How Small Games Are Scored

The scoring rubric for small games is straightforward and relatively gentle, and consists of two parts which sum to a score out of 3pts:

What You Are Making (out of 1pts). This is designed to be free points:

• 1pt -- you submitted a few sentences about a potential design.
• 0pt -- you didn't.

What You Made (out of 2pts). This is where most of your effort goes:

• 2pt -- you turned in a game that meets the requirements of the assignment, compiles without too much trouble (we do make allowances for a few cross-platform compile issues), and runs without crashing.
• 1pt -- you turned in code that we think is trying to do the right thing, but we can't get it to compile or run without crashing.
• 0pt -- you didn't turn in anything, or you turned in (e.g.) just the base code without many changes.
• Modifier: your README.md + screenshot.png are worth 0.5pts! So an otherwise perfect game without README and screenshot will get 1.5pts; and turning in nothing but a README and screenshot will be worth 0.5pts (though it's hard to make a screenshot if you don't have a game).
• Bonus: we will occasionally award extra credit (generally not more than 0.5pts) for games that are outstanding in implementation and/or enjoyability.

A Note About "New Games"

All of the small game assignments require that you make new games. This is not a big deal! Just come up with a bunch of ideas and ask your friends, roommates, or classmates. If they also think it's new, then it's new enough for the class. As long as you make a good-faith effort here then we're happy with it.