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Communication Labs

Communication labs are intended to help you both prepare and revise the numerous documents involved in this course. Participation in these labs is necessary in order to earn technical writing credit for the course. In those weeks where you are not asked to turn anything in for the communication lab it is because you are expected to be working on the associated assignment.

For complicated reasons, this course counts for the technical writing requirement "by petition". This is because the course has content that is not purely technical writing, even though technical writing is a major element to the course. The petitions are always accepted, and just need to be submitted by the end of the semester. Here is a sample petition to take to your advisor to sign.

Lab	Task	Deadline
Communication 0	Quick Pitches	Not Turned In
Communication 1	Idea Formation	02/03/11
Communication 2	Initial Specification	02/10/11
Communication 3	Concept Document Review	Not Turned In
Communication 4	Gameplay Review	Not Turned In
Communication 5	Milestone Review	Not Turned In
Communication 6	Architectural Specification	Not Turned In
Communication 7	Architecture Review	03/19/11
Communication 8	Tutorial Design	04/02/11
Communication 9	Game Website Review	Not Turned In
Communication 10	Level Design	04/16/11
Communication 11	Game Manual Review	Not Turned In
Communication 12	Portfolio Review	Not Turned In

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Game Labs

The game labs are individual labs to provide you with a "quick start" in the class. They introduce you to topics well before we cover them in lecture, so that you can already start thinking about them in your game design. The type of game lab that you are expected to do is determined by your project role within the group.

Lab	Instructions			Deadline
Lab 1	Programming	Art	Music	02/02/11
Lab 2	Programming	Art	Music	02/09/11
Lab 3	Programming	Art	Music	02/16/11
Lab 4	Programming	Art	Music	02/23/11

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Playtesting Sessions

Playtesting sessions are discussions in which you are expected to evaluate the prototypes of other groups. There is a playtesting session held every Tuesday following a prototype submission.

Playtest	Task	Date
Session 1	Nondigitial Prototype Playtest	02/22/11
Session 2	Gameplay Prototype Playtest	03/08/11
Session 3	Technical Prototype Playtest	03/29/11
Session 4	Alpa Release Playtest	04/12/11
Session 5	Beta Release Playtest	04/26/11

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Submission Guidelines:

Submissions are made using CMS.

There are a few guidelines for submissions:

• They should be coherent and understandable.
• We must be able to read them (this usually means .pdf, .doc, or .txt)
  NB: If you submit in some exotic format, please email us to tell us what it is.
• All academic integrity rules apply.