Game design typically begins with low-fidelity prototyping of the game world, characters, objects, interactions, levels etc. Game development teams typically brainstorm and perform lo-fi prototyping collaboratively using pen and paper or whiteboard. Tools such as Balsamiq and Pencil as also used but these platforms typically allow for single user input at a time while lo-fi prototyping is a team-based effort. Your own experiences of game design in softeng306 will remind you that current tools leave a lot to be desired when it comes to supporting a truly collaborative design experience.
This project involves developing a lo-fi prototyping tool for game design using the Microsoft Surface Hub. Harnessing its multi-touch and large-screen features, the tool can be used by game designers/developers to collaboratively prototype their game designs. We will follow user-centred design (UCD) and elements of agile software development in this project. This means collaborating with some of your peers (who would have done lo-fi prototyping for games in SE306 last year) to elicit requirements and feedback at various stages of the project and conduct usability and efficacy evaluation of the final prototype. I may be able to invite game designers/educators from downtown to provide feedback at some stage.
A successful part 4 project last year developed a collaborative lo-fi prototyping tool (ProtoCol) for web application design. While still using the MS Surface Hub, this project focuses on developing a collaborative prototyping tool to support game design, a completely different ball game!
ProtoCol (last year's project) video:
https://youtu.be/JqAd-aQd_Oc
Demos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRLDRQePY1o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QLDuu7rOho
Dev Tools: https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/surfacehub
Undergraduate
A usable and useful collaborative lo-fi prototyping tool/app to support game design on the MS Surface Hub
A positive and proactive attitude to learning, focus on user needs, excellent teamwork, and a disciplined approach to project completion.
Lab allocations have not been finalised