Dark Castle was a collaboration between Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy and the United States Air Force, with me as the project lead for a team of six. The objective of the collaboration was to create a game that can be used as a supplement to the teachings of the 338th Training Squadron. This game was a success, and the USAF will be continuing the development of the game into the future, while using it for many of their students.
As Project Lead, my role was to determine what the client, USAF 338th Training Squadron, wanted from the collaboration. The desired end product was a game that would reinforce the fundamentals taught by the 338th to their students.
Throughout the project, I worked closely with my team to ensure understanding of the project's goals and resolve issues as they arose. I also worked closely with the Subject Matter Experts from the 338th Training Squadron to ensure accuracy of both the course material being reflected, as well as ensuing the efficacy of the game for their students.
The team consisted of me as Project Lead, two Project Managers (one of which doubled as a 2D artist), one 3D artist and two programmers.
With an understanding of the teams composition and the time each member be able to devote to this project, I determined a game scope and pitched it to the clients with success.
In collaboration with the SMEs we decided to reinforce three fundamentals taught by the 338th; Cable Installation and Wiring Network, RJ45 (168B) Cable Making, Switch Configuration and Implementation
Cable Installation and Wiring Network
The 338th students will be sent to locations and be required to set up vital communication systems. Through communication with the SMEs, and studying of their coursework, I determined that we could reinforce this concept through a minigame devoted to connecting wires between critical points.
For this minigame, there are three types of rooms; Office, Comms. Closet, and Server Room. These are representative of actual types of locations the students will need to interact with. In each location there are wiring pathways that must be set up, for instance, in the office all the computers need to be wired up to wall patches to connect them a Comms. Closet.
RJ45 (168B) Cable Making
One of the most frequent tasks for the target students, is the creation of the RJ45 Cable. In order to get the cables needed in the Cable Installation minigame, the students need to enter a separate minigame to follow the proper procedure.
Throughout the lifespan of this minigame, several changes had to be made to ensure accuracy of the game to course material, such as removing a tool that has became obsolete and no longer taught in class. I worked closely with the SMEs to ensure this minigame helped reinforce the common activity of creating these cables, and would truly be a time and cost efficient supplement for their classes.
