Game Project Details, 80K, W09

Overview

Creating a novel game is your main project for 80K. Making a game is getting easier and easier, thanks to tools like Game Maker. The result is new venues for distributing games, new audiences for games, and new expectations for people who want to work making games. To stand out, beginning game creators need to be able to explain what makes their game interesting in 30 seconds and demonstrate these features of the game in five minutes. These are the kinds of games you'll be creating in this course.

Each game will be created by a two-person team, with both members in the same section. Our game-creation tool is Game Maker 7. The main requirement for your game is that it use mechanics in a new way. You can accomplish this is two ways:

• First, you can do something innovative with the mechanics themselves. For example, a game like Orbient takes something that exists in many games (simulated gravity) and repurposes it as the main navigation mechanic. In a different approach, a game like Mass Effect takes something that operates in many RPGs (dialogue trees) and creates a new user interface mechanic for it. Or a game like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time takes a standard set of mechanics (for platforming and combat) and layers another set on top (for manipulating time).
• Second, you can take a standard set of mechanics and use them in a new context. A game like Disaffected! takes standard service game mechanics and moves them into a disgruntled copy shop. Similarly, American McGee's Alice uses standard action game mechanics in a dark, surreal world inspired by Alice in Wonderland. And Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars combines standard platfoming mechanics with a stylized 1950s science fiction take on sentient fungi moving among everyday junk.

We'll talk much more about game mechanics over the course of the quarter.

Team selection

Due in section week 3.

The goal of this assignment is for you to form a team of exactly two members that will develop your game project. Both members should be in the same section of 80K. If an exception to this is necessary, please consult your section TA.

A common source of problems with student teams is lack of communication. To help address this, each team member needs to provide at least two means of communication (such as a cell phone number, or an email address). Another common team coordination problem is not having a common meeting time. To address this, each team must identify two times during the week when it is possible and acceptable for the team to meet for at least one hour.

When submitting your list of team names and members, please include all of the following information:

• Name of the team
• Name of each team member
• Your TA and section time
• Two pieces of contact information for each team member, such as an email address or a cell phone number
• Two times during the week when the team can meet for at least one hour
• A location that can be used for meetings

This information must be submitted, typewritten, on a piece of paper. After submission of this assignment, each team member will be expected to know this information, so you should take this opportunity to add phone numbers to cell phones, email addresses to email applications, etc.

If all required information is present and assignment is typewritten, full credit. Otherwise (e.g., handwritten) no credit.

Game concept document

Due in section week 4.

The goal of this assignment is to write a compelling document that describes and sells your video game concept. The document must concisely describe the idea for your game, doing so in a way that makes it clear what is compelling about the gameplay of the game — its mechanics and its world.

If your team's strength is in software development you may choose to focus your plans on the crafting of complex, innovative mechanics that you combine with a very simple world (perhaps one built out of royalty-free clip art). If your team's strength is in graphics, animation, sound, writing, or other forms of media authoring, you may choose to use simple mechanics (perhaps closely modeled on those in one of the Game Maker tutorials) with a rich game world. Of course, if your team has strength in both areas, you can be even more ambitious.

This is a group assignment, and we expect one game concept document for the entire team.

The most important thing in this document is that it clearly present what makes your game novel. Does it introduce a new mechanic? Does it use an existing mechanic in a new way? Does it use a familiar set of mechanics in an unusual context?

For your video game concept document, you must turn in the following items:

