Introducing Missed Deadline - A serious game 

About the game:

Missed Deadline" is a serious game that has been developed for my dissertation as part of my degree in Computer Games Development. Its primary objective is to teach introductory programming concepts as well as OOP pillars and best coding practices, alongside lectures by teachers/lecturers in colleges or universities.

The idea is to provide an alternative to the examples that students typically encounter after a programming class in Microsoft Visual Studio, instead presenting some of these examples in a game format.

It is my intention, as the researcher, to continue updating and improving the game for the foreseeable future. It is the intention to make the game available for free. 

The theme

The game main theme is educational as its a serious game trying to support learning. Lucius is the main protagonist of the game and he is a student who is about to miss his deadline for his homework. Its up to players to help him learn.

The game in its current form

The current build of the game consists of three levels:

1st level - Beginner level aimed at teaching basic programming concepts, declarations, and providing examples of clean code.

Controls in this are WASD for movement and space for jumping. 

2nd level - An RPG-like scenario where a young knight has lost his equipment, serving as an introduction to inheritance.

Controls: Its a point and click so where you click you move.

3rd level - A FPS level where the player is introduced to polymorphism.

Controls : WASD for movement, CTRL for crouch, space for jump. Shift for running.

In total, two pillars of OOP are introduced in the game. Work has already commenced to include the other two, but time constraints prevented thorough bug testing and the addition of NPC quizzes. I will continue to expand the game throughout its life-cycle.

Feedback appreciated

Additionally, if you have any suggestions for further inclusions in the game, I had a questionnaire for my dissertation, which I will include here. However, I plan to revise and shorten it soon. For now, I will use this questionnaire to gather feedback on what potential players/students/lecturers may wish to see in the game. Here is the questionnaire:

https://forms.gle/zEyEFX9tpFdi22mB6

Thank you for playing Missed Deadline!

Games minuses in its current state

The game currently has a few animation glitches. As more content was added, some things broke down, with animations for NPCs being one of them. Additionally, coins and stars also seem not to increment as I would like them to sometimes.

Reflecting on the available time, essentially I ran out of time, with the dissertation needing to be researched and written. I created three small prototypes, each with its own systems interlinking with one another, within two months, excluding the research time of another 2-3 months. I learned and will continue to improve it and improve the page here. 

Thank you for playing or downloading my game! 

What’s happened since I made this project:

In June this year, I graduated from the University of the West of Scotland with a degree in Computer Games Development. Achieving this degree was a long-term dream of mine. Another dream I had was to become a solo game developer, and I’m proud to say that I have. In November 2023, I founded my own studio, Ludus Pax Studios.

My first commercial game is called Rise of the Village Hero! It is a small indie RPG where players take control of the reluctant hero 

You can find the demo here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2796170/Rise_of_the_Village_Hero_Demo/

If you enjoy it, please consider wishlisting or purchasing my early access game to support my studio:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2737960/Rise_of_the_Village_Hero/

You can also wishlitst my second upcoming game Path to Serenity: 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3265030/Path_to_Serenity/

Path to Serenity is a chill cosy walking simulator who takes players on the journey of Jim trying to find the right path in his life.

Thank you for your support!

I’m also very active on X (formerly Twitter), so feel free to follow my journey here:

https://x.com/LudusPaxStudio

I hope to see you around!