Timebox 1 - Game Framework

One of the primary goals of the first Timebox is for each team to establish good work and communication habits. The other is creation of a framework that the team can use as the starting point of their game project. By the end of the timebox you should have a game menu, placeholder gameplay, credits, and a way to end the game.

Here are some of the things you may be spending time on:

• Completion and testing of the basic game framework.
• Development of the different game states.
• Testing and integration of basic sound capabilities.
• Testing and integration of GUI capabilities.
• Loading and start-up.
• Initial start on gathering game assets.
• Working effectively with source code control.
• Basic teamwork and project management skills.
• Refining and communicating your game idea to come to an agreement on your team's goals for the project.
• Writing the initial game design document.

A good part of your time will be spent on gathering the resources and organizing the work to produce your next timebox. You should strive to have good working code 2-3 days ahead of the deadline to allow for time to refactor and clean-up your code. Update your project's game design document, website, wiki, blogs and any other documentation you deem useful as you progress through this and all future timeboxes. Come up with a list of features that your game will include by the end of the semester and allocate some of those tasks as the first set that will be worked on for the next timebox.

Presentation:

Each game group presentation will be lead by 2-3 team members, but everyone should contribute to the presentation contents. You can roughly think of these presentations as progress reports (or more in-depth stand-up meetings) on what you did during the timebox, what impediments you ran into, and what you have planned for the next timebox. Here is a presentation outline you might follow:

1. Have each team member introduce themselves
2. Demo your current work (Follow the show, don't tell principle)
3. Present your group's game concept
   • Use a lot of visuals and tie them in with what you demoed.
   • Talk about the various technical components: physics, AI, networking, scripting, logging, testing, etc.
   • Talk about who will take lead for each activity.
4. Present the tasks you expect to have completed by timebox #2.
5. Present what you think will be the biggest obstacles over the next timebox and over the semester.
6. Present the needs your group has, particularly art assets

Possible state machine and features for a completed timebox 1:

1. Loading State
   1. Display for 6-8 seconds.
   2. Load materials during the start-up screens.
   3. Add a status bar indicating the progress.
   4. Cycle thru a list of images, including:
      1. CSE Logo / picture
      2. Game engine logo
      3. OSU logo
      4. Logos for other plug-ins used
      5. Pictures of each team member
         • Use what you made for Homework #2
         • Enhance these as the project progresses, indicating roles and responsibilities
   5. Play some subtle music or background noise.
   6. (Extra) Provide a lay-out with text and images and the status bar. Text can be additional details on the load, famous quotes, story background, game features, …
   7. (Extra) Do this data-driven rather than hard-coded.
      1. XML file – easier to link text to image.
      2. Scanning a directory (or zip or packaged file) and using its contents.
      3. Parsing some other flat text file.
2. Main Menu State
   1. Design a rough layout of your complete game main menu.
   2. Capture events for “Play” and “Quit”.
   3. Add a sound effect each time a key is pressed.
   4. Test the cursor behavior, sound behavior, and overall appearance.
   5. (extra) Play music or a sound effects as ambient background.
   6. (extra) Animate the background if it makes sense for your group's game.
3. Play Game State (RunState)
   1. Polished game from the earlier homework OR some placeholder scene more similar to your game concept
   2. A way to return to the Main Menu
   3. Pausing
   4. Resetting
4. Exiting State (QuitGameState)
   1. Clean-up resources
   2. Take your pick:
      1. Just quit.
      2. Play movie.
      3. Display nag screen ("Please send us poor students some twinkies")
      4. Bring up course project web site.
      5. Display log file.
5. Additional States (optional)
   1. Spectator - move cameras to mirror (or follow) other players or AI bots.
   2. Scan / Debug State - free reign over viewing / interacting with the world (faster movements, etc.).
   3. Save - special state to coordinate the (safe) saving of the game state.

Timebox 2 - Rough prototype

Replace the gameplay from the previous timebox with a working prototype of your game. You are allowed, and encouraged, to use placeholder art - your characters can be cubes, capsules, or spheres instead of more complicated 3d models. Consider making additional tools to help create levels/scenes. You must have a concrete plan stating all of the features your team will implement by the end of the semester. Here's a small set of features that you should try to have done by the end of this timebox:

• Scene with user interaction controlling player character(s)
• Simple behavior for non-player characters
• Sound effects and music
• Ground clamping of characters
• Bounding volume collisions
• Game state management / scene transitions, saving, reloading, etc.
• Automated testing
• Installer or web player

Timebox 3

Timebox 3 roughly marks the mid-way point of the project. The core gameplay should be implemented. The game must have an end/win state and a lose state if applicable. For the remaining timeboxes the work to be completed will be based on the features each team has planned to include in their games.

Timebox 4

Additional features added based on each team's game plan. Relace any placeholder art assets.

Timebox 5

Most, if not all, of the games features should complete. By now everyone on the team should have implemented a significant technical component of the game.

Timebox 6

Finish up any missing features that were planned to be included in the game. You should be nearly done at this point but will have time to add polish and finishing touches.