• Title page, including:
  • Title of your game
  • Name of your group
  • TA and section time
  • Name of each member of your group
  • One or more sketches of images from the game such as a character, scene, or artifact (car, gizmo). the goal of this image is to provide an initial impression of the game.
• An overview page, that states the name of the game, and then is logically divided into three sections:
  • A table at the top of the page that describes the game genre, platform, and team size.
  • A "key points" section in the middle that contains a bulleted list of important aspects of the game. The goal of this section is to give the reader, in a very condensed form, a high level understanding of what makes the game unique. Most importantly, it is required that you outline either the innovative introduction/use of game mechanics or the unusual fictional world in which the mechanics are employed. This section can also discuss the flow of the game, the number of players, the main actions required, end states (if they exist), the narrative progression (if it exists), and so on. Possible bulleted list items include ones like these:
    • "The player can adjust their character's location in RGB color space, increasing or diminishing the impact of colored barriers, projectiles, and trampolines."
    • "A traditional rhythm game mechanic is used to drive all the events in a set of Scottish highland games."
    • "A tile-matching game with a mosaic theme which allows the player to swap parts of tiles, not just full tiles, to create sets."
    • "A 3D puzzle game like Portal, but set in Dr. Who's TARDIS, with each level themed with items (and, eventually, enemies) from one of the Doctor's adventures."
    • "The game uses QTEs to simulate a wide variety of activities, but all are based on sound rather than visuals."
    • "The player runs around collecting acorns, banana slugs, and bay leaves which they exchange for scantron sheets, allowing them to progress past the exam puzzles."
    • "Multiple levels provide increasingly rich gameplay as the number of mutant starfish grows, and the slippery spiny lobsters get faster, and more canny."
    • "The adventure takes the player on a madcap trip through the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, and Zion National Park!"
  • An image, similar to that on the cover, that conveys something about the game. The image should generate excitement, and communicate the energy of playing this game.
• A page that gives true pocket (brief) biographies of all team members (1-2 paragraphs per team member). These biographies should stress experiences that make you a strong team member for this game (e.g., game design experience, knowledge of the game's theme area, etc). What prepares your team to develop this new, innovative game?
• 1-3 pages giving, in textual form, a description of your game. This should include:
  • At least half a page on your game's unique features, with mention of similar games that will help readers understand what sets yours apart. (You may need to do research for this.) You should detail either the innovative introduction/use of game mechanics or the unusual fictional world in which the mechanics are employed.
  • What are the key challenges presented to the player?
  • How does the player interact with the game?
  • How does the player advance the fictional aspects of the game (if possible)? For example, how do they save the princess, or save the world?
  • If the game has levels, a brief description of each of the levels.
  • If the game is an educational game, describe how it meets its educational goal.
  • If the game is designed for a specific audience (young kids, middle school girls, absent-minded professors), describe how the game has been specifically designed for this audience.
• 1-2 pages of design sketches. This can include:
  • Sketches of levels
  • Sketches of key game interactions (a player performing a specific game activity)
  • Sketches of characters

As you plan your concept, bear in mind that we expect artwork used in your final game projects to be original material, or material that is licensed for general non-commercial use. You may not use copyrighted material. If you use non-original artwork, you may be asked to provide documentation concerning its license terms. You may get help from people outside of your team, such as friends, or members of other class teams, in creating the artwork for your game. That is, it is not considered cheating to get assistance in creating your game's artwork. We consider the graphic design of your game to be an integral part of the game design, and hence if you do get outside help, you should make sure you maintain some degree of artistic control, so the artwork produced meets the needs of your game in setting its tone, visual feel, etc.

The most important part of the game concept document is the description of what makes your game unique: its innovative mechanics or use of familiar mechanics in a new setting or for a new purpose. The presence of this element, the strength with which it is presented through words and sketches, and any research supporting it (e.g., into related games) will amount to 70% of the grade. The remaining 30% will be based on whether all required elements are present and complete.

Work breakdown

Due week 5 in section.

The goal of this assignment is to have each team write a detailed list of the activities that need to be performed to complete their computer game project, estimate the time required for each, and assign people to each of these tasks.

One of the challenges in student group projects is ensuring that all team members have a shared understanding of the tasks required to complete the project, as well as knowing which tasks have been assigned to which people. Computer games take a deceptively long time to create, and so it is useful to record all of the steps required to complete a game, so as to better understand how long it will take.

There are three main elements to your work breakdown template, tasks, a time estimate for each task, and the person(s) assigned to the task. Your template should include the following elements:

• Name of your group
• Name of each member of your group
• TA name and section time
• Title of your game
• A table, consisting of four columns:

Your work breakdown should include all tasks that your group can forsee in the creation of your game. Items that are likely to appear here include:

• Performing work inside Game Maker. Implementing the core game mechanics will be a primary task. Additional possible work breakdowns include creating specific rooms, or creating sprites/sounds/objects/paths/rooms individually, then integrating them.
• Creating artwork.
• Creating the soundtrack.
• Preliminary level design
• Regular group meetings.
• Submitting the functional prototype of your game (due week 6).
• Writing the progress report for your game (due week 7).
• Preliminary playtesting of your game.
• Tuning the play of your game.
• Submitting the playtestable version of your game (due week 9).
• Writing the final documentation for your game (due with your game, week 10).

