Undergraduate / My grandpa's love for art & photograpy/ Princeton Supp - Person who influenced you? [5]

Hi guys,
Can you guys help provide me some feedback (constructive criticisms, suggestions, etc.)? Thanks! I really appreciate it!

The prompt: Tell us about a person who has influenced you in a significant way.

My answer:
People often ask me how I got started on computer programming. My answer was that it all started naturally - out of interest. This interest, though, was kindled by my grandpa.

He used to take me to art lessons when I was four (this was before I came to the United States). It was these art lessons that induced my interest in computers. Despite enjoying the fact that I was creating all sorts of amateur artworks that my grandpa displayed proudly on his walls, I was often frustrated with the fact that if an error was made, it could not be undone (I was working with pastels). Then I discovered Paint. The possibility of hitting an "Undo" button to erase any mistake forever attracted me to the world of computers.

When I went back to China during fourth grade, my grandpa introduced me to PowerPoint's Action features. My grandpa loves photography and creates PowerPoints of photos all the time. Even today, he would time after time send me slideshows, of recent trips or as a birthday present. His slideshows sometimes had a button specifically for starting the slideshow. This button would be created using an Action event. With this new tool, a whole new world of PowerPoint and computers was opened to me. I could now not only create static images, but also allow for others to interact with the images - it allowed for interactive entertainment.

That was when I created my first video game, made with PowerPoint. It was a simple maze game played by moving the cursor through a series of mazes. If the player's cursor touched a wall, it would be game over. If the player's cursor reached the finish point, the slideshow would jump to a new level or to a "You Won!" slide.

With the pride and satisfaction I felt when I showed the maze game to my family as well as the praise and encouragement of my grandpa, I was drawn to acquire new skills in programming. I was curious as to how computer code worked and was attracted by its "virtually" boundless possibilities. More importantly, I enjoyed the feelings of success after completing a project or grasping a new technique. After I came back to the United States, I began reading a collection of books on programming and creating my first multiplayer video games and websites. Later, I would delve into experimental programming and online communications networks. Despite branching out my expertise in computer science through self-motivated exploration, at its root, my interest in programming was inspired by my grandpa and his love for art and photography.

Undergraduate / Supplement Essay on the Development on My Interest on Computer Science [3]

Sorry if it's too long. But I'd greatly appreciate any help or advice :)

This essay is intended to be a generic essay for many applications on why I'm interested in studying computer science.

People often ask me how I got started on computer programming. My answer was that it all started naturally - out of interest. I was curious as to how it worked and was attracted by its infinite possibilities. More importantly, I enjoyed the feelings of success after completing a project or grasping a new technique. Thus, I was drawn to acquire new skills and experiment with new ideas.

My interest in computers started when I was four (this was when I was still in China). My grandparents used to send me to take art lessons. Despite enjoying the fact that I was creating all sorts of amateur artworks that my grandparents displayed proudly on their walls, I was often frustrated with the fact that if an error was made, it could not be undone (I was working with pastels). It would either be a blemish on the artwork or I would have to change my original idea in order to make the error seem intentional. Then I discovered Paint. Boy, was it great. The fact that I could simply hit the "Undo" button to erase any mistake forever from my artwork attracted me to the world of computers.

During fourth grade, when I went back to China to study, I was introduced to programming via Microsoft PowerPoint. The years prior in America I would meddle occasionally with the PowerPoint installed on my mom's laptop. Specifically, I would play around with the drawing features it provided - the shapes and figures I could place down and then move around, which couldn't be done in Paint. Then, when I went back to China during fourth grade, my grandpa introduced me to PowerPoint's Action features. My grandpa loves photography and loves to create slideshows of photos using PowerPoint. Even today, he would time after time send me slideshows, of recent trips or as a birthday present. His slideshows sometimes had a button at the first slide specifically for starting the slideshow. This would be created using an Action event, in which the button graphic would detect a user's mouse click or mouse hover. After learning of this feature, a whole new world of PowerPoint and computers was opened to me. I could now not only create static images, but also allow for others to interact with the images - it allowed for interactive entertainment.

That was when I created my first video game, made with PowerPoint. It was a simple maze game to be played by moving the cursor in between a series of walls. The first slide would consist of a single circle that told the user to hover over it to start the game. Once the player did so, the Action event would jump the slideshow to the next slide, which had the actual maze. This would make sure the player's cursor always started in the right place - the beginning of the maze. The maze itself consisted of numerous lines representing the walls. The space in-between the walls was where the player would have to navigate his cursor through in order to reach the finish. Once the player reached the finish image by hovering his cursor over it, he would either be directed to another slide with a level 2 maze or to a "Congratulations, you won!" slide. However, if the player were to not stay in-between the walls and accidentally touch (hover his cursor over) a wall, he would be directed to a slide with "Game Over" or "You Lose" and an option to start over.

As I showed the maze game to my family, I remember feeling (as I still do with any of my creations) a sense of pride and satisfaction in that I created something with my own design and work, and that others could enjoy something that reflected myself. I enjoyed the feeling that a part of me could be shared with anyone who tried my creation. Later I would create many obstacle variations, such as moving walls (using PowerPoint's Animation features), tiny openings, and long, narrow tunnels that required a very steady hand to maneuver the cursor through.

