IGB300 Capstone Project (Game Design)

Unit Outline: Semester 1 2024, Gardens Point, Internal

Overview

This is the final year games capstone project unit which provides students with an opportunity to design and develop a demo game in a team. The student teams will be guided through a full game development production cycle. This includes game concept ideation, paper prototyping, playtesting, producing an high quality Game Design Document and building a digital game demo. Students will work in an agile project management process, allowing iterative and rapid refinement of design ideas. Weekly critique meetings in the form of scrum meetings will provide teams with formative feedback on their process and facilitate iteration. At the end of the unit, teams are expected to deliver an alpha build of a game that articulates the core gameplay, animation and art. This is expected to be a 1-minute entertaining gameplay experience that teams will keep working on in IGB301 (Semester 2).

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

1. Apply design thinking to game development processes
2. Employ generative and creative processes to produce a compelling game design
3. Develop design representations of a game as a system and an experience, embodying data, structure and information
4. Engage as an effective member of an interdisciplinary team
5. Effectively use oral and written communication to articulate design ideas.

Content

Learning Approaches

You will be working within a team as part of a simulation of an authentic project. Learning will be largely project-based, facilitated through weekly design workshops. Teams will be involved in interim presentations and critiques that are focussed on evolving and improving game design ideas.

Practical sessions in the Games Lab will provide technical support for the project. There will be formal sessions (e.g., lectures, keynote speakers from the games and other industry sectors) at key points during the semester. Activities will be team-based and during the semester you will be expected to engage in independent team-based activities. Where appropriate, projects will be situated at a real site / based on a real context necessitating stakeholder visits and/or meetings.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

Advice and assistance will be provided by the teaching staff during workshop and practical sessions.
You will receive formative feedback on your progress in this unit during these sessions and through work-in-progress presentations.
Guidelines and objectives will be provided for each piece of assessment to help you assess your progress.
Written feedback will be provided on items of assessment.
Consultation times, allowing individual contact between staff and students will be specified.

Assessment

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Workbook

An objective record of observations, completed tasks and goals that have been met. Log of activities.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Assessment: Portfolio

This will be a complete Game Design Folio for your game concept.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Assessment: Presentation (Oral or Group)

This element is assessed by an assessment panel including the unit teaching staff and industry representatives.

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to engage in learning and assessment at QUT with honesty, transparency and fairness. Maintaining academic integrity means upholding these principles and demonstrating valuable professional capabilities based on ethical foundations.

Failure to maintain academic integrity can take many forms. It includes cheating in examinations, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, and submitting an assessment item completed by another person (e.g. contract cheating). It can also include providing your assessment to another entity, such as to a person or website.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Further details of QUT’s approach to academic integrity are outlined in the Academic integrity policy and the Student Code of Conduct. Breaching QUT’s Academic integrity policy is regarded as student misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Resources

Risk Assessment Statement

There are no unusual health or safety risks associated with this unit.

Course Learning Outcomes

IN05 Bachelor of Games and Interactive Environments

1. Demonstrate broad knowledge of games and interactive environments principles and theory, with an in-depth knowledge of one games-related discipline.
   Relates to: ULO1, Workbook, Portfolio
2. Apply creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving skills to generate solutions to design challenges.
   Relates to: ULO2, Workbook, Portfolio
3. Create engaging and meaningful games experiences for specific target audiences in partnership with diverse industry and community stakeholders using industry-relevant software and technologies..
   Relates to: ULO3, Workbook, Portfolio, Presentation (Oral or Group)
4. Collaborate effectively in transdisciplinary teams to achieve shared goals and to manage projects in professional contexts.
   Relates to: ULO4
5. Communicate complex concepts at all stages of the development cycle to specialist and non-specialist audiences in written, oral and interactive visual formats.
   Relates to: ULO5, Workbook, Presentation (Oral or Group)
6. Evidence the development of your learning, professional capabilities and skills through creating a curated portfolio of work.
   Relates to: Portfolio