Module 7.1 — Synthesis (Game Capstone)

Quarter 2 · ~3.5 contact hours in class + homework Environment: shplay in-app editor.

Renumber note: Was Unit 2.7 before Unit 2.5 was split into 2.5 (Game Saves) and 2.6 (Game States). Cascaded to 2.8.

SLO Focus

SLO 3 PRIMARY Sem 1 evidence (A18.1 Game Capstone) — design + implement + test cycle
Contributes to SLO 1 (lived SDLC)
Contributes to SLO 2 (classes + state machines in a shipped product)

Unit Goal

Students ship a complete game that they designed themselves. The unit is entirely build + test + iterate + showcase. This is the Semester 1 closing artifact — the teacher retains design docs, testing logs, and reflections for dual-enrollment documentation.

Shape of this module

A performance task, not a guided build. There is no reading, no worked example and no starter game — the module is a checklist of twelve things the game must contain, drawn from every unit behind it, and nothing at all about what the game should be. Two students can tick every box and hand in games with nothing in common. That is the point: the checklist measures what they can reach for unprompted, which is the one thing a scaffolded project cannot.

The checker is capability-level on purpose. It looks for a class, a Group, a function that takes a parameter and returns a value — never a particular name — because a checker that pins names would quietly turn a design task back into a fill-in-the-blanks one.

Lessons in this module

ID	Title	Primary SLO	Key Artifact
7.1.1	Arcade Cabinet (Q2 Synthesis) — the twelve-item checklist	SLO 1, 2, 3 primary	A18.1 Game Capstone (Sem 1 SLO 3 primary evidence)
7.1.2	Q2 Reflection	SLO 1, 3	1-page SDLC reflection

Inter-module bridges

Modules 5.1–6.8 → 7.1.1: Every prior shplay module contributes directly. The checklist requires a custom class (5.4), a Group (6.1), an overlap or collision (6.2), persistent storage (6.5), and three game states (6.6) — plus functions, arrays and manual testing carried over from Q1. Animated sprites (6.4) and joints (6.8) sit in the choose-any-two item rather than the required list, since 6.7's own notes say most students will not master joints.
Module 7.1 → Sem 2 (Q3): None — clean quarter break. Semester 2 starts with a fresh environment (JSCAD).

Pre-requisite snapshot

All of Q2 content (Units 2.1–2.7).
A capstone design doc drafted as the prior unit's evening homework.

Post-requisite snapshot

Student has shipped a working game.
Student has written design doc, testing log, and 1-page SDLC reflection.
Student has presented a 3-minute showcase to the class.
Teacher's SLO 3 evidence folder contains the A18.1 artifact.

Unit-level assessments

A18.1 Capstone Game (major grade — 15% of course total).
Semester 1 Final exam (scheduled alongside the capstone unit, separate day): 1.5 hour cumulative coverage of JS fundamentals + shplay + OOP across all Semester 1 units.

Module 7.1 — Arcade Cabinet — Q2 Synthesis

Lessons in this module