Seeking Student to take CSC 299 or CSC 499

Elyse, Donna, and Kyliah are funded to work on this project for a
year, to see it to the end, resulting in at least one installation at
the San Diego Zoo. As part of their project, Bruce & I have asked
them to lead of team of students to explore the project much more
thoroughly than just a team of 3 could... ie there is lots of ways
this game could go, lots of "solutions" that would work.. we want to
find the best, or the best couple of solutions.

So we decided to run an RTFM and gather a bunch of minds to work on
it.. the RTFM is really about serious games for multitouch surfaces
(or other novel user interfaces), with Elyse, Donna, and Kyliah (and
the San Diego Zoo) working as Clients for the course students.. ie
they have a goal, the students will be asked to come up design specs,
test them, implement then, test them again, etc.
It will meet like a regular class.. probably once a week with the
professors there, and then one meeting with whatever group you are in
to work on your aspect of the project. How the projects are divided
up will largely be guided by the group leaders (Elyse/Donna/Kyliah).

We could also have a hardware component of this.. where we could
potentially build our own multitouch interface to serve as game
controllers, although we are also actively trying to get a Microsoft
Surface Table and software.

here is the official blurb:

Course Title: RTFM: Educational Game Interfaces
Instructors: Dr. Bruce Gooch and Dr. Amy Gooch

Registration: CS 299* or CS 490**
*Students who have completed CS 225 and have a cumulative GPA of a B or better are eligible to register for CS 299.
**Students who have completed 45 units at UVic will be eligible to take CS 490.

Size Limit: five 490 and five 299 students

Course Description:
RTFM is a research seminar geared toward undergraduate students with multiple programming skill levels. The course engages students in a bottom-up software engineering process where individual components of the system are specified and coded in detail and then linked together until a complete system emerges. The course is structured in a collaborative studio environment, augmented by lectures. Students work together to design software specifications, dividing coding projects to involve students at various skill levels. For instance, novice students write simple functions, intermediate students write more difficult and challenging functions, and skilled students serve as team leaders. Team leaders guide round-table discussions on software design and coach beginning students in the coding process. The RTFM course affords students the opportunity to work cooperatively with a group to solve problems collaboratively while completing complex, open-ended projects.

Course Topic:
Students will explore the techniques and process involved in the design and implementation of an educational game, using innovative tangible technologies such as touch interfaces. The procedure will include: investigating background information and researching the topic, examining different ways of interacting with the tangible technology, and creating a final playable game. Students will also study the principles of game design and how they relate to educational gaming, and specific issues faced by educational games.

Meetings:
The course runs September to December the class will meet twice per week, times to be decided in the first week based on student availability.

Marks based on final project and attendance