Complete this short survey TODAY please (click here) so I can balance you into teams if necessary. It will also help me get to know you and shape the class to your strengths.

You will form into a team of 3-5 students. Your team will last the entire quarter. You have a choice as to how you will form your teams. You can either:

1. Form the team group yourself (I still have to sign off and approve of your team). Each team member must email me the request by 11:00am on 9/9.
2. Ask me put you into balanced team groups. Email me by 11:00am on 9/9 and let me know that is what you want.

I will email the class on Saturday, 9/10 with all the team lists. Your team cannot, under any circumstances, be changed after they're formed. You must now work through any problems together as a team. If a teammate drops off the face of the earth you'll have to manage without them.

NAME YOUR TEAM'S GAME STUDIO:

Meet with your team and brainstorm up a cool name for your team's game studio.

CREATE A BLOG:

Chose one person to go to Blogger.com and create a team blog. After the blog is created go to Settings > Permissions and add all your teammates as authors.

Please use your full name. Or, if you want more privacy use first name + last name initial (e.g. "Jane S.") for all author names so it's easy to tell who's posting what.

If you need help here's a detailed walkthrough on creating team blogs.

CHOOSE YOUR TEAM'S PRODUCER:

The producer is not the leader or director of the project. They can't unilaterally make decisions for the team. They have no more authority than anyone else on the team to tell others what to do.

What the producer does do, however, is pay special attention to things that effect the entire group. They accomplish this by performing three additional tasks:

1) Regularly update the team's schedule. The plan to complete the mod will need to be periodically adjusted to address emerging issues and opportunities.

2) Lead through example. For example, if a teammate lacks confidence or is doing poorly for whatever reason, the producer should privately lend an ear to the student and offer encouragement or advice if necessary.

3) Think about and foster a positive team dynamic. For example, brainstorms are much more successful if food and drinks are incorporated (sugary snacks and caffeine are helpful!). The producer doesn't necessarily have to bring refreshments, just make sure that it is brought by somebody.

The producer role is adopted in schools that have very high placement rates in the game industry, such as Carnegie Mellon University. Saying you were a producer on a project that was successful (i.e. the game mod is well-crafted and innovative) gives you a critical edge on your job competition.

Every student must brainstorm at least one game mod idea by themselves. Then he must pitch it to his team. Any genre of game is fine. Any kind of gameplay you can imagine and realistically build in a quarter is fine. It can be targeted at a mainstream demographic, the art crowd, seniors, all that is entirely up to you.

When brainstorming by yourselves keep in mind that the final game mod will have to deliver ONE MINUTE of awesome gameplay. ONE MINUTE of incredible gameplay is superior to several minutes of good or average gameplay. A playthough of your mod can take as long as you like (and its duration will be highly variable among different players, obviously). The point is not to waste resources. Remember that retro, arcade, and many hardcore games often rely on replayability (of a short level) rather than relying on a tutorial level.

Hitting the target of one impressive minute will be also help you get a job, frankly. Imagine a producer or lead at your favorite studio loading up your game or more likely, the short video you made documenting and "selling" it. These folks are impatient and busy. They don't care about you personally. You have one minute to Blow. Them. Away. Think of that ONE SINGLE MINUTE as what you're making this quarter. That is what your final game mod will be primarily graded on.

Here are some suggestions regarding the format of your private pitches to your team:

1. Game Titles - at least 3 different titles for your game mod idea.
2. Genre - or mix of genres (list of genres and examples). Remember that blurring genres is a common trick to create innovative and appealing games.
3. Similar Games - list at least two existing games most like it.
4. Narrative Summary or premise of the game. While players tend not to care about all the stuff that happened BEFORE the game occurs, if you write it out, it will crystallize and add depth to your overall vision for the game.
5. Main Character Description if it has a character (here's a list of character types).
6. Unique Hook - what is the innovative feature of this game? What will make this game stand out from the crowd? This is could be a game mechanic, a strange aesthetic, etc.
7. Sketch - at least one drawing you made. The point is to illustrate the hook or an interesting gameplay idea, not make a work of art so don't worry about beauty here.
8. Target Demographic - who is supposed to like your game?

You need to present these ideas to your team (outside of class). You have full discretion as to how you flesh out your ideas and present them to your group. It can be really casual or more official, with a projected slides, and so on.

Each student must post all of their brainstorm and pitch materials to their team's blog. Even if your idea isn't picked by your team, you'd be surprised how often some detail will provide a cool answer to some design problem that arises later in the development process.

