App Inventor Design Notebook

Mini Golf
Sasha Mittal and Justin Huang

Beta Version Final Version

.aia Files (Source Code) CSE#_Kaehms_mini_golf_Beta.aia CSE#_V2.aia

.apk Files (Packaged App) CSE#_Kaems_Mini_Golf_Beta.apk CSE#_V2.apk

Brainstorm
● Golf game - intermediate
○ Keeps track of player score
○ Have various obstacles
○ Wind speed that affects the user’s shot
■ Will be random each time
○ Levels where the user has a certain number of tries before they lose
■ Level starts over when user doesn’t make it in time
○ Timer? (maybe on a higher level)
○ If ball falls in water, then user has to start level over
○ High score is recorded and changes only when user beats it
■ Best-so-far variable
○ Game ends after a certain number of levels and user gets trophy based on their overall score
○ Feature that says “good job” when user passes level
■ The statement changes based on how many strokes the user has

● Cup Pong
○ Player throws ping pong balls into cups
○ Each ball they get in a cup gives them a point
○ They must get all the cus in a certain number of tries to pass the level
○ Each level has the cups arranged in a different pattern

● Space game - intermediate

○ Space debri and asteroids as obstacles
○ Has to get to another planet alive
■ Dodge all obstacles
■ Defeat all aliens
○ Spaceship can be hit a certain number of times before the game is over
○ Checkpoints throughout the journey

● Running game
○ Ex: temple run, flappy bird, etc.
○ Collect coins, tokens, gems
○ Multiple levels
■ If you finish a level, you unlock a new character
○ Different prizes with each level

In the end we were assigned the mini golf game. We further developed our brainstorm and ideas specifically
for the mini golf game and then started working on the code.
 Names Feedback

Rina and Megan Work looks organized, add more options (change
ball color in different levels, etc.). We like the
features you’ve added already, I think they’ll make
the game a lot more enjoyable.

Three tiers of progression

1. The basic features that we need to do first are making sure the game functions properly, and then
add sprites accordingly.
2. Features that would make our app better and that we could get done in a reasonable time are setting
new sprites that are more detailed and nice to look at. We also added attributes to the sprites so that
if the ball touches a sprite, then the ball either bounces back or disappears, forcing the user to start
the level all over again. We can also add a feature that says “good job” when the player get the ball
in the hole.
 3. Some really cool and awesome features that we want to do but might not have time for are adding
wind speed that affects the user shot, and trophies that the user gets based on how well they do in
each level.

Daily Log

Date Classwork Homework

9/19 Sasha​​: Project was introduced. We
browsed all the game tutorials and
brainstormed what to do for our app.
Decided that our top two ideas are the
space game and mini golf.
Sasha​​: Briefly viewed the code for both space
game and mini golf and played around with the
current version of the game.
Justin​​: None

Justin​​: Helped brainstorm ideas and

communicated on how the project will be
finished.

9/20 Sasha​​: We were assigned a tutorial today Sasha​​: none

based off of the form we filled out yesterday.
Our final game will be a mini golf game with Justin:
various obstacles and levels for the user to
challenge themselves. We started changing
the code and adding new sprites.

Justin​​: Started working on the final project,

added new features.

9/21 Sasha​​: Tried to figure out how to change Sasha​​: brainstormed additional features that
specific properties of the sprites in our game can be added on to our game (shown in
to fit our new ideas. brainstorm above)

Justin: Started on working on the stream, Justin:

added properties of the stream such as
resetting the golf ball to give it a more
realistic feel.

9/22 Sasha​​: After the quiz, we immediately Sasha​​: spent time over the weekend trying to
pulled up our game and started to add come up with more unique attributes that can be
sprites and additional coding. We finalized added to our game (observed code to see what
the flow chart too. can be added).

Justin: I tried to finish up some of the bugs, Justin:

added the sprites for the objects.

9/23
NO CLASS
9/24

9/25 Sasha​​: Coded and added a feature where Sasha​​: none

the level starts over and the ball goes back
to the tee if it hits the water. Justin: None
 Justin: Added fea

9/26 Sasha​​: Found a new glitch in our game, Sasha​​: Tried to figure out how to code a certain
analyzed all blocks of code to fix it. feature in app inventor.
Continuously tested the game to make sure
there weren’t any other glitches. Justin: None

Justin​​: Tried to fix the bugs in the game

9/27 Sasha​​: Worked on the code of our game, Sasha: none

worked out more glitches and finalized the
features Justin: None

Justin:

9/28 Sasha​​: Today we had the gallery walk. We Sasha​​: cleaned up the documentation
got lots of good feedback for our game and
also got a chance to check out other Justin: Wrote some comments on the code
people’s games.

