GPM20AT – Minting Time!

Spooky

So the end of the semester has arrived, and now I actually have to mint some NFTs for the students in celebration of them being the last batch of students to ever pass the GPM20AT module.

This article will explore the different NFTs to be minted and give a little explanation of why they are the way they are.

Just wanna see them? Here they are:

https://opensea.io/collection/gpm20at

Why Ghosts?

>Insert joke about how Cardano is a ghost chain<

The end project for GPM20AT is the creation of a 3D version of Pac-Man. This includes the construction of the maze, as well as the AI that powers the various ghosts. I chose the ghosts for the NFTs as they were much more photogenic than that Pac-Man guy who usually gets all the attention. (Also, the Pac-Man was literally just a sphere in my tutorials, lol; we focus on AI much more than the aesthetics—that’s the multimedia department’s job).

So these ghosts are modified versions of the ghost I used to illustrate various AI behaviours during the semester.

Why OpenSea?

So I chose to mint to OpenSea simply because they are the most popular NFT marketplace. It needs to be as accessible as possible for my students, of whom many have never even used a crypto wallet yet.

https://opensea.io/collection/gpm20at

Those Who Never Made It 0-49%

All those who did not manage to pass will receive one of these:

Fail Ghost

So, nothing special – just a static image who cannot bear to look at you or your poorly constructed maze. It’s also taken from the scene view because we all know your game is probably not running 😛 (If you received one of these, don’t worry. There is more to life, you will be fine—just learn from this and take action in the future). It’s also red, the colour of failure…

Those Who Barely Made It 50-60%

This goes to those who somehow managed to scrape by. Most likely they put in at least SOME effort, but not enough to really make a mark. Your ghost can at least look at you and has the maze you painstakingly built as the backdrop. Coloured green as that’s the colour of a pass:

Pass ghost

A Good Pass 61-80%

Here we have your efforts coming full-circle, resulting in your ghost giving you a full, loving stare as reward.

Almost a Genius 81-90%

Here we have the real hard workers that are rewarded with 3 moments of direct eye contact and flashing colours (he’s happy to see you <3).

The Top 91-100%


The crème de la crème, as they say. These NFT owners have given their all and spent many sleepless nights – represented by the red eyes of the ghost, while the quality black, polished finish of the maze walls signifies all the hard work that went into the achievement. Well done!


Fun fact. NOBODY GOT ABOVE 90% to get this one! Read update below 🙂

UPDATE

My department decided to let learners register again (effectively extending the phase-out process by 6 months) so… Looks like there will be one more (probably smaller) batch of these. Hopefully someone can claim the flashy red-eyed ghost!

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GPM20AT – end of an era

I joined TUT for the sole purpose of learning games programming. Back in 2006 this was taught by Dr. James Jordaan.

The content of the module has evolved over the years but at its core, it was always AI.

The end of this semester (2022_01) marks the last batch of students who will ever pass or fail GPM20AT. The course has been phased out and is being replaced with a new shiny course that combines Intelligent Industrial Systems (IIS) with Computer Systems Engineering (CSE). This is a good thing BTW as now all graduates will be ECSA-accredited engineers, not only the CSE graduates as was the case in the past.

“That’s the beauty of Unity – it’s a skill that can unlock many doors”

– Abraham Lincoln

Unity in GPM20AT

I managed to convince the powers that be around 5 years ago that we should switch to using Unity as a tool for teaching AI and we have never looked back. It has enabled students to get into various careers using Unity and not just in AI or even games programming. That’s the beauty of Unity. It’s a skill that can unlock many doors.

Don’t be too sad about the end of GPM20AT, though. I was part of the team designing the new curriculum, so Unity will still be around in ARI216D (Artificial Intelligence). Here we are learning great things through Unity’s Machine Learning Agents (Reinforcement learning is AMAZING if you haven’t had a look at it yet) as well as general “data-sciency” content.

Celebrating with NFTs

To commemorate the occasion, I will be giving each student an NFT that has different characteristics based on their performance.

The idea is—the better the performance the “shinier” the NFT.

Details in next post which will hopefully be soon.

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