codex-lv2-may-2025

🎮 Game Project Planning Guide

Lesson 28 – Group Game Design (CSD Unit 3) Goal: Work as a team to design and build a game by dividing roles and collaborating effectively.

After completing Lesson 27, you will have a good idea of how to follow a plan. The challenge in Lesson 28 is to create a plan, follow it, and work together as a group.

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🧠 Step 1: Plan Your Game Together

Before you begin coding, your team must plan your game’s look and feel. Use the list below to organize your discussion:

Note: Before your planning meeting, estimate how long you expect the meeting to take, which items on the agenda MUST be decided on now, and which can wait. TIMEBOX the meeting to your estimated time limit, so you can move on to the next step.

Before you meeting think about:

• How long it will take to plan everything.
• Are there ways to split up the design work?
• Which steps must be completed before you can start work in your role?
• Which could you take responsibility for completing?

🎨 Plan the Look and Feel

Everyone in the group should help brainstorm these items.

1. Theme – Come up with at least 2 ideas. Choose one together.
2. Mockup – Sketch a rough drawing of the game screen (can be on paper or digital).
3. Sprites Needed – What characters or objects will appear? (player, enemies, obstacles, bonuses)

4. Movements:

   • Obstacles – Will they move? How? (velocity, counter pattern)
   • Enemies – Will they chase the player? Bounce? Use a pattern?
   • Bonuses – How do they appear or move?
   • Player – How will the user control movement?
5. Sprite Interactions – Will sprites bounce, collide, or overlap? What happens in each case?

🕒 Plan Your Time

• Estimate how long each step will take.
• Decide which steps must be finished before each team member starts coding.
• Can some work be done in pairs or individually?
• Agree on a check-in time: a short meeting where you’ll update each other on progress.

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👥 Step 2: Choose Your Roles

Pick ONE role per person. Each role has its own file(s). Focus on doing your part well and updating the group regularly.

Role	Files Responsible For	Responsibilities
🎨 Background Designer	background.js	Design and code the background (color, sky, terrain, etc).
🧑‍🎨 Sprite Designer/Animator	animations.js, sprite-setup.js	Add sprite images/animations. Set up sprite properties like scale or start location.
👾 Obstacle/Enemy Movement	sprite-movement.js	Code how obstacles and enemies move using patterns or velocity.
🕹️ Controls & Interactions	user-controls.js, sprite-interactions.js	Code the player’s controls and how sprites interact (bounce, overlap, disappear).

Also share and update common files like variables.js and display-boards.js as needed.

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🔄 Step 3: Coordinate and Communicate

• Hold a kickoff meeting to finalize theme, mockup, and roles.

• At the end of each work session or start of each day, check in with:

  • ✅ What you finished
  • 📅 What you’re working on next
  • 🧱 Any blockers you ran into
• Respect others’ roles—help only when asked.

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✍️ Step 4: Reflect

After the project, answer these questions individually or as a team:

1. Input: When there was an opportunity for you to give your input, how did you respond?
2. Decision Making: When a decision had to be made, how did your group decide?
3. Conflict: Did any conflicts of opinion arise? Were they resolved? If so, how?
4. Communication: Was there a time you needed to contact or cooperate with a group member? How did you and your group member handle this situation? Would you do anything differently next time?

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✅ Final Reminders

• Stay focused on your role, but remember the game works only if everyone finishes.
• Keep your code clean, comment your work, and test often.
• Encourage and support your team.

Happy coding! 🎮🚀 Tag: lesson 28 · group project · game design · CSD Unit 3