Welcome Page

Table of Contents

  1. Project Management
    1. Team Working Agreement
    2. Individual Responsibility Agreement
    3. Project Schedule
    4. Meeting Notes
  2. Business Plan
    1. User Identification and Interviews
    2. Electronic/Print Advertisement
    3. Pitch Video with Demonstration
  3. Software Documentation
    1. Introduction
    2. User Manual
    3. Program Description for Developers
    4. Final Algorithm, Flowchart, or Pseudocode
    5. Final Program with Comments
    6. Discussion
    7. Conclusions and Recommendations
    8. References

 

Executive Summary

The team was tasked with making a game (or games) on MATLAB. The team created three games. The first game created was Hangman, the second was Over/Under Seven, and the third was Battleship. Each member of the team was the lead programmer on their game. The team was given this task to improve their problem-solving strategies, the design process, and programming skills to solve this programming scenario. The team was tasked to make these games in a program called MATLAB. This is a tool most often used for its matrix calculation capabilities but can also be used as a programming language on its own. Programming is the manipulation of the computer to do whatever the programmer wants it to do through the use of different commands. This task is important to all members of the group for the skills it grows. The group worked together to document the games in addition to the creation of the games. The team implemented the problem-solving strategies learned into the creation of the code. And finally, the team used the design process to take the creation of the code step by step. The team was tasked to make these games to use and grow their skills in a real-world scenario.

 

In the project, the three games were developed entirely step by step. The team members first created basic algorithms/pseudo-code to start the process. This allowed the members to visualize what needed to be done for the code as well as plan the steps moving forward. Once that was done, the team members started to build their code. The code was developed incrementally, testing it after each line was written. Major issues that were faced were found in the visual component of code for the games. Each member struggled with using the program provided “simpleGameEngine.m” which was included to help with the display of the visual components as well as obtaining user input from those visuals. The group members used the commands “simpleGameEngine”, “drawScene”, and “getKeyboardInput”. The implementation of these commands was the most difficult part for the team members. In addition to that difficulty there was also one within the randomness of the games. This was solved after a lot of trial and error from the team members. Recommendations for all three of the games stand to be additional code to error proof the game. The programs created by the team are all error prone to an extent. These errors come when the user inputs an input that is not accepted nor advisable by the program. In addition to that recommendation, there is also one to just improve upon and add features to the games.

 

In conclusion, the team greatly improved in their programming skills. Each of the group members did a substantial amount of coding that improved their own individual skills, but also assisted the other group members to improve their team coding skills. This task also substantially improved the team members problem solving skills. Even outside of the problem being the coding as a whole, the team members were faced with many smaller problems in the design process and solving through those, again both individually and as a team, only came with the improvement of those problem-solving skills. To improve upon the products delivered by the team, there should be a thorough error-proofing of the game. The games need to be tested and modified to ensure that no matter what the user input may be, the game still functions as intended. In addition to that change there needs to be just general additions to the game, including more features and better visuals. With those two changes, the three games delivered will be near perfect in execution.