If you're having trouble coming up with ideas, head over to PlayThisThing (the tags, art, retro, shooter, etc., are useful to constrain your browsing). Or, check out the IndieGames blog. A great book for inspiration is 250 Indie Games You Must Play. For art game ideas browse the Kokoromi blog or browse a good list of art games. For mod-specific inspiration check out the Mod Database. Here's a curated list of games made in Unity.

As a team, come up with a game mod idea that you'll produce over the course of the quarter. These can be from your individual brainstorms or some new idea that you all come up with together. There is no constraint regarding genre or target demographic, all of that is entirely up to your team. The purpose of the pitch is to establish a clear understanding of the kind of game mod your team wishes to make. Internally, this helps everyone on your team get on the same page. Externally, it helps us understand exactly what you're hoping to do and provide informed feedback.

When brainstorming and planning remember that the final game mod will have to deliver ONE MINUTE of awesome gameplay. ONE MINUTE of incredible gameplay is superior to several minutes of good or average gameplay. A playthough of your mod can take as long as you like (and its duration will be highly variable among different players, obviously). The point is not to waste resources. Remember that retro, arcade, and many hardcore games often rely on replayability (of a short level) rather than relying on a tutorial level.

Hitting the target of one impressive minute will be also help you get a job, frankly. Imagine a producer or lead at your favorite studio loading up your game or more likely, the short video you made documenting and "selling" it. These folks are impatient and busy. They don't care about you personally. You have one minute to Blow. Them. Away. Think of that ONE SINGLE MINUTE as what you're making this quarter. That is what your final game mod will be primarily graded on.

Scope of your game mod idea should be within a sweet-spot of not too big, not too small. Any team that pitches a game that seems too big or complicated will be rejected and you will have to present a new game idea next week. Any team that pitches a game that isn't innovative or interesting in some way will have to present again next week. If you have to pitch twice you can still get an A if the second pitch is great.

The entire pitch should be around three minutes long.

Everyone on the team must speak and present at some point during the pitch.

Each person on the team should take the lead on the part of the presentation most appropriate to their skill and/or interest. If there is no artist on the team, that role must be distributed to other team members.

The format of the pitch is up to you, but it should be clear and strong. What is the cool hook or twist of your game? Build your pitch (and eventually your game) around communicating and adding dimensions to that core narrative. Your pitch can have whatever format you like:

• Your pitch could be linear in format. In this case you'd describe what the player would experience from the beginning screen to the end or restart sceen.
• Your pitch could be more impressionistic. In this case you'd paint a picture and mood. You might jump around temporally, providing snapshots of gameplay, memorable moments and cool features.

Each team will receive several minutes of feedback from the class.

Chose someone from the team to take notes during feedback.

How to Pitch Effectively:

You should thoroughly practice the pitch with your team outside of class before you present it in class. This will greatly improve your pitch more than anything else.

You are both communicating and selling your idea to the audience. Each of you should be energetic and visibly BELIEVE IN YOUR TEAM'S idea when you speak. If you believe in it, other people will too. It will also help us understand what you're pitching. If you are excited and focused, it helps the audience focus on what you're saying as well.

Your team game mod pitch presentation should be lively throughout. One way to ensure it's lively is if your support media (e.g. Power Point presentation) is image-heavy rather than text-heavy. In other words, you should speak over a series of images rather than read screen after screen of bullet points. Reading over bullet points is not fun for an audience. Some ideas for images:

1. sketches clearly illustrating your core game mechanic
2. sketches of level design maps
3. sketches of splash screen, UI elements, etc.
4. reference pics from film, art, TV, other games, of your character, setting, objects, etc.
5. color palette (splotches of color)
6. renders of found content of characters, environments, objects, you intend to use/tweak

If you're going to show a video (such as a reference video from another game, or a video of a film or something that captures the mood you're going to evoke in the game) keep the video 30 seconds or less please.

Establish a schedule for the quarter. It should be broken down by the week. What will your team accomplish every week until the game mod is completed on 11/22?

A couple sentences describing what will get done each weeks is sufficient. There are only 9 work weeks left in class, so that is only 9 entries for the team's schedule. Devising a schedule will help you establish and maintain an appropriate scope for your game mod. Be bold yet realistic. Think through each week specifically to get a feel for how much you can actually accomplish.

Post the schedule to your team's blog.

As your schedule changes in the future, someone on your team (probably the producer) needs to post the revised schedule to your blog.

Each student must write a weekly post that covers:

• What you've done in the past week on your mod? What obstacles did you overcome?
• What you'll do for the next week? What challenges do you currently face?

