The main project in CMSC 209 is to create a learning game.
During the first 6 weeks, you will be building a game
engine in Java. This game engine has limitations because
it is unreasonable to ask you to create a fully-functional
game engine in just 6 weeks (for you to then customize to
your application for the final 4 weeks). Because of these
limitations, there are two critical design decisions we have
made about the project.
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You must use the Java engine for your game. I allowed other game
engines last year, and those who used other game engines had
very disappointing games from a technical point of view - they did
not use the other game engines to make more complex games. Therefore,
this year, everyone needs to use the Java game engine.
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You will design two games - one that is an ideal game that you would
create if you had an infinite programming budget and another that is
a bare-bones version that is reasonable to complete by the end of this
course (and assuming the limitations of the game engine).
In order to stay on track, there are milestones with both
game engine implementation and game design. The labs themselves
specify milestones for the game engine, so we will not focus on
those in this document. Instead, we will focus on the design elements.
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Week 3 (10/18): Learning Content
You will determine the content and target user for your game.
You need to find or create a learning trajectory for the content
you intend to teach.
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Week 5 (10/30): Game Design -
By week 5, you will have designed the game elements of your educational game.
You are designing it with the intention of teaching the content above.
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Week 6 (11/6): Full Design -
You will integrate "human factors" into your game design based on what
we learn in class. You will describe these games to a peer during class
and receive feedback from them and/or me. You will also propose the
"MVP" - Minimum Viable Product. This is the subset of the game you
will implement.
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Week 8 (11/20): Finalized MVP -
Finalize your MVP and bring to lab for a final okay from instructors.
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Week 10 (12/4): Flash Talk -
4-minute presentation about your game.
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Week 11 (12/7): Final Project Design Document
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Week 11 (12/7): Game Demo in lab.