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Calendar, INEW 2430.7001 - Fall 2005

by Sharon Huston

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All assignments are due by the next class session unless noted.

  • Week One
    • Tuesday Aug. 30
      • IMPORTANT:

        If you are receiving Financial Aid grants or loans and are enrolled in a Distance Learning class, you must show participation in this class prior to the certification date (the 12th day after the start date of the class) by e-mailing/contacting the instructor. Students taking open enrollment classes that do not have traditional semester start dates should make note of the start date of their class.

        Do not drop or stop attending any class without consulting the Financial Aid Office. Changes in your enrollment level and failing grades may require that you repay financial aid funds.

      • Scavenger Hunt
      • Syllabus
      • Lab Policies
      • Open Lab Information
      • Student Profile
      • Exercise: History of Video Games -- Present a short history on an assigned period of video game history .
      • Reading: What Is A Blog?
      • Blogger Exercise #1
      • New Game Tuesday
      • Reference: Gamasutra
      • Reference: Gamespot
    • Thursday Sept. 1
      • Presentations -- History Exercise
      • Reading: Medium - Forward and Wolfe
      • Lecture: Game Taxonomy (Springboard)
  • Week Two
  • Week Three
    • Tuesday Sept. 13
      • New Game Tuesday Presentations
      • Discussion on improving presentations, discussion on Invention project
      • Class time to work on Invention
    • Thursday Sept. 15
  • Week Four
    • Tuesday Sept. 20
      • New Game Tuesday Presentations
      • Invention Presentations
      • Blogger Exercise #2
      • Reading: Game Design ch. 1 & 2
    • Thursday Sept. 22
      • Reading: How Do Video Games Get Rated?
      • Reading: Don't Pay to Play
      • Preliminary sketch of interface due by end of class
      • Preliminary sketch of Level 1 due about Oct. 6
      • Game Proposal document due Thursday Sept. 29 -- Work through all sections mentioedn in Ch. 1. Work in groups, submit through blogs. I expect to see identical material posted in each blog!
      • Character turn-arounds due Sept. 29
      • Extra Credit for character silhouettes
  • Week Five
    • Tuesday Sept. 27
    • Thursday Sept. 29
      • Reading Quiz
      • Reading: Game Design ch. 4
      • Project: Storytelling -- due Week 7 -- Working in design teams describe/draft/storyboard/write all of the following.
        • About Our Game -- write the inside front cover of the CD instruction manual -- the one that gives you a summary of the game.
        • Character Back Story -- EACH team member choose any ONE character in your game, and describe
          • what music the character listens to and why
          • what the character eats and why
          • what the character reads and why
          • what the character wears and why
          • where the character shops and why
          • what websites the character frequents (for current or future characters only -- not for medieval monks!!!)
          • how the character walks
          • how the character talks -- accent, speech patterns, grammar, etc.
          • about the character's childhood
          • the character's religion
          • how the character relates to members of the same sex
          • how the character relates to members of the opposite sex
          • how the character deals with stress
          • what would make the character happiest
          • what would make the cahracter saddest
          • what would make the character furious
        • Cut Scene -- describe and draw
          • Why you need a cut scene
          • What needs to happen in this scene?
          • What would be the most dramatic way to shoot this activity?
        • Dialog
          • Describe an instance where your character must interact with an NPC.
          • What will your character already know?
          • What will the NPC say, and why?
          • What can you afford to leave out?
          • Flowchart the interaction. (For instance, Bill Character approaches. Next, NPC says . . . . and then Bill gives NPC a gernade. NPC says . . . . )
          • Write at least five lines of dialog the NPC will say during the interaction. using appropriate vocabulary and grammar.
  • Week Six
    • Tuesday October 4 and Thursday October 6
      • New Game Tuesday Presentations
      • 'Vacation' from Game Design to send more time on 3D
  • Week Seven
  • Week Eight
  • Week Nine
    • Tuesday October 25
    • Thursday October 27
      • New Game THURSDAY Presentations
      • Reading Quizzes -- from last week and this week!!!!
      • Reading: Grow Up
      • Reading: The Games People Play (Note: You can read salon.com articles for free by watching advertising. Look for the "day pass." )
