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This course focuses on the technological aspects of game development. We will be covering various algorithms ranging from graphics to artificial intelligence/networking and sound. Over the course of the semester, you will build a game engine as part of a small team of programmers. You will accomplish this by using a number of open source libraries that provide functionality for 3-d graphics, physics simulation, sound, networking and GUI capabilities. Your task will be to integrate these libraries into an object-oriented game engine that can be used effectively to develop a game. In order to understand the pros and cons of the game engine architecture you have developed, you will develop a multi-user game as a series of projects. Once this is done, you will use this experience as the basis for a final game project of your own design.

The course involves many computer science topics, including computer graphics, object-oriented design, networking, distributed system, interactive techniques, debugging, and general problem-solving. Note that this is not a course on game design even though we will have games as projects. Such courses are offered elsewhere in the university for those who are looking for that. We will emphasize tools and algorithmic techniques that are critical components of games. Good game programmers today are primarily problem solvers, who know how to acquire a mental model of a complex software environment and to solve technical problems in order to achieve a timely goal. What we want you to learn in this class is how to get a toolchain in place and make it do what you need it to do to get the game done. We'll be grading you primarily on how well you do that, working in a team, not on whether you're a good game designer.

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