Project Final: Final Project

Description

In this project, you will develop a larger-scale game in coordination with a subject-matter expert (SME) relevant to Arkansas History. The ultimate goal is for the games you develop to be used by future 7-8 grade students in Arkansas as part of their Arkansas History courses. You will iterate the game you create multiple times to improve the game quality and increase the fidelity to the learning goals and subject matter.

Subject Areas

Project Teams

Arkansas History Learning Goals

The acquisition of content knowledge and skills is paramount in a robust social studies program rooted in inquiry. In Arkansas History courses, students should

  1. Construct compelling questions that promote inquiry around key ideas and issues
  2. Develop supporting questions that contribute to inquiry: identifying facts, concepts, and interpretations
  3. Answer compelling and supporting questions using appropriate and available sources that consider multiple points of view
  4. Gather relevant information from multiple perspectives and a variety of sources; evaluate the credibility of the source by determining its relevance and intended use
  5. Use evidence from multiple sources to answer compelling and supporting questions by developing arguments with claims, counterclaims, and explanations

These five learning goals for students should guide you as you develop your games. As players interact, make choices, and understand decisions, they should be building these skills in tangible ways.

First Client Meeting

Send a professional email to schedule a 30 minute meeting with your SME sometime between now and Monday, April 7th. Ask if the SME has a scheduling calendar to find times when they are available, and propose possible times that could work. It is best if all members of your team can find a common time to meet with the SME, but don’t let that get in the way of finding a time when most of you can meet. Remember that the SME is volunteering their time to work with us in this class and we should be accommodating of their time.

In this meeting, you should try to have the client give you an overview of their subject matter for a game, and then brainstorm together potential game ideas related to their area. Your SME will have large amounts of domain expertise, and your goal should be to extract the knowledge you need to be able to create an interactive, compelling, and educational game. Please ask them questions when you do not fully understand the material. Keep the above learning goals in mind as you develop your idea.

It is likely that you will know more about game development and design than the SME, so try not to get bogged down in the terminology we have been using in class, focus on the game experience.

As you work with SME client on this project, be respectful and incorporate their knowledge as much as possible.

It will help if you can develop together answers to the following questions:

  • What are the player objectives in the game?
  • What are some decisions the players will make?
  • Are there similar games or genres you wish to emulate?
  • What art style will you use for your game (cartoony, pixelated, realistic)?
  • What assets can be used to support the above (text, images, etc)?

Design Document

After your SME meeting, you should have a direction and many ideas for your project. Create a fulldesign document in Google Docs, which details the

  • genre
  • other game influences
  • narrative structure
  • game mechanics
  • visual aesthetics
  • camera perspective (2D game, 2.5D Isometric, 3D First Person, 3D Third Person)
  • audio aesthetics
  • technology
  • how the game meets at least two of the AR History Learning Goals

Break the project into small milestones, describe the structure needed to complete these milestones and create the whole game. Which pieces will you complete first? Which will be finished last?

Include reference art, and draw storyboards to help visualize each of the scenes, backgrounds, and GUI systems that will be needed for the player.

Include a paragraph for each team member discussing their expected contributions to the final game.

There may be aspects of the game design that we have not covered in class. Clearly mark these sections as topics for further exploration, and list websites and tutorials that can be used to assist you in preparing for these new topics.

As always, include citations and licensing information for any resources you plan to incorporate in the game.

Here are some guidelines for making a great design document.

Share your design document with your SME and Dr. Goadrich for their feedback and approval. We will discuss these in class and provide peer feedback.

First Prototype

Once your design document is approved, you should begin implementing your ideas. Set up a project in GitHub, share it with all members of your team, and ensure that everyone can make updates to the project.

Follow your design document, divide up the tasks, and collaborate as we have done in labs to create a first pass at your client’s game. It will be necessary to prioritize the aspects of the game for a reasonable turnaround.

In this prototype, at a minimum you should establish your aesthetics and have at least one playable level/stage.

Publish your prototype on itch.io, and share your link with Dr. Goadrich.

Practice Client Pitch

Your first demonstration of your prototype will be as a client pitch to the rest of the class. Your group will give a six-minute presentation covering your progress, showing off some playable pieces of your game.

This meeting is to validate the initial efforts of your first prototype, and help you calibrate if your game idea is compelling and engaging. You should walk the class through your current prototype and ask for their feedback on the aesthetics and gameplay, and ensure that you have maintained a fidelity with your subject material.

Based on your conversation, update your Game Design Document to version 2.0, incorporating the class feedback and course corrections. Revise the milestones and responsibilities as needed.

Second Prototype

Taking the feedback and ideas from your Client Pitch demonstration, and your updated Game Design Document, revise and improve your initial prototype into a new expanded version of your game.

In this prototype, you should have multiple levels, and the start/credit/help scenes. The user should never have to refresh the page in the browser to restart the game.

Publish your second prototype on itch.io, and share your link with Dr. Goadrich.

Playtesting

In this stage, you will be gathering active feedback on your second prototype from the rest of the class.

Design a web-based playtesting form for gathering information from playtesters about your game. Your goal is to evaluate the usability, narrative, clarity, aesthetics, impact, and enjoyment of your game. Use a Likert scale and freeform answers to gather this information.

Use the results of your playtesting to create a report, including graphs, charts, and selected freeform feedback. In this report, highlight the strengths of your current prototype, and detail the steps you will take to address any weaknesses identified. You should include a timeline showing your next steps to complete your final prototype and who is responsible for each of these steps.

Final Prototype

You should now incorporate the playtesting feedback, fix any bugs found, and push to complete your game. This is the time to add in the polishing steps, making sure the lighting is accurate, tweaking the shaders, and improving your game feel.

Publish your prototype on itch.io, and share your link with Dr. Goadrich. Be sure to customize the itch.io page, and include a cover image and screenshots of your game. Verify that your game UI scales appropriately to the viewport size. This will be the main landing page for your players, so make it attractive and informative.

Additionally, revise your game design document to version 3.0, to match your current game implementation. Update the responsibility paragraph for each team member to detail the contributions of each member to the final product.

Final Presentation

During our finals timeslot, May 2, 8:30 - 11:30am, your team will be giving a 20 minute presentation to your SME, local educators, and the rest of the class. This will include an overview of your initial design document, discuss your joys and struggles to complete the game, quantify your playtesting survey replies, and a demonstration of your final product.

If the scope of the game has expanded beyond your initial expectations in your game design document of the milestones and progress needed, be honest with yourselves and detail the steps remaining to complete the game.

Specifications Grading

A Complete final project will

  • demonstrate participation in all SME and group meetings
  • include a complete design document, with appropriate revisions throughout the project
  • develop a viable first prototype with appropriate aesthetics and at least one scene
  • revise into a second prototype with multiple levels, and the start/credit/help scenes
  • facilitate playtesting and report on the results and future timeline for completion
  • iterate a final prototype that is polished and published on itch.io
  • present your prototype and development process to your SME and local educators
  • contain significant and regular contributions on Github
  • include an hours log with 30+ hours of work documented

A Partially Complete final project will

  • demonstrate participation in most SME and group meetings
  • include a complete design document
  • develop a viable first prototype with appropriate aesthetics and at least one scene
  • revise into a second prototype with the start/credit/help scenes
  • facilitate playtesting and report on the results and future timeline for completion
  • iterate a final prototype that is published on itch.io
  • present your prototype and development process to your SME and local educators
  • contain multiple contributions on Github from your account