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This is the fourth project that your team will complete in working towards creating a videogame prototype. This project focuses on assembling example levels and arranging your game objects inside them. The result of this assignment will be your completed prototype. For this assignment you will not be developing any systems-level code - you will instead be continuing your use of GameMaker as a development platform upon which you will script your game's logic.
The most inspired game design is for naught if that design is not carried through to completion. The most beautiful artwork is just eye-candy if there is no interesting gameplay behind it. The most impressive AI is merely clever if that AI does not result in an enjoyable game. Ultimately, a game needs skilled level designers to draw these disparate resources together and synthesize and enjoyable experience.
The purpose of this project is to develop a final prototype for your game. In previous projects, you have created your game conceptualization, your game design, you artwork, and your game logic. Now you must bring it all together, do the necessary balancing and tweaking, and come up with a prototype that shows the potential of your game.
For this project, you will complete the prototype of your game using the GameMaker software. As the purpose of your prototype is to give people an impression of how your game will play, you should construct enough GameMaker Rooms as it takes to show off the objects and interactions that you have created so far. In addition to rooms containing representative gameplay, your final prototype must also include title, options, and credits screens. As before, you will be required to submit a README describing your prototype.
The final form that your prototype takes will be highly dependant on your original design, but in all cases the prototype must be a playable game. Your prototype will be evaluated based on how well you integrate and utilize the artwork and game objects that you have from projects 2 and 3. Use as many or as few GameMaker rooms as it takes to represent the gameplay experience you wish to achieve using the objects that you have created so far. Perhaps a prototype of a strategy game would only require the use of one battlefield to get the point across, where perhaps a puzzle game would require a sequence of several puzzles to indicate the possibilities.
In addition to these example rooms, you are also required to create title, options and credits screens for your prototype. The title screen should at least include the name of your game, perhaps specifying that this is a "prototype" or "demo". The options screen must have at least two options that the user can change to influence the game world (number of lives, hit points, game speed, etc.). The credits screen should at least list all members of your team, and may provide other information such as version number, or other art credits. The exact configuration and use of these screens are up to you, as there are many valid ways of organizing them. For instance, some games display a splash screen of credits at start, followed by the title screen, then options; where other games might have the title screen at start, leading straight into the game, with options accessible in-game, and credits displayed at exit (with prominent contact and purchase information).
You should include a separate image of your project (200x150), suitable for a representation for a Web page. This can be a screenshot, or logo or some other catchy graphic.
Finally, you must include an informal README (text file) containing the names of your team members, a short description of your game (this can be taken from your game treatment documents, if you'd like), a list of features in the prototype, and instructions for playing your prototype.
If time allows, you may create additional artwork and game objects as needed. Title-screen artwork, or a team logo might be a good addition.
One member of each group should submit all materials (Game Maker .gm6 file and README) electronically via turnin by 11:59pm on Wednesday, February 23rd.
One member of your group will need to upload the files you are turning in to their CCC account on one of the CCC machines (ccc1 to ccc10). While logged into a CCC machine, that member will need to enter the directory where these files are stored and execute the following:
/cs/bin/turnin submit <course> <assignment> <file1> <file2> ...
where in our case, <course> is id111x, <assignment> is project4, and <file> is the name of your Game Maker .gm6 file and your README.
Once done, you should verify that your files have been entered into turnin by executing the following command:
/cs/bin/turnin verify id111x project4
| Grading Guidelines | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Weight | |||||
| Playable Game | 60% | Completeness | 10% | |||
| Options | 10% | |||||
| Title Screen | 10% | |||||
| Credits Screen | 5% | |||||
| README | 5% | |||||
Game Maker - This will be the development platform for your project this term.
The Game Maker site includes some sample games that might illustrate interesting title, credit or options screens.
You might check out the Game Maker documentation page.
| Deliverable | Description | Time Budget | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final Prototype | GameMaker .gm6 containing your completed prototype, along with a README file | 10 hours / group member | February 23, 2005 |
Send all project questions to the TA mailing list (id111x-ta at cs.wpi.edu).