Be sure to leave time in your schedule for things to go wrong.

Evaluation of the project work breakdown document focuses on whether all required elements are present, and whether the work breakdown completely describes all of the work required to complete the project. As well, assessment will evaluate how well project goals have been decomposed into smaller tasks; it's not sufficient to have one item, "Make game". However, it is also inappropriate to list work items that are too detailed (e.g., "Boot computer, start Game Maker").

Grading for the work breakdown document will follow these guidelines:

• Does it list the game's title, group name, and all group members? (5%)
• Does the table containing the work breakdown describe all reasonably forseeable tasks required to complete the game? Does each task listing contain all required elements (task name, task description, time estimate, date to be completed, and people assigned to complete the work)? Is the estimate reasonable given the description, and the proposed game? (95%)

Project prototype

Due in section week 6.

Your game has a core — the combination of its mechanics and its world. For this assignment you must have the basics of your core in place. If you haven't accomplished this by mid-term, you won't have time to complete your game by the end of the term.

As noted in the discussion of game concepts, if your team's strength is in software development you may choose to dedicate your prototype to the crafting of complex, innovative mechanics that you combine with a very simple world (perhaps one built out of royalty-free clip art). If your team's strength is in graphics, animation, sound, writing, or other forms of media authoring, you may choose to use simple mechanics (perhaps closely modeled on those in one of the Game Maker tutorials) with a rich game world. And, of course, it is also possible that your team has strength in both areas and is creating a game that builds on both.

In any case, for this assignment you need only have a very small piece of the game (e.g., just one Game Maker room) but it must show your mechanics and your game world working together. This should be enough to make your game feel real, to let you know if you're on the right track, and to prepare you for having a complete game only a few weeks in the future. To get to this point will require at least 5-10 hours of work.

Details on how to turn in your prototype have been discussed in section and are available online. You must test that you can download and run your game from another computer. If the graders are unable to download or run your game we will count your assignment as late (10% off per day) until they can.

The evaluation of this assignment will be straightforward: Does the game have a set of mechanics working in a game world, which is innovative either in its mechanics or in the world where they are employed? If so, full credit.

Progress report

Due in section week 7.

The goal of this assignment is to have each team provide an update to the work breakdown schedule developed previously. For the work breakdown document, each team was required to write a detailed list of the activities that need to be performed to complete their video game project, estimate the time required for each, and assign people to each of these tasks. Now that each team has some experience from working on the project, it is possible to identify those tasks that have already been completed, as well as provide an updated estimate of how long the remaining tasks will take.

A common pitfall in any computer related project is that the work takes far longer to complete than one initially estimates. Once work begins, a more realistic picture emerges of the challenges, and time required to complete the project.

It is also frequently the case that, once this more realistic picture of time requirements emerges, teams decide to reduce the scope of their project so they can complete it on time. This is fine, and an expected outcome of a time estimation activity. If you decide to reduce the scope of your project, please describe the reduction in scope on your progress report. In general, a smaller game that is perfectly executed will get a better grade than a more ambitious project that fails to complete on time. Note that there are limits to this. Reducing scope to the point that you have a trivial game will not result in a high score.

In general, the format for the progress report is the same as for the work breakdown structure. Changes to the previous document are noted in green below.

There are three main elements to your work breakdown template, tasks, a time estimate for each task, and the person(s) assigned to the task. Your template should include the following elements:

• Name of your group, and the name of all members of your group. It is important for you to include the names of all group members, so we can correctly assign grades.
• Title of your game
• A table, consisting of four columns:

If you have modified the scope of your game to improve your ability to complete the game on time, please describe the reduction in scope after the table. This can include things like having fewer choices of player character, fewer levels, fewer monsters, etc.

Playtestable version

Due week 9 in section.

At this point you should have a complete, playable game with instructions. Now you need feedback to make sure the game and the instructions produce the experience of play you intend.

In this section meeting each team will call up their game on one of the lab computers. Then teams will switch computers, reading the instructions and playtesting each other's games (without being told what to expect or getting suggestions from other teams). Next each team will fill out a playtesting report based on their experiences, which will provide valuable feedback as the final games are completed.

