CS 4803c
Video Game Design and Programming

Spring 1999
College of Computing Building 102
Time: MW 3-4:30

Instructors

Jessica Hodgins

jkh@cc.gatech.edu

214 College of Computing

894-9763

Office Hours: Just drop by or send email to schedule an appointment.

Amy Bruckman

asb@cc.gatech.edu

255 College of Computing

894-9222

Office Hours: Drop by Tuesdays 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm, or email to make an appointment.

Teaching Assistant

Scott Lewis

wedge@cc.gatech.edu

Office Hours: Wednesdays from 4:30 - 6:00 after class in the Intel

cluster

CoWeb:

Games Class CoWeb

We have set up a "CoWeb" (also sometimes called a "SWIKI") using technology developed by Mark Guzdial. We've gathered lots of useful information about games there, including:

• Development environments,
• Articles about games and game development, and
• Game information and reviews.

You are encourage not only to use this information, but also to contribute to it.

General Information

There are four optional texts for the class:

• Joystick Nation : How Videogames Ate Our Quarters, Won Our Hearts, and Rewired Our Minds by J. C. Herz, Michael Pietsch (Editor)
• Black Art of 3d Game Programming : Writing Your Own High-Speed 3-D Polygon Video Games by Andre Lamothe
• Game Developer's Marketplace by Ben Sawyer, Alex Dunne, and Tor Berg
• A Programmer's Guide to Sound by Tim Kientzle

You can buy these from the Georgia Tech Bookstore, or from Amazon Books.

The textbooks will be supplemented by handouts in class, pointers to web pages, and articles on both electronic and regular reserve.

We have a games library that you can check games out of for 48 hours at a time from Joan in the GVU office which is on the second floor of the CoC. We're lucky to have so many good games, so take some time and check some out!

Syllabus

Week of	Mon	Wed
March 29th	no class	Introduction and overview of course (asb + jkh) How to write a game proposal (asb + jkh) Software for game development (asb + jkh + wedge + kain) Assignment 1 (game proposal) out. Start forming into game teams. Teams of 2-3 people recommended.
April 5th	Talk on how to give a talk (asb) Game Genres (asb) Reading: "The Perfect Game." Computer Gaming World, January 1999, pp. 167-250. (On electronic reserve.) We will begin discussing people's game ideas in class.	What makes a game fun? (asb) Reading: Herz chapters 1 and 2 "Enjoyment and the Quality of Life," chapter 3 of Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991. (On electronic reserve.)
April 12th	In-class presentations of design proposals Presentations will continue in the evening from 7 pm to 10 pm. Pizza provided. Attendance is mandatory, unless you have a legitimate excuse and speak to the instructors in advance. Assignment 1 (game proposal) due. Assignment 2 (game proposal critique) out.	User Interface Controls for Games (asb) Reading: Some Thoughts on Game Design, by Andrew Glassner.
April 19th	Low level Behaviors (jkh) Slides Reading: Chapter 4 in Black Art Assignment 2 (game proposal critique) due. Assignment 3 (progress report) out.	AI in Games (jkh) Slides If you were asked to revise your game proposal and resubmit, the revised proposal is due here.
April 26th	Guest Speaker: David Kirk Nvidia	Interactive Narrative (asb) Reading: "The Combinatorics of Story Telling" by Amy Bruckman (On electronic reserve.). Chapter 4 from "Hamlet on the Holodeck" by Janet Murray. (On electronic reserve.)
May 3rd	Graphics for Games (jkh) Slides Reading: Chapter 10 in Black Art	Design for Boys and Girls (asb) Reading: Alice's Adventures in Boredomland Purple Moon's Website Games for Girls? Eeeeewwww! Girl Games: Adventures in Lip Gloss Assignment 3 (progress report) due.
May 10th	Graphics for Games (jkh) Slides Reading: Chapter 10 in Black Art Assignment 4 (game demo and talk) out. Assignment 5 (play testing and final paper) out.	Music and Sound Effects (jkh) Multi-user technology (asb) Reading: The Internet Sucks: What I Learned Coding X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter A Look At Latency in Network Games Using Groupings for Network Gaming
May 17th	Guest speaker: Jeff Bishop (games class alum and intern at Holistic Designs) Guest speaker: Joel Webber Holistic Designs	Guest speaker: Dov Jacobson Big Fun Reading: "How to Get a Job in the Game Industry." Next Generation March 1998, pp. 38-49. (On electronic reserve.)
May 24th	Multi-user design (asb) Reading: Nine Principles for Community Design by Amy Jo Kim Killers Have More Fun By Amy Jo Kim Kill Bunnies, Sell Meat, Kill More Bunnies By Lizzard "Online Justice Systems" Game Developer Magazine Febuary 1999 (On electronic reserve.)	In-class presentations of games Presentations will continue in the evening from 7 pm to 10 pm. Pizza provided. Attendance is mandatory, unless you have a legitimate excuse and speak to the instructors in advance. Assignment 4 (game demo and talk) due.
May 31st	Holiday	Guest speaker: Amy Kerley Moorhouse SecureIT Game Marketing Assignment 5 (play testing and final paper) due.

Assignments and Grading

There will be five assignments (due on the dates listed on the syllabus). You have 5 late days that you may use for any of the assignments during the quarter but further extensions require an excellent excuse. The assignments will be:

1. Game proposal (15%)
2. Critique of another group's game proposal (10%)
3. Progress report on your game (10%)
4. Game demo (40%)
5. Presentation of game in class (10%)
6. Paper about your game development, and playtesting (10%)

Games Library

We will maintain a lending library of games that can be checked out from Vicky Skelton in CoC 244 between 8-5pm M-F. Students will be asked to show an ID when checking out a game and may keep a game for up to 48 hours (unless demand gets too high). The games library will include PC games, Mac games, Nintendo 64 cartridges, and Playstation CD's. We will install a Nintendo 64 and a Sony Playstation in the undergraduate lounge area on the first floor of CoC. PC games that run under NT can be used in the cluster on the first floor. Mac games and PC games that run only under Windows '95 will have to be run outside CoC on home computers, unfortunately.

Other Game Programming Courses

• John Laird's class at UMich
• EBCI
• Full Sail
• Ian Parberry's class the University of North Texas
  • Ian Parberry's comments on becoming a game programmer
• The Entertainment Software Producers Organization at Gatech