Feasibility Study of

An Arcade Game Product Line

This document explores the feasibility of constructing a software product line of arcade games. The games would be developed as a part of a computer science course and offered for free on the Internet.

Rationale

The product line software engineering community needs example product lines from which to learn. Even a set of simple programs and assets can be instructive.

Feasibility Study

Problem Description

The goal is to develop a set of arcade game products with as little expense as possible. The games will be played on an ordinary PC. Games such as Brickles, pinball and bowling are to be implemented.

Success Factors

The success of this product will be measured by the number of new customers that become interested in our products because of a visit to the games web page. Other measures include:

• The degree to which the effort to produce a product is reduced from previous projects.

Current Situation

A prototype of one of the products exists. It can be run to give developers a better idea of what needs to be developed. The experience that was gained by building it will contribute to making the "real" version correct in much less time.

• The current system has known bugs. Care must be taken to ensure that these are not incorporated into the final product.

Possible Approaches

The processing of the tool is mainly user interactions. There is very little actual computation. Possibilities include:

• Developing a complete set of components for all of the games before assembling any of them.
• Developing a single game and the components needed for that game without considering the other games

Anticipated Deliverables

The following assets will be produced in addition to the actual products:

• Product Line Scope document
• Product Line Concept of Operations
• Product Line Architecture Description

Solution Analysis

This project is feasible due to several factors.

• The principal source of labor will be a senior partner of the firm who is not salaried. His time does not incur real costs to the company; although there is the opportunity cost (what else he could be doing for the company with that time).

Since no revenue will be generated by this product, it is essential that it be distributed with a license that protects the company from any liability. This is possible with the GNU licensing process.

Risk Factors

There are several risks associated with this project.

· A product line is a larger undertaking than the development of a single product. It is very likely that an immature organization will not be able to organize themselves to efficiently achieve the objective. This risk will be mitigated by hiring a consultant who understands the product line approach.

·

Implementation Schedule

We have a fixed delivery point due to the nature of the project. The first two games in the product line and the set of assets have been delivered during the past semester. Additional products in the product line would be delivered during the current semester.

• Analysis - estimated at 20 hours

Management Approval

This project is approved for immediate funding.

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John D. McGregor, Senior Partner