Game Design Document Comments

After submitting your grades (as assigned by the prof) and adding my own comments on WebCT, I thought I'd share some general comments and advice here.

I realize that some of my suggestions might be out of date since you've likely made progress since that document, but I'll share just in case you haven't, and to give you something to think about for the next time.

First, something I suggested to most if not all of you is to sketch out your levels.  It was clear in the design documents that most of you did not have a concrete idea of how the levels would look yet, so this will be a crucial step.  You will end up with a much better design if you work on it on paper before diving into implementation, and it will give you something useful for the final report.

Second, I tried to suggest ways to come up with a minimally viable product that you could submit.  For instance, spending lots of time on artwork when the very basics of the game are not yet working is not a good idea.  You need to know what the must-haves are, and then prioritize the rest after that.  I'd be happy to discuss ideas related to this if you want to.

Finally, something I didn't write much in the comments is to make good use of your resources - especially me and the prof! Here is how you can approach getting my help to get the most out of it:

• Send me an email with lots of context.  What are you working on? What are trying to accomplish? What have you tried so far? Are you stuck halfway through, just need a bit of help debugging, or don't even know where to start?
   
• You may want to include code.  Sometimes pasting a snippet will be enough, but sometimes you'll have to send the whole project for context.  If you do, make sure to remove build files and minimize the zip file size, and even more importantly, tell me where to look in the code.
   
• If you want to meet in person, there are some office hours left, but not many.  It helps to send an email to say you are coming so I can let you know if there are any other students around and when you should come.  After office hours are over, I may be able to help out on an appointment basis, but you will need to give lots of notice for that to happen.

I think that's about it - good luck everyone! I am looking forward to seeing your games! :)