Visual Basic Game Program Specs

Design and write a program that allows the user to play an entertaining game. You can write a "classic" game such as Space Invaders, Pacman, Hangman, TicTacToe, Mario or one of your own design. The game must not contain graphic violence (decapitation, blood, etc.) or inappropriate references or student names. See Mr. Minich before you write the code if you have any questions. Your grade will be reduced if he deems anything inappropriate. Ultimately it does not matter how cool your game is or how interesting it is. Your project will be graded with this GRADING RUBRIC.

You must first submit a typed PROPOSAL of your program in paragraph form. The proposal must explain how your program will work. You must also draw an interface of the main screen that you envision in your proposal. This sketch does not have to be drawn wtih great accuracy on graph paper. The instructor will match this proposal with your final submitted program. If they do not match well enough, you may lose points.

You may optionally download and start with this compressed template project.

The outer folder for your completed project must be named VBGameProjectJohnDoeTicTacToe (substituting your first initial and last name for "JohnDoe" and the name of your game for "TicTacToe"). All associated graphic, audio, or text files must be included in the project's bin/Debug folder with no other extraneous, unused graphic, audio, or text files stored there.

You may view examples of VB games and programs at sites like vbcode.com, vbgames.com, and www.planet-source-code.com/vb. However, your final program must be your own work. Do not plagiarize significant amounts of code or algorithms from those sites. You must abide by any associated "Terms and Conditions". If you do use any techniques or short code segments from other sources, you must include citations and web page addresses in your comments & documentation.

Your program must follow the Visual Basic Coding Standards. Review the Program Check Off list.

You must have someone beta test your program as well (preferably a 7th or 8th grader or someone who never had VB.)

You must complete a copy of the grading rubric by filling in specified information and giving yourself a grade in each category. You must add a self-reflection paragraph to the rubric. Review this collection of example self-reflections from previous students but customize your own with personal thoughts and revelations. Include examples of things you would change if you started the project over again as well as things that you are satisfied with.

You must create backups of your game project on a weekly or daily basis. Close VB and then copy and paste your project folder renaming it     VBGameProjectJohnDoeTicTacToe Copy 2016 05 03     if you made the backup copy on the date of May 3, 2016. Be sure to use two digits for the month, two digits for today's date and four digits for the year. Also be sure to type the year, followed by the month and then the date.

You must submit an attractive, colorful paper copy of a user manual for your game program. The manual must be well-designed, complete and easy to read. It should make use of white space and good desktop publishing principles. Treat this like a term paper for a history or English class. It will be a lasting memory of this major project and accomplishment!

Turn in the following printed documents paper-clipped in this order:

  1. user manual
  2. the rbric completed by circling the point values you honestly feel you deserve and filling out blanks and a self-reflection where necessary
  3. beta-testing form

Upload the following files to the location specified by the instructor. Your first name and last initial should replace "JohnD" in the filenames.