Project 3:
Milestone E

Overview

Finalize your game and presentation, and write your report. Your code and presentation files (Submission 1) are due at 9:30 AM (beginning of class), and your written report (Submission 2) is due at 5:00 PM 11:59 PM (the afternoon evening after our final class meeting). Submission details are given below. Your report should be either a .doc file, .docx file, or .pdf file. Be use to use the numbered headings below in your report, starting with "1. General Information" and ending with "8. Code Explanation".

1. General Information

Include the following:

1. Game Title: Give your game title here.
2. Your names: List the names of your team members.
3. Game Abstract: In no more than 100 words (and no fewer than 70 words), explain what your game is about.

2. Feedback Synthesis

Summarize Reviews:

Using the review questions from Milestone D as a framework, summarize the main points of the reviews you received. Whenever you mention an issue raised by a classmate, cite that classmate by their first name. For example, "Two classmates found the visualization unclear [John, Lucille], and three found it clear [Mary, Bob, Tran]. From this we take the point that the visualizations need a little more explanation."

Reviewing Criteria from Milestone D:

1. Clarity of Goal or Objective: Suggestions for how to make it clearer what the goal of the game is.
2. State visualization: How clear is the state visualization? Should any textual explanation be added?
3. Are the operators clear? Are they sufficient? Do they work?
4. Credibility of the Model: Is the underlying model rich enough to be a credible basis for this game? How many state variables are there, and do the operators really relate to them in the real-world wicked problem? If not, what would be a reasonable storyline for why the fictional operators or variables are OK for the game? (E.g., the focus is on other variables or some other important aspect of the player’s understanding of the problem.)
5. Time frame: If this game uses a simulation of a process over time, is the time frame clearly presented? Is it credible? (Could the effect of the operators actually manifest themselves over the short(?) period represented by a turn or simulation step? If not, what should the game designers do?
6. What might be a couple of additional operators that would add something new or cool to the game?
7. Expected level of engagement: If you were playing this game, how engaged would you feel? What can the designers do to increase your feeling of engagement?
8. What scoring or progress indicators are there and how could they be made more compelling?
9. What would you be learning about the wicked problem when you play this game? What more would you WANT to be learning, but are not? What could the game designers do about that?
10. Other suggestions?

3. Specific Responses to the Feedback:

Using the same organization as in your summary of feedback, explain your responses to each of the points raised by the reviewers. In some cases you may have made changes to your game, and in these cases, describe the changes. In some other cases, you may have ideas for fixing the issue but you were not able to incorporate that; in such cases, describe your ideas and explain why you didn't implement them.

4. Self-Assessment:

How well does your final game address the criteria that have been discussed above? Please give yourself a score of 1 to 5 for each item, starting with "Clarity of Goal or Objective" where 1 means not at all, 2 means a little, 3 means somewhat but not much (neutral), 4 means substantial(ly), and 5 means strong(ly). If you wish, add some text to justify your ratings.

5. Game Structure and Mechanics:

What is the structure of your game? One group's involves a branching story. Several involve a government official setting policy, with a feedback cycle of several months or years. Are there any special game mechanics worth mentioning, such as phases when completely different sets of operators become available? Are there any special tricks to the scoring mechanism, e.g., comparison to goal state, level-up bonuses, etc? Other than these features and the model asked for in the next section, what other aspects of your game would you like to point out?

6. Explanation of the Model:

Most of your games have an underlying model of the phenomenon which is the basis of your game. Explain your model here, listing each model variable, what it represents, and how the operators cause its value to change. Offer a justification for this model in terms of (a) accuracy or basis on any known or researched models, (b) simplicity for purposes of your design and implementation, (c) simplicity/complexity from the player's perspective. If you were to incorporate three more variables, what would they be?

7. Learning Retrospective

List the primary lessons you learned in creating this game. These might include technical issues in computing, Python, debugging, or they may involve group coordinations, or learning about the particular wicked problem that you addressed. Please break this out into three subsections, with one for each team member.

8. Code Explanation

State Representation

Explain how your state representation works. What are the key 2 or 3 variables in your state and what aspect of the problem or solution do they represent?

Sample Operator and Code Excerpt

First, describe one of your operators, mentioning what it does in the game and how you implemented it. Then give a code excerpt of at least 2 lines and at most 20 lines that is at the heart of the operator, making the actual change to the state that's important for this operator.

Description of Any Special Packages or Modules Needed

If you are using any external packages, such as Pillow, then, in both code comments and in your report, clearly identify the versions of the packages needed and where to get them.

Presentation

Update your PPTX slides from the previous presentations to reflect the final state of your project. This presentation does not have to be much longer than the longest one you already gave, but it should be an accurate reflection of your project. These presentations may or may not be presented live on Friday, but they are more for the record.

One of your slides should be a list representing the task BACKLOG of your Scrum but showing mostly past tasks, but also any wish-list future tasks that you did not get to.

Also provide in your presentation 3 screen shots of your game, on separate slides: (1) the initial state, with its visualization and list of available operators, (2) the goal state (or state at the end of a session that represents a relatively successful game), and (3) a state about half way through the game. Turn in your presentation by 9:30 AM on Sept. 17 as part of the contents of a ZIP file that also includes your code. The name of this file should be of the form CRIME-P3E1.zip, or HEALTH-P3E1.zip, etc., depending on your group. The Scrum ambassador of your group should do the submission.

Code Submission

The last required item for Milestone E, submission 1, is Python code. Include all files, including the best client program for running your game, such as Tk_SOLUZION_Client.py and show_state_array.py, so that someone else who has just a Python 3.9 installation can run your game.

If you have a state visualization component that requires that Pillow to be installed, make that clear by including an empty file named "Pillow-required.txt".

Make sure your zip file includes all files that are needed to run your game, such as any .jpg images, or extra text files that get loaded and shown as part of the state displays to describe events during the game.

Turn in your final code by 9:30 AM Sept. 17 as part of the same ZIP file as for the presentation.