53-399 / 621 —  Special Topics: Advanced Game Studio

Spring 2018  |  Hunt Library, Studio A  |  F 1:30 – 4:20pm
Carnegie Mellon University, Entertainment Technology Center

Course Website – https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/53-399/s2018/

	Name	Email	Room	Skype
Professor	Tom Corbett	tcorbett@andrew.cmu.edu	PTC 3319 Hunt 246	tcorbett216

OFFICE HOURS:

Tuesdays & Thursdays, by appointment only
Please email instructor (tcorbett@andrew.cmu.edu) to reserve a meeting time.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This studio course is offered for students who wish to continue their education in game development, to provide them with an opportunity to develop a more complex and fully realized game artifact, and to offer practical working experience with teammates from different backgrounds and disciplines.  Students will work in teams over the course of the semester to create a video game that addresses a particular challenge and set of conditions.   Teams will be assigned based upon interest and ability.  Each project team will be responsible for taking a game through all steps of development: from initial concept to execution, refinement, and final delivery.  Projects constraints will be provided by the instructor and “clients” who will serve as subject matter experts and advisors to the team.

This is a 9 credit course, and will require a significant amount of outside-of-class work with your team to produce positive results.   Please reserve the appropriate amount of time for your classwork and respect the schedules of your teammates.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

• Experience the roles and structure of a game development team as you realize your own games from brainstorming to final delivery.
• Practice the application of game design concepts to generate a new product.
• Practice development processes of rapid prototyping and iterative design, and production methods such as “agile” development.
• Explore the structure, methods, and economics of the games industry to understand how these affect decision-making and development.

COURSE STRUCTURE

The course will meet once a week on Fridays, from 1:30pm-4:20pm.  All team members are expected to be in attendance during this time.  Class time will be used for team meetings, project reviews with the instructors, progress presentations to the class and guests, and lecture periods.

Students will be divided into teams that will serve as  “game studios”.  Each studio will be assigned a project that will consist of a goal or idea, along with certain constraints, and must design and deliver a game that addresses and fits within these.  The instructor will be the project advisor for each team.  Each team will also have a “client”, an individual who will serve as subject matter experts, will help to define the challenges or constraints of their project and will advise on the project progress throughout the semester.  Only the instructor will assign a grade to students.

There will be 4 milestones deadlines throughout the semester, and each team will formally present the project progress at these milestones.  Each milestone will have a particular set of deliverables and an expectation for overall level of completion of the design and delivery of the artifact.

Presentations

Milestone 1: Concept
Results of early investigation and exploration, conceptual designs for game, and draft production plan for development.  Teams should show their aspirations and vision of the final game.

Milestone 2: Prototype
The “vertical slice” – a playable version of the game featuring a core mechanic which can be used to begin to test assumptions and efficacy of design.  Technical solutions and production pipeline have been evaluated and resolved to give a clear picture of the workload to come.  Playtesting with external participants should begin at this stage.

Milestone 3: Progress
The larger game is taking shape, production work should be underway and approximately 50% complete.  Pipeline and procedures are firmly set.  Playtests are a regular occurance to evaluate current state of design and refine issues.

Milestone 4: Final
Project work is complete.  A final version of the game, including source code and assets,  is submitted.  Teams will present a post-mortem assessment of their design and the development process, as well as submitting a written post-mortem report.

Week 1	Jan 19	Introduction / Team Selection
Week 2	Jan 26
Week 3	Feb 02
Week 4	Feb 09	Milestone 1: Concept
Week 5	Feb 16
Week 6	Feb 23
Week 7	Mar 02	Milestone 2: Prototype
Week 8	Mar 09	NO CLASS (Mid-Semester Break)
Week 9	Mar 16	NO CLASS (Spring Break)
Week 10	Mar 23
Week 11	Mar 30
Week 12	Apr 06	Milestone 3: Progress
Week 13	Apr 13
Week 14	Apr 20	NO CLASS (Spring Carnival)
Week 15	Apr 27
Week 16	May 04	Milestone 4: Final Presentation

Deliverables

Blog / Website
Teams will also be tasked with maintaining a development blog and/or website that will be updated at least once a week to document the progress of the design.  

Project Post-Mortem
A written report documenting the design and development process is to be submitted at the time of the final presentation.  Details on expected contents will be discussed in class no later than 1 week prior to the deadline.

Project Videos
Teams will submit two videos – a 30-60 second trailer, and well as a 3-5 minute project summary video explaining the game, the problem the team sought to solve, and the solutions employed.

Final Game & Source
A copy of the final game will be submitted as an executable with support file, as well as all source code and assets required to compile the game.   This will be due at the time of the final presentation, details on submission will be outlined ahead of time, and may vary by project.

REQUIRED TEXT

There is no required text for this course.  Recommended reading may be issued throughout the semester.

COURSE POLICIES

Interactions with the instructor, clients, guests, and your fellow students, should be treated as though this were a real-life work environment.   While this course offers opportunities to experiment with design and take greater risks than one would in the real world, you are still expected to conduct yourself as professional adults at all times, and will be held to such a standard.

