• Final Demonstrations and meeting: Monday May 9, Noon - 2:00, WRB Lab.
• Spring 2011, Games

• The new schedule

• The first project is now due on March 7 before class starts. However a first version of your executable is still due on your project web page on Feb 28. Please email me a link to your executable or installer.
• Syllabus in html, in postscript , and in PDF
• Syllabus Slides in odf and in PDF
• Jan 31 notes

Required Readings

• Game design process pitfalls
• Paper prototyping: 5 facts for designing in low-tech

• Games from Fall 09
• Games from Fall 07, most use pygame

• Final Project. coming soon...

• Project 1 in PDF . This is due on Feb 7 (1%), Feb 14 (4%), and Feb 28 (10%). Here is the user testing form and the form in PDF
  • List of Games S11

• Assignment 0: Pick CityRain (the first game) at Games for Change - environment and write a critique: Due January 31, before class starts. Please hand in hardcopy. For each of the following criteria list what appeals to you, and what does not appeal to you. You can download and play the demo version.
  1. Art
  2. Sound
  3. Animation
  4. Gameplay
  5. Physics
  6. Artificial Intelligence
  7. Lark Anderson's (UNR alum) review of Bit.Trip Core and of World Heroes Anthology

• Collision detection resources
• A brief history of Video Gaming. From the somewhat incoherent but informative Wikipedia article
• History, Genres, Components
• Game Design Factors.
• 2D graphics and more
• AI from John E Laird at UM
• Decision Trees, and DT induction from Patrick Henry Winston.
• Beginner physics . There is also some Theory and finally, my Overview

• Graphics
  • Pygame, a 2D game engine with a link to Tutorials
  • Python-Ogre, python bindings to ogre3d with a link to Tutorials
    • Our wiki page on downloading, compiling, and installing Python-Ogre on ubuntu9.04

  • Ogre 3D, c/c++ graphics engine with a link to Tutorials
• Modeling
  • Blender, a 3D modeler with a link to Blender tutorials and education
  • Google sketchup

• Sound
  • Audacity
• 3D Models
  • 3D Models
• Sound Assets
  • Free Sounds
• Examples
  • Tom Pong, classic pong implemented in pygame!
  • Snakes in python/pygame!
  • LGames makers of LBreakout2
  • Free Game Resources
  • Game Research Groups
  • List of programs

Tentative Schedule

• Ender's Game Redux.
• Joysticks in the Classroom: Game-Design Programs Take Off
• Simulating Fallujah Graphics engines, supercomputers and real gunpowder. Games that make leaders: top researchers on the rise of play in business and education