Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Final Project

There isn't too much to say about what I am doing for my final project. All I am doing is basically just creating the program I designed as my midterm project. It is(hopefully will be) a game that has a CYOA narrative in which the game play is affected by your choices. If you make better/smarter choices your chance of survival is higher and so on...

As it is started so far I think I am in pretty good shape. At first it seemed really easy as I expected it to be because for me (and most programmers I know) I just steal code that I had previously written and modify it. Unfortunately that is becoming a very bad habbit because it took me forever to remember some of the simple concepts behind the code I copied. Anyways now getting into the detailed part of the programming is becoming very complicated, but it is something I enjoy doing so I feel that I will get it done (or at least far enough along that the entire concept will make sense).

Lastly I think that you had told us when the projects should be handed in by, but I must have wrote it down on my syllabus which I have lost. So if anyone knows the date the projects are due I think it would be helpful for me to know. Also if there is anything else you would like to add go for it, but I think I'm on my own now.

5 comments:

Emily said...

The final project is due at 10am on Wednesday December 12 (thats what the schedule says).

What type of program are you using for your code? If its something that I know, I could possibly give you some suggestions. Also, are you writing an essay componet to your code or is it going to be soley interaction through the program?

Anonymous said...

If you turn in Mass Effect as your final project-- make sure you get me a copy.

What I would ask though, is what exactly are you trying to prove by writing a program that allows you to make a CYOA in which your actions produce consequences? I feel it's almost cliched at this point to say "I'm going to build another Zork" because not only are we past that, but in class a lot of time has been spent discussing WHY certain choices are made opposed to just the availability of choices.

Would you build a paper examining why a person may make one choice or another? will it examine the language you decide to use in this CYOA program? Will you release the program super early, have some beta-testers have a crack at it and have them report on what they did going through the story and explain why they made the choices they did?

Just some thoughts.

A. Benevent said...

First off, thank you to Emily for posting when the final project is due in some sort of place where I can't lose it. I even put it in my PDA but I don't trust that at all.

As for Lance, Mass Effect only gets easier as you go. At least, if you spend your talents wisely and spend some time with your equipment. I have yet to find something that I can't steamroll over like a fucking freight train.


Anyway, on to your entry now, Josh. I did a little interactive fiction game for my midterm project, and I didn't write a paper about it. I was trying to mock the entire history of text-based gaming, as well as have some fun in the process.

You don't seem to have a distinctive reason for making this game. A little expansion on that would be nice. Maybe not in paper form, but maybe even a blog entry to explain why again (I seem to remember you doing this earlier, but I'm not sure and I'm too lazy to look) would give us enough to really get the jive of your project.

Ultimately it's up to Dr. Johns, because he decides what's enough and what isn't, but I think it'd work.

Adam Johns said...

Josh -

Throwing in a link to your midterm project (which is essentially a proposal/tech document) might be useful, but isn't necessary.

Anyway, Alex and Lance's suggestions are useful. I _am_ interested just in seeing what you can do, but being able to articulate the rationale for it would help both you and me ultimately. That being said, the midterm does at least some of that work, if your ideas haven't changed.

What language are you using, by the way, to echo Emily? Is it still Java?

Josh P. said...

thanks for all your suggestions.

as to answer emily and adam I am programming it in a version of pascal. The program I am using is called Delphi 7.