Game Development

Code

IT-GMD1

Version

2.0

Offered by

ICT Engineering

ECTS

Prerequisites

Proficiency with object oriented programming.

Main purpose

The purpose of this course is to provide the student with knowledge, skills and competences to develop games and interactive experiences using a real-time game engine.

The course provides a multidisciplinary perspective to game development, but is primarily rooted in the role of the software engineer, focusing on code architecture in a script-based environment.

Through weekly exercises and a project, the course covers various topics, which will provide the student with the qualifications needed to develop interactive experiences across various platforms including PC, mobile and interactive tables.

Knowledge

After successfully completing the course, the student will have gained knowledge about:

General game development principles, tools, patterns and best practices
Game engines and real-time development platforms
Unity, a cross-platform game engine
Code structure in a framework based on a loose implementation of the ECS pattern
Basic game design principles
The game development production pipeline
An engineer’s role in game development
Intermediate programming concepts such as coroutines, delegates and events
The animator state machine
Digital audio
Various assets in game development
Interactive 3D rendering
The .NET framework

Skills

After successfully completing the course, the student will have acquired skills in:

Navigating Unity and making use of its various features
Creating C# scripts to modify game behaviour
Structuring game development projects
Deploying applications on various hardware
Navigating the Unity and C# documentation
Utilizing game design theory to conceptualize games
Importing and working with various assets from other game development professions including 3D models and animations
Working with materials, shaders and textures
Handling physics in games
Creating and manipulating animations for characters using state-based machines
Creating responsive user interfaces for games
Working with digital audio in real-time engines
Optimization utilizing the profiler of Unity
Utilizing the SOLID design principles in a script-based environment

Competences

After successfully completing the course, the student will have acquired competences in developing industry standard interactive experiences using Unity. The student will be able to possess the developer position within a multidisciplinary game development pipeline, identifying and executing on the technical requirements of the developed product. The student will also have a solid foundation to further professional skills in game development independently.

Topics

Game design
Basic scripting
User input
Physics engines
Graphics
Digital audio
Animation
User interface
2D game development
Intermediate scripting
Game architecture

Teaching methods and study activities

Theory lessons, practical exercises, and working individually on a course project.

The semester has 40 classroom lessons - four lessons once a week for 10 weeks. These lessons consist of discussion of theory, exercises and project work. The total workload of the student is expected to be around 140 hours. Referring to the Study Activity Model, the workload is distributed as follows:

CATEGORY 1

Participation of lecturer and students

Initiated by the lecturer

30 hours - 21 %

Lessons, scheduled
Exercises in class
Project guidance
Discussion of theory
Exam

CATEGORY 2

Participation of students

Initiated by the lecturer

47 hours - 34 %

Preparation for lessons
Exercises
Project and group work
Homework

CATEGORY 3

Participation of students

Initiated by students

47 hours - 34 %

Self-study
Group work
Literature search
Preparation for exam

CATEGORY 4

Participation of lecturer and students initiated by students

15 hours - 11%

● Study guidance

Resources

The curriculum consists of online resources that will be made available on the course website.

Evaluation

Examination

Evaluation is based on a written group course assignment, where it must be clearly marked which sections of the course assignment each group member contributed with.

Furthermore, each group member must also hand in an additional 1-2 pages of individual reflections on the work they have done in the course assignment.