  • Week Ten
    • Tuesday November 1
      • New Game Tuesday Presentations
      • Reading: Game DesignCh. 9
      • Project: Voice -- Make dialog for a cut scene involving at least two characters from your game. Describe what kind of music you would like to play and any necessary sound effects. Using a simple tool like Windows Media Player try to record your cut scene. This is at least partially an exercise in futility -- you want to understand why it isn't done this way!!
      • Project: Game Manual -- Design the frst three pges of your game manual, basing the manual on manuals for games you already own. You will have class time on Thursday to work on this, please bring game manuals to class. Your finished product must fit inside a jewel case.
        • 3D: Continue creating your planets!
    • Thursday November 3
      • Sharon out ill.
  • Week Eleven
    • Tuesday November 8
      • New Game Tuesday Presentations
      • Class time to work on sound & manual projects.
      • Reading: Game Design ch. 10 & 11
    • Thursday November 10
      • Project: Art Bible -- Develop an Art Bible with twenty-five images per team member; images that inspire the look of one location in your game. Write text describing the mood and colors to be used, any special attention that needs to be paid to textural elements, etc. Your goal is to develop a document you could hand over to an artist so the artist understands the concept. Maybe include a list of "mood music" and "mood reading." Submit as a PowerPoint presentation for the class. Due 11/17.
      • Project: Risk Assessment -- using page 313 as your guide, develop an imaginary "Top Ten" risk list for your game. Due 11/17; post to blogs.
      • Project: Game Design Doc -- Using the Appendix in the book as an example, develop a game design doc. Some of this (like budgets, for instance) will obviously be made up, but extra credit will be given for any additional research into these "gray" areas. (Cite resources!!!!). Due 11/29 -- post to blogs as a Word or HTML document.
      • Project: Concept Pitch -- At this point you should have several 'deliverables' you can use to tell people about your game. Prepare a comprehensive five- to ten-minute pitch to deliver to a game manufacturer. We will have pretend 'game manufacturers' in class that day who will evaulate your performance! Be sure you have answers to every concievable question that could arise. Have nice visual aides and handouts -- maybe even a concept doc?????? Wear nice clothing on the day of the presentation -- a tie is mandatory, gentlemen! We will be video taping these presentations so you can critique your performance. This will be your capstone project for the semester, and will be due the final week of class.
      • Reading: The Evildoers Do Super Mario Brothers
      • Reading: Revenge of the Nerds
      • Reading: New Life for Old Games (Note: You can read salon.com articles for free by watching advertising. Look for the "day pass." )
      • Reading: Online Video Games . . . .
      • Reading: Coming Up Next: Ambushed on Donahue!
  • Week Twelve
  • Week Thirteen
  • Week Fourteen
  • Week Fifteen
    • Tuesday
    • Thursday
  • Week Sixteen
    • Tuesday
      • New Game Tuesday Presentations
    • Thursday
      • Class Evaluation
      • Important Closing Survey and Notes

 

Key

  • ic = in class
  • Bookwork = Chapters in text. You should work through each chapter, performing all exercises. Bookwork chapters are required assignments (ungraded and checked off as completed) and are to be uploaded to the NL server.
  • Readings = Articles for reading--not graded.
  • Topics = Short papers or projects. These assignments may be uploaded to the NL server or sent to your instructor as attachments to e-mail messages. These assignments are graded.
  • Quizzes = One online multiple-choice quiz over the copyright guidelines. This quiz will be scored automatically and the score sent to your instructor. Six other short-answer quizzes over the text chapters are to be completed in MS Word and submitted as attachments to e-mail messages. All quizzes are graded based on a 100 point system.
  • Exercises = Ungraded assignments that expand on material in the textbook. Some are required and some are optional. See calendar for required or optional.
  • Projects =  Four graded assignments. Projects take from the equivalent of two class sessions to an entire semester. Uploaded to the NL server. A project evaluation form is used. See calendar for the form.
  • References = Documents provided for additional information. You will never be tested on a reference document. If you're falling behind, the reference documents should be ignored.
  • Admin = Administrative items needed to make the class run more smoothly.
  • Notes = Tips on how to handle particular assignments.