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Self Assessment Overview
Sarge Basham Old Dominion University IDS 493: Electronic Portfolio Project Dr. Tucker Steffen October 3, 2026
2 As I build my portfolio, I am always aware of my priorities when inserting my artifacts. I have been clear on my goal of presenting myself as looking for a job in game design. This contains a sweeping variety of specialities, so a website that shows I gear myself towards concept art illustration, landscaping, and low-poly 3D modeling is already a step in the right direction. I have an adaptable niche that shows where I can fit into a team, but what’s just as crucial is showing that I am capable of working with future coworkers. A good resume is a crucial part to acquiring any position. However, one difficulty that is unique to my path is the instability that inherently comes from a full time career in game designing. A production cycle varies wildly with the scope of a game, the genre, the company, franchise, so on and so forth. Research done by Brandy Camel, a long term game developer, “has indicated that 1 in 10 developers have been laid off. According to the 2026 report, that number has risen to 1 in 4” as indicated by the GDC (2026). One reason for this is that after a game is published, the narrative and creative aspects aren’t necessarily needed anymore. It’s not unheard of for entire teams to get fired after publishing in some cases. On top of that, the pay doesn’t increase per the success of the game. An employee still gets the same paycheck no matter if the game is a smash hit or massive letdown. It is a difficult field to have a steady source of income in, which begs the question, what makes one interested in developing video games in the first place? The most impactful person in my life regarding this was my mentor, Ian Levesque. I had always been interested in art growing up but never considered making video games as something I could ever do. I wouldn’t have been able to complete my magnum opus regarding Game Development, ELECTROBASIS, without him. ELECTROBASIS is a fully finished video game with multiple endings published onto Steam. The plot is that you play as a fallen angel, having literally crash landed into a casino and
3 shorting it out of power. It’s run and populated by fellow cherubs, being made of electricity and taking humanoid forms with object heads: your goal is to store both the building’s as well as the people's spark and whimsy!
My role in the creation of this game was as a pitcher of the concept, creative director,
worldbuilder, character designer, 3D modeler, dialogue writer, and polisher. It was a very involved process that I dedicated my entire life to as it was being made. Despite this, I still remain clueless to the coding and always had Ian working the same overtime as me to make sure all the gaps got filled in. I worked with my classmates and motivated them as a manager, making sure everyone was always busy with something or another. My personal progress since then has not been linear over time, ironically, due to my studies taking up the majority of my time. Being a full-time college student doesn’t give me time to be able to work on one steady project throughout a year across semesters. Therefore, upkeeping a portfolio has helped me string together the courses I’ve taken into a cohesive progression. Each class has different end goals for learning and being able to construe them into a linear graph is an accomplishment on its own. Meade introduces how to incorporate self reflection into one’s portfolio in a variety of ways. The one that stood out to me most was the suggestion to take personality assessments. It ranged from more general ones such as the Myers Briggs quiz to more specific, career oriented ones. She is well aware of the debate surrounding how much meaning the results should be given, and goes on to say: “I am avoiding this discussion altogether by suggesting that you use these tests as a brainstorming tool to get started thinking about and writing about yourself” (2026). Copy pasting a format such as a test result only works for resumes built to be skimmed; having tone and purpose with a pointed conclusion make the integration all the more natural.
4 An example given is of Rachel Anders’ portfolio, which ties her values into her work directly. I do find it difficult to be able to “prove” or find a reason for listing soft skills such as these, but the way she ties them into her work is nearly seamless. “I believe that as scientists and academics,” she writes, putting her career first before elaborating, “we have an obligation to communicate science well to a general public in order to help bridge the knowledge gap between both sides” (2017). Communication and collaboration are implied skills for those in scientific fields, but stringing together the connection as to why makes a solid self perception. In conclusion, the persona you put forward in your portfolio is as important as the technical qualifications you put forward. Being able to list your personality and values alongside your artifacts is a skill that doesn’t come intuitively to everyone. Self reflection and clarification of how you want to come across is crucial to any long lasting portfolio.
5 References
Anders, R. (2017). My Values. https://rachelanders.weebly.com/my-values.html Camel, B. (2026, July 7). Navigating Job Loss in Game Development [Article]. In LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/navigating-job-loss-game-development-brandy-camel-m kssc Meade, L. (2023, December 20). Looking at Your Strengths and Values: Self Reflection. Building a Professional Portfolio; University of Arkansas Libraries. https://uark.pressbooks.pub/eportolio/chapter/self-reflection/