Class
Groups
- Students form a mini game company consisting of 3 or 4
students
in a
group (depending on class size).
- If someone in a group drops the class then the remaining
students
will have to share the load.
- If both members of the group drop the class then the
remaining
student will join another group.
- If you have a dispute in your group, try to resolve it
amongst
yourselves. You are your own game company so as "employees"
YOU have to
deal with these kinds of issues on your own. A useful
"management" tip - if there is a problem, bring it
up
early rather than later- before the problem festers. In the middle of the semester
and at the
end of the semester you will fill
out a form to
evaluate your other team members. I will use this to
decide how to
assign grades to each person in the team. I will know if
you are not
pulling your own weight.
Assignments
ASSIGNMENT 1: Learning
About Unity3D and 3D Modeling:
Go through Unity3D
and Blender tutorials.
CS Students will develop a simple
pinball-like game using Unity3D.
- Minimum
requirements:
- Launch
at
least 1 ball.
- Ball
must move
using Unity physics.
- Two
paddles to
deflect ball.
- At
least
some obstacles that deflect the ball.
Art
Students
will create 3D models and import them into Unity3D.
- Minimum
requirements:
- Create
a drawn
sketch for at least 2 objects you want to create.
- Create
3D
models of at least 2 objects, one object must have an
imbedded
animation.
- All
objects
must have textures on them.
- All
objects
must be viewable from within Unity3D.
ASSIGNMENT
2: Brainstorm
Presentations
Each group is going to have to give
a
presentation consisting of the following information:
- Name of your video game company
- Your company's web site
- Introduction to your team members and their roles in the
company
- 5 minute storyboard presentation of your final gameplay
idea
- Describe the GOALS & RULES of your game.
- All your storyboards must be posted on your web site
ASSIGNMENT
3: One Page
Project Management Sheet
Fill
out this sheet for your team
ASSIGNMENT 4: Mid-semester Game
Progress
Report
Give
a 15
minute
demonstration and presentation on the status of your game.
You
need to ensure the day before your
presentation that everything is working perfectly on
the
system you are going to demonstrate on. You will
NOT
be allowed to install or fiddle with your demo during your
demonstration time. For all presentations make sure
that:
- You end your presentation
on time.
I will
kick you off if you go over time.
- You have readable slides
with
large
enough
fonts and a readable color scheme.
- Your thoughts are well
organized.
- The
Demo
Works!
ASSIGNMENT 5: FINAL
Demonstration & Documentation
Most
of
your
grade
for
the
class
hinges
on
this.
Approximately 20
minutes per group- depending on how many groups are in the
class.
- Final presentation and demo
- Describe:
- Game play
- The game engine and tools you used.
- How the AI and the graphical/audio effects
are
implemented.
- Especially highlight any capabilities that you
thought were particularly impressive. e.g. a
clever AI scheme, a visual
effect, a sound effect.
- Features of the game that you put in because
you
thought
it would make the game fun.
- Concepts that you learned from the lectures
that you
applied or attempted to apply to your game. For
example:
- From the game programming lecture have you
used a
finite state machine for your game?
- From the Game Design lecture on "What Do
Players
Expect" what categories have you tried to
incorporate in your game?
e.g. Players expect a consistent world.
- From the Sound and Psychoacoustics lecture,
what
characteristics of sound have you tried to
incorporate? e.g. Sounds set
a pace to the game.
- From the Perception lecture, what aspects of
the
human perceptual system have you attempted to
take into account? e.g. I
have created low detailed health bars in the
corners of the screen
where your peripheral vision does not have the
resolution to resolve
the detail during an intense game experience.
- Tradeoffs that you had to make in the game
and what
ultimately led you to the final decision.
- How would you have approached the development
of the
game if you had the chance to do it all over
again.
- How has this experience affected the way you
think
about
commercial games?
- Completed web site that includes:
- Gameplay design document.
- Screenshots of sketches.
- Screenshots of the actual game screens.
- Screen capture of the game in play. Use a program
like
Fraps (www.fraps.com) to do the capture.
- Explanation of all design tradeoffs that you had
to
make- ie what you originally envisioned vs what you
accomplished.
- Explanation of the overall software design-
including
data
structures, finite state machines, pseudo-code
algorithms for the
graphics, AI, sound, main game engine.
- Explanations of how specific visual and audio
effects
were
achieved.
- Downloadable ZIP file containing an executeable
that
runs
as
a standalone game.
- Downloadable ZIP file containing the source code
and
image
and music files.
- All the above in 1 giant ZIP file placed at ftp.evl.uic.edu/pub2/INcoming/cs426
- Email me when the giant ZIP file is put there.
- Email FINAL
Personnel Evaluations
Late
assignment
turn-in policy
- None. Every class project in the last several
years have said that the number one thing they could have
done better
was to manage their schedules. Groups that were able to keep
to their
timelines usually got an A. Groups that didn't, were usually
developing
code for several days without any sleep right up to the
deadline only
to get a B, or worse, a C in the class. So whatever
motivates you to
keep on time, DO IT. This something you will face in the
real world
(both industry and academia), and especially in the game
industry- so
better get used to it now.
Final
Exams
- None. Final grades will be determined by what you have
been
able
to achieve through the class and mainly the quality and
quantity of
work you are able to demonstrate at the end of the semester
when
compared with your peers. Basically I rank the game groups
and give the
top 3 groups As, the next 3 groups Bs, and the last 4 groups
Cs or
Ds. This is assuming that all your personnel
evaluations show
that everyone is doing their job.
Class
Groups
Company
Names
&
Web
Sites
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Game
Concept
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Team
1 -
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Team
2 -
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Team
3 -
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Team
4 -
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Team
5 -
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Team
6
-
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Team
7 -
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Team
8 -
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Team
9 -
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Team
10 -
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