Weight: 20% of final gradeDue: Week 6 — Friday, 11:45 pm AESTTotal: 20 marks
These slides will walk you through every section of the marking guide, what makes a strong submission, and exactly how to structure your work.
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2. What You Submit
Your submission has two components. Both must be present for full marks.
Word Document
Your design report covering the Game Concept Document and Game Design Document. This is where you earn 12 of your 20 marks through written planning and interface design.
Unity Project Folder
The entire Unity project — including Assets, Scripts, Packages, and ProjectSettings. This is where you earn 6 marks by demonstrating hands-on Unity skills.
Important: Compress your Unity project as a .zip before submitting. Include the Word document inside the project folder or alongside it.
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Game Concept Document
6
Game Design Document
6
Unity Project
2
Creativity & Originality
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Part 1 · 6 Marks
Game Concept Document
Define your game's purpose, rules, audience, and why it works on mobile. This is your pitch — make the marker want to play your game.
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4. Game Concept — What to Include
Type of game — e.g., runner, puzzle, platformer, shooter
Single or multiplayer
Game objectives — what is the player trying to achieve?
Winning & losing conditions — what ends the game?
Player capabilities — what can/cannot they do?
Difficulty levels — easy, medium, hard?
Challenges — what obstacles oppose the player?
Game environment & context — where/when is it set?
Why it is a good mobile game — 1 paragraph
Intended audience — age group, interests
Good Mobile Game Qualities
Short play sessions (5–15 min)
Intuitive touch controls
Clear, immediate feedback
Simple to learn, hard to master
Saves progress easily
Runs on varied hardware
Research these qualities and write your "why it's a good mobile game" paragraph around them.
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5. Game Concept — Tips for Full Marks
Be specific, not vague. "The player can move and shoot" scores lower than "The player taps to jump over obstacles; a double-tap performs a roll; contact with an enemy reduces health by 10 HP."
Structuring Your Rules Section
Think of it like explaining the game to a friend who has never played it:
State the objective in one sentence.
List what the player can do (actions/controls).
List what the player cannot do or must avoid.
Describe what triggers a win.
Describe what triggers a loss.
Describe how difficulty escalates over time or levels.
Common Mistake: Writing only a game idea paragraph without covering all the rule elements above. The marking guide checks each item — cover all of them.
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Part 2 · 6 Marks
Game Design Document
Translate your concept into a technical blueprint. This section tests your ability to think like a software engineer designing a product.
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7. Functional & Non-Functional Requirements
Functional Requirements What it does
List every feature the game will have. These are actions or behaviours the system performs.
Examples
The player character moves left/right via on-screen joystick
Colliding with a coin adds 10 points to the score
The game saves the high score to device storage
A pause menu appears when the phone receives a call
Non-Functional Requirements How it performs
List quality and constraint requirements — not features, but properties the game must have.
Examples
Runs at ≥ 30 FPS on Android 10+ devices
Minimum hardware: 3GB RAM, Snapdragon 660
APK size under 150 MB
Unity 2022 LTS, Android SDK 33+
Portrait orientation only
Aim for at least 5–7 functional requirements and 3–5 non-functional requirements. More detail = more marks.
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8. User Interface Design
You need two things here: a conceptual design description and screenshots from Unity.
Conceptual Design Description
Draw or describe each screen in your game (Main Menu, Game Screen, Pause Menu, Game Over screen)
Label every UI element and explain its function
You may use a hand-drawn sketch, wireframe tool (Figma, Balsamiq), or a clearly labelled description
Write a paragraph explaining why your interface has a good design. Research mobile UI principles (thumb zones, contrast, tap target size ≥ 44px) and reference them.
Use Cases
Describe how the player navigates between screens. A simple flow diagram is ideal.
Sample navigation flow diagram
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Part 3 · 6 Marks
Unity Project
Build a working prototype that demonstrates your skills across game objects, scripting, assets, and mobile interaction.
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10. Unity — Skills to Demonstrate
The marking guide looks for evidence of all of the following categories:
Core Unity Tools
Game objects — parent/child hierarchy, transforms
Materials & textures — apply to 3D objects
Lighting — directional light, ambient, shadows
Shaders — use URP/HDRP materials or custom shader
Camera — follow camera, field of view, culling
Physics — Rigidbody, Collider, gravity, triggers
Scripting & Mobile
C# scripts — MonoBehaviour, Update, Start
Touch input — Input.touchCount, GetTouch()
Mobile sensors — accelerometer, gyroscope
External assets — 3D models or textures from the Unity Asset Store or third-party sources
Tip
Even a small working demo scores well if it clearly showcases multiple skill areas. A polished mini-level beats a large broken project.
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11. Unity — Key Scripting Patterns
Your scripts should apply what we have covered in lectures. Here are the patterns you must demonstrate:
// Example: Touch-based movement (connects to Week 4 scripting concepts)
using UnityEngine;
public class PlayerMover : MonoBehaviour
{
public float speed = 5f;
private Rigidbody rb;
void Start()
{
rb = GetComponent<Rigidbody>(); // GetComponent caching — Week 4
}
void Update()
{
// Mobile touch input
if (Input.touchCount > 0)
{
Touch touch = Input.GetTouch(0);
Vector3 dir = new Vector3(touch.deltaPosition.x, 0, touch.deltaPosition.y);
rb.AddForce(dir.normalized * speed);
}
}
}
Your scripts must be clearly commented. Markers should understand what each section does just from reading the comments.
