CS426 - Video Game Programming

Version: August 25 2008

Fall 2008

Time: Fri, 2:00 - 4:30

Place: 2068 Engineering Research Facilities Bldg (ERF) on 842 W Taylor St.

(NOTE: this is NOT the room that is published in the university catalog.)

Instructor & TA Contact Info:

Jason Leigh (spiff at uic.edu)
Phone: (312) 996-3002
Office: Room 2032, Engineering Research Facilities Building (842 W Taylor St)
Home Page: www.