To begin with, you can always ask brilliant questions in class for immediate extra credit. Knowing the answer might earn you some extra credit too, but it is better to ask some of the questions than know all of the answers.
During the quarter, these extra credit opportunities are available to you. Note that extra credit assignments are entirely voluntary; students are not required to participate in extra credit assignments. Points earned for extra credit are in addition to the base 200 possible points that can be earned during this course.
0. Read the Review Sheet prior to class that week. Mark it up with any questions or comments you might have and ask intelligent questions or make thoughtful comments during class. If you impress the instructor, including by answering these questions, you will earn an extra credit point.
1. Attend a game convention / exposition and bring back a convention badge with your name on it. Only a convention badge with your name on it will earn you the 6 extra credit points. The following event(s) qualify (although if you know of any other such conventions, please email me with their information and I can approve them for you on a case-by-case basis).
Strategicon Game
Conventions (Orccon, Gateway, and Gamex): are
held three times per year at the Los Angeles Airport Weston hotel over Presidents
Day, Memorial Day, and Labor Weekends.
These are player's convention where all types of game tournaments and
open gaming are held. In addition, there is a dealer's room, auction, painting
contests, and other activities. Important: When you get to the
convention, ask for convention staffer Norm Carlson or Clyde Brien; they'll
give you the "proof of attendance" you need to bring back for your extra
credit points.
The
Game Developers Conference,
which is usually held each year in early March (sadly, during finals week of
our Winter Quarter) somewhere in the Bay Area. This is the show to
attend if you want to be a game developer! Complete with meetings for artists,
programmers, designers, writers, audio techs, and producers, this show also
boasts the best Job Fair in the industry. It's expensive but well worth it.
Also, there's E3, but that show can be difficult to get into unless you already work in the game business. It's full of sound and fury, but finding significance is difficult. Still, it's the best show for collecting swag. Be sure to bring me some!
Article: How to Network at Game Industry Events by Marc Mencher
Don't just take in the sights when you're there; make some contacts! This article tells you how.
2. You can create an additional analog or digital (using Game Maker) game prototype as an extra credit assignment by special arrangement with the instructor. Please email me to work out the particular details, but for an analog game this extra credit project, will be very similar to the Game Prototyping Week 3 homework assignment, while a digital game prototype will be similar to the Take Home Midterm Exam assignment. These extra credit projects are worth up to 8 points each.
3. Here's a great idea, mod the daylights out of a Game Prototyping Tutorial (i.e., Tutorials #1 through 9). Show those students what games like Catch the Clown, Galactic Mail, The Maze Game, The Platformer Game or any of the others might look like with splash screens, cheese screens, and more / improved items, obstacles, and levels. C'mon, you know a lot more now than you did then; have a little nostalgic Game Maker fun and leave a legacy that future Game Prototyping classes will be in awe of.
4. Write a mini-tutorial lesson carefully explaining something you have learned about Game Maker that was not in our class tutorials that can be helpful to your fellow students as they build their Course Project Games. Here are some sample mini-lessons to guide you: Smooth Rotating Objects and Isometric Tiles in Photoshop. Some ideas that you might want to explore for extra credit mini-lessons include:
How to use some of the features inside Game Maker itself that we haven't explored in this class would include using some of the features on the extras tab and the draw tab (in particular, using the Create effects Action – which is always a popular lesson), or using Paths
Perhaps some basic 2D art instruction on how to make a decent sprite, or animate one, or lesson on the features in the Game Maker Sprite Editing Tools
How to make a desktop icon to class up your game when you save it as a stand alone executable file
Customizing your Load Game Screen and loading bar (just read the Game Maker help file; it's easy)
Dropping in background art and otherwise creating a nice High Score Table
Opening up an interesting Game Maker game's .gm6 file and giving a tour about how they got it to do some particularly neat thing
Offering some pre-fabricated Game
Maker code scripts to the class and explaining what they do (many of these
can be found in the Tutorial 0 folder)
Anything that your classmates could find useful is fair game; your lesson to
the class will be graded by the instructor for up to
5 points each.
5. There's a special opportunity to mod some in-class tutorial games as listed below. The point value for these assignments vary, but they will be worth it.
Week 3's Tic-Tac-Toe game: Mod this game to either:
1) have the AI choose a position that lets it win two different ways (see
page 257 in the Apprentice textbook);
2) Create a 4-in-a-Row variant;
3) create the graphics and AI for a 3D (i.e., 3-level) Tic-Tac-Toe
game; or
4) create a Nine Men’s Morris computer game.
Week 5's Pyramid Panic game: Mod this game's rules
and features by:
1) Adding new monster, wall, and / or treasure items (be sure to come up
with appropriate artwork for them) – some ideas from The Maze Game in
last quarter’s Game Prototyping class or Chapter 7’s game Koalabr8
might inspire you; or
2) Adding Random Events (using “Create an instance of a random object” or
perhaps a “die roll” chance to begin a Time Line).
Week 7's Cursed Undead game: Mod this game by:
1) Adding new monster, wall, and / or treasure items (be sure to come up
with appropriate artwork for them); or
2) Beautify / re-theme the game with a graphics overhaul.
Week 8's Warcraft 1 game: Mod this game by:
1) Adding new unit, building, or terrain types (be sure to come up with
appropriate artwork for them);
2) alter the game’s rules or improve its AI; or
3) Beautify / re-theme the game with a graphics overhaul.
6. Be a good playtester during Weeks 9 and 10. If you help others with their games, they can tell me about it and you'll earn an extra credit point or two.
