Assignment 1: Research into a topic
The first assignment is to research potential topics for the use in the designs during the rest of the course. The educational goal is that you learn how to come up with new game play elements/mechanics that will work in (computer) games. This research will be the basis on which you will design your concept, your board game, the story, the level and eventually the RPG or Adventure game.
Description
In order to get an innovative and creative idea for a RPG or Adventure game you need to perform research. This assignment aims at giving you insight in how this process works. We have selected five topics which will be the basis for your research. In each of these topics you can find defining characteristic. This defining characteristic can be used to base the design of a game on. The following topics have been chosen this year:
- landslides
- high blood pressure
- magnetism
- (astronomical) stars
- photosynthesis
You can pick any of these topics as a starting points, or a collection of them. HOWEVER, do not use the topic as is. The goal is to pick one or more defining properties and convert these in ideas for a game.
Procedure
First, you have to look into these topics. Find out what they are, what defines them, what is the inner working of such a topic, etc. That is, you try to find the defining characteristic for the topic. Second, you convert this defining characteristic into a single mechanism or game play element that can be used in a game. Finally, create a document that describes the research, the topic, the defining characteristic and the mechanism or game play element for the game.
Handing in the assignment
You finished research document should consist of the following elements:
- A research document on the topic with a maximum of 500 words. This document should provide the reader with information on how the selected topic will be used in the game. That is, what particular property of the topic can be used as a basis for the RPG or Adventure game.
Please make sure that the documents look very nice. Handing in a simple text file (ascii) is not permitted.
The documents you hand in should be in the PDF file format.
You can write it either in Dutch or in English.
If there are any questions or problem regarding the submission please contact Arno Kamphuis (arnok@cs.uu.nl).
Judging
The mark for your research document will primarily be based on the following elements:
- Is the topic researched thoroughly? (45 points)
- Is the particular property translated into a possible useful feature for the game (45 points)
- Design of the documents (10 points). You get 10 points for the design of the documents.
We will not judge documents which
- have more than the stated number of words for each element
- are handed in after the deadline
- contain more than 2 spelling/grammar errors per 500 words
- are in plain text
- are not in the PDF file format
Questions
For questions about the assignment, please contact Arno Kamphuis (arnok@cs.uu.nl).