CTIN 491 Advanced Game Projects: Call for Proposals
CTIN/CSCI 491 is a two-semester advanced game project class administered collaboratively by the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. Note that is course is also called CSCI 529 for Viterbi grad students.
Students bring their individual talents as designers, programmers, artists, writers, composers, producers, etc. together in cross-disciplinary teams. Mentors from industry and the faculty are integrated into the process from the start. Art assets are produced (as much as possible) for the 491 teams by separate students from the CSCI 281 Pipelines for Games class.
Completed student work will be promoted via coordinated effort by the university.
The goal is simple: USC strives to create the best student games in the world.
Projects pitched and greenlighted in Spring 2008 (pre-cursor to the class)
Project ideas come from student leaders. Students will pitch their ideas formally to a selection committee from the faculty and industry in April 2008. This process will be a pre-cursor to the class meaning no students will be officially enrolled in 491 at the time of the pitches. Only three projects will be greenlighted by the selection committee in Spring 2008. See schedule and process details below.
Projects developed Fall 2008 and polished Spring 2009 (as part of class)
In Fall 2008 the full student teams will begin work. All teams will participate in the USC Demo Day in December 2008.
Professors
Chris Swain
USC School of Cinematic Arts
Interactive Media Division
cswain at cinema dot usc dot edu
Mike Zyda
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Computer Science Department
zyda at usc dot edu
The Details
Pre-reqs
Team Members
• To enroll in CTIN/CSCI 491 as a team member a student must have completed CTIN 488 by the end of Spring 2008 or receive special permission from the instructor.
Team Leaders
• To be eligible to be a team leader a student must have completed the intermediate game class CTIN 484 by the end of Spring 2008. Note that grad students are exempt this requirement.
Note: CTIN/CSCI 491 can be taken for credit more than once. This means a student may take 491 once as a team member and then again the next year as a team leader.
Creating Your Proposal
Those wishing to pitch a project should come up with an innovative game concept and create a proposal. At minimum this proposal must include:
• Written description of the gameplay & controls (~3-4 pages)
• Explanation of game innovation (~1-2 pages)
• Proposed team leader(s), as well as any other team members you have recruited. These may be tentative commitments. Team members may be listed in more than one pitch presentation. (~1 page)
Additionally, the proposal may include:
• Concept art
• Interface sketches and/or walkthrough
• Story, characters descriptions
• Playable Prototype
• Etc.
How Proposals will be Evaluated
The selection of projects and project leads will be made by a selection committee made up of faculty, industry professionals, and prior student team leaders.
Proposals will be evaluated by the selection committee and finalists will be asked to pitch their ideas in person. Final pitches will be evaluated on the strength of their ideas as well as their leadership and proposed teams.
Proposal Process and Schedule
Wednesday
March 26, 2008
6 pm General Information Meeting
- for prospective team leads, members, anyone interested in finding out more about the process
- students my email Chris Swain prior to this meeting with questions
EA Game Innovation Lab (RZC 203) 3131 S. Figueroa Street
Friday
April 18, 2008
6 pm Proposals due via email
- Proposals must be submitted via email to Chris Swain and Mike Zyda
- Please use YouSendIt.com to submit proposals larger than 5 mb.
Wednesday
April 23, 2008
6 pm
Finalists Announced via email
- All proposals will be reviewed by the selection committee
Wednesday April 30, 2008
1 pm Pitch Day
- Finalists present to the selection committee in person
EA Game Innovation Lab (RZC 203) 3131 S. Figueroa Street
Wednesday
May 7, 2008 Winners Announced via email
Thursday May 8 thru Friday August 21, 2008
Recruiting
- Winners are encouraged to recruit team members and get them to enroll in CTIN / CSCI 491
- Best results come from early involvement of engineers, artists, composers, etc.
Monday May 14 thru Monday August 25, 2008
Summer pre-production
- Mentors from faculty and industry will be available to assist over the summer.
- Historically teams who prototype over the summer are far more successful
Tuesday
August 26, 2008 Fall Semester Begins – Project Start Date
USC Gamepipe Lab (RTH 321)
Class Specifics
Students are encouraged but not required to take both the A and B semesters of 491. The A component will always be offered in the Fall and the B component always in the Spring.
This course is analogous to the School of Cinematic Art’s renowned advanced film course CTPR 480 in that it will require a high level of commitment from all participants and the output will (hopefully) be world-class student work. The end product of the 491ab cycle is intended to be a complete, polished advanced game project that is innovative in both its aesthetic and technical aspects. To this end, the teams will draw on teaching and student resources from a number of areas from the University, with the goal of integrating team members from various disciplines into a tightly-knit collaborative group.
CTIN / CSCI 491A - Fall Semester 2008 (4 units)
Thursdays 3 – 6:20 pm
During the first semester, projects will go through an extensive prototyping and design process, moving into production only when core game mechanics are solid. The focus in this first semester is on discovering unique and innovative gameplay and creating a “Level X” that is a proof of concept of the game concept and play effectively. The final milestone for this semester is a polished playable level demonstrating the key features and play mechanics.
CTIN / CSCI 491 B – Spring Semester 2008 (2 units)
Tuesdays 2 – 3:50 pm
During the second semester, level design, usability, “professionalization” and distribution of the project will be the focus of the class. Students are not required to take this second part of the cycle, however, they are greatly encouraged to do so. It has been found during the production of previous advanced projects (such as Dyadin, Cloud, and Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom) that debugging, polishing, extra level design, packaging, etc. can make the difference between a good student game and an award-winning one.