CIS 487/587 Assignment 4
Fall 2023

For your term project, you will need work on a team of 4 or 5 students to design and implement a 3D computer game using the Unity Game Engine. You may create any type of game you wish. Your game must have reasonable storyline for its genre. Your game will need to make use of multimedia components in a non-trivial manner. You will need to have it running at our 3D game fair during our final exam period. If you are an undergraduate you must work on a 4 or 5 person team. I need the group lists no later than 11-7-23. Teams must have at least two Section 001 students and at least 1 Section 002 students on the same team.

This assignment will give you an opportunity to begin work on the specification and design for your game. Your game does not have to be completely original, but you cannot simply copy an existing game. To receive full-credit your design document will need to contain non-trivial sections as defined below. You will need to use the game design document and level design templates below for your final project turn in on December 14th. You may wish to start to use them now.

http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~bmaxim/cis487/Tricks-GDD-Template-1.docx

http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~bmaxim/cis487/LevelDesignTemplate.doc

  1. Overview
    1. Appearance
    2. Story Abstract
    3. Gameplay
    4. Development Platform

 

  1. Game Mechanics
    1. User Interface Description
    2. Use Cases
    3. Storytelling
    4. Level Summary

 

  1. User Interface Design
    1. Key Screen Images
    2. Control Summary
    3. State transition diagrams
    4. Design Rules
  1. Artificial Intelligence
    1. Opponent AI
    2. Non-Player Characters
    3. Reactive Items

 

  1. Story Overview
    1. Plot Summary
    2. Story Board
    3. Character Bible

 

  1. Game Progression
    1. Flowchart
    2. Level and Scene Details

 

  1. Bibliography

 

  1. Lessons Learned

 

Your write should be 10 to 15 pages long (or equivalent if done as powerpoint). On 11-14-23, you will need to have a presentation of your game concept and design document uploaded to Canvas to allow other student to complete Canvas peer review forms. Figure that you will have 10 minutes to explain your game concept and get feedback from your classmates. I will provide Canvas peer review forms and assign you 5 games to review (you must review 3 and others will be awarded extra credit).

The revised version of the document presentation can be uploaded on November 17th. I will also need each member of your team to upload participation scores (0=none, 5=great) for each team member along with a list of tasks completed by each. I will also need each team to give me a list of the ‘useful” and “valueless” reviews received from the reviewers.

Your team is expected to demonstrate the alpha prototype of your game in class on December 6th.

Assigned:  11-01-23
Date due:  11-17-23