1. General Information
Include the following:
- Game Title: Give your game title here.
- Your names: List the names of your team members.
- 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:
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Clarity of Goal or Objective: Suggestions for how to make it clearer what the goal of the game is.
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State visualization: How clear is the state visualization? Should any textual explanation be added?
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Are the operators clear? Are they sufficient? Do they work?
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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 to 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.)
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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?
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What might be a couple of additional operators that would add something new or cool to the game?
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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?
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What scoring or progress indicators are there and how could they be made more compelling?
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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?
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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.
For example, WeathGap has a model of how taxes affect the distribution of income.
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. Presentation
Update your PPTX slides from the previous milestone 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 Monday,
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.
9. Final Code
The last required item for Milestone E is Python code in place on Nicto.
In this section of the report, indicate the full path on Nicto to the team's definitive
final code.
As in the previous milestone, we should be able to run the game going
to the SZ_ALPHA folder, your game subfolder, and then
within the game code folder, giving a command such as the following.
../SZ001.py OurWickedGame 5555
Then anyone playing the game would point a browser to
http://nicto.cs.washington.edu:5555
and sign in, choose a role, etc.