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The Dodger Game Extension Project is a special THREE WEEK PROJECT. It is designed to accomplish several things:
Introduce students to the THREE WEEK PROJECT process
Build on the idea of the importance of properly completing the PREP portion of a project
Reinforce proper version numbering AND how to use a VERSION SCHEDULE TABLE to organize and keep track of project builds.
Reinforce the idea of maintaining a PROGRAMMING JOURNAL to properly document the iterative design process.
Introduce the OBJECT CONSTRUCTOR and METHOD javaScript structures in order to give students more tools to build more complex games and projects.
You will use the following two support websites extensively as you work through this project:
The general criteria for grading will be based on the following:
How well a student properly PREPARES and PLANS OUT the entire project before attempting the first build.
How well the student honestly REFLECTS, ASSESSES, and makes appropriate ADJUSTMENTS (as necessary) to the project build.
The quality of final ARTIFACT. This will be assessed in the following ways:
The UX (User Experience) of the finished product (does the program actually work, etc.)
How well the student follows good programming conventions when writing the code (whitespace, indentation, comments, naming conventions, user-created functions, organization/structure, etc.).
How well the student incorporates NEW coding structures that demonstrate learning and growth as a programmer. (i.e., don't show me what you already know how to do. Show me that you can learn and incorporate new ideas).
This THREE-WEEK project can be broken up into FIVE main chunks:
Project Proposal
Project Planning
Iterative Project Development (building, testing, and continually making small improvements/adjustments)
Final Project Submission
Evaluation, Feedback, and Reflection
While we generally do these in order, there is overlap between the last four chunks. For example, we are constantly reflecting on the project from the very first day (via our programming journal) and there are Reflection elements built in to the Iterative Project Development . . . that, in turn, can cause us to go back and refine our original plan.
Creating your "builds" for this project should be a very interactive and flexible process.
After we finish our time working together, each student will individually complete the Dodger Game Extension project to add enhancements and their own personalization to the Dodger Game.
The Project Proposal can be chunked into TWO main steps:
Determine the Scope of your Project
What do you plan to build (a new project or are you extending another project)?
How much time do you have to build it?
Create your Project Proposal (ONE-PAGER)
The scope of this project pre-determined for you (we will review it in class). In short, we are building a simple obstacle avoidance game called Dodger. We will build up this game so that it has some very basic functionality. In Part 2 of this project you will extend the Dodger game by adding in your own enhancements.
Typically, your ONE-PAGER is printed in hard-copy form. However, we will be creating and submitted a DIGITAL document. Since we will be submitting a digital document, we will not hold to a specific page requirement. However, you should try to limit your digital document to TWO pages, if possible.
Your ONE-PAGER (project proposal) must be approved before you can earn any points for the rest of your work.
A typical ONE-PAGER for a classic 2D arcade-style game should contain all the important facts about the project you intend to build. Typically, it should contain the following:
State the overall objective of game (how do you win? // how do you level up?)
An explanation of how the game functions:
How do you play?
What is the role of the user?
Do you control a character/avatar?
Do you use the mouse/keyboard?
How do you level up?
Sketches of various modes of game play (splash screen, game play, levels, boss, game over, etc.). All games are different so what you sketch will depend on YOUR game. Your sketch(es) should make it clear to a stranger what you expect your final game will look like AND what the experience will be like. On each sketch, you should:
identify all the sprites/variables you plan to use
identify the naming convention(s) you plan to use for sprites/variables/functions
detail the expected behavior(s) of your sprites (do they animate, move, fade-in, etc.). Be as detailed as possible.
identify whether or not there will be a scoreboard (or some kind of user feedback) on the screen? What information does it show?
Make a copy of the Dodger Game Starter: ONE PAGER and have it ready for our class review. We will review the embedded DIRECTIONS in the document and walk through how to complete your work. (Although, if you are getting to this step early, you are welcome to attempt to get started on this document).
Keep the document PRIVATE but give your teacher COMMENTING rights. You can't earn any points for your work if I can't see your work.
