Week 12 • GitHub Collaborations: HTML5 Game Dev

To Do This Week

• Set Up Repositories:
  • One team member creates a new GitHub repo and adds all members as collaborators.
  • Clone the repo locally and verify push/pull access.
• Read & Review:
  • Collaborating with issues and pull requests (GitHub Docs)
  • Managing branches (GitHub Docs)
  • GitHub Flow Overview
• Project Planning:
  • Agree on basic game concept, roles (developer, designer, asset creator, integrator, etc.)
  • Create README file with naming conventions, style guide etc
  • Create development plan or map for the game
  • Create a project board or issue list to assign tasks and track progress.

In-Class

Core Git Concepts

• Repository (Repo): Project folder with files and version history
• Clone: Local copy of a repository
• Commit: Saved snapshot of changes
• Push: Upload local commits to GitHub
• Pull: Download and merge changes from GitHub
• Fetch: Check for updates without merging

Branching and Structure

• Branch: Parallel version of the code
• Main Branch: Stable primary version
• Feature Branch: Branch for a specific task or feature
• HEAD: Current commit you are working on

Collaboration

• Pull Request (PR): Proposal to merge changes
• Merge: Combine branches
• Review: Feedback on a PR
• Fork: Copy of a repository
• Origin: Default remote repository name
• Upstream: Original repo you forked from

Conflicts and Fixes

• Merge Conflict: Conflicting changes that must be resolved
• Rebase: Move commits onto another branch
• Stash: Temporarily save changes
• Diff: Shows changes between versions

Project Management

• Issue: Task, bug, or idea
• Milestone: Group of related issues
• Project Board: Task organization board
• README: Project description file

Files and Tracking

• .gitignore: Files Git should ignore
• History / Log: Record of commits

Set-up README file

README files should be written in Markdown (README.md). Get AI help with this.

• Project Overview (what the game is, concept, goals)
• Team & Roles (who is responsible for what)
• Game Structure (levels, stages, and overall flow of the game)
• Core Systems (shared logic and architecture used by all levels)
• Folder Structure (how files and assets are organized)
• Setup Instructions (how to run and test the project)
• Git Workflow (how the team collaborates using branches and pull requests)
• Naming Conventions (rules for naming variables, files, and functions)
• Style Guide (visual design rules: color, UI, sprites, typography)
• Commit Guidelines (rules for writing clear and consistent commit messages)
• Game Design Rules (shared gameplay rules: controls, difficulty, interactions)
• Code Structure Rules (how code should be organized and written)
• Communication Protocol (how the team communicates and shares updates)
• Testing Guidelines (how to check that features work before sharing)
• Integration Rules (how individual parts are combined into the main project)
• Merge Conflict Strategy (how to resolve overlapping code changes)
• Assets Management (how images, audio, and files are named and stored)
• AI Usage Policy (how AI tools can be used and documented)
• Documentation Requirements (what students must explain about their work)
• Roadmap / Milestones (timeline and major development steps)
• Known Issues / Bugs (list of current problems to fix)
• License (how the project can be used or shared)
• Credits (who contributed and any external resources used)

Team Workshop:

• Break into teams and sketch game ideas, assign roles.
• Set up a team GitHub repo.
• Practice branching and making pull requests: create a ReadMe and index.html, and styles.css, make changes
• Consult HTML5 Game Mentor on your idea. Have a chat, get feedback and suggestions.
• Discuss and get help organize the development in task areas - distributed across three of you.
• Start modular development with different students working on different files or features.
• Share methods and schedule for updates from team members.