C# Review; A Critically Analyzed GameMaker Game!

You are not allowed to work in groups this assignment. For this assignment, you should start, finish, and do all the work on your own. If you have questions, please contact the instructor.

Learning Objectives:
(This is a list of the major topics that you, as students, will learn in this assignment:)

Review How C# and XNA works
You will do this by finding and fixing errors that are already present in a C# 'game' that is provided to you.
Creating Your Own Game, With GameMaker
The second game will be completely up to you (within reason). The new goals for this assignment are that you should critically analyze your game, and you should strive for creativity (as measured by this new game being different from the games you created for the previous assignment)

Part 1: Fixing C# Code

For this part of the assignment, you will find and fix at least 5 errors in the code. For full credit, you need to find 5 errors. There are more than five errors, but you are not required to find every single last one. You DO need to find and fix ACTUAL ERRORS - merely changing something so that the C# compiler doesn't complain about an error (as opposed to actually fixing it) doesn't count :)

There is a link to a starter project on the 'Homework' page that contains the code, with the errors. Here is a direct link:

Download: Starter Project With Errors

You must download (and fill in) the provided Word .DOC file, with your list of the errors (and how to fix them). It's on the homework page, and here is a direct link:

Errors.DOC

Part 2: Create Your Own GameMaker Game

For this part of the assignment, you'll be creating a your own game, AND a document that briefly describes it AND a document that critically analyzes your game. You need to use GameMaker7, and it needs to be something you can upload to the StudentTracker system (currently, there's a limit of 10MB per file, so putting more than 1 (shortish) .mp3 into your game will probably be too much). Feel free to do whatever you want, keeping in mind the following constraints on your game:

It has to be done by the time this assignment is due
So - go crazy, but keep an eye on the clock. You can always go back & put in more time on this later, if you want
It has to pass the 'parent test'
No obscenity, bad language, questionable content, etc, etc. Imagine that your game is going to be shown to your parents - would you be proud to show it to them?
It has to use resources (images, sounds) responsibly
Feel free to download stuff from the web, but make sure that you are legally allowed to use it in your game.
It must be substantially different from the two games you submitted for Assignment #1
This requirement is here in order to help ensure/force 'creativity' - it's good to try out new game concepts, and this will help reduce the potential for duplication between homework assignments.

The other thing that you need to do for this part of the assignment is to produce a document that briefly describes your game, and that details where you got your resources from. Use Microsoft Word (or a text file, if you want), and keep it most of the standard settings. Make sure that the document is SINGLE-SPACED (in Word 2007, you will need to set the style for the document by doing a Select-All (Control-A), then clicking on the Normal (No Space) style.

You must have at least half a page describing what your game is. Briefly mention any games it's similar to (for example - "I decided to create my own version of hangman"), then describe how the game is played. Putting in a brief explanation about why the game is fun would be good (or, if your game isn't fun, offer an explanation about why it's not as fun as you'd like it to be, and suggest a couple of improvements that might make it more fun). This section must be at least half of a page (single-spaced, normal font & font size), and no more than 1 page.

You must also list out the resources that you use in your game. Each image, each background image, each sound, everything. For each resource, include the URL to directly download the resource, and a quick (2-3 sentence) explanation about why you know that you're allowed to use the resource in question. For example: if there's a page on the website that says anyone can use the website's images for non-commercial use, then you should say something like "At < URL >, it clearly indicates that anyone who wants to can make use of the images from the website, for non-commercial use. My game is a homework assignment (that I will not sell), therefore putting these images in my game is non-commercial use".

You must also critically analyze your game, by making use of the Game evaluation rubric: version 1, which is available on the homework web page. For each item in the rubric, you should go through, and evaulate your game, based on it. If you game doesn't do a great job of addressing a significant aspect of the rubric, you should go back & refine your game, so that it addresses that topic better. For this assignment, you are required to hand in the Game evaluation rubric: version 1, which you have filled in with your honest evaluation of your own game. To be clear - you will not lose points for a game that fails to address all the items in the rubric, but you WILL lose points for not using the rubric.

Group Work, Commenting:

You are not allowed to work in groups for this assignment. You should start, finish, and do all the work on your own. If you have questions, please contact the instructor.

What to turn in:

· A single electronic folder (a directory). This folder should contain:

o The Errors.DOC file, with your name, and your list of errors (and the fixes for those errors)

o The .GMK file for the second part

o The Word .DOC file that describes the game, and explains where you got your resources from, and why you're allowed to use them.

o The Word .DOC file that contains the filled-out rubric for your game.

How to electronically submit your homework:

Instructions to do this will be given in-class on the date that this assignment is due.