CMPUT 299
Fall, 2006
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Computing Science 299
Computers and Games
Winter Term, 2006

Lecture Lab
    TR 9:30-11:00am    
TR 3-5, Wed 12-2, 2-4
 CSC B-10 
CSC 1-21

Prereqs    Text    Lectures    Evaluation    Policies    Office Hours    Lab

News:

Group evaluation forms are here. They are to be completed and handed in to Nathan's office (CSC 2-45) by April 18.

Game evaluation forms are here and in the lab.

Course Handouts: Course Outline    Project Description    Project Budget--updated Jan 27   

ScripteEase Feedback: To report bugs and request new features, fill in this form.

Sample Design Document: Don't copy this exactly, but it's safe to use as a guide. Get it here.

Please check out the new post on the role of the Producers in the newsgroup. - Jan 28th.

In order to see the RSS feed from the newsgroup in firefox, you need to install this plugin. Once installed, it appears under "tools". You can just create a new entry with the newsgroup's address, and then it will take care of things. - Jan 31st.

People:

Lecturers:
TA's: Matthew Bouchard, Hector Perez

Purpose:

Games are a popular form of interactive entertainment. They educate and inform us. They change the way we communicate. A computer game is the culmination of creative efforts of many different artistic and technical disciplines, integrated through the capabilities of the computer. Computer games are a new art form. They have changed the way we think about traditional activities. For example, role playing games are a new vehicle for story-telling; the reader becomes an active participant that influences the story.

While the focus of this course is not on technical details, we will touch on aspects of computing technology such as artificial intelligence, computer graphics and animation, music and sound, programming challenges, and game design. Producing a modern computer game is as complicated as producing a movie.

Topics we'll be covering:

  • Game Development Cycle
  • Project Management
  • Narrative in Games
  • Game Genres
  • Programming and Scripting
  • Game Design
  • History of Graphic Technologies
  • Art and Graphics
  • Music and Sound
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Game Development Economics
  • Testing and Shipping
  • Industry Case Studies
  • Cultural Aspects of Games
  • (As time permits) Game interfaces, psychology, physics, research uses of games

Prerequisites:

The only prerequisite for this course is familiarity with using a computer.

Textbook:

There are no official textbooks for the course. You will be given handouts for required reading from Introduction to Game Development, Steve Rabin.

Lecture Schedule

Lecture
Lecturer
Topic
Readings
Slides
Review
Date
1
Schaeffer
Introduction
--
--
Jan 10
2
Schaeffer
Game Development Cycle
--
Lecture2.pdf
--
Jan 12
3
Gouglas
Narrative I
--
Lectures3+5.pdf
--
Jan 17
4
ScriptEase Folks
Intro to ScriptEase
--
Lecture4.pdf
--
Jan 19
5
Gouglas
Narrative II
--
--
Jan 24
6
Southey
Game Design
--
Lecture6.pdf
Review_GD.pdf
Jan 26
7
Sturtevant
Summary & Computation
--
Lecture7.pdf
--
Jan 31
8
Hoover
Project Management
--
ProjManage.pdf
Meetings.pdf
Review_PM.pdf
Review_Meet.pdf
Feb 2
9
Southey
Games: History, Genres, Technology I
--
Review_GFX.pdf
Feb 7
10
Southey
Games: History, Genres, Technology II
--
--
Feb 9
11
Southey
Games: History, Genres, Technology III
--
Lecture9-11.pdf
--
Feb 14
12
Sturtevant
Review/Overview/Postmortems
--
Lecture12.pdf
--
Feb 16
13
Sturtevant
AI I
--
Lecture13.pdf
--
Feb 28
14
Sturtevant
AI II
--
Lecture14.pdf
Review_AI.pdf
Mar 2
15
None
Student Design Issue Presentations I
--
--
Mar 7
16
None
Student Design Issue Presentations II
--
--
Mar 9
17
Gouglas
Cultural Aspects of Games I
Gamasutra.pdf CBSArticle.pdf
Review_Cult.pdf
Mar 14
18
BioWare
Q & A I
--
Mar 16
19
Gouglas
Cultural Aspects of Games II
--
Mar 21
20
BioWare
Q & A II
--
Mar 23
21
None
Student Pitches
--
Mar 28
22
None
Midterm
--
Mar 30
23
Sturtevant
Course Evaluations/Post Mortems
--
Apr 4
24
Schaeffer
High Performance AI
--
Apr 6
25
Sturtevant
Music & Sound
--
Apr 11
26
Sturtevant
Wrap Up
--
Apr 13

Marking Policy:

Final letter grades from A to F (see http://www.grades.ualberta.ca for more information) will be assigned roughly in accordance with the historical distribution of similar courses at the University of Alberta.

Late Submission Policy

10% will be subtracted from your final assignment mark every day (24 hours) the assignment is late.

Plagiarism:

All of this is covered in the Code of Student Behaviour, but here is the important bit:

Section: 30.3.2(1) Plagiarism

No Student shall submit the words, ideas, images or data of another person as the Student's own in any academic writing, essay, thesis, project, assignment, presentation or poster in a course or program of study.

Copyright

There are several legal issues involved in "summing up" copyright issues, so here's the link to an official explanation.

Deferred Examination:

T.B.A

Office hours:

Professor Sturtevant: Office Hours: M 4:00-5:00, Th 3:30-4:30pm (or by appointment) in CSC 2-45