Team: = Murmur

Members:
Kyle Knohl
Brian Rivers
Jeff Stewart
Wiewiek Sunarko

Game: Primary = Colors

Design Project = Overview:

The game we're designing is called = Primary Colors. In this game, the player assumes the role of the President of the United States. The goal of playing this game is to be re-elected when the President's first term is finished. In the process of = determining whether the President is going to re-elected or not, the player is going to be asked a set of scenarios with a selection of choices corresponding to each scenario. What the President decides to do is going to affect = how the Media, Public, Senate, House of Representatives, Intra-Party and = Congress feel about the President. The poll taken of each group will determine = whether the President is re-elected or not.
The audience intended for this game is = 11th to 12th grade political science students.
In this game, the player can apply the = knowledge obtained from the political science readings, and the game will also = help the less informed high school students in learning about the American = Government.
 

Completed Design = Decision:

• The game is going to have an interface that continuously displays and updates the polling graphs on the screen while time moves forward.

This decision is made because we think = that the player would like to be able to see how everyone feels about him or her due to the decisions he or she has made. Thus, the player can decide what to do next.
 
• In the game, the random factor that the = Media has will continuously affect the approval ratings of all 6 groups. The graphs will change every time cycle.

We think that the scenarios only = represent the big decisions that the President should make. However, in real life there are minor decisions that President has to make everyday. Thus, in each time cycle we will be displaying the effects of those small = decisions in the polls of each group with some slight changes in the graphs as = they are influenced by the Media's random contribution.
 
• The speed of the timer for this game can be altered. It can be sped up and slowed down. The suggested intervals are 1 day per sec, 1 week per sec, or 1 month per sec. The default is 1 day per sec.

This decision is made because we = believe the user may not want to wait too long for the next scenario, or the = user may want to see the details how the opinion poll of each group changes over a long time periods.

• Every virtual day in this game, there is a = 1/1,000,000 possibility that the President will be assassinated. This event will end the game immediately and the player loses. Game is over.

This design decision is made just for = fun and to add a little more realism.

Future Design = Decision:

• We don't know how we are going to put the = rationales specified in requirement 3a.2.4.1.1 into the game, and how they will be implemented.

• We are still considering what the user = interface should have, since we believe that the UI should provide the user an = adequate amount of information in a very short amount of time (i.e., "at a = glance"). We can't decide which groups or models that we should display, or which are important in decision making.

• The third item we're still considering is = how the advisory system works, for instance, how much information it should give to the user, how it suggests the decisions to the user (directly or implicitly), and how much historical background it gives on the = ramifications of similar past decisions.