When I came back to the United States in fifth grade, I discovered Visual Basic, a programming environment by Microsoft. I still remember the first video tape I borrowed from the local library teaching Visual Basic. From that video, I started learning my first programming language. Then, I began creating my first programs. One of these creations was my first multiplayer game called Tag. I realized that it was a lot more fun to play games with other people than simply against a computer AI, mostly due to the element of social interaction and friendly competition. During this time, I also began learning HTML and created my first website - coollog.net, where I published most of my creations in a bright color scheme typical of a 10-year-old.

After I moved to Painted Post in sixth grade, I discovered another programming language designed specifically for game creation called Gamemaker. I especially enjoyed dabbling in online multiplayer programming - being able to connect physically separated people in a virtual environment where they can interact and have fun. In the summer after seventh grade, I led the development of my most popular creation - Scandux Online, a vast online multiplayer game that had thousands of players.

After Scandux, I began getting more into experimental programming, trying out all sorts of ideas, including my own online multiplayer engine for others to use to create their own online multiplayer games, a web communication engine using web servers as an alternative to dedicated servers, and also an inverse kinematics engine. During this time, I also learned more web languages, such as PHP, CSS, and JavaScript. Using these, I created all sorts of webapps, and engines including a branched database structure for storing user data. My most extensive web language creation would be the live dynamic information display system I programmed for my school. I especially enjoyed this project because it directly benefitted those around me - my teachers and peers.

Most recently, I learned a new programming language - MATLAB - during my internship at Corning Inc., which I used to create an automatic stain analysis system for specialty glass ceramic strips, as well as an oscilloscope data analysis GUI (graphical user interface) for analyzing sound pulses in different samples of glass.

At [insert arbitrary college name here], I hope to meet other creative, friendly, and ambitious people. I hope to partner up with them to develop all sorts of ideas (I personally have a lot of ideas that I either did not have the time or resources to carry out and hope to do so in college with other computer programmers). My dream is to start my own business partnership during or after college and develop it into a successful company. Even if I am not fortunate enough to hit a great idea, I still hope to create friendships that will last my entire life.

Undergraduate / CommonApp Essay on Evaluation of an Experience Creating an MMORPG [3]

Hi guys,

Can you guys help point out some possible areas to improve or give some suggestions? Should I keep the parts about it failing in the end or remove those?

Thanks!

The prompt: Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.

Scandux Online was my most successful failure. It was a failure because it died after six months, only to be later revived in brief spurts due to demand from sentimental fans. It was a success, though, not only for its popularity, but also for the invaluable lessons it taught me.

In the summer after seventh grade, I began developing a new online multiplayer game called Scandux Online. I had adopted the project from another programmer who was too frustrated with all the bugs in the fledgling game. At this point, it had about two maps, ten items, and one enemy monster - a chicken. After spending a few weeks working out most of the bugs, I published the work-in-progress on the YoYo Games community. As I pumped out new updates almost every day, more and more players joined. By the end, Scandux had almost 30 maps, including different worlds such as the grasslands, caverns, jungles, and so on; 100 different items and equipment; 20 monsters, including bosses such as a giant dragon, and tons of other features including crafting, pvp (player vs. player combat), shops, and minigames. As popularity increased, people eagerly offered to help me develop the game. To best coordinate and communicate with these helpers and the dedicated players, I started a community forum. This forum had more than 500 members and 15,000 total posts. Although I only needed a few programmers to help develop Scandux, I needed lots of graphics artists to help create the sprites (game graphics). So I started a sprite-requesting system. Submitted designs that were used in the game would earn the artist "points," which ranked their contribution in the game's credits. Dozens of artists flocked to share their spriting skills. The request topic itself had over 600 submissions.

Scandux had over 7000 registered players and over 140,000 total logins. Fans created all sorts of Scandux-promoting content - Wikis, YouTube videos, and even a periodic magazine. To the best of my knowledge, it was the most-played Gamemaker online multiplayer game at its time. Unfortunately, this popularity did not last and as Scandux Online was nearing its death, another programmer bought the game. He was, however, not able to keep Scandux going.

Scandux taught me to not give out power too easily. Suddenly, exactly when Scandux was at its peak popularity, some of my administrators began flaming Scandux for its glitches, inconsistent graphics, and lag. Only later did I find out that they formed a group to develop a Scandux Online 2 (which was never finished). Giving out power too easily to others was one of the most important factors that led to the demise of Scandux.

Despite this, the game itself still had underlying problems in its design that led to the downfall. I learned that a good foundation is necessary for a game to last. I need to work and rework a mostly glitch-free solid base designed to "fit" future features. Fixing a bug in the foundation later is much more difficult.

I think the most important lesson I learned from Scandux was that the attainment of reputation is just as strong a motivator as any monetary or material reward. Graphics artists happily offered their expertise in exchange for nothing more than credit. By volunteering to create graphics, an artist would gain reputation and respect if a game became popular. Then again, others were motivated simply by the opportunity to share their skills and help out others.

These lessons are valuable assets for my future endeavors. As the famous quote by Henry Ford goes, "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."

(An MMORPG is a massively multiplayer online role playing game, which is a type of online multiplayer game.)