For the last few weeks I’ve been sharing with you why I think you should be interested in my upcoming live course – WAAPI Live – but I haven’t told you a heck of a lot about the course itself and what to expect.
So, today’s article is going to be pretty short and sweet with the hope of remedying that.
I Started Last Year
Actually, I’ve been tossing around this idea in my head for quite a while. First, my thought was doing another video course like C# Implementation with Wwise and Unity – but I didn’t love how disconnected I felt from your progress.
Then, I convinced myself that nobody would buy something like this – it was too niche and (in my head) few sound designers want to learn to program.
But then, people like you started poking me, and I got a request for help that I couldn’t refuse.
So, for the last two months, I got to writing. The initial draft of what is now WAAPI Live came to almost 90 pages of notes and homework. This version of the live course will be less than that – I’ve cut down and edited it since – but that was where we started.
Of those 90 pages of notes, I broke down the course to include five weeks of work. For five days a week, you’ll get a set of notes to read and work to complete daily.
My hope is – for those of you who are chronic project starters who never finish – that I can help break you of that habit. Each day’s notes are small enough for you to read and execute along with your current daily schedule. If you take an hour of Netflix time daily, you might kill that, but that’s all.
And, those five weeks are broken down as follows –
Week 1
The biggest issue with a course like this is that every student comes in at a different proficiency level. So Week 1 is all about getting everyone up to speed on source control and basic project creation concepts so that your group can see each other’s code.
And yes, if there are enough people onboard, I’ll be splitting you into small groups so you can help and encourage each other.
It’s entirely possible that you know plenty of this if you’re a hobbyist programmer – so Week 1 is of varying difficulty. Some will have more pain than others, but it’s all about establishing a common baseline and getting everyone ready to work together.
At the end of Week 1, the excitement really begins. You’ll come up with and share two ideas you have for WAAPI projects that you’ll actually build during the last two weeks of the course. Even if you have no ideas – I’ve got some for you. This is where we’ll start to scope out your “final project” and make sure that you leave with something actually built.
Week 2
This is where the real fun begins. At some point, we have to make our first connections to Wwise – Week 2 is where that happens and where the speed begins to ramp up.
You’ll be making your first WAAPI calls and starting to learn the core concepts behind how WAAPI actually works and passes data around. Programming – especially WAAPI – is full of lots of crazy acronyms and “hidden” utilities you don’t know about unless you’ve been programming for a bit.
Instead of dragging you through the mud and expecting you to just “get” what’s going on, my goal here is to help pull the wool off of your eyes. You’ll go from thinking programming your own utilities is kind of complicated or confusing, to fully interacting via code with Wwise for the first time and beginning to understand what the heck is going on.
Week 3
Week 3 is where the rubber meets the road. At this point, you’re capable of sharing your code through source control and you know the mental concepts behind how WAAPI works. But, you haven’t built anything super functional.
In Week 3 you begin to program a lot more – learning and using the core and often used calls from the Wwise Authoring API.
You’ll be able to get data from individual Wwise objects, specific object types, create objects, and even use code that interacts with the Wwise Authoring Tool GUI. It’s at this point where you’ll start to feel really capable with what you’re doing – which is good, because you’ll need that for Weeks 4 & 5.
Weeks 4 & 5
This is where the notes cease, and we get down to the nitty-gritty of creating a project that you really want to build. Yes, in two weeks we’ll take you from having never programmed a WAAPI project before – to having your very first program made.
I can’t promise it will be production-level code that you’ll take into work the day you finish and blow everyone away with – that’s all dependent on your skill level and capabilities.
But, I can promise that we’ll help you walk away with a tool that works, and that you understand how it all works. Most importantly, I want you to have the pride of a completed project and the confidence that you can take this base of knowledge and grow it with the help of other engineers around you.
I can promise you that once you’ve built your own program, professional software engineers will see you differently. Even if it’s “hacked together” – there’s a relationship building value in doing this work that you’ll be extremely surprised to discover.
In the last two weeks we’ll work together – you, me, and your fellow students – to make something cool that you’re proud of, and that you understand. No more sifting through hours of tutorials and websites on your own without being sure “you’re doing it right”.
What Else?
In addition to the notes, I’ve said you’ll have the ability to interact with fellow students.
You’ll do that via a private Slack channel (yes, I’ll be there with you), and 3 live video calls. If you’re in a timezone where it’s difficult for you to call in – I’ll be recording these for you.
And yes, as always – there’s a bonus.
If you feel like you’d love to do this course but you know very little about programming or C# – perhaps you’ve never written a program before – I’ve got you covered. There will be a premium version that includes The Content Creator’s Guide for Learning C# – a guide I’m putting together to make ramping up as easy as possible for you. I hate vague tutorials that only teach you syntax without giving you context of how you actually use this knowledge – so this guide is meant to be directed at you dear sound designer.
The Final Details
And yes, I know some of you want to know when and how much. I haven’t locked down either of those things 100% yet – so I’m not going to say that here. But, extremely soon you will know.
I can promise you that the course won’t take place very long from now – between March and April.
See You There
I hope that gives you plenty of detail as to what we’ll be up to if you choose to join me in WAAPI Live. Again, to express your interest you can join the waiting list right now.
Those of you on the waiting list will get the very first crack at pre-order spots, before I send out a regular email. As I’m only working with a handful of people this time around – it may be worth it.
And, if you have any further questions, all you have to do is email – me@adamtcroft.com
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