Your name is Coco.

You are a cupcake hero.

Despite what some might consider a questionable calling, you have done well enough for yourself to get married and settle down.  You live a life that is no-doubt the envy of all other cupcake heroes throughout the land.

Unfortunately, your idyllic lifestyle comes to a crashing halt when your lovely wife, Casey, is kidnapped!  Being the cupcake hero you are, you immediately spring into action and venture forth into the realms of the Marshmallow Meadow, Gummy Forest and the Chocolate Swamp to get her back.

This is the story of “Sweet’s Revenge.”  Beyond being the stuff a baker’s nightmares are made of, it is also a completed class project for Theory and Practice of Multimedia Production at the University of Florida’s Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering.

The class is one of several offered at CISE for game development.  Dave Small, a lecturer at the department and a graduate of UF, is the instructor.

“We are preparing them for whatever they want to do in the future,” said Small.  “We use games as a motivator.  They interest and bring together many students.”

In his classes, the students are tasked with going through the entire game development process, including the conception and creation of a playable copy.

He also recreates some of the hurdles designers and programmers in the real world are forced to deal with to give his students an opportunity to learn how to adapt and overcome them. 

The students being assigned to small teams of three or four recreate limited staff conditions.  Small said that team sizes that are any larger are “not as challenging.”

Time is also a factor.  The students only have the semester to run through the entire process of conception to a working model.  As a result, most game projects that are proposed by the students are rarely finished.

“I’d rather they turn in something that is part of an overall vision over a rough, complete presentation,” said Small.

An ambitious few come into the class looking to create fine art.  However, Small said the “majority just want to make a game.”

Despite this, he encourages his students to look at the independent game front for ideas and not the more mainstream gaming companies.

“When you look at the types of huge investments, artistic integrity is compromised,” said Small.  “They get tunnel vision.”

By looking at the more independent gaming sites, he feels the students can learn that there is more that can be done with the medium. 

Another important aspect the students cover in their classes is the fine art of giving presentations.  Douglas Dankel II, assistant professor at CISE, considers this one of the most important parts of the process in his class AI for Computer Games.

“Less than 40 percent of the time is spent actually programming,” Dankel said in reference to the typical day of a game designer.  “Most of the time is spent giving presentations such as coding walkthroughs.”

As a result, he prefers to let the students do the teaching in his class, giving them a chance to grow accustomed to public speaking. 

Students also work together in groups on game projects like in Small’s class, though the process is a bit different. 

For the first month, students are assigned to groups that must then come up with a concept for a game.  After this, each group presents their game concept, and then all the students may decide to work on the project that interests them the most.

Students generally gravitate towards only a handful of the concepts presented, which will then become their projects for the semester.  However, all ten concepts presented this semester were received equally enthusiastically, meaning they will all be developed into class projects for their groups.

This semester is also unique in that Dankel is teaching 40 students, which is the largest this class has ever been.  Five years ago, the class capped out at about 25.

Most of the students at CISE come from a computer engineering or digital arts and sciences background.  The differences between the two can sometimes be readily spotted.

“Those from the digital arts and sciences will stress the art programs (in their projects),” said Dankel.

This can be a potential hazard in terms of time and resources.  Dankel cautions his students to stick with 2D or 2.5D over 3D to make things easier.

“Artwork can be like an infinite sinkhole,” he said.

At the end of the semester, both Dankel and Small will give their students the ability to present their game projects to their peers at “Game Day.”  This takes place at the Computer Science and Engineering building, where the students will set up booths that allow passers-by to try the games and offer feedback.

“It’s about the students really helping each other,” said Dankel.

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