Designing Interactive Characters Class - The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game - page 164

Figure 10.8
Assignment: stalking.
Preparation for the Final Project
Paralleling all of this main quest activity were two other activities. One was
preparation for the final project, which was to create the final level of the main
quest where all secrets would be revealed. We had chosen the Neverwinter Nights 2
gamebuildertoolforthis.Thisisarelativelysimpleplatformforgamedevelop-
ment, requiring some programming and little original art since it is intended to
create mods of the Neverwinter Nights 2 game, and that is also part of the J.R.R.
Tolkien/ Dungeons & Dragons universe. I have no doubt they could have produced
several small games requiring more programming and art using their current skill
sets. But I suggested this tool because I wanted to focus their attention on content,
even more specifically on character design, rather than programming and 3D
modeling.
The final project exists almost entirely outside of the game narrative because it
involves building the level that completed the game. Students know, for example,
that the final level consists of the tower and surrounding grounds; that there are
six fountains on the grounds, but that they are not currently working; and that
there are six doors that must be unlocked by solving puzzles using the lost skill
sets of the six NPCS.