WPI IMGD 1001

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WPI IMGD 1001: The Game Development Process

 Games Education 

Course


Table of contents

[edit] Teachers

[edit] Instructors

[edit] Course Background Information

[edit] Location

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Last taught: Fall '06


[edit] Classification

See: Areas for classifing for your course.

Primary classification:


Secondary classification:


[edit] Student background needed

None

[edit] Course prerequisites

(describe the course's prerequisites in terms of skills that students need to know)


[edit] Time periods

Describe how the class was spread out over time, for example:

  • Over what length of time was the course taught?
  • How often did the class meet and how long were the classes??

The course was taught over the course of seven consecutive weeks. Two sections (distinct sets of students) were taught, each meeting four times a week for an hour each meeting.

[edit] Course Structure

[edit] Course description

This course discusses the process of game development. It examines the roles of different participants in the development process and how the technical development and the artistic development proceed in tandem. Group work is emphasized, especially the importance of collaboration between technical and artistic efforts. Students are expected to participate in game development using appropriate game development tools.


[edit] Course learning objectives

what do you expect the students to learn?


[edit] Week by week topics

[edit] Course Materials & Facilities Used

Here you can link to and/or describe books and other materials you used for this course. Feel free to create new pages for each item here if a page for it does not yet exist.

[edit] Books

http://www.charlesriver.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=99109 The best book I've found for (nearly) comprehensive coverage of the material in this course. The chapters are individually authored, giving the book rather uneven levels of detail and tone from chapter to chapter, but many of the selected chapters are quite good. At nearly 1000 pages, it has considerably more material than will covered in a term, but it should make a good reference beyond the course. Chapters: 3.1, 3.2, 3.5, 5.5, 6.2, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, and 7.3


http://www.informit.com/title/0131460994 If you can look past Crawford's arrogance, there are a lot of good war stories about game development and some good, general game design tips. Chapter: 7


http://www.peachpit.com/title/0735713634 A close a book to the "Game Development Process", but missing artistic content creation and programming. A bit wordy, but with good information and examples on the areas of Game Design, Team Management, and Game Architecture. Chapters: 1, 2, 3 and 5


http://www.aw-bc.com/catalog/academic/product/0,1144,0321204670,00.html Includes easy-to-read descriptions of the game development process in two phases: components of a game design and the process of creating and formatting design documents. Examples of a Norbot game are worked throughout the text. Chapter: 18


http://www.peachpit.com/title/0735714096 An informative, easy-to-read book on creating 3D art for games. Chapters: Foreword, 1 and 2


http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/markov/gmaker/feldman.html Emphasizes the development of 2D graphics for computer games, including animation, proper color usage, and fonts. Chapter: 9


  • Enhancing the Impact of Music in Drama Oriented-Games, by Scott Morton.

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050124/morton_pfv.htm Includes a close look at using music in games, including an informative list of good tips and common mistakes, with examples.


  • Behind the Mask - Perceptual Coding: How MP3 Compression Works, by Paul Sellers.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may00/articles/mp3.htm Explains the basic theory behind MP3 encoding, and offers some tips on making coded files sound better.

[edit] Other materials

Papers, magazines, videos (add links to online materials)

[edit] Software (engines, tools)

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[edit] Syllabus

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[edit] Slides

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[edit] Assessment materials

e.g. tests, quizzes, assignment requirements, project requirements

Final grades were computed as follows

  • Projects: 50%
  • Exams: 45%
    • Mid-term: 20%
    • Final: 25%
  • Other: 5%

[edit] Digital media used in class

e.g. Video, Multimedia sources, Audio

(link to each file's storage location)


[edit] Tutorial files

  • Tutorial: What is a Good Game?, by Mark Overmars. 2004.

http://www.gamemaker.nl/tutorials/goodgame.zip A narrative describing some of the ingredients in a (good) game.


[edit] Other materials

(link to an uploaded resources -- e.g. research papers -- or external storage location)


[edit] Analysis of learning methods

[edit] What worked

Please discuss what worked giving sufficient evidence


[edit] What didn't work

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