ClassInfo

GAM 691 Game Development Studio II

Allen Turner

Office: DPC/Jarvis Center/C112M
Spring 2015-2016
Class number: 32929
Section number: 901
Tu 5:45PM - 9:00PM
14EAS 00503 Loop Campus

Summary

Profs: Brian Schrank (section 501) and Allen Turner (section 901) DePaul University College of Computing and Digital Media

Overview

Students will be guided through a full production cycle of game development from brainstorming a cool game concept to playtesting and polishing a complete, short but awesome game. The primary purpose of this course is for students to gain experience working intensely as a team or "game studio." Students will learn how to work successfully with people that have diverse skill sets, backgrounds, and interests. Teams will be formed by students (with instructor approval) or by the instructor. Once teams are formed they can?t be changed and will last both Winter and Spring quarters

Course Goals

  • To experience a full game development production cycle (from concept to asset production) within a collaborative context;
  • To learn how to ?scope? a game design idea based on available time, resources, and expertise;
  • To gain experience working in cross-functional teams;
  • To gain practice in evaluating game design ideas, game prototypes, and demos in order to improve their quality.

Main Deliverable

The main deliverable of the two-quarter course is to design and develop an original, fun, indie game. Capstone I (winter quarter) will deliver an alpha build of a game, defined as a demo that articulates the core gameplay, art, animation, and audio concept; Capstone II (spring quarter) a demo build, defined as 1-minute of awesome gameplay experience which includes exemplary animation, art, writing, and audio.



Grading

Grading Criteria:
  • Social: 30% of grade
  • Goodwill and Participation in Class: 15%
  • Goodwill and Participation with Team: 15%
  • Productive: 50% of grade
  • Midterm milestone: 20%
  • Alpha build: 30%
  • Reflective: 20% of grade
  • Midterm reality check reflection: 10%
  • Postmortem: 10%
  • **Extra Credit: Going above and beyond helping other students: 1-10% At discretion of instructor. The student who was helped needs to email the instructor and summarize the help that was provided.

Feedback

Feedback on your progress and performance in the course will be based on the following items:

  • Communication and Critical Thinking: How well are you able to express your ideas, verbally, through your design, and in written form? Is critical thinking evident in your design work?
  • Design Process: What are the strengths and weaknesses of your game design process? Are you able to evaluate the work at different points in the process and to identify areas for future development?
  • Collaboration: Are you able to leverage the strengths of your teammates in ways that are both productive and generous??

Promises

Two promises to be made:

  • To your faculty and your peers:
    • that you will respect our time and efforts with your own;
    • that you will work your hardest, and seek to be a better designer, programmer and artist through trial and error, offering enthusiastic criticism and accepting it in order to improve on your ideas.
  • To yourself: to push yourself beyond the bounds of your comfort zone, and to be brave, adventurous and surprising.

Attendance

You are expected to attend all classes and participate in class activities as scheduled. If you have to miss a class for health or family reasons you are expected to follow up with the instructor and find out what was missed, and make up any work. Any absences beyond 2 will result in an automatic grade deduction of 1/2 letter grade for each additional absence. Absences beyond 4 result in automatic failure of the course. This is your big moment people. Show some commitment

Late assignments

Late assignments will only be accepted within three days of the due date. Each day the assignment is late will decrease the possible point value by 10%.

Incomplete

An Incomplete grade is given only for an exceptional reason such as a death in the family, a serious illness, etc. Any such reason must be documented. Any incomplete request must be made at least two weeks before the final and approved by the Dean of the School of Computer Science, Telecommunications and Information Systems. Any consequences resulting from a poor grade for the course will not be considered as valid reasons for such a request.

External Expert Advisors

Each studio team is expected to work with an External Expert Advisor, defined as an expert in some aspect of game development (art, audio, design, programming, etc.) that is not on staff or faculty at CDM. The role of the advisor is to provide additional support and perspective. Studio teams are expected to get input from their advisors at key milestones during the development process, as laid out in the Milestones document. Capstone faculty will help teams to identify advisors, if needed.



School policies:

Changes to Syllabus

This syllabus is subject to change as necessary during the quarter. If a change occurs, it will be thoroughly addressed during class, posted under Announcements in D2L and sent via email.

Online Course Evaluations

Evaluations are a way for students to provide valuable feedback regarding their instructor and the course. Detailed feedback will enable the instructor to continuously tailor teaching methods and course content to meet the learning goals of the course and the academic needs of the students. They are a requirement of the course and are key to continue to provide you with the highest quality of teaching. The evaluations are anonymous; the instructor and administration do not track who entered what responses. A program is used to check if the student completed the evaluations, but the evaluation is completely separate from the student’s identity. Since 100% participation is our goal, students are sent periodic reminders over three weeks. Students do not receive reminders once they complete the evaluation. Students complete the evaluation online in CampusConnect.

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

This course will be subject to the university's academic integrity policy. More information can be found at http://academicintegrity.depaul.edu/ If you have any questions be sure to consult with your professor.

All students are expected to abide by the University's Academic Integrity Policy which prohibits cheating and other misconduct in student coursework. Publicly sharing or posting online any prior or current materials from this course (including exam questions or answers), is considered to be providing unauthorized assistance prohibited by the policy. Both students who share/post and students who access or use such materials are considered to be cheating under the Policy and will be subject to sanctions for violations of Academic Integrity.

Academic Policies

All students are required to manage their class schedules each term in accordance with the deadlines for enrolling and withdrawing as indicated in the University Academic Calendar. Information on enrollment, withdrawal, grading and incompletes can be found at http://www.cdm.depaul.edu/Current%20Students/Pages/PoliciesandProcedures.aspx.

Students with Disabilities

Students who feel they may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the instructor privately to discuss their specific needs. All discussions will remain confidential.
To ensure that you receive the most appropriate accommodation based on your needs, contact the instructor as early as possible in the quarter (preferably within the first week of class), and make sure that you have contacted the Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD) at:
Lewis Center 1420, 25 East Jackson Blvd.
Phone number: (312)362-8002
Fax: (312)362-6544
TTY: (773)325.7296