Collaborative Game and Tool Design Project
An assignment for an introductory computing course, published for any instructor to reuse. Teams of 3 to 5 students design a small game or a small browser tool in three Microsoft Office files kept in one shared folder. Students write no code: the instructor builds a version of each design that runs in a web browser, using Builder, the framework behind the projects under Tools and games.
I wrote it for CIS 110, Introduction to Computers, which I teach online at Central Carolina Community College in the second eight-week session of Fall 2026. It runs alongside the course's SAM modules: students write the design document after the Word modules, fill in the workbook while they learn Excel, and make the slides with basic slides and shapes. Fall 2026 is its first run, so this page describes the assignment and reports no results.
Two versions
A team chooses one. Both have the same dates, checkpoints and grading, and each page links to the other.
| Version | For a team that wants to design | Assignment page | Printable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Game | a small video game | Collaborative Game Design Project | |
| Tool | a tool for a hobby, a job or another class | Collaborative Tool Design Project |
Each assignment page shows the next checkpoint for the day it is opened. It runs in the browser, stores nothing and sends nothing about the student.
What a team hands in
Each team keeps three files in one shared OneDrive folder and keeps the template names, because the names and headings are how the instructor finds each part of the design.
| File | Game version | Tool version | What it holds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design document | GameDesign.docx | ToolDesign.docx | 2 to 4 pages in the team's own words under ten headings: the goal, every control, the rules, one round of play or one use from start to finish, and what is in scope |
| Data workbook | GameData.xlsx | ToolData.xlsx | Every number and list the design needs, one row per item, and each image or sound with who made it and its licence |
| Presentation | GamePitch.pptx | ToolPitch.pptx | 5 to 8 slides, including a diagram of the gameplay loop or the steps a person takes and a mock-up of one screen drawn with shapes, and a 3 to 5 minute recording of one member presenting them |
Two completed example folders show what a finished set looks like: Lava Lanes, a made-up game, and Recipe Scaler, a made-up tool.
Schedule, roles and grading
The project has seven checkpoints: form a team, choose an idea and set up the folder, then a draft of the design document, the workbook and the presentation in successive weeks, a complete folder for feedback, and the final submission. In Fall 2026 every file is due before Thanksgiving break, the prototypes are built over the break, and teams play them and request changes until the final deadline. The prototype is ungraded.
Each person takes a role and records it in the workbook's Team sheet: Coordinator, Design writer, Data lead, Presenter, or Art and sound lead. In a smaller team, some people take two.
| Part | Points |
|---|---|
| Game or tool concept and scope | 20 |
| Word design document | 25 |
| PowerPoint presentation and recording | 20 |
| Excel data workbook | 20 |
| Shared-folder organization and collaboration | 15 |
The folder is graded once, after the final deadline. Each member needs a documented contribution, read from version history, comments, the Team sheet and a short private peer rating. The grade comes from the files and the collaboration and does not depend on whether the game or tool is built or posted. A finished game is posted to a public class gallery only if every team member agrees.
Reusing the assignment
The assignment is under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence: the words of both pages, the schedule and rubric, the templates and the example folders. The code that draws the pages is under the MIT licence. Both are in the public repository, which also says what to change for another course: the dates and points in one file, and the words in two. The screenshots of example games on the assignment pages are not covered.
The setup steps are written for a college Microsoft 365 account, with Google Drive as a backup. Builder is public under the MIT licence. The part of it that reads a team's three files is in an open pull request to that repository.
To credit it: Collaborative Game Design Project and Collaborative Tool Design Project, by Sam Gilson, https://sgilson7.github.io/cis110-game-lab/, CC BY 4.0.