Table of Contents
Executive Summary
To utilize our newly learned knowledge as first year engineering students at The Ohio State University we were presented with a software design project. We were tasked with designing games that were both appropriate for the market and able to be designed using the program MATLAB. This project would further our understanding of the technical responsibilities of engineering projects and the associated documentation as well as our programming knowledge. Furthermore, it strengthened our team working and communication skills while focusing in on individual team member strengths. The games that we chose to program using MATLAB include: Connect Four, What are the Odds, Over Under Seven, and Rock Paper Scissors.
Our focus was placed on Connect Four as it was the most complex game to program. The logic behind Connect Four mainly focused on waiting until there were at least four chips on the board and then checking in all directions to see if there were four same-colored chips in a row. Oppositely, Rock Paper Scissors, Over Under Seven, and What are the Odds involved user input and the program outputting a random response after such input. The user would choose Rock, Paper, or Scissors as would the program, and a winner was chosen accordingly. Over Under Seven is a betting game in which the user inputs a bet along with a prediction for the sum of the dice being over, under, or exactly seven. The game is continued until the user has run out of money, or decides to walk away with the money they have. Lastly, What are the Odds has the user input the range that they want the bet to be placed between and then a number within that range. The program will then also pick a number and if it matches the number the user inputted the user is told to do a randomly outputted harmless dare.
The target audience for the games we coded is mainly kids ages 5-12. However, anyone can play the games, especially adults with the children. Additionally, we interviewed two fellow college students who gave us feedback regarding their interest in games in general. Both interviewees reported interest in both player vs player and player vs computer games that were relatively short and easy to understand. These considerations were thus considered during the programming of our four games.
Overall, the programming of Connect four, What are the Odds, Over Under Seven, and Rock Paper Scissors allowed for increased programming and documentation understanding as well as team working skills. It also allowed for communication and delegation skills to be utilized as well as personal strengths within computer programming to be discovered. Furthermore, it provided us with a brief understanding of the target audiences and marketing strategies that will be called upon again in the future.