Week 13: Final Project Development

Main Goal This Week

This week your team should focus on building a working game demo. The priority is not polished design or finished assets. The priority is that the game runs, the main interaction works, and each team member is contributing clearly to development.

By the end of the week, your team should have a playable demo with a basic beginning state, at least one working game mechanic, and a clear sense of how the project is being built across the team.

End-of-Week Benchmark

Your team should be able to show:

• a game that runs without major broken functionality
• a basic start state or way to begin the game
• at least one working core mechanic (basic action + rule that drives the game)
• a working player interaction such as movement, clicking, collecting, puzzle action, collision, navigation, or shooting
• a basic game loop using requestAnimationFrame
• a simple outcome, feedback system, or reset state

How Teams Should Work

Your team should already be aligned around the project plan from last week. This week is about following that plan through coordinated development.

The lead developer / GitHub admin should keep track of the big picture: how the parts connect, what still needs to be built, what files are being used, and what needs to be merged. This role is is about helping the team stay organized and making sure development stays connected across the whole project.

The lead developer should not be burdened with doing all of the coding. Every team member should be responsible for developing some part of the JavaScript and contributing directly to the working game.

Teams should divide the game into parts or systems so that work is shared clearly. For example, different people might work on player movement, game state, collision, scoring, enemies, level logic, menus, UI, or asset integration.

JavaScript File Organization

It is recommended that your game use separate JavaScript files linked into the project, rather than one long script file.

Name files clearly based on what they do. For example:

• gameStart.js
• player.js
• enemy.js
• collision.js
• gameState.js
• endState.js
• ui.js

This helps teams divide labor, avoid conflicts, and keep the project readable. Even if your game is small, you should think in terms of separate systems and responsibilities. Get HTML5 Mentor to help organize this for your game.

Required Documentation in Each JS File

At the top of every JavaScript file, include:

• the name of the student or students who worked on that file
• the logic steps relevant to that part of the script
• the chat URLs relevant to that part of the script

This is important because I am grading individual contributions within the group project. Your code should make it clear who worked on what.

About Page Documentation

Your required About page should also help document the project. It should include:

• the sections or systems of the game
• the student names connected to those sections
• the relevant chat links for each section
• game asset credits and tracking

You do not need to repeat the full logic steps on the About page if they are already included in the JavaScript files.

Individual Contribution and Participation

Even though this is a team project, I am grading each student on their own contribution to the development process.

I am observing how teams work, how labor is divided, how students participate, and whether each person is meaningfully involved in the project.

There is also a 10% participation grade based on how involved you are in the process of planning, coding, problem-solving, testing, and collaborating with your group.

Development Expectations

• build functionality first
• use placeholder shapes, colors, or temporary assets if needed
• test often
• commit regularly to GitHub with clear messages
• keep your files organized and clearly named
• make sure every team member is contributing to script development

Reminder

This week is about getting the game working as a system. Keep the scope manageable. Build a simple version that runs. Once the structure is working, you can improve visuals, assets, polish, and complexity.