Basic Video Game Development Overview

Basic Game Design

Basic Video Game Project Home

Sprint 1

Sprint 2

Sprint 3

2024 Game Jam Announcement Trailer.mp4

2024 Game Jam!

This is a 12 week (and a holidays) competition where students need to make a game with all they have learned. At the end of each 4 week sprint there should be an opportunity for students to give each other feedback.

Assessor involvement during the assessment event should be limited to providing general feedback which suggests sections of student work that would benefit from further development or skills a student may need to revisit across the work. Student work which has received sustained or detailed feedback is not suitable for submission towards this Standard.

Important Software Notes!

All the tutorials below use Godot 4.1+ If you are using 3.5 then please utilise other resources.
This course utilities itch.io for playtesting purposes. Please contact your I.T. Support to ensure your game design students have access.
Using Godot 4, in order to export it in a HTML playable state you must make your game in compatibility mode at the moment. It will also not work on macOS computers. Godot 3.5 currently has better HTML support but is missing a lot of the other features. For a full explanation check out the current docs or list of current HTML 5 issues on Github.

Know

Learn agile project management and how game designers use "sprints" to manage their development and feedback

Understand

Use Trello to plan your project. Prioritise the tasks and manage testing and feedback

Make your Game using Agile!

3 x 4 Weeks Sprints with deliberate trialing and feedback gathering between each sprint.

Get your Design ready!

Make sure you have completed the Video Game Design work and have a "Game Design Document" that you can use to help you plan and develop your game. For full instructions on Game Design and making a GDD go here

Know

Project Management

Project management is the art of efficiently planning, organizing, and executing tasks and resources to achieve specific goals within a defined timeline and budget. It can involve coordinating teams, setting clear objectives, allocating resources, and monitoring progress to ensure that projects are completed successfully. Effective project management is essential in various fields, from business, technology, construction and entertainment, as it enables projects to develop smoothly, adapt to changes, and deliver outcomes that meet or exceed expectations.

Task #1: Your Development Log

Game Design Development Log

Make a copy of this Document (but don't start yet!)

This document will be the ongoing record of your project progress where all the feedback results and reflections will go as well as all the cool development that you do on your game.

The following web page will help explain how to fill it out correctly. As you go through each task, it will tell you what section of the development log to fill in. Complete each task in order to prove that you are an awesome game developer.

Task# 2: Make your plan using Trello

Watch this video to explain project management

Together, Agile and Kanban help game designers make games that are fun, flexible, and easy to manage. They're like the power-ups that make game development smoother and more exciting!

Watch the video and understand how Agile, Kanban and Sprints are going to help you manage your project.

Now add the link to your Trello Board to your Development log now! Make sure it is public!

Task #3: Set Up github

Setting up your digital backups with Git Hub Desktop

Digital Backups

You should back up your projects weekly as you engage in development. There are many ways to do this. The industry standard is using Git. However you could back it up to any cloud/physical storage system.

Every year students lose all their work because they have not set up adequate backups for their files. Don't let this be you! Do this right and do it early.

Now add your github repo link to your development log now!

Project Management Exemplar

Over the next 3 sprints you are going to develop your game. Each sprint should focus on a different aspect of your product. An example of what an endless runner design process could look like is below.

Naughty Nyan

Sprint 1: Mechanics

Sprint 2: Aesthetics

Sprint 3: Juiciness

Glossary

Testing

Testing is the act of making sure your game, or a part of it works. Every task you complete, however small, needs to be tested. The good news is that you do you all the time. When you hit PLAY in godot to see if the thing you've coding works, or if it looks ok in game, you are testing. This is done by you. It is distinctly different from trialling.

Trialling

Trialling is a deliberate act of showing the game to others. It is done so that you can get feedback on the game or on aspects of the game like the controls or the difficulty level. Trials are done at multiple times throughout development and you HAVE to be brave and show what you have, no matter how incomplete it is. Only by deliberately testing it with others will you work out what works and what doesn't.

Agile

Agile is a flexible and iterative project management methodology that focuses on collaboration, adaptability, and delivering small increments of work in short cycles called "sprints." The Agile approach promotes customer involvement throughout the project's lifecycle and embraces changes even late in development. Popular Agile frameworks include Scrum and Kanban.

Waterfall

The Waterfall model is a traditional project management approach that follows a linear, sequential process. In the Waterfall model, each phase of the project (requirements gathering, design, implementation, testing, deployment, and maintenance) is completed before moving on to the next phase. It's a more structured approach and is suitable for projects with well-defined and stable requirements.

Kanban

Kanban is an Agile framework that focuses on visualizing and managing the flow of work. It's often represented using a Kanban board with columns that represent different stages of work (e.g., "To Do," "In Progress," "Done"). Work items are represented as cards, and teams use the board to manage and prioritize tasks. Kanban doesn't have fixed time-bound iterations like Scrum; instead, work is pulled from the backlog as capacity allows. It's particularly useful for managing a continuous stream of work with varying priorities.

Scrum

Scrum is an Agile framework that organizes work into time-bound iterations called "sprints." A Scrum team consists of a Product Owner, a Scrum Master, and the Development Team. During each sprint, a set of user stories or tasks are selected from the product backlog to be worked on. Daily stand-up meetings keep the team aligned, and at the end of each sprint, a potentially shippable product increment is delivered. Scrum emphasizes collaboration, adaptability, and continuous improvement.

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