Description
Aim
The purpose of the project is to expose you to user interfaces and three
dimensional graphics programming. You will develop a Windows 10 App
to submit to the Windows Store on the tablet computers. Since Unity
is designed for multi-platform support, you might also like to make your
App compatible with other platforms, such as IOS or Android, but your
assessment will be based on the Windows Store version.
Choosing/creating an App
You are free to choose any application that your group would like to develop,
although you will be required to submit a proposal to enable us to provide
feedback and authorise your project to assist you in achieving your goal.
Your Task
Your task will involve questions of
1. how to facilitate user interaction,
2. how to create and render objects/entities,
3. how to elegantly provide a camera which sensibly displays the action,
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4. how to effectively manage direct X/3D so that it runs without substantial lag.
Possible projects
We are happy to discuss possible projects that you might choose to adopt and
adapt to your App. Since the (natural) user interface version of your tablet
application or game might differ significantly from traditional graphical user
interface (GUI) form, you are free to adapt your App to suit.
In particular, if you choose an existing or known application you are free to
completely change the operation or interaction modes required to achieve
natural user interface operation.
Specification and Marking Criteria
As stated above, we have provided you with a great deal of freedom in what
you make. In particular, you are not necessarily required to implement all of
the entities and functions present in your intended application/game if you
choose not to. For example, you may choose to only utilise a core subset of
functionality. However, the App must still be usable/playable.
An App that meets all of below will receive 30 marks:
Gameplay [8 marks]
• Controls are well specified and respond as expected [2 marks]
• The game has a clearly defined objective, with the player being able
to progress towards and achieve that objective [2 marks]
• Gameplay is well executed, bug-free, and operates at a reasonable
frame rate (sufficient to play the game) [2 marks]
• The gameplay and control scheme are polished, easy to use, enjoyable
and suit the design of the game [2 marks]
Computer graphics & App Compliance [6 marks]
• Objects and entities clearly visible, clearly distinguishable, and suit
the style of the game (e.g., different shapes, colours and lighting) [2
marks]
• Correct three dimensional transformations for object/camera motion
[3 marks]
• An App certification test has been conducted, showing no errors. The
compliance report has been attached [1 mark]
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Lighting & Shading Calculations [11 marks]
• Objects are lit / shaded using a customised shader [1 mark]
• Shader implements ambient, diffuse and specular lighting [1 mark]
• Shader implements bump-mapping [2 marks]
• Lighting or shading techniques beyond ambient, diffuse and specular
lighting are implemented. These may include cel shading, fog effects,
water effects or other artistic effects as desired. [4 marks]
• A particle system or geometry shader is used to create effects within
your game [2 marks]
• Shadow volumes are implemented to allow at least some objects to
cast shadows [1 mark]
User interface using touch/tablet orientation [5 marks]
• Touch sensing is used to control at least some elements of the game [1
mark]
• At least one other sensor (e.g. accelerometer) is used to control some
elements of the game [1 mark]
• Interaction management is well handled, with controls behaving reasonable and as expected [3 marks]
Please note that it is not necessary for the lighting and shading effects
described above to be implemented for all objects within your game. It
is, however, required that they be clearly visible within the game and well
documented within your readme file.
Consultation via Discussion Forum
You are encouraged to ask questions, answer questions where possible and
share examples of pseudocode and/or small examples of code that highlight
the correct invocation of Unity commands or algorithmic/graphical/interaction
techniques.
You are not allowed to exchange complete methods or classes. Remember
that copying code from the Internet or from your colleagues will be considered cheating. Note that via electronic submission, your code will be
checked for similarity between submissions and with code available over the
Internet.
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Proposal & registration (electronic submission 1)
You are required to submit a proposal which details the project that your
group aims to accomplish. Submitting a written proposal should help you
clarify your goals in this subject and manage your time more effectively.
Having a written proposal will also help us ensure that your attempts are
broadly in line with the themes of the subject, and flag potential problems
or challenges early in the process. After submission of your proposal,
we will read through it and provide feedback. If necessary, we may
suggest changes to the project. You should aim to cover the following points
in your proposal:
Type of application
• Briefly identify the genre of application (e.g. first-person shooter game,
stellar cartography visualisation, etc.)
• Don’t forget to register at https://www.dreamspark.com/Student/WindowsStore-Access.aspx if you intend to submit your application to the Windows Store (marketplace).
Hardware inputs
• Indicate how you intend to use input from the device in your application. Recall the Surface Pros have touch input and accelerometers
(and also a light sensor and a compass).
Visualisation
• Broadly describe the visualisation of the application when it is running.
Consider 3-D graphics, the camera, lighting, visual effects, and an
estimate of the number of polygons in the scene.
Milestones
• Establish a set of intermediate goals for your application (e.g. detailing the polygon mesh, camera transformations, handling touch input,
etc.) Break down the set into core functions and extras which you can
attempt if time permits.
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Submission of the proposal
One member of the group must submit the proposal electronically to the
LMS, in a plain text format. There should also be a plain text file listing
your group members’ logins and student numbers, one group member per
line.
You must create a .zip archive of your proposal text file proposal.txt and
group file group.txt and submit to the LMS by the due date.
The group.txt file must (strictly) include a list of lowercase login names
and student ids, one per line for all people in your Project group (or just
one login for individuals). For example,
>cat group.txt
>login1 studentid1
>login2 studentid2
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App project submission (electronic submission 3)
Your code must compile and run on the provided hardware and software
configuration.
You must use an online git repository to store all your source code required
to run your programs, readme.txt, certification report and link to a gameplay video (all described below). Please use a .gitignore so that only
essential files are tracked. Comprehensive .gitignores for Unity are readily available online. You will need to submit a link to the repository via the
LMS by the due date. After the due date, you should not make any further
commits to the repository to avoid late penalties.
Readme File: You must include a readme.txt file which describes your
application, specifically what it does and how to use it in two pages of plain
text. Several paragraphs of text under each of the following headings should
be sufficient:
1. What the application does,
2. How to use it (especially the user interface aspects)
3. How you modelled objects and entities,
4. How you handled graphics and camera motion, and
5. A statement about any code/APIs you have sourced/used from the
internet that is not your own.
Brief descriptions are sufficient and concise descriptions are preferred over
long, verbose descriptions.
Certification Report: Whether or not you intend to submit your project
to the store, you must attach an app certification report produced by the
Windows App Certification Kit. This report verifies that your app meets
the required standards for submission to the store. You can download
the Windows App Certification Kit at https://developer.microsoft.com/enus/windows/develop/app-certification-kit.
Gameplay Video: In order to properly assess your project in action, we
request that you submit a short gameplay video to YouTube demonstrating
the key features of your game. You can set the video to unlisted if you
wish to prevent it from being viewed publicly, but please ensure that we can
access it from the provided link without requiring any special permissions.
Your git repository should contain a clearly labelled link to this video.
Important: if your project contains code from other sources, in particular from other web sites, you have to clearly indicate this in readme.txt.
Identify which classes or methods are your own and which are from a different source. Remember that copying code from the Internet or from your
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colleagues will be considered cheating. We will be checking for similarity
between submissions and with code available over the Internet.
Submission of project to Windows Store
If you would like to submit your application to the Windows Store (marketplace) please contact Alex Zable, Chris Ewin or Adrian Pearce.
You will need to register with https://www.dreamspark.com/Student/WindowsStore-Access.aspx to receive free access to the Windows Store.
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