboarding a video game is do a little extra work in the beginning in order to save a lot of wasted time later on. Think about how much easier it is to sketch out a picture vs. programming a design concept into a computer. If you make mistakes in the video game design process, you want to make sure this happens as soon as possible so time isn't wasted down the line.

For more information on video game design, check out this site.