Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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- All Subjects: Web Development
- Creators: Computer Science and Engineering Program
Among classes in the Computer Science curriculum at Arizona State University, Automata Theory is widely considered to be one of the most difficult. Many Computer Science concepts have strong visual components that make them easier to understand. Binary trees, Dijkstra's algorithm, pointers, and even more basic concepts such as arrays all have very strong visual components. Not only that, but resources for them are abundantly available online. Automata Theory, on the other hand, is the first Computer Science course students encounter that has a significant focus on deep theory. Many of the concepts can be difficult to visualize, or at least take a lot of effort to do so. Furthermore, visualizers for finite state machines are hard to come by. Because I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Automata Theory and parsers, I wanted to create a program that involved the two. Additionally, I thought creating a program for visualizing automata would help students who struggle with Automata Theory develop a stronger understanding of it.
For my creative project thesis, I have designed and developed a video game called Amity Academy. Amity Academy is a strategic resource management simulator that aims to subvert genre expectations and challenge generally accepted definitions of success and leadership both in-game and in the real world. It does so by moving the focus away from amassing large amounts of in-game currencies and becoming politically or militarily dominant towards caring for the denizens of the social unit the player controls. The player acts as an administrator at a school where they must make decisions on how to best run the institution. Although they are allowed to lead the school however they see fit, the emphasis is on prioritizing strong interpersonal and intracommunity relationships and connections and the wellbeing and happiness of those under their ward. Amity Academy is also part of the newly-emerging “wholesome” or “comfy” game genre. Unlike serious strategy games that can be stressful, Amity Academy presents a self-paced, low-stakes situation. This mood is further encouraged by calming environmental noises and music, a gentle color palette, and a charming art style. The game feels domestic and quaint, almost reminiscent of a Jane Wooster Scott or Mary Singleton painting. You can download and play Amity Academy here: https://mvaughn8.itch.io/amity-academy
For my creative project, I designed a website through which smaller, local tournament registration and management are possible. Users can register for tournaments through the registration page. Registered users can check their registration is successful by viewing a table of all competitors. If the list of competitors is too long, they can filter results based on search criteria. Tournament management will be possible via a functioning timer following WKF rules which keeps track of both the match’s score as well as time.