Software- and Gameprojects, fall 2016

From september 2016 until february 2017, three groups of bachelor students from computing science and gametechnology have been working on their final assignment: the software- and gameprojects. On the 3th of february they presented their final products, not only to their clients but also to their own friends and family.

The software- and gameprojects

At the end of the bachelor Computing science and the bachelor Gametechnology, it is mandatory to participate in the Software- and Gameproject. During this project, the students are divided into groups (typically consisting of about 8-10 students) which will emulate a small company. They will then work for a "real-world" client and create a piece of software for them. This project is typically done at the very end of the bachelor phase and takes the place of the bachelor thesis. This project can be done twice a year; once in the fall (first semester) and once in the spring (second semester). This fall there were three projects to choose from: The Performance Game, SchoolSim and EGADB.

The Performance Game

This simulation game aims to train hospital (department) managers and/or students following a management- & organizational-study to more effectively increase their performance. The game gives you several options to stay up-to-date with the current state of the hospital (such as the newspaper and the people chatting in the coffee corner) and several tools to improve the inefficient situations you encounter. It is however impossible to keep up with everything - there is a limit to how many of the options and tools you can use in one in-game month, so choose wisely! 

The Performance Game was made by the team of High Flying Games (HFG) and was commissioned by the Utrechtse school voor Bestuurs- en Organisatiewetenschap and the UMC Utrecht.

SchoolSim

Another simulation game, this game aims to help teachers (in training) for elementary schools to broaden their horizons by quickly going through several phases in the development of a school - from very strict, standardized, classic education to a very personal and differentiated approach. As this proces normally takes many years, going through the growth quickly with almost instant feedback teaches you many things you wouldn't normally realize. The game also focuses on the use of ICT in this process - especially how using ICT can help your school, but does not automatically fix all your problems just by giving it to the students.

SchoolSim was created by the team of eiGames and was commissioned by the Hogeschool Arnhem Nijmegen (HAN) and the department of Computing Science at the UU.

EGADB

Experimental Graph Algorithms DataBase is a piece of software which aims to unify the graph and graph algorithm experiments all around the world. It is "a database for graphs, graph attributes, classes, experiments, algorithms and much more". Normally when graph algorithms are investigated, this is done on the computer of the investigator himself. Therefore it is never one hundred percent certain that the same running times will be found on other computers, and therefore it is not entirely certain if the algorithms are truly faster. This program runs all experiments on one central computer, therefore making it much easier to compare results. It also has an ever growing database of existing graphs which can be shared by experimentors and can then be used by others to test their algorithms on.

EGADB was created by the team of Central Node and was commissioned by the Algorithms and Complexity Group and the department of Computing Science at the UU.