CSCI 490 - Interactive Game Development

Course Details

Suggested Reading

Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton , 2014 USC Find this text on Amazon

Unity Game Development in 24 Hours by Mike Geig , 2013 Stark State College Find this text on Amazon

Artificial Intelligence for Games by Ian Millington, John Funge , 2009 Find this text on Amazon

Overview

An introduction to recent tools and algorithms for building interactive games. Students will learn fundamental design mechanics and implement a substantial development project. Topics may include steering and flocking behaviors, path finding algorithms, finite state machines, behavior trees, alpha-beta pruning, Monte Carlo Tree Search, shaders, 3D modeling, animation, procedural content generation, and the intersection of games and society. Content varies according to the interests of the participants and instructor. Prerequisite: CSCI 151

Disabilities

It is the policy of Hendrix College to accommodate students with disabilities, pursuant to federal and state law. Students should contact Julie Brown in the Office of Academic Success (505.2954; brownj@hendrix.edu) to begin the accommodation process. Any student seeking accommodation in relation to a recognized disability should inform the instructor at the beginning of the course.

Academic Honor

As stated in the Hendrix Academic Integrity Policy, all students have agreed to adhere to the following principles:

• All students have an equal right to their opinions and to receive constructive criticism.
• Students should positively engage the course material and encourage their classmates to do the same.
• No students should gain an unfair advantage or violate their peers' commitment to honest work and genuine effort. It follows that any work that a student submits for class will be that student's own work. The amount of cooperation undertaken with other students, the consistency and accuracy of work, and the test-taking procedure should adhere to those guidelines that the instructor provides.
• Members of the Hendrix community value and uphold academic integrity because we recognize that scholarly pursuits are aimed at increasing the shared body of knowledge and that the full disclosure of sources is the most effective way to ensure accountability to both ourselves and our colleagues.

I will provide guidelines for the amount of cooperation allowed on each assignment as they are posted.

Extensions

Extensions and rescheduling for labs, projects, exams and quizzes are only given when circumstances beyond your control (e.g. being sick, academic, choir or sports travel, etc) prevent you from completing a project on time. You must notify me either by email or phone of your circumstances well in advance of the due date. No extensions are given for requests made within three days of the due date.

Quizzes and Participation

You are encouraged to attend class and participate in discussions every day, answering questions, asking questions, presenting material, etc. Active participation will comprise 5% of your final grade.

Syllabus

We will be using no textbook but instead supplemental material such as relevant web-pages for the course. Readings will be assigned before material will be covered in class. You are expected to review the material and come to class prepared. As readings are assigned, they will be posted here.

• Slides
• What is a game? MindMup
• Categorizing game elements. MindMup
• Lab 1 Results
• Game Production Pipeline
• Video Game Development Roles
• GameObjects in Unity
• The Unity Inspector
• Scene View
• RigidBody in Unity
• Joints in Unity

Labs

Much of your experience with programming in this course will be through semi-weekly labs, which will comprise 40% of your final grade.

• Lab 0: Who are you?
• Lab 1: Elements of Games
• Lab 2: Physics Desk Toy
• Lab 3: Marble Madness
• Lab 4: Maze Runner
• Lab 5: Steering Behaviors
• Lab 6: Pathfinding, NavMesh, FSM and Behavior Trees
• Lab 7: 3D Models, 2D Sprites, Mechanim

Presentations

You will be giving two individual presentations to the class.

• Pecha Kucha Game Cannon Argument - Feb 19
• Tool Demo for Game Creation - April 7 - 16

Project

Near the end of this semester, you will be participating in Ludum Dare 32, April 17 - 20, 2015, working in teams to create a game prototype, and then complete the semester by playtesting, analyzing and revising your game.

• Project Description

Grading

Your final grade for this course will be based on the Labs, Presentations, Project, and Participation described above.

Grading Scale 90-100 A 80-89 B 70-79 C 60-69 D 0-59 F

Weights Labs 40% Presentations 20% Project 35% Participation 5%

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© Mark Goadrich, Hendrix College