Video Game Design and Coding · PLECK lesson

PLECK lesson 170 · suggested week 34, day 5

Create release candidate one

Objective. Freeze a complete build for final acceptance.

Godot Engine Standard desktop editor 4.7.2-stable, GDScript (Godot 4), Compatibility renderer. Headless Godot 4.7.2.stable.official.ed1daf0bf passed 106 assertions on the supplied scaffolds, including malformed JSON saves. Audio used the Dummy driver and a synthetic WAV, not a speaker. The visual editor, browser export, and signed-in submission were not tested. The desk still does not run a student's own upload.

About 55 minutes. The due date is chosen by a parent.

Consent, observation, severity, focused fixes and regression

Suggested pace: Recall and predict 5 min; Read instruction and scaffold 12 min; Build or design the assigned artifact 25 min; Run acceptance tests 8 min; Explain and checkpoint 5 min.

Materials: Godot Standard 4.7.2 desktop editor (GDScript, Compatibility renderer), Local course folder and prior checkpoint, No paid assets or public account required.

Comes after VGC-L169.

Name the repaired build rc1 and package a source ZIP, readme, credits and test suite. Run the twelve required tests and all fixed-bug reproductions from a restored copy. Any blocker returns the build to repair; minor remaining issues must be disclosed. A release candidate is a stable artifact, not a promise of perfection. Do not publish it or ask the student to create a hosting account. Local teacher testing is sufficient for the course.

Worked example

A neutral beta task asks the player to find and use a comfort setting. Notes record what they tried before proposing an interface repair. Scaffold C-TESTS — A tiny pure-function test harness Setup: Attach to Node TestLab. If using command line, create a separate SceneTree harness rather than running this Node script with --script. Run current TestLab scene in editor; assert reports a failed condition in Debugger. No external test framework or package is needed. ```gdscript extends Node func bounded_score(old_score: int, change: int) -> int: return clampi(old_score + change, 0, 999) func _ready() -> void: assert(bounded_score(10, 2) == 12) assert(bounded_score(0, -3) == 0) assert(bounded_score(998, 9) == 999) print("3 score checks passed") ```

A tiny pure-function test harness

GDScript (Godot 4, not Scratch, Python, JavaScript or C#). Scaffold C-TESTS. Copy starts from this text. The desk does not run it.

Scene and node setup

Attach to Node TestLab. If using command line, create a separate SceneTree harness rather than running this Node script with --script. Run current TestLab scene in editor; assert reports a failed condition in Debugger. No external test framework or package is needed.

extends Node
func bounded_score(old_score: int, change: int) -> int:
    return clampi(old_score + change, 0, 999)
func _ready() -> void:
    assert(bounded_score(10, 2) == 12)
    assert(bounded_score(0, -3) == 0)
    assert(bounded_score(998, 9) == 999)
    print("3 score checks passed")

Checks to run in the editor

Native Godot 4.7.2.stable.official.ed1daf0bf headless compile and representative node-tree/runtime tests passed; see native-qa-results.json. Visual UI, audible output, exports and website submission still need separate checks.

Create release candidate one — evidence task

  1. 1. Package rc1 and run final minimum plus repair tests.
  2. 2. Write a known-issues list with severity.

Deliverable. RC1 source artifact, acceptance log and known issues.

Acceptance checks

Understanding question. What makes rc1 useful even if it still has a minor defect?

Include a downloadable project ZIP with project.godot, .tscn, .gd and original asset files when code changes. A private, teacher-accessible download link to that ZIP is equivalent. Screenshots or a playthrough do not replace editable source.

If this is still shaky. Test locally with an anonymous script. If no tester is available, label a structured self-test and follow the same tasks. Start with the first assigned task and re-run its acceptance test before adding the remaining feature.

Optional extra. Ask for one optional qualitative preference only after task observations are recorded. Document one changed parameter, your prediction, and the observed effect; optional, not required for completion.

Name ____________________ Date ____________________