Team Name
JESR
Timeline
Spring 2023 – Summer 2023
Students
- Joshua Vazquez Robles
- Emmanuel Farayibi
- Shabieh Hassan
- Ryan Hopkins
Sponsor
United States Army Corps of Engineers
Abstract
The primary objective of this project is to develop an application that can serve as an educational and informative tool about water dams. The aim of this application is to empower the public with knowledge about how dam’s operate and the fundamental impacts they have in an immersive, engaging and user-friendly way.
Background
The sponsor for this project is the United States Army Corps of Engineers who approached our team and asked us to develop a web based application that they can use within their facility that will replace their current application which will make the game more modern. The current application they have implemented takes the users through various screens similar to that of a quiz and based on what the user selects will take them to the appropriate screen. Our sponsor wanted us to revamp the entire application and turn it into a game that is visually appealing, user-friendly and engaging which in turn will attract a bigger audience of all ages. The application will remain true to what they currently have implemented but turn that wall of text into an application that exhibits similar gameplay mechanics to that found in the SimCity franchise.
Project Requirements
- UI
- Displays game information and menus to the user
- Environment
- The city/forest landscape that the player will inhabit
- Mission System
- Objectives/tasks assigned to the player during the start of the game.
- Drivable assets
- Drivable vehicle for the player as a means of transportation throughout the game.
- Dam Operation Mechanics
- Player is able to make changes to the operation of the dam, resulting in current dam water capacity, power generated by the dam, etc. being altered.
- Click-To-Move Mechanics
- When outside of a vehicle, the player is able to move the main character model around the map by clicking on a valid location
- AI-Driven NPCs
- As the player navigates around the map, they will encounter NPCs that bring life to the environment as they traverse valid paths.
System Overview
RiverDam Operator is a web based simulator application designed for the United States Army Corps of Engineers in which the player takes controls an United States Army Corps Engineer who’s goal in the game is to take control of the dam so that it doesn’t cause havoc on the city and surrounding areas. If it does cause any sort of destruction, it is the engineers job to fix all of those issue they will encounter. The application will take input from a users keyboard and mouse interface which in turn will control the software application.
The game world includes non playable NPC’s as well as features other vehicles on the road all packed within a city region where the player starts at the beginning of the game and a forest region where the dam is situated. The user also has the ability to fast travel throughout the city and forest in a drivable vehicle that is located right next to the players start location making it faster and easier for the player to travel throughout the world.
The UI elements of the application consist of a current objective element which tells the player their current objective they have pending. The water capacity UI in the top right corner tells the user how close the dam is too overfilling. The power generated UI also situated in the top right corner tells the user how much electricity they have generated. The mini map which is located in the bottom right corner shows the location of the player in the game world so they know where they are at all times. Lastly, the Water Dam UI consists of 3 elements.
- The first is the flow rate of the water which a user can increase or decrease.
- The Dam level allows the user to determine how much water they wish to have in the dam.
- The River level allows players to increase or decrease the water in the river.
Results
Showcasing the entire city.
Showcasing the player spawn location as well as UI elements.
UI elements to control the water dam.
Showcasing the drivable vehicle asset.
Water dam and its surrounding area.
Demo video showcasing all elements of our application.
Future Work
Currently there is no future work planned for this application. Due to the end of senior design, our development team will no longer be working on this application. That means there will be no more updates or modifications to the application.
Project Files
Project Charter (link)
System Requirements Specification (link)
Architectural Design Specification (link)
Detailed Design Specification (link)
Poster (link)
