Conclusions




Our expectations for the project were that we would probably finish our first set of goals and have a basic operational design, and that we would probably be able to implement one or two improvements. Our final version met these expectations almost exactly. As we had initially expected, building the basic engine for the game was not hard, but did require significant amounts of time in tracking down and eliminating bugs. We did not have the time to add very many extras to the basic game, but we decided that we would rather have a simpler game that works than a complex one that does not. With the exception of a few screen artifacts whose source we were unable to find, our game works exactly as we had envisioned. When we were down to only a limited amount of work time, we decided that instead of adding more features, it would be more interesting to attempt to build a stand-alone version of our design on a printed circuit board. By doing so, we were able to add a hardware component to what would have otherwise been an almost entirely software-related project.

Tasks carried out by team members:

Richard and David (equally):

• Debugging and testing
• Refining of algorithms
• Written documentation
• ADC experimentation and incorporation into project
• Display of game status information

Richard:

• Majority of component soldering
• Programming of 5 levels
• Salvaging of scrap components to use for the board design
• Design and programming of documentation web page
• 1 weekly progress report

David:

• Initial algorithm to keep ball moving at a consistent speed
• Initial screen redraw algorithm
• Drawing of the full schematic
• 2 weekly progress reports