This past week, everything seems to be coming together; I am getting in a better routine at work, I am working more efficiently with my colleagues, and I don’t feel like “the new guy” anymore.

After a couple days of looking through the code the team had already written, I finally became acquainted enough with the environment to start writing some of my own. Even so, it is quite difficult to step into a project mid-way and understand how all of the parts of code work together.

We are using a game development platform called Unity 3D that provides a foundation for a 3-dimensional environment. I had no experience with it, so I was not only getting familiar with the code (the scripts in C# that attach to Unity), I was figuring out how to work in Unity. I quickly came to appreciate the power of the platform. It has a built-in physics simulator that takes collisions and gravity (among other things) into account. In this way, we can focus on making the actual game-user interaction without spending too much time on uninteresting, yet essential, aspects of the environment.

On Wednesday and Thursday, I spent some time testing the track editor that has been implemented. I tried to imagine worst-case scenarios; you can never count on players to behave in a certain way, so we have to build the scripts in a way that allows for maximum flexibility and entertainment (for the player) while maintaining predictable structure in the code. Below is an example of a bug that I found in the track builder; to find it, I had to split the track into four different segments and changed their directions. Ideally, the editor would register that the two parts were of different widths and not allow the connection.

When I find bugs, I usually discuss them with the Bruno (the principal developer for the game). Sometimes we immediately know what will need to change in the code to adjust for the behavior, and other times it takes hours to even understand the exact nature of the problem.

Back at Casa do Campus, as at Rockhead, things seem to be falling into place. There was talk throughout the week about a day trip to Gramado and Canela, two cities in the mountains about an hour away, with heavy Bavarian influence. About twenty people from Casa do Campus ended up renting cars for the day on Saturday. Nathalie and I were in a car with a Bruno (French), Isabela (Brazilian), and Rodrigo (Brazilian). We left very early on Saturday morning, and drove straight to a café (Café Colonial) that Nathalie’s coworkers had highly recommended.

I was in no way expecting what was to come. We sat down and the waiters started bringing out plate after plate of food. There were typical cheeses, breads, jellies and jams, sausages, pastries, cakes, pies, waffles… Anything you could think of. We all agreed, however, that one of the best parts of the meal was the suco de uva (grape juice). We finished one jar after the other, and (somewhat jokingly) asked if we could buy some to go. We walked (waddled?) out the door more than full. bit ready for a full day.

We headed for an adventure park up in the mountains. It looked out over a beautiful valley. We rode a rail sled that wound down the mountain and through the forest and took in the warm, gentle sun. Going with the flow, we made quick decision to visit some cataracts in a state park nearby. It was absolutely breathtaking. We ventured down closer to the water and followed the river a bit before making our way back and meeting up with other people from Casa do Campus.

The drive back at night to Porto Alegre bunched up in a small car all together was a warm way to close out a fun-filled day and a motivating work week.