School of Arts and Creative Technologies
Assessment Brief
MODULE: Media Production for Interactive Environments TFT00018I
ASSESSMENT TITLE: Summative Assessment ASSESSMENT DATES:
SET: Semester 1, Week 5
HAND-IN: 12 noon on Thursday 23rd of January 2025 (Semester 1, Week 14)
THE BRIEF
For this assessment, you must create a scene from an experience that is set in a 3D interactive virtual environment.
The kind of experience that you create a scene from is up to you. For example, you may choose to create, but are not limited to:
● A scene from an adventure game where the player must solve a puzzle
● A scene from a walking simulator that tells a short chapter of a longer story
● A scene that forms part of interactive art experience set in a 3D world
The scene that you create should take around five minutes for a ‘typical’ user to complete the first time it is experienced.
You must also write a 2,500-word report describing your environment and the experience that is set within it.
This assessment is worth 100% of the total marks for this module.
GUIDANCE: THE SCENE
Your scene MUST be implemented using the Unity game engine. You MUST use Unity versionLTS Release 2022.3.33f1, which is the Unity version installed in the ACT labs. Using a different Unity version will mean there is a possibility that we will not be able to open and run your files. If we are unable to do that, we cannot mark the project and we will have to give it a zero mark.
You must write and include at least one script. when implementing your scene (and you may choose to include more). All scripts must be written in the C# language.
While the scene must be implemented in Unity, you are allowed to include assets that you have created in other software packages (e.g. 3D models that you have created in Maya).
As noted in the brief, your scene should take around five minutes for a ‘typical’ user to complete the first time it is experienced. In line with this guidance, you may wish to create a scene that represents a subsection of a hypothetical longer experience (e.g. a single level from a game that would have further levels if released). However, in this case, your submission should still offer the user a complete and polished experience (e.g. including a menu, onboarding guidance, a defined end).
GUIDANCE: THE REPORT
Your report must include the following sections:
Background: Give the background to situate the rationale in creating your environment and experience. For example, your report might describe:
● Why did you choose to create this particular environment and user experience?
● What other environments provided inspiration for your project?
● What is the purpose of this experience?
● Who might it be used by?
● In what situation is it meant to be experienced? (e.g. an art exhibition)
Description of Experience: Provide a description of a typical user’s experience of interacting with your environment (e.g. a walkthrough).
Description of Technical Implementation: You must give a detailed and precise description of your technical approach for implementing your environment (e.g. lighting, sound, physics,AI).
Reflection: Discuss the success of your experience from both a user-experience and technical perspective. For example, you might reflect upon:
● What were the challenges of creating your experience?
● Which parts do you feel work well and which didn’t? Why did they work or not?
● How could you develop your environment further?
You are allowed a 10% leeway on the word count in either direction (i.e. 250 words over or under is acceptable). This length limit excludes all appendices. Write the total word count clearly at the end of the report. Note that over- or under-writing beyond the limits of the leeway may incur mark deductions.
Use either Times New Roman in font size 12 or Arial in font size 11.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Your submission must include the following components:
Components
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Submission Procedure
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● 2,500 word report in PDF format.
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1. Create a ZIP file including all components.
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● The complete Unity project for your interactive environment.
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2. Your ZIP file should have a filename in the format
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● A standalone build for MacOS.
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EXAMNUMBER_MPIE.zip (e.g. Y123456_MPIE.zip)
3. Submit your ZIP file via the Storage drive. Instructions for how to submit via Storage are provided on the
module VLE site.
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Note that you MUST submit a standalone build of your environment in addition to the complete Unity project. A standalone build is a file that allows your scene to be run outside of Unity. This will enable the marker to experience your environment exactly as you intended it to be. When creating your standalone build, please configure it using the “PC, Mac & Linux Standalone” option with the “Target Platform” set to “MacOS” and “Architecture” set to “Intel 64-bit + Apple silicon” . You should test your standalone build runs as expected on one of the computers in TFTI/016 before making your submission. This will ensure that your marker has access to a computer upon which your work has been tested. For more information on how to create a standalone build of your project, please seethis page in the Unity manual.
Please read the Very Important Points to Note for the Submission of All Assessments document — which includes important information on the appropriate time to start submission, how to check your files, what to do if there are problems with submission etc. Please access the file with your University of York login.
USE OF EXTERNAL SOURCES AND ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
All work submitted for assessment must be the student's own and all sources must be acknowledged and referenced, as set out in your Course Handbook and/or this assessment brief, to avoid academic misconduct. Students may not submit the same work or part of the same work for assessment twice.
All sources in your report should be cited using the Harvard referencing system format. You may refer tothis referencing guide from the University of York. For finding out the correct format for citing non-standard sources (e.g. computer games)this Harvard referencing guide from Anglia Ruskin University Library may also be helpful.
The scene must be your own work. If elements of the design or implementation of your scene (e.g., the concept, the layout, the gameplay mechanic, a solution to a challenging technical problem) are based upon the work of others, you should indicate this in an appropriate section of your report with references.
If you include code written by other people in the scripts submitted as part of your Unity project, you must reference this in the source by including a block comment at the top of the file describing where the code came from, e.g.:
/**
* This script. is based upon an example from the Unity Script.
Reference *
* Author: Unity Technologies (author name unknown)
* Location: https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/AudioSource.html
* Accessed: 20/10/2021 */
Additionally, if a script includes some code that is written by you and some code that is written by others, you should include inline comments that clearly indicate which parts are your own work and which aren’t.
// I added these three lines to set the volume based on a slider
AudioSource a = GetComponent<AudioSource>();
Slider s = GetComponent<Slider>();
a.volume = s.GetValue();
// My modification ends
You are allowed to include assets that you have not created yourself in your scene (e.g. 3D models downloaded from the internet or the Unity asset store). If you choose to do this, you must clearly indicate that these assets are not your own work by including an appendix to your report that provides details of each of these assets in the following format. Text in this appendix will not be included in the word count of your report.
Description
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Image (if applicable)
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Source (inc. URI)
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Licence / permission
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Tree model and
textures, used
throughout the terrain.
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Unity standard assets environment package.
https://assetstore.unity .com/packages/essent ials/asset-packs/stand ard-assets-for-unity-20 18-4-32351
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Used under terms of Unity EULA.
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