Lab Modifications for Final Portfolio

As promised, here's a complete list of suggestions for modifications and further development of the weekly labs, as required for your final programming portfolio.

Source files for all projects are available in the IDIA610Shared directory on student-iat.ubalt.edu. To access this directory, use the "SDE" login and the password that has been announced.

The notes included here represent suggestions, not assignments or agendas. In most cases introducing one or two of the suggested features will be sufficient; you don't have to do everything in the list.

However, the more you can do with these projects, the better.

1. Ball-in-box scripted animation (Week 1): introduce a second bouncing object and script for collisions between the objects as well as the walls; change the appearance of the object on collision; make the object respond to mouse position or movement; rewrite this project using classes and objects.

2. Image browser (Week 2): redesign the browser with clickable thumbnails, as in the Deluxe version; using multiple image planes and alpha (transparency) adjustments, create an image mixer; rewrite the original image browser using classes and objects.

3. Scene scroller (Week 3): introduce multiple image planes moving at varying rates for a perspectival effect; add a character, perhaps under keyboard control; introduce obstacles and/or prizes to create a simple game; rewrite the original project using classes and objects.

4. Tree trimmer (Week 4): add some feedback when the player places an ornament on the tree; add feedback when all ornaments are placed; try one of the variations on tree trimming (time constraint, automatic competition) suggested in the original assignment; rewrite the tree trimmer project using classes and objects.

5. Space-Invaders-style game (Week 8): build the basic framework into an actual game, with score and levels of play; add complicating factors such as fragmentation or spontaneous cloning of adversaries; consider including "killer" adversaries that wipe out the player.

6. Population simulator (Critters, Weeks 9 and 10): modify the reproductive action so that new critters appear as eggs or miniatures (babies), and take some time to reach breeding age; building on the addition of species/colors, develop the reproductive logic so that only some species will interbreed; introduce the possibility of predation as well as reproduction; convert the simulation into a game, allowing the player to intervene by adding, removing, or repositioning critters.