The formatting of the ONE-PAGER document is entirely up to you. Arrange your page in a way that best communicates your information. Use use solid visual communication and design strategies.
Finally, seek help if you have any questions or you are having any trouble completing this assignment.
When you are sure you have completed all the requirements for the ONE-PAGER, go to the ONE PAGER section of the CSD Class Projects: Submission Forms page to submit your digital document for approval.
Once your ONE-PAGER IS approved, you can start earning points on the rest of your project.
Your first big assessment will be on the quality of the PLANNING you do before you start your build.
To get your project started off on the right footing, you need a solid plan for the next three weeks.
If you plan well, the rest of your project usually runs smoothly. If you plan poorly, you will likely encounter a lot of frustration while trying to build and complete your project.
The Project Planning can be chunked into FOUR main steps:
Establish and set up your Programming Journal (PJ)
Complete the Daily Entry section of Your Programming Journal (one entry completed for each day of the project).
Complete the Version Schedule in your Programming Journal (this should be completed prior to starting your first build).
Complete the "Prep" section of your Programming Journal (this should be done prior to starting your first build).
Note: be aware that you cannot make up any of your planning work after you begin your build. Once you've started your build, you have moved beyond the PLANNING phase (and beyond the ability to earn any more points for this portion of your project). Therefore, be sure you have completed all your planning steps before you begin working on any portion of your digital build.
Your programming journal is where you will document your project scope, your project planning and prep work, AND where you will keep a record of your daily reflections about your work/progress throughout the project cycle.
As soon as you get access to your PJ, your should complete your COVER PAGE.
Make a copy of the Dodger Game Starter: Programming Journal.
The directions for completing each section of the PJ are embedded in the PJ itself.
Talk to your teacher if you have any questions about any of the sections.
In order to make your document available for periodic checkups (as well as your final submission), you are going to SUBMIT your document NOW. Don't worry, you can keep on making edits to your document after you submit.
Before submitting, be sure to keep the document PRIVATE but give your teacher COMMENTING rights. You can't earn any points for your work if your teacher can't see your work.
Go to the Programming Journal section of the Class Projects: Submission Forms page to digitally submit your work.
The first day you get access to your programming journal, you will need to begin completing the daily entries. There should be an entry recorded for each day of the project.
The video below will explain how to fill out the DAY OF PROJECT and WORK DAY portions of your programming journal.
Check out the Version Schedule page for an overview of how to complete the VS for this project.
The first several pages of your PJ are dedicated to your planning documents. Everything from the VS to the first DJE is part of your PREP work and should be completed before you attempt to build your project.
Fill out each page/table as required. Be as thorough and as detailed as possible. The more you pay attentional to all the details in the PREP section, the more likely that you will have an easier time with your project BUILD.
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Building a programming project is a series of small, incremental steps. Because most programming languages are so exact, it is important that you constantly test your work to catch, and fix, all bugs as they happen.
Here are the general steps we follow when building a new project:
Complete an Individual Task/Build (as indicated on your VS)
Test your build
Archive your build
Link your build (create a link in your VS)
Repeat steps 1-4 as you work through each task on your VS.
When building any project from scratch (or extending an existing project) it is important to have a solid plan and to build your project in very small increments where you are repeatedly testing and debugging along the way. We call this iterative development.
One of the hallmarks of iterative development is making sure you project is always working at the end of each iteration of your build. If you encounter a problem, you fix it before you move on. ALWAYS. You never attempt to add more code to your project unless your current work is free from errors.
Since this is your first project outside of the Code.org lessons, the iterative development that we will use for this project has already been laid out for you. In fact, a walk-through of all the iterative steps of our game starter can be found on the GameLab Game Tutorials website.
We will use this site to help us complete our class walkthrough of the Dodger Game Starter project.
On future projects, when you are creating your own build from scratch, you will do this on your own.
Generally, there are no Peer Evaluations, Artist Evaluations, and/or Final Reflections for this project. We save those for the Dodger Game Extension portion of this project.