Soojin's Initial Project Idea and Work Plan

Before coming up with my project idea and work plan

What excites me?

When I see codes come to “live” (aka seeing visual changes), I get very excited because I can see the changes happening right in front of my eyes. As a user experience designer, I thrive on redesigning issues and I see the coding problem similarly. If I run into an error, especially visual errors, I want to fix the user errors to run how I envisioned and create a better user experience for all three of us (Python, me, and the user). I like when our classroom codes and homework problems have certain narratives (ex. Snapping turtle). It helps me stay more connected to what the code is trying to do and I can relate better to them, encouraging me to learn and write a story that makes sense to all of us.

What information will help me decide?

Going back on my past learning modules, and examples, and seeing other Python turtle game examples can guide me in a better direction. I am still somewhat terrified of building something from the ground up so seeing codes I and others have previously made will help me gauge which direction would best suit my learning experience.

What project type will I pick?

I am definitely going to pick the turtle project. As much as the data processing project will help in my coding career, my goal is to personally grow my understanding of Python language in ways where I can understand other’s code and improve my own learning experience and attitude towards programming.

My project idea and milestone

My initial project ideas:

I want to do some kind of turtle video game with stories. Perhaps a cooking game or 1 vs 1 fighting game or even a dating reality-based show game since I am motivated by the story-telling part of Python and turtle exercises. I want to involve users to stay engaged with the story while using all the python concepts we learned in the story. I am a bit scared this will lead me to focus more on the front-end visualization than the journey of evolution with my codes. I have to make sure to set milestones based on my coding journey rather than falling into a game dev loophole of creating endless narration.

(soft) Milestones:

Reflect back on all the Trinkets and homework problems that stood out to me (week 1)
Narrow down the project idea into one and set another milestones that’s do-able for me; discuss with the professor to see the possibilities (week 1)
Set up storyboard and Python concepts I want to incorporate into the game (week 1)
Try to focus on building the basic and external file, specifically for level 1 (week 2)
Focus on finishing level 1, reflect, and move onto level 2 (week 3)
Finish level 2, reflect, and move onto level 3 (week 3)
Wrap up the project, fix minor bugs, try to get it play-tested; contact the professor if any major issues rise (week 4)
Show off my game to my awesome classmates (week 4/5)

Interface Draft

I am going to work on top of the clicky turtle exercise we did in class. Here is the interface draft. From here I can focus on setting up the visual background and creating a game where a turtle goes through an adventure to find his soul mate. I am still wondering how I will make it into 3 different levels but I feel excited to make much more complex and interactive game by utilizing this key:

myscreen.onkey(go_left, 'left')
myscreen.onkey(go_right, 'right')
myscreen.onkey(go_forward, 'up')
myscreen.onkey(go_backward, 'down')

For now, I will focus on getting the first level done and setting up an environment where a turtle can successfully interact with specific things to meet his princess turtle.