Your assignment is to design and develop a “platformer”, a game that involves a lot of jumping and exploring and falling and puzzles and bosses. A platform game.
Your game can be a traditional side-scroller, or you can break from that format – but I would caution against an open-world / sandbox type games, as those tend to require more development time that you might anticipate.
In general, WATCH YOUR SCOPE with this one. These games often have larger stories to tell and are easily over-scoped, which leads to a panicked crunch at the end. Think about how to “work smarter, not harder”. Does everything platform or enemy need to be custom built? Or can you repurpose assets with prefabs or tilemaps (if working in 2D?). Can your non-programmers participate in the level design, either by educating them in how to use Unity or setting up an external format that can be input and parsed? Is “pixel art” really the right choice for this? Think about how to maximize your productivity, while minimizing the individual efforts it would take to achieve that goal.
The rules are the same, plus a new addition:
- No Shooters or Pornography (BVW Rules)
- No Zombies, Ninjas, or Pirates
- No Arial (or Helvetica, or Liberation Sans)
- No Identity Theft
- No Infinite Runners (New Rule) **
The parameters for this assignment are that you can create whatever story and setting you want, but your game must have:
- 3 Levels*
- 2 Puzzles
- 1 Boss
*[ Your third level can be the Boss fight. I strongly recommend this]
**[ Procedurally generated games like Infinite Runner are paradoxically both lazy and complicated. Your game should tell a story and have an achievable goal. ]
DELIVERABLES & DEADLINES
Wednesday, 2/26: Concept – Game Concept, Early Design Document, Concept Art, Simple Production Schedule
| Date | Milestone | Description |
| 3/14 Sunday | Concept | Game Concept, Game Design Doc, Concept Art, Early Project Schedule |
| 3/21 Sunday | ALPHA | Compiled Build, Documentation |
| 3/28 Sunday | BETA | Compiled Build, Documentation |
| 4/6 Tuesday | FINAL | Source Code, Compiled Build, Documentation |
The key to this project is SCOPE. In the past, Spring Break was the big problem. Everyone assumes they will have time to work over the break. Then no one works over the break. (And you shouldn’t! It’s a break! You need downtime!). This year, we just have two days off, scattered through this project. Do yourself and your team a favor, and make sure you start early and schedule your time wisely.