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Motivating and evaluating game development capstone projects

Authors:

Joe Linhoff,

Amber SettleAuthors Info & Claims

FDG '09: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Foundations of Digital Games

Pages 121 - 128

https://doi.org/10.1145/1536513.1536541

Published: 26 April 2009 Publication History

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Abstract

Designing an effective capstone course can be a challenge, particularly at a university on the quarter system. The capstone course is generally an integrative experience, designed to help students pull together skills they have learned throughout their college careers. Determining how to effectively evaluate the work that students do in a capstone course is a difficult task, particularly when the capstone is in a game development program. There are many measures of the quality of a game, some of which are less important in a curriculum focused on programming and production. Here we propose a set of metrics tailored to a game development capstone course. We consider two main metrics: technology metrics that focus the integration of standard, specific game technologies and design metrics that consider how well the implementation matches the game design at different stages of development. We also discuss several factors that we believe have contributed to success in the game development capstone course, including industry involvement as a student motivator and the use of XNA in the curriculum.

References

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Clear, T., Goldweber, M., Young, F., Leidig, P., and Scott, K., "Resources for Instructors of Capstone Courses in Computing", In Proceedings of the 6^th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (Canterbury, United Kingdom, June 2001).

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College of Computing and Digital Media, DePaul University, http://www.cdm.depaul.edu/ accessed August 2008.

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Linhoff, J. and Settle, A. 2008. "Teaching Game Programming Using XNA". In Proceedings of the 13^th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (Madrid, Spain, June-July 2008).

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Parberry, I., Roden, T., and Kazemzadeh, M. 2005. "Experience with an Industry-Driven Capstone Course on Game Programming". In Proceedings of the SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, (St. Louis, Missouri, February 2005).

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Perkovic, L. and Settle, A. 2007. " Computing Branches Out: On Revitalizing Computing Education". In Proceedings of the International Conference on Frontiers in Education: Computer Science and Computer Engineering, (Las Vegas, NV, June 2007).

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Sumner, R., Thuerey, N., and Gross, M. "The ETH Game Programming Laboratory: A Capstone for Computer Science and Visual Computing", In Proceedings of the 3^rd Annual Microsoft Academic Days Conference on Game Development in Computer Science Education, (Celebrity Century, February-March 2008).

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Cited By

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Egert CPhelps A(2022)Balancing Entertainment and Educational Objectives in Academic Game CreationResearch Anthology on Game Design, Development, Usage, and Social Impact10.4018/978-1-6684-7589-8.ch065(1358-1386)Online publication date: 7-Oct-2022
https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-7589-8.ch065
Hundhausen CCarter AConrad PTariq AAdesope OSherriff MMerkle LCutter PMonge ASheard J(2021)Evaluating Commit, Issue and Product Quality in Team Software Development ProjectsProceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education10.1145/3408877.3432362(108-114)Online publication date: 3-Mar-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3408877.3432362
Egert CPhelps A(2020)Balancing Entertainment and Educational Objectives in Academic Game CreationGlobal Perspectives on Gameful and Playful Teaching and Learning10.4018/978-1-7998-2015-4.ch008(164-192)Online publication date: 2020
https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-2015-4.ch008
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Index Terms

Motivating and evaluating game development capstone projects
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education
        Information science education

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FDG '09: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Foundations of Digital Games

April 2009

386 pages

ISBN:9781605584379

DOI:10.1145/1536513

Conference Chair:
Jim Whitehead
UC Santa Cruz
,
Program Chair:
R. Michael Young
North Carolina State University

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 26 April 2009

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FDG '09: International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games

April 26 - 30, 2009

Florida, Orlando

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Overall Acceptance Rate 152 of 415 submissions, 37%

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Egert CPhelps A(2022)Balancing Entertainment and Educational Objectives in Academic Game CreationResearch Anthology on Game Design, Development, Usage, and Social Impact10.4018/978-1-6684-7589-8.ch065(1358-1386)Online publication date: 7-Oct-2022
https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-7589-8.ch065
Hundhausen CCarter AConrad PTariq AAdesope OSherriff MMerkle LCutter PMonge ASheard J(2021)Evaluating Commit, Issue and Product Quality in Team Software Development ProjectsProceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education10.1145/3408877.3432362(108-114)Online publication date: 3-Mar-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3408877.3432362
Egert CPhelps A(2020)Balancing Entertainment and Educational Objectives in Academic Game CreationGlobal Perspectives on Gameful and Playful Teaching and Learning10.4018/978-1-7998-2015-4.ch008(164-192)Online publication date: 2020
https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-2015-4.ch008
Stephenson BJames MBrooke NAycock JBoisvert DZilora S(2016)An Industrial Partnership Game Development Capstone CourseProceedings of the 17th Annual Conference on Information Technology Education10.1145/2978192.2978214(136-141)Online publication date: 28-Sep-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2978192.2978214
McGill M(2012)The Curriculum Planning Process for Undergraduate Game Degree Programs in the United Kingdom and United StatesACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/2160547.216055012:2(1-47)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2160547.2160550
Sung KHillyard CAngotti RPanitz MGoldstein DNordlinger J(2011)Game-Themed Programming Assignment ModulesIEEE Transactions on Education10.1109/TE.2010.206431554:3(416-427)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TE.2010.2064315
Dean CLynch TRamnath R(2011)Student perspectives on learning through developing software for the real worldProceedings of the 2011 Frontiers in Education Conference10.1109/FIE.2011.6142904(T3F-1-1-T3F-6)Online publication date: 12-Oct-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/FIE.2011.6142904
Chaffin ABarnes THorswill IPisan Y(2010)Lessons from a course on serious games research and prototypingProceedings of the Fifth International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games10.1145/1822348.1822353(32-39)Online publication date: 19-Jun-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1822348.1822353

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Experience with an industry-driven capstone course on game programming: extended abstract

Capstone, thesis, or practicum?: the state of the practice in IA education

A Holistic Capstone Experience: Beyond Technical Ability

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