SPRINT 3: Polish & Structure

Add menus, particle effects, animations, and make your game feel complete

Lesson 19 of 22 75 min session 50 XP available Week 12 — Tue SPRINT 3 of 4
XP EARNED:0/ 50 XP
1
Sprint 3 Planning
~8 min
+10 XP
▶
💡
Sprint 3 = Polish. Your game's core should work by now. Today is about making it feel COMPLETE: menus, visual effects, animations, and fixing remaining bugs. A polished simple game beats an unfinished complex one!
1.1
Review your Sprint 2 results. What's working? What's still missing? Unfinished Sprint 2 items are priority #1.

My Sprint 3 Goals

✅
Checkpoint: Sprint 3 goals written. Unfinished Sprint 2 items identified.
2
Polish Checklist
Reference
+10 XP
▶
🏆
Polish makes the difference! Work through this checklist — each item adds to your game's quality and your assessment mark.
2.1
Main Menu scene — Title text, Play button, Quit button. See L15 tutorial for full instructions.
2.2
Game Over scene — Score display (from PlayerPrefs), Restart button, Menu button. See L15 tutorial.
2.3
Pause menu — Panel overlay, Escape key toggle, Time.timeScale = 0/1, Resume + Menu buttons. See L15 Section 4.
2.4
Particle effects — Dust on landing, sparkle on coin collect, explosion on enemy death. See L14 Section 4.
2.5
Player animations — Idle, Run, Jump states in Animator Controller. See L11 tutorial.
2.6
Background music — Looping BGM on AudioSource. Volume ~0.3. See L14 Section 1.
2.7
Level polish — More platforms, better coin/enemy placement, decorative sprites, sorting layers correct.
2.8
Bug fixes — Fix anything broken from playtest feedback. Test edge cases.
✅
Checkpoint: You know which polish items your game needs most. Prioritise menus first (they make the biggest impact on completeness).
3
Build Time — 50 Minutes
~50 min
+10 XP
▶
⏰
FOCUSED WORK TIME. 50 minutes to polish your game. Menus first, then effects, then level polish. Save often!
3.1
25-minute check-in. How many polish items have you completed?

Mid-Sprint Notes

✅
Checkpoint: Menus working (Main Menu + Game Over). At least 2 more polish items from the checklist done.
4
Playtest & Bug Fix
~10 min
+10 XP
▶
4.1
Playtest swap. Find a DIFFERENT partner from last time. Play each other's games. Give feedback on: polish quality, bugs, and overall "feel".

Playtest Feedback

4.2
Fix critical bugs. 5 minutes to fix the most important issue from feedback.
✅
Checkpoint: Playtested and received feedback. Fixed critical bugs.
5
Sprint 3 Review & Final Sprint Plan
~7 min
+10 XP
▶

Sprint 3 Review

5.1
Plan Sprint 4 (FINAL). Next lesson is your LAST development session. Focus on: final bug fixes, last-minute polish, and preparing for the showcase in L21.
5.2
Save and submit. Screenshot + notes to Google Classroom.
✅
Checkpoint: Sprint 3 complete! Game has menus and polish. Ready for final sprint.

Progress Tracker

Sprint 3 goals written+10 XP
Polish checklist items done+10 XP
50 min build completed+10 XP
Playtested + bug fixed+10 XP
Sprint review + screenshot+10 XP