Digital Game Prototyping
Graded Course Project Game Information
Using Game Maker, your task is to devise your own game prototype. You can build this game completely from scratch, or start from an existing Game Maker game and mod the heck out of it until it 'becomes' your original game. At the final class meeting, every student will be given a grade sheet to use to evaluate every other student. Then, in random order, you will go up to the instructor's computer and 'demo' your game. In this little dog-and-pony show you need to demonstrate what's cool about the game, and maybe even show how you did some of the interesting bits by opening up its guts in Game Maker.
There will be no time for playtesting or revisions in class, so you will need to help each other on your own time with feedback as well as integrate the feedback you get from others into an improved iteration of your game. If someone helps your game with some great playtesting feedback or technical help using Game Maker, email me their name and explain how they helped you and I'll give them some Extra Credit for helping you.
These sample Game Maker Course Project games scored well. Feel free to download them and try them out. They demonstrate the type of game, graphic, interface, and audio design that can be achieved by students in this class:
The Rift: Matt Rose creates a an Asteroids-style game with fantastic panache. (I bet you can't stop playing it!)
The Works: Ryan Rousseau offers up the most amazing color-matching variant on Missile Command.
Halo Platformer: Andrew Monroy built an awesome platformer with a Halo theme.
Hell's Graveyard: Ben Jaramillo's platformer offers players considerable challenge.
X-mas of Doom: Aaron Goodson presents the complete graphic look and storyline in this introductory level, side-scrolling snowball-thrower.
Super Diet: Jane Lo builds a frenetic platformer with a dietary theme.
Space Puzzle Platoon: Matt Coburn builds a Tetris type game, with some interesting twists.
Aces: Aerial Armageddon: Kevin Klosiewski gives players a screen between levels to spend victory points on upgrades and repairs in this 1945 game super-variant.
Here Comes the Horde: Brian Newland has turned the real-time game engine of Game Maker into a turn-based system with a very clever little strategy game!
Reactor: Asa Trujillo has given a wild Breakout style game with a lot of interesting twists.
ž Turn in Completed Game & Give a Live Demonstration [up to 30 points]: Due at the beginning of class during Week 11, this is the Gamma version of your project game with you providing a live Dog & Pony Show for it.
ž A Complete Digital Game: this should be on a CD-ROM or, better still, emailed to me such that it is time stamped when I receive it in my email box no later than 30 minutes from the end of class! In addition to your game's in-class evaluation during our final meeting, I may want to examine it future before determining your final grade.
Each game will be evaluated in the following categories. The maximum number of points earned for each category is listed after that category's title.
Game Concept / Premise [up to 2 points]:
Is this a clever idea for a game?
Will it appeal to a viable market or is the game to broad and unfocused?
While it's okay for a game to be serious or silly, is it too serious or silly?
It is offensive? (That's bad, unless
that's its selling point.)
Intro & Splash Screen [up to 2 points]:
Is there a custom desktop icon for this game (instead of the generic Game Maker 'red ball?')
Is there a custom Game Loading image?
Does the background music begin to play?
Does it provide all of game's required functionality (Start, Help, Load, Scores, and Quit)?
Does the game's splash screen do a good job setting the game's mood visually and aurally?
If the game has a story, does it provide a
compelling prologue exposition?
Ergonomics [up to 2 points]:
Does this game accommodate lazy players?
Does it seem like there are too many clicks or keystrokes required?
Are the controls placed intuitively?
Does it need (and if so, have) a HUD (Heads Up Display) with all of the information relevant to the player in the heat of battle: health meters, lives, ammo, score, time, mini-map, etc.?
Are the colors right for conveying the most information with the fewest words?
Will players need to keep looking up information on help screen in order to really "get" the rules?
Has the designer avoided "player discomfort and irritation" factors such as
these during play?
Ease of Understanding, Rules, and Victory Conditions [up to 4 points]:
Does the game get going quickly and easily?
Do players understand what the Sequence of Events will be from their starting location to their final destination (i.e., does the game help players avoid getting frustrated or lost)?
Do the rules designed into the game seem appropriate for genre, epoch, and its particular unit types?
Are the rules (particularly for the pieces) properly implemented?
Are there too many / few features?
Are the existing features well developed and polished?
Are the goals clear to the player – both
the intermediate goals as well as the game's Victory Conditions?
Art / Graphics & Sound [up to 5 points]:
How does the game look and feel? (Your first impression is very important here!)
Is the game's art attractive and compelling or repulsive and distracting?
Does the game provide clear audio and visual cues and feedback to the player?
Did the designer / artist come up with the right look and sounds for this game to improve its utility and player immersion into the game world?
Is everything clear and harmonious in this game world and contributes to the player's suspension of disbelief?
Fun Factor, Replayability, & Story [up to 10 points]: This is about the game's personality and the execution of the game designer's philosophy in making it.
Is this a game you envision other people having fun playing?
Is this a game that you would have fun playing?
Is the presentation of the game's genre and / or its epoch (i.e., theme or story) compelling? Does it 'draw you in' to the game and spark your emotions (i.e., does it provide dramatic tension, make you laugh, etc.)?
Are there adequate cool decisions and / or opportunities to show off a player skill (i.e., quick reflexes, eye-hand coordination, trivia knowledge, strategic planning, tactical maneuvering, and so forth)?
Is there a sufficient amount of gameplay in it? In other words, is the game simply too short or becomes brain-dead repetitive too quickly?
Does the game seem to have a lot of replay value? Is there something about it that would compel additional playing?
Did the designer cleverly follow the First (K.I.S.S.) and Second (use available techniques) Rules of Game Design to make the game more accessible to players?
Cheese Screen [up to 2 points]:
Does this game sufficiently reward the player for completing it?
If there is a story, does the cheese screen provide a
satisfying
epilogue?
Help Screen [up to 3 points]:
Is this screen laid out in an attractive and functional manner?
Are the basic ingredients all there? These include:
Game Title
Credits
A Compelling Back Story
Intermediate Goals and Ultimate Victory Condition(s)
Game Rules & How to Use the Controls
