Final Game Instructions

The final game project involves various deliverables, discussed below.

Initial Design Ideas [Three due in class on Thursday, September 27; Three more due in class on Tuesday, October 2] (0pt)

Bring three sheets of paper with a game title, picture, and short gameplay explanation to class.

Initial Pitches [Due at noon on October 4] (1pt)

Pick one of your six ideas (or a brand new idea) and make a 1024x768 image (.jpg or .png) to represent it. You will have 60 seconds to describe your game idea over this image. Focus your explanation about what is exciting about the gameplay.

Turn in your slides via e-mail.

You will be asked to select four of these pitches that you are interested in refining, and these selections will be used to generate group assignments for the next round.

Refined Pitches [Due in class on October 9] (1pt)

Refine your original pitch. You will have five minutes to present using any visual aid you can bring on your laptop. Content should be similar to one of our "design document" assignments; in addition, please spend a little time talking about why the game is feasible to complete during the remainder of the class.

You will be asked to select three of these pitches that you are interested in working on, and these selections will be used to generate group assignments for the final project.

Design Document [Due in class on October 11] (2pts)

This is an expanded design document that lays out what you are going to build over the next month or so. Tell us clearly:

  1. How the final game will play. Make this an illustrated gameplay description as in our design documents, but feel free to expand further. More detail here will help you coordinate the team.
  2. Everything you need to build:
    1. Runtime code (required subsystems, whether you will use a library)
    2. Pipeline code (any new or existing export or processing scripts)
    3. Assets (models, levels, etc. Draw pictures. Provide potential free sources.)
  3. Checkpoints for when you will build it:
    1. What features you will need in the prototype. It should show that the basic idea of your game works.
    2. What you are going to have in the demo. The demo should show a playable section of the finished game; we'll be using it for playtesting and to make sure that your asset pipelines are working.
    3. What you are going to have in the final. This includes a list of levels or areas, features, player progression, menus, credits, assets, etc. Categorize this list into "required" and "nice to have" in case you need to cut items.
  4. A rough assignment of who will work on what during each checkpoint.
  5. A request for a snack food you would like to see at the final game exhibition.
  6. A description of how you will keep the team organized and on track. (This includes how you will share code and data, along with how you will synchronize on tasks.)

You will be required to turn in a paper copy of the design document, but I strongly encourage you to also keep this in a shared online editor where your team can refer to it. You may wish to go further and build a spreadsheet of tasks, checkpoints, and assignments to help your team coordinate.

Prototype [Due on October 18 at Noon] (3pts)

The prototype needs to demonstrate that the code idea of your game works. The required features should be listed in your design document.

Turn in by providing a link to a public git repository via e-mail.

Demo [Due on November 1 in class] (5pts)

The demo presents a playable slice of your game for testing.

Turn in by bringing a computer with a working version of your demo to class. We will be playtesting, so make sure it actually works.

The required features should be listed in your design document.

Final [Due on December 4 at Noon] (8pts)

The final is, well, the final build. It should do everything in your design document.

Please bring a computer with a working version to class, as we'll be showing them off.

In addition, turn in a link to a public git repository via e-mail.. Please provide a self-assessment of whether the build meets the criteria you set out in your design document.

Public Final [Due on December 7 for the Expo] (0pts)

You don't get credit for this, but darn it make your game good for the public. They deserve it! (You might as well make a nice web page for it, too.)