INDIVIDUAL MID-SEMESTER PROJECT

BENCHMARK 2

Requirements: In this benchmark we will actually begin coding the GUI and setting up the game architecture. You should use the CSE380_Spring2012_Projects example solution as your starting point. In addition, you will create your own artwork for your main character.

NOTE: Before you start diving into your implementation, it is imperative that you understand the code base I have provided to you. Go to the DummyGame.cpp file and put a breakpoint on the first line of the WinMain method and step through every line of code in the program. You'll need to start to map out where everything is in order to update it to make your game. Note that it is also important that you understand the full file structure of the VS 2010 Solution, like where the .exe and .lib files are generated to and how the source code is arranged.

Part 1 - Setup your own Game: Note that the example VS 2010 Solution I have provided has two projects, the SimpleSideScrollerFramework project, which is essentially the engine, and a game called DummyGame. But you're not making Dummmy Game, so you should have a project named after your own game. Note that you will be submitting your work this semester in two ways for each assignment. First, you'll always zip up your entire solution and upload it via Blackboard. Please be sure to clean your full solution before doing so to reduce the heft of your ZIP. Second, you will zip up your application (.exe and needed files) and post it to your Web page. First you need to setup your solution properly.

Part 2 - Adding to the GUI: Dummy Game has three user interface screens. It has a splash screen, a main menu, and an in-game menu. Note that these guis are all setup via hard-coded methods. That's not so great. It would be better if the GUI stuff could be loaded from a file. We'll also need some more GUI screens. Make the following changes to your game from the Dummy Game example:


Part 3: Game Pause/Resume and the In-Game Menu - Once a game has started (but is not over), players should be able to pause the game by pressing the TAB key. When pressed, an in-game display should appear saying the game is paused and all game-logic should cease. Pressing TAB again should unpause the game. Note that while paused, you'll still have to draw the game world, but then you'll need an overlay on top to display the paused message. Alternatively you could render text for the paused message, just make sure it looks good.

Part 4: Your main character sprite - You are the main character of your game, for this you'll need a series of images of your character in order to animate it. Produce images that together may be used for the character's IDLE state, and change the game such that it uses your artwork for the player. Note, in the next HW, we will start loading game level data from text files. You do not have to do that in this assignment.

Part 5: SVN

You are now at the stage in your career as a software developer where you should start to use version control software for everything you develop. As such, you are required this semester to use a Subversion tool of your choice for keeping track of your work. With such a tool, every time you make significant changes to your project, you should commit your changes to your SVN repository, which will manage your work. We are developing on Windows (even if you own a Mac), so TortoiseSVN provides an elegant integration with Windows Explorer that makes version control easy. Note that with each HW submission, you must also submit a file entitled SVNLog.txt, which contains all of the contents of your SVN log file. This would document all the SVN updates you made in the course of doing your work. Our classroom and the rest of the department's Windows Lab comes equipped with TortoiseSVN. The following walks you through on how to use this tool:

Setup your SVN Repository: After installing TortoiseSVN, open Windows Explorer and make a directory called CSE380_Repository somewhere outside of any Visual Studio projects. This will be the place where all your code will be committed to this semester, so put it somewhere easy to find, and not inside any Visual Studio projects. Now, right click on this directory and select TortoiseSVN-->Create repository here.

SVN Checkout: For your Visual Studio project, we now want to connect the root source code directory to the SVN repository such that we can easily commit our changes. In Windows Explorer, right click on your project's root source code directory and select SVN Checkout. You must then type the full path (or copy and paste) of your repository's directory in the URL of repository field. Make sure to start that URL with file:/// followed by the full C:/... path. Specify your project's directory as the Checkout directory. Make sure Fully recursive is selected for the Checkout Depth field and click OK. Your project source code is now connected.

SVN Commit: Now, whenever you make significant changes to your project, commit your work to the repository through Windows Explorer by right clicking on the directory and selecting SVN Commit. Note that every time you commit, you should provide a brief note that explains the changes being committed.

Viewing the SVN Log: Again, for each programming HW, you must submit an SVN log file (SVNLog.txt) that notes all the changes you committed to your repository for the project. To view this log, in Windows Explorer, right-click on your project's directory and select Tortoise SVN-->Show log. From the view provided by this function, you may select all the log rows and copy them into a text file for you to submit.


A NOTE ON ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: Student projects should start from the CSE380_Spring2012_Projects project we talked about in lecture. I expect you to use object-oriented principles. Please be aware that students may not share code directly. This is an issue that I take very seriously. This is an individual project, and so students must do their coding individually. I want to make sure that each student learns to code games in this course, and the only way to do that is to verify that everyone is doing their own work. Incidents of academic dishonesty will be taken very seriously, so please, don't be tempted this late in your academic career.


SUBMITTING YOUR HW:

A LOOK AHEAD

For the next benchmark students will organize all game artwork and will create a game prototype with a fully tiled, partially complete game world. In addition students will add a fully animated main character.

GO BACK TO BENCHMARK 1

GO AHEAD TO BENCHMARK 3

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