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12. Using External Assets
You are required to demonstrate the use of external assets (3D models, textures, audio) from third-party sources. The Unity Asset Store is the recommended workflow.
Recommended Workflow
Open Unity → Window → Asset Store (or visit assetstore.unity.com)
Search for free assets relevant to your game theme
Click "Add to My Assets" then "Open in Unity"
Use the Package Manager to import
Drag prefabs or textures into your Scene
Asset Store Warning: Free assets vary in quality. Always test an asset in a clean scene before relying on it. Some packs import with unexpected scripts or shader dependencies that can break your project. Import into a test scene first.
Good Free Asset Packs
Search for: "Starter Assets", "Kenney", "Low Poly Environment", "Snaps Prototype" — these are reliable, well-documented, and commonly used in student projects.
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Part 4 · 2 Marks
Creativity & Original Thinking
Two marks that reward you for bringing something genuinely new to your submission.
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14. Creativity — What the Markers Are Looking For
Original Thinking 1 mark
Your game idea must be your own. No two students should submit the same game concept.
Avoid generic clones: "another Flappy Bird" or "Space Invaders remake" scores 0 here
Combine existing mechanics in a new setting or context
Give your game a distinctive theme or story
Creativity 1 mark
Novel mechanics or game rules — something that distinguishes your gameplay from existing games.
A twist on standard controls (e.g., tilt to aim, swipe pattern for spells)
A unique scoring system or win condition
An unusual combination of game types (e.g., puzzle + runner)
AI Use Policy: You may use AI for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission must show how you developed and refined these ideas — not just copy-paste AI output. Document your AI use process in your report.
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Submission
How to Submit
Structure your files correctly before uploading — a disorganised submission can cost marks and cause technical issues during marking.
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16. Submission Structure
Compress everything into a single .zip file named StudentID_PA1.zip.
📁 StudentID_PA1.zip 📁 YourGameName_Unity/← Your Unity project root 📁 Assets/ 📁 Scripts/ 📁 Scenes/ 📁 Materials/ 📁 Textures/ 📁 Prefabs/ 📁 Packages/ 📁 ProjectSettings/ 📄 StudentID_DesignReport.docx← Your Word design report
Do NOT include: The Library/ and Temp/ folders — they are auto-generated and will make your file size enormous. Add them to .gitignore or delete before zipping.
Test your zip: Extract it on a different machine or a different folder and open the Unity project fresh. If it opens without errors, your submission is good.
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17. Final Submission Checklist
Go through this before you submit:
Game Concept Document covers all 10 items (type, single/multi, objectives, win/lose, can/cannot, difficulty, challenges, environment, mobile rationale, audience)
Game Design Document has Functional Requirements (5+) and Non-Functional Requirements (3+)
UI design includes a labelled conceptual layout for each screen
Use cases show navigation between all screens
Screenshots of your Unity game interfaces are included in the Word doc
"Why good mobile interface" paragraph is written with referenced principles
Unity project runs without errors in Unity Editor
At least one C# script demonstrates touch or sensor input
External asset(s) are imported and visible in the scene
Camera, lighting, and physics are clearly configured
Your game idea is original (not a clone of an existing game)
A creative mechanic or rule is present and described in the concept doc
Word document is named StudentID_DesignReport.docx
Zip does not include Library/ or Temp/ folders
Submitted before Week 6 Friday 11:45 pm AEST
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18. Recommended Week-by-Week Timeline
Week 3 — Ideation
Brainstorm your game concept. Write a rough draft of the Game Concept Document. Identify which external assets you will need.
Week 4 — Design Document
Write functional/non-functional requirements. Sketch your UI screens. Create your Unity project, set up scenes, import assets.
Week 5 — Build the Prototype
Implement game objects, scripts, touch input, and game mechanics. Take screenshots of your interfaces for the report.
Week 6 (Mon–Thu) — Polish & Submit
Finalise the Word report. Test your Unity project fresh. Run through the checklist. Submit before Friday 11:45 pm.
19.Q
19. Knowledge Check
Q1. Which folder should you exclude when zipping your Unity project for submission?
Library/ and Temp/ are auto-generated by Unity and can be hundreds of MB. Exclude them — markers will regenerate them on import.
Q2. The "why it is a good mobile game" paragraph belongs in which section?
The marking guide places "why it is a good mobile game (1 paragraph)" inside the Game Concept Document requirements.
Q3. What differentiates Functional from Non-Functional Requirements?
Functional requirements describe behaviour and features (e.g., "player can jump"). Non-functional requirements describe quality attributes (e.g., "the game runs at 30 FPS on Android 10").
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20. Summary & Final Advice
The Four-Part Formula
Part
Marks
Key Focus
Game Concept Doc
6
Cover all 10 items; be specific
Game Design Doc
6
Requirements + UI + screenshots
Unity Project
6
Show range of skills; working code
Creativity
2
Unique idea + novel mechanic
Three Things That Separate A from B
Specificity in writing. Every vague claim replaced with a concrete detail earns more marks.
Working Unity code. A demo that runs is worth far more than polished documentation with a broken project.
Evidence of research. The "why mobile" and "why good UI" paragraphs should cite real mobile design principles — not just opinions.
See the sample submission provided alongside these slides for a full worked example of what a high-scoring report looks like.