This should take you all of 2 minutes each week. It doesn't need to be a lengthy post, a couple sentences will suffice. The purpose is to help you stay connected with your team and for everyone to stay on the same page. It also helps teams keep track of each other and me can keep track of your individual and team efforts.

Post images or video captures of anything new and cool you've just completed. Whether it's a new design doc, animation loop, or clever enemy movement algorithm, video evidence of your work energizes your team and gets other people (including myself) excited to play the next iteration of your game mod. Once in a while I'll spam the class with really cool things that you do.

Find 5 people in your target demographic who are (ideally) not in the class and who are unfamiliar with your game mod idea.

Print out these questions to help guide you (PDF from Fullerton's Game Design Workshop)

Test your latest working prototypes(s) with each of them. Coach them as little as possible to get honest feedback. It will be painful for you to shut up and watch them play if they are struggling, but it will be extremely insightful. Consult the lecture and the two readings on playtesting to not squander this opportunity to improve your game.

Your game might still be in pieces, which is fine. For example, you might have several working prototypes of different sections of the game that will later be stitched together into a single level. Every play tester should play all of your latest protoypes.

Write a one page report (150-200 words) describing what you learned and what you will change in the game mod. List at least 10 changes you will make to your game mod based on the playtests. I'm not grading this for eloquence but SPELL CHECK and use proper grammar.

Each team should post the report to their blog.

VIDEO:

Each team's Alpha presentation will begin with a one minute video of actual screen-captured footage of gameplay. The purpose of this video is to provide a sense of progress on what you've concretely accomplished so far. This footage can be edited in any way you like. You're trying to sell the game to your audience, so edit out the confusing and boring bits.

Upload the video to YouTube or Vimeo and post the link (or embed the video) on your team's blog.

Do not add music or any audio over the top of the imagery that is not coming from the game itself (i.e. don't add cool sounds/music if it's not in the game).

Add whatever descriptive text you like over the footage or add text spliced between shots if that will help explain what we're seeing. This convention is commonly used in game trailers, for example. You shouldn't speak over the video, let it speak for itself.

PRESENTATION:

Following the one minute video, your team will present a progress report for two minutes on your game mod. Don't discuss anything you've cut from the mod, nobody cares. Describe where you are and what you will accomplish for the Beta Milestone in several weeks.

Each person on the team must speak at some point in the presentation.

Each team will receive several minutes of feedback from the class.

Chose someone from the team to take notes during feedback.

Find 5 people in your target demographic who are not in the class who are unfamiliar with your game mod plan and idea.

Test your latest working builds(s) with each of them. Coach them as little as possible to get honest feedback. Consult the reading on playtesting to not squander this opportunity to make your improve game.

Your game might still be in pieces, which is fine. For example, you might have several working builds of pieces of the game that will later be stitched together into a single game level. Have each play tester play each part of your game.

Write a one page report (150-200 words) describing what you learned and what you will change in the game mod.

Each team must post the report to their team blog.

DEMO:

Upload your team's final Game Mods in an archive to the web. Post the download link on your team's blog.

Each STUDENT must email me (or write a blog post) listing what they contributed to the game mod.

Each TEAM must email me (or write a blog post) listing what they DID NOT make but downloaded and USED in their game mods.

VIDEO:

Each team's Beta presentation will begin with a one minute video of actual screen-captured footage of gameplay. The purpose of this video is to provide a sense of what your team has finally accomplished. This footage can be edited in any way you like. You're trying to sell the game to your audience, so edit out the confusing and boring bits.

Upload the video to YouTube or Vimeo and post the link (or embed the video) on your team's blog.

Do not add music or any audio over the top of the imagery that is not coming from the game itself (i.e. don't add cool sounds/music if it's not in the game).

Add whatever descriptive text you like over the footage or add text spliced between shots if that will help explain what we're seeing. This convention is commonly used in game trailers, for example. You shouldn't speak over the video, let it speak for itself.

PRESENTATION:

Following the one minute video, your team will present for three minutes on your final game mod. This presentation can either be a:

• POSTMORTEM in which you describe what you learned in the process of making your game mod.
• SALES PITCH in which you don't talk about mistakes or what you've cut, but instead you present the mod in the best light possible in hopes to get people to like and play it.

It should be super obvious whether you are doing a postmortem or a sales pitch. Just do one or the other, don't try to do both.

Each person on the team must speak at some point in the presentation.

Each team will receive several minutes of feedback from the class.

Rate how the folks on your team were to work with here.