• Attendance is expected for all class sessions.  (Exception: If you are sick, stay home.  Don’t infect the rest of us. Please send a note to myself or the TA explaining your absence)
• Excused absences will be considered on a case-by-case basis.  If you know you will be out of town or have a conflicting appointment, please let me know ahead of time.  It is also your responsibility to communicate this and coordinate with your teammates
• Be on time.
• Be awake, engaged and participatory.
• Be respectful of our guests, our staff, and your classmates,.
• Be especially helpful, honest, and respectful with your teammates.
• Do your work. Meet your deadlines and deliverables.
• Use of electronic devices in class is acceptable so long as it pertains to game design and the topic or assignment at hand.
• Be responsible with your food and beverages, and keep our facilities clean.

ASSIGNMENT POLICIES

Project parameters and constraints will be delivered within the first week of the course.   Additional constraints and parameters may be added, or existing ones may evolve as the semester progresses, in response to the conditions of the project.

Expectations will be outlined at the beginning of each segment, and milestone deliverables will be defined at least 1 week prior to the corresponding presentation.

Projects will be evaluated weekly, either through the Milestone presentations, or through informal meetings with the instructor during class time.  Each team should be prepared to present their project and progress.

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to turn in their own work.  Don’t cheat or plagiarize.  Please review CMU’s policy on Academic Integrity.   Materials created by someone else (code, photographs, music, etc) must include proper permission and/or attribution.  Use of code libraries must be approved on a case-by-case basis.   IDeATe provides a small course budget to allow us to purchase equipment, software, libraries, or assets as needed.  Any purchase must be cleared through the instructor.  Students will not be reimbursed for individual purchases unless they have prior written approval from the instructor.

Intellectual Property

In accordance with Carnegie Mellon policy, teams maintain full ownership of the intellectual property of their creations for this class.   Carnegie Mellon retains a nonexclusive royalty-free license to use projects created for this class for academic, research, and demonstrative purposes.  Any reassignment of intellectual property to external parties is at the discretion of team members.   For this reason, it is good practice for teams to agree upon their own IP policy and sign a written version of their agreement ahead of time.  

GRADING POLICY

For the project course, a student’s course grade consists of a 20% Production Grade (i.e. “how good are team deliverables throughout the semester”), a 40% Project Grade (i.e. “how good is what you made?”), and a 40% Process Grade (i.e. “how good was the process by which you worked to make it?”).  Barring unusual circumstances, each member of a team shares the same production and project grade.   Process grades will be determined through a combination of instructor observation and peer evaluation.  

Grading Breakdown:

 

• 20% Production Grade

 

• • Project Blog – 50%
  • Final Project Site / Videos – 50%
• 40% Project Grade
  • Milestone 1: Ungraded, focus on feedback on project
  • Milestone 2: 20%
  • Milestone 3: 30%
  • MIlestone 4: 50%
• 40% Process Grade
  • 1st Process Grade (after Milestone 1) – 20%
  • 2nd Process Grade (after Milestone 2) – 30%
  • 3rd Process Grade (after Milestone 4) – 50%

Grades for this course are assigned based on the following table:

97%	A+	Excellent Exceeds expectations
92%	A
90%	A-
87%	B+	Good Meets expectations
82%	B
80%	B-
77%	C+	Satisfactory Meets requirements, but not expectations
72%	C
70%	C-
67%	D+	Unsatisfactory Below requirements and expectations
65%	D

 

IDeATe LENDING / EQUIPMENT

Please read and become familiar with the IDeATe lending and purchasing policies, which can be accessed at resources.ideate.cmu.edu. The IDeATe facilities are shared student resources and spaces. As such, all members of the IDeATe community are expected to be respectful of the equipment, the spaces, and fellow students and their projects. Always clean up after completing your work, put things back in their correct place, and leave the lab in better condition than you found it.

Students may be required to purchase materials to complete class projects. For convenience, some materials are available for borrowing and for purchase at IDeATe Lending (Hunt A29).

TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF / OTHERS

Take care of yourself.  Do your best to maintain a healthy lifestyle this semester by eating well, exercising, avoiding drugs and alcohol, getting enough sleep and taking some time to relax. This will help you achieve your goals and cope with stress.

All of us benefit from support during times of struggle. You are not alone. There are many helpful resources available on campus and an important part of the college experience is learning how to ask for help. Asking for support sooner rather than later is often helpful.

If you or anyone you know experiences any academic stress, difficult life events, or feelings like anxiety or depression, we strongly encourage you to seek support. Counseling and Psychological Services (CaPS) is here to help: call 412-268-2922 and visit their website at http://www.cmu.edu/counseling/. Consider reaching out to a friend, faculty or family member you trust for help getting connected to the support that can help.

If you or someone you know is feeling suicidal or in danger of self-harm, call someone immediately, day or night:

CaPS: 412-268-2922

Re:solve Crisis Network: 888-796-8226

If the situation is life threatening, call the police:

      On campus: CMU Police: 412-268-2323

      Off campus: 911