Yr 9 Video Game Making Assessment Task
Major Video Game Project – With a partner you must use the software you have been assigned to create a challenging & addictive game that will be the talk of the school.
The game must:
· include a ‘Splash Screen’ that outlines the games controls
· consist of at least 3 levels that increase in difficulty
· have a characters that move in a variety of directions
· have a counter that increments in tens
· allow three lives and conclude on the elimination of the third
· have at least one background that you have created in a graphics application
· be able to collect a ‘treasure’ that will give bonus points
· make use of sound effects and music
· be submitted as a stand alone .exe ready to play.
· make use of a health bar
· grant an additional life on arriving at a certain score
· make a clever little visual joke that parodies gamers or gaming
Documentation:
Your partner and yourself must:
· create an online learning journal using a site such as http://edublogs.org/ (or your favourite blogging platform that is not blocked by the school filter). The journal will outline your ‘learning journey’ in video game programming. Remember to email the URL to your teacher
· upload the game’s ‘scenario’. The scenario will outline – the game’s story – Where is the game set? – i.e. location in the universe + time - past – present or future – a building of some kind – haunted castle – a crashed UFO – a secret laboratory - How did you come to be the only ‘hero’ in the game? (make up an imaginative story) – What is the hero’s goal in the game? Why is the hero interested in this goal?
· include your ‘How to Play’ documents with a ‘Tips and Tricks’ section
· upload your game as a stand alone .exe for the world to download eg box.net
· create a Survey Monkey survey – questions relating to: usability, ease of install, the interface, game play etc
· have a journal entry dated for each week – you will outline: where you are at with the project, comments on group work, problems you are facing, problems you have solved, where you are looking for answers e.g. forums, FAQs, the manual, etc
Promotion and Market Research
· Invite people to download and play your game and ask them to fill in your online survey. Promote your game to friends and family via email (no spamming though), posters, be creative, links from your teacher’s blog or website.
You must:
· a Survey Monkey survey where you invite people to rate your game once they have played it.
· an electronic log book of your learning (including the Survey Monkey data analysis)
· entertain your teacher with your creation by letting him play in on the data projector J
Game Development Timeline
Wk1 –
· Set up an edublog account - http://edublogs.org/
· Begin your initial introduction to your software by working individually on your given tutorial.
· Journal Entry – What are your all time favourite video games? Why do you think these are your favourites? Comment on ‘challenge’, ‘game features’, What are your initial thoughts about becoming a video game creator? What software have you been assigned? List 5 reasons why people play video games.
· Remember to give your teacher the URL of your blog/website.
Wk 2 –
· Continue with your tutorials
· Journal Entry – What successes have you have so far? What problems have you overcome? Anything that you think I need to know about how your tutorials are progressing.
· Homework – Google games made with your piece of software – download them and play some to get an idea of what your software is capable of.
· Journal Entry – What games have you found and played. Provide links to them in your journal.
Wk 3 –
- Make a mind map on ‘Video Gaming’ using CMAP or Mindomo.com – What is gaming? Why people game? Statistics on gaming. Most popular video games. Why these games were popular. History of video gaming & video game addiction.
- Finish initial tutorials – have your tutorial *.exe loaded to the ‘CLASS SHARE’ folder for testing.
- Provide other game makers with feedback relating to: what they’ve done well, what they could improve, the quality of graphics, quality of music, how addictive the game is, the game play etc
- With your partner begin to plan you major game project keeping in mind the possibilities and limitations of your software and the time that you have to finish the game project. This page may help
- http://www.mindtools.tased.edu.au/knp/yourgame.htm
- Submit a written plan to your teacher – include in this – the games scenario – layout – goals
- Record the feedback you have been given in your online learning journal.
Wk 4, 5, 6, 7 –
- work with your partner to create the next worldwide gaming phenomena.
- Create a journal entry in the last 5 minutes of each lesson – outline wins, losses, lessons learnt, frustrations, how your team is working together,
Wk 8 –
- Set up your Survey Monkey questionnaire – http://www.surveymonkey.com/ questions should address – ease or difficulty of installing or getting the game to run – how adequate the documentation is – how intuitive the game is – how appealing is the game – game design i.e. use of colour, sound and animation – overall feedback
- Use Box.net to upload your exe file to the Internet and then import the widget code into you website.
- Upload the source code to your webpage so if anyone wants to ad to your game they can. NB You may need to zip the file as you will need top include the resources you have made.
- Invite people to comment on your game.
- Have your teacher transfer your exe file to the Class Share File for peer testing across the school.
- Advertise your site e.g. Submit the URL to Google, email the URL to friends, Get your teacher to write a blog post on it or have him link from his website to your game etc
Week 9 –
- All completed work to be place in a folder called “Our_Great_Game”.
Include:
- URL of online journal – ensure all questions are answered and your game scenario is in the journal
- standalone .exe of your game
- all native files from your application
- a summary of your Survey Monkey findings
- your Game Making Mind Map
House Keeping
Game Maker 6.1 (NOT 7) –
http://www.mindtools.tased.edu.au/gamemaker/platform_games.htm
http://www.mindtools.tased.edu.au/gamemaker/howto.htm
http://www.yoyogames.com/browse
Scrolling Game Development Kit - http://gamedev.sourceforge.net/
Adventure Maker –
Klik n Play –
http://www.mindtools.tased.edu.au/knp/default.htm
http://www.leo.eq.edu.au/knptutorials.htm
http://www.mindtools.tased.edu.au/knp/examples.htm
http://knpkorner.googlepages.com/
Reality Factory –
http://www.stormthecastle.com/video-game-design/reality-factory/reality-factory-download.htm
Download the Reality Factory Manual is the CLASS SHARE Folder
NB If you choose to make a First Person Shooter (FPS) your enemy must be inanimate objects e.g. hamburgers, killer teddy bears etc