Android Application: MemCards

To get my degree, I completed a final project that takes advantage of several of the many skills I learned over the duration of my studies. At the time, I was learning Spanish in Central and South America, and I wanted an app to help me study vocabulary. This application allows the user to create flashcards with a front and back term, and organize the cards into sets. Another key feature of the application is the testing algorithm, which allows users to test themselves on a set schedule so that they can study at a pace that is best for learning. I also included a simple matching game for some fun. If you have ever used the TinyCards app from Duolingo, this is a similar application.

User Interface: Amazing Game Console

During my studies, I took a course on human computer interaction (HCI). The task was to design an interface based on sound user-interface and user-experience (UI/UX) principles. I created a basic layout similar to what one might find on a console such as the Xbox or Playstation. Menus are designed for readability and quick access, with prompts and other information displayed with varying colors, shapes, and sizes to allow users to navigate easily through the system. I learned a lot about the needs of users when using an interface, such as: learnability, efficiency of use, and the 7 principles of user interface design.

Robotics: Mobile Alarm Clock

One of my favourite courses, this course dealt with embedded programming and robotics issues. I learned about the history and current status of robotics and robotics programming. I gained insight into robotic features, control mechanisms, emergent behaviour and robotic learning.

This course featured the use of the Arduino, using it to build the simple circuits available in the SparkFun Inventor's Kit provided with the course. I was able to explore rob0tics concepts hands on and gain a lot of practical hands on experience.

For my final project, I created a robotic alarm clock. The idea was to create an alarm clock that would run away from you so that it would force you to get up and shut it off, thus enabling you to get up and start your day without hitting the snooze button a million times. I bought parts to add to the basic Arduino kit, including a chassis, motion sensor, and ultrasonic distance detectors. The batteries ran out VERY quickly, but overall it was a great experience, and sparked an interest in robotics in me that I never knew existed.

Vertical-Scrolling Shooter: Space Fighter

A genre that is very dear to my heart, of course I had to make a game like this. Space Fighter has the player fly through space in their awesome ship, shooting enemies for points along the way. It featured a scrolling background and 3 unique enemy types. Each enemy had a different flying behaviour and particular firing pattern. The player had 3 lives to try and see how many points they could get.

I programmed this game in C++ using the Allegro game software to help create the scrolling backgrounds. I learned a lot about game design and functionality. I also had a lot of fun designing the graphics, which I created by myself.

Flash-Based Game: BattleSpace

A BattleShip-type game I programmed in Adobe Flash. Players would place their ships on the game board and attempt to fire on the enemy position. There were several unique levels and enemies, with a boss fight at the end. One level has a meteor shower, another had a space station to defend. Enemies had different abilites. The enemy AI would randomly guess at player positions until a hit was made, then it would hone in on the area. Even though Flash is no longer a popular platform for games, I was able to learn a lot more about game design and programming.

AI Movement Behaviours: Pizza Madness

My first game to implement more than basic AI, this pizza game uses some advanced AI movement behaviours. The object of the game is for the player, a pizza, to move around the screen and collect toppings for points. The enemy chef is throwing his weapons at the player, and once the player is hit enough times, the game ends.

The movement of the player follows the player's mouse around the screen. The pizza moves toward the mouse target using an "arrive" behaviour. Essentially, the pizza is always looking to arrive at the mouse position, but can only accelerate to a certain maximum speed to get there. The enemy chef uses a similar behaviour to move up and down the edge of the screen.

The weapons use a similar "seek" behaviour. The knives fly in a straight line through the current player position (at the time the knife appears) to a point off screen. The knife tries to go to this position at a set speed. The pizza cutter weapon will seek the player position for a short time, then fly in a straight line in the direction it was currently travelling to a point off screen.

The most advanced behaviour is displayed by the toppings that follow the pizza around. They use a combination of the simpler movement behaviours discussed above, plus a couple more. This combination results in a "flocking" behaviour where the toppings act like a flock of birds, always trying to head in a direction directly behind the player pizza character.

AI Decision-Making Behaviours: Connect 4

This is a simulation of a Connect 4 game with the player in white vs. the computer player in black. The player can introduce chips from the top row of the game grid, where the piece then falls into position. The first player to have 4 chips in a row is the winner. The game implements alpha-beta pruning with a depth limit of 4 for the computer in a mini-max search.