Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Unit Convenor
Mitchell McEwan
Contact via email
by appointment
Lecturer
Cameron Edmond
Contact via email
by appointment
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Credit points |
Credit points
10
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
130cp at 1000 level or above including (COMP2150 or COMP260 or COMP2160)
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
Students will work in groups to create a video game using a commercial-level game engine. This will enable them to apply their previously acquired skills in video game design and development to a substantial project. Teams will be expected to develop their own concept for the game and validate it through the production of a vertical slice. This will require creative design, the production of supporting documentation, quality control, and other associated skills and concepts. Teams will be expected to produce a compelling game proposal and meet regular agreed milestones as well as producing game documentation and conducting playtesting to evaluate their game prototype. |
Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
The group-work component of the assessment (Project Plan & Design Document, Milestones, Playtesting Plan & Document) will be marked in common for all group members, but individual marks will be modulated based on peer assessment feedback regarding contributions and performance.
All work submitted should be readable and presented in a professional format to industry standards.
No extensions will be granted except in cases of special consideration (see https://students.mq.edu.au/study/assessment-exams/special-consideration). Students who have not submitted any work for an assessment item prior to the deadline will be awarded a mark of 0 for that item (except for special consideration cases). Plan to submit early. As you are working in a team and are expected to perform risk management, sickness or other misadventure affecting individual members needs to be planned for and managed.
Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
---|---|---|---|
Elevator Pitch | 6% | No | 5pm on 27/2/22 |
Pitch | 5% | No | 5pm on 6/3/22 |
Project Plan | 5% | No | 5pm on 20/3/22 |
Milestones | 24% | No | Weeks 5-14 |
Playtesting plan | 5% | No | 5pm on 24/4/22 |
Final game | 15% | No | 5pm on 5/6/22 |
Design Document | 15% | No | 5pm on 12/6/22 |
Playtesting report | 10% | No | 5pm on 12/6/22 |
Post-mortem | 15% | No | 5pm on 19/6/22 |
Assessment Type 1: Presentation
Indicative Time on Task 2: 4 hours
Due: 5pm on 27/2/22
Weighting: 6%
A pitch for a novel game idea to the class in a 2 minute oral presentation.
Assessment Type 1: Presentation
Indicative Time on Task 2: 7 hours
Due: 5pm on 6/3/22
Weighting: 5%
A group presentation pitching a game idea to an audience of industry professionals for feedback & criticism.
Assessment Type 1: Report
Indicative Time on Task 2: 7 hours
Due: 5pm on 20/3/22
Weighting: 5%
A written project plan that iterates on your pitch, incorporating feedback from industry, and also including details of how you plan to work together as a group to achieve your vision.
Assessment Type 1: Project
Indicative Time on Task 2: 40 hours
Due: Weeks 5-14
Weighting: 24%
A series of milestone reports describing allocation of tasks to individual team members and reporting on your progress both as individuals and as a team.
Assessment Type 1: Qualitative analysis task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: 5pm on 24/4/22
Weighting: 5%
A report describing your plans for the playtests you intend to conduct on your game.
Assessment Type 1: Creative work
Indicative Time on Task 2: 0 hours
Due: 5pm on 5/6/22
Weighting: 15%
Final game prototype demonstrated to industry representatives.
Assessment Type 1: Design Task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: 5pm on 12/6/22
Weighting: 15%
A report thoroughly describing of the final game mechanics of the game, justified in terms of the effect they are intended to achieve.
Assessment Type 1: Qualitative analysis task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: 5pm on 12/6/22
Weighting: 10%
A report describing the outcomes of the playtesting process and how the results influenced the design.
Assessment Type 1: Reflective Writing
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: 5pm on 19/6/22
Weighting: 15%
A reflective report describing what went well and what went badly in both the final game design and in the process of working as a team.
1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:
2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation
Classes will largely focus on a mix of presentations/pitches, Scrum-style consultations with the lecturers, milestone demonstrations and playtesting. The class schedule will be published on iLearn.
There is no prescribed text for this unit. However we recommend:
Please login to iLearn at http://ilearn.mq.edu.au/
The technologies used will depend on the needs of your project. You will have access to the games lab computers and the software on them, which will feature the Unity game development engine and other creative tools. See iLearn for the version of Unity used on the lab computers. Extra required software may be added to these computers if a good case can be made for it.
Although dependent on the needs and scope of your group's project, there will likely be a need for the use of personal computing devices and software to support game development (for example, when the lab is not open/available). Sourcing and compatibility with the provided lab resources will be students' responsibility.
Week | Class Topic |
---|---|
1 | Unit Intro and Agile Project Management for Game Development |
2 | Elevator Pitches |
3 | Full Game Pitches |
4 | Milestone 1 Demonstrations (A Groups) |
5 | Milestone 1 Demonstrations (B Groups) |
6 | Milestone 2 Demonstrations (A Groups) |
7 | Milestone 2 Demonstrations (B Groups) |
Mid Semester Break (Milestone 3 Development & Playtesting) | |
8 | No Class (Milestone 3 Development & Playtesting) |
9 | Milestone 4 Demo's & Playtesting (A Groups) |
10 | Milestone 4 Demo's & Playtesting (B Groups) |
11 | Milestone 5 Demo's & Playtesting (A Groups) |
12 | Milestone 5 Demo's & Playtesting (B Groups) |
13 | Group Demonstrations of Games |
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Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.
To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.
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At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.
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No major changes from previous offerings.
Unit information based on version 2022.04 of the Handbook