Justin​​: For the gallery walk, I was able to

change the canvas at the last moment so
that the game could run smoothly.

9/29 Sasha​​: Looked at feedback from gallery Sasha: none

walk, looked through code to try and fix the
problems that were mentioned. Justin:

Justin​​: Yesterday was the gallery walk, it

well and we received positive feedback for
our work. So we were able to incorporate
that into our work and helped make it better.
For instance, we added some of the
features that were addressed to us during
the gallery walk.

9/30
NO CLASS
10/1

10/2 Sasha​​: Our game now has a feature that Sasha: none
says “good job” or “great job” after you
complete a level. The statement depends on Justin:
how many strokes the user has.

Justin:

10/3 Sasha​​: We added a new sprite: a sand trap. Sasha​​: Worked on conclusion/reflection of the
We programmed it so that when the ball project,
collides with the sandtrap, then the ball
stops, making it difficult to get it out. Justin:

Justin:
 10/4 Sasha​​: We tweaked the code so that the Sasha​​: Read and reviewed the rubric,
obstacles don’t clump together as much as compared it to our design notebook and
they use to. confirmed that everything necessary was there.
Justin:
Justin:

10/5 Sasha​​: Today we had the final gallery walk Sasha:

for our app inventor project. We made sure
everything was up and running smoothly Justin​​:
before it started.

Justin:

Beta Gallery Walk

Instructions​​: Move the ball by flinging it towards the hole. Do your best to avoid all the obstacles
and pass the level in the limited amount of strokes you have. Turn the volume up to hear the
statements from the tablet (based on how many strokes you have). Good luck!

Pro: Features Liked Con: Aspects that were confusing, buggy, or etc.

Ball is easy to hit, and moves fast. Obstacles are clumped together.

Good use of drag Add more golf ball movements

Mehar: Simple and intuitive, Obstacles clump together

I’m assuming the obstacle positions are randomized,
suggestion:add a reset function for the score limit their range of acceptable positions to make sure
the obstacles don’t all clump together.

Good use of drag Sometimes the ball goes straight through the
obstacles

I like the smooth drag and the random levels. I think you should make it so that the obstacles
won't overlap and the water should do
something. - m.R
Fun to play and smooth The water doesn’t do anything to the golf ball.
~Gowri Datta

The game is fun to play. I think you should have different obstacles in
different levels, and the obstacles sometimes
clump together. - Shriya Reddy

Final Gallery Walk

Instructions​​: Move the ball by flinging it towards the hole. Do your best to avoid all the obstacles
and pass the level in the limited amount of strokes you have. Turn the volume up to hear the
statements from the tablet (based on how many strokes you have). Good luck!

Pros Cons

Obstacles are cool Ball is hard to hit. Obstacle hitbox bigger than
image.

I like how you guys incorporated many The ball is kind of hard to control.-S.R.
obstacles. -S.R.

Good use of randomizing obstacle locations, Ball mobility is limited, so it’s hard to score -
and the new game function Mehar
-Mehar

I like how many different levels there are. The control is very unresponsive. -I.Y.
-I.Y.

Interesting game concept. Controls are unresponsive - Wasi Alam

Interesting concept. Nice animation. Very laggy. Add feature where ball bounces off
obstacles.

I like the concept of the game. Obstacles are The Game is laggy. Also obstacles do not
cool. work. You can just slide through the game- DK

The game is interesting AM Game does not work AM

The game has a nice random level generator The ball gets really stuck after first hit. MR
and also a good concept.

Conclusion/ Reflection

Sasha​​: When we first got the original code of the mini golf game, there were about 30 errors and warnings
scattered throughout the code. I started by analyzing what the main role of the big blocks of code were, and
then once I had a basic idea of how the code worked, we went through and got rid of all the errors and
warnings that were showing up. Then, I played the game and started to figure out how to code the additional
features that we were planning to add. I think our biggest challenge was the glitches within the canvas of the
game. However, we were able to resolve them shortly before the beta gallery walk. The comments that we
got from the beta gallery walk were all valuable feedback that we used to try and figure out how to make our
game better.

Justin: The core mechanics didn’t change much throughout the game. There were some tweaks here and
there, but overall, it's appearance and composition changed slightly. There were new features, and a
somewhat new UI. There were new obstacles, and their placement varied greatly in that game. The game
itself runs pretty smoothly, with a few bugs here and there. Although it may not turn out the way it was
intended to be, I was still proud of how it turned out. All of the mechanics worked, and it was able to have a
solid mechanic in the center. In addition, the comments in the code helped explained it well.