Evaluation for this assignment is straightforward. Teams with complete, playable games and instructions will receive full credit. Lacking appropriate, typewritten instructions will remove 30% from the possible credit. Lacking a complete, playable game will result in no credit.

Final game

Due week 10 in section.

This is the culmination of your work for this course. It involves three parts.

Turning in the game

As with the prototype, you will upload your game to your public-html folder. It will be collected (via script) at the start of your section meeting. You will have a brief period (3 minutes) to demonstrate your game during the section meeting. It is best to have practiced your demonstration to show the major elements of interest for your game in the limited time available.

Game manual

Your game manual should provide a brief explanation of how to play your game, and describe the goal of the game. It's important to remember that, even though you have been working on your game for a long time, any potential players have never seen it before and are seeing it fresh — the playtest probably identified some issues. Additionally, we want to be able to play your game without having to look at the Game Maker code.

The manual should begin with a brief, 1-2 paragraph description of your game, giving a brief overview of the world (including any fictional background) of the game, as well as the style of gameplay, the genre of game, and the goal of the player. This can reuse text from your game concept document.

The manual should describe which keys/joystick controls perform what actions within the game. For example, if the arrow keys move the player's avatar, put that in the manual. If the space bar causes a bullet to fire, state that too. If the game has any "cheat" keys (this is not required), make sure you list those as well.

So, in summary, upload by the beginning of section, typed and saved electronically:

• Title page, including your game's name, your group name, your TA and section time, and all group member names
• It's important to list the names of all group members, as this is how we record grades for the project
• 1-2 paragraph summary of the game
• Brief description of how to play the game (does not have to be long)
• Description of how the player wins and loses the game.
• Description of the goal of the game (getting high score, making it through to the end, etc.)
• Description of the controls used in the game (how does the player move, and perform actions?)
• Inclusion of screenshots and artwork from the game is desirable.

Your manual is worth 10% of your final project grade. Make sure you turn it in! (And apologies that we originally said to print it out. It will not be marked late if you upload by Wednesday of week 11.)

Game demonstrations in section and final class

All games will have brief demonstrations in section.

Games considered to have substantially above average design merit will be included in the final round of demonstrations in front of the entire class on Monday, March 16. We anticipate having external judges present, and will award prizes to the best games produced in the class.

Evaluation

Grades for complete, functional game projects tend to be generous, and very roughly follow these guidelines:

• Game not submitted: 0%, and an overall grade of Incomplete (I) for the class
• Partially functional game: 0%-85%, depending on how much of the game is functional, how much work has been completed on the game, technical complexity of the game, ambition of the game world, and the nature of the problems encountered.
• Fully functional game with excessively limited scope: 25%-75%. A game that is very trivial will receive a lower grade than other games that attempted a broader scope. For example, an insignificant variation on Pong would be considered too limited a game (but a substantial variation on Pong, such as Plasma Pong, would be just fine).
• Fully functional game with reasonable scope but poor gameplay: 80%-90%. If a game has a scope that is reasonable for the class, but the execution of the game concept is marred by multiple problems, such as poor collision handling, awkward or poor controls, bad level design, excessive backtracking on player death, or other obvious gameplay problems, will receive a lower grade than games that do not exhibit these problems.
• Fully functional game with competent gameplay: 87%-95%. If a game does an effective job at executing its game concept, has only minor gameplay problems, and has competent level design and playability, then the game will generally receive a grade in the B+ to A range. One implication of this is that games with more limited scope that are executed well will receive better grades than games that have broader scope but which have gameplay problems.
• Outstanding fully functional game: 95%-100%. For a game to receive a high A grade, it must demonstrate exceptional execution of its concept, must possess an engaging game concept, and must exhibit strong gameplay characteristics. The game must have one or more distinctive, original qualities.

Submission of a game manual is a mandatory part of the submission process for your game. Failure to submit a game manual will result in a 10% reduction in grade. Incomplete manuals will also result in loss of points.

Students are strongly encouraged to share their games with the broader Game Maker community via the YoYo Games website.

Failure to demonstrate your game in section will also result in loss of points. In-section game demonstrations provide the opportunity for students to give and receive feedback on your games, and so this demonstration is an important part of the feedback you will receive on your game.