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smh: COSC 457/557 Computer Game Programming: Design and Development
FALL 2016


0. Basics
  1. Required Textbook:
    Jeremy Gibson, Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development: From Concept to Playable Game with Unity and C#, 1st Edition,
    ISBN: 0321933168
    Formats: paperback and ebook

    Also referenced (optional): Robert Nystrom, Game Programming Patterns, self-published. Available as paperback or kindle from amazon.com

  2. Development: Unity. In Unity, you may use any of the supported languages. The text uses C#.

  3. Syllabus

  4. Coding Standards (Keep it clean. Keep it readable. Keep it honest. Keep it simple.)
    Points will be subtracted for bad readability (use of white space, choice of variable names) as well as for lack of functionality and poor design.

  5. Office Hours: See instructor home page



1. Lectures
Date Topic Reading Assignments / Due
12/7
11/9
  Real Time Principles for Game Implementation:
    -- Avoid the file system during game play  Memory hierarchy 
    -- Task architecture organized so that things that have similar timing properties are put together
    -- Tasks get prioritized based on how critical their completion is
    -- Three most common kinds of task scheduling: 
       -- Foreground/background 
       -- cyclic executive 
       -- prioritized -- pre-emptive or non-pre-emptive
   -- Avoid dynamic data structures
   -- Avoid recursion, avoid unnecessary function calls
   -- Avoid shared resources, especially memory (data access)
                              
11/7 (1)memory management
(2)Memory management lecture
(3) Free list
(4)Memory leak (examples)
(5) Garbage collection
(5.1) reference counting
(5.2) Mark and sweep
(6)Buddy memory management
10/24 Neural net
Back propagation example
10/10 John Laird's slides on PHYSICS
10/5 Chpt 18 - Hello World
Chpt15 - Apple Picker flowcharts
Finish Apple Picker and Mission Demolition,
make one or more interesting mod of each and demo!
10/3 State transition diagrams, flowcharting Ramp up Unity by (1) doing Hello World (chpt 18)
(2) implementing Apple Picker Prototype (chpt 28) and
(3) Mission Demolition Prototype (chpt 29)
9/26 John Laird's Game Production Timeline
Evett's HW Game Design Document
Tom Sloper's format for game design spec
The culture? http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-video-games-jobs-emploment-20160923-story.html Distributed: 9/26/2016, Due 10/3/2016. Work in teams of 1 or 2.
Reverse engineer a game design document for two of the following "approved" games
    Approved games are:
  • Rollaball (Unity tutorial)
  • Slender
  • supersmash bros melee
  • halo3
  • legend of zelda — ocarina of time
  • pokemon red, blue and yellow
  • the last of us
  • resident evil
  • fallout 4
Use the following portions of the GDD: Story, Characters, Level/environment design, Gameplay, Art, Sound and Music, User Interface, Game Controls.
The final GDD should not exceed 2 pages.
9/21 Chapter 5 --Dynamic Layer Gibson: chpt 16 - 18. Skim chapters 19 - 23 to get oriented for future programming issues
9/19 John Laird's notes on 2D graphics Hands-on chapters 16 - 18. Nothing to turn in.
9/14 Chapter 4 -- inscribed layer Chapter 4-6 Download Fate Core (try it for free). Find the link HERE. Play enough to get a feel (2 hours)
9/12 Chapter 2-- Game Analysis Frameworks Read chapters 3 - 6 HW Analysis
9/7 Orientation Gibson chpt 1
John Laird's History of Computer Games

2. Projects

Assignment Assigned Due Notes
Unity#1 -- mod ApplePicker 10/10 10/19
Unity#2 -- mod MissionDemolition 10/10 10/19
Unity#3 -- mod SHMUP or Prospector 11/14 11/21
Final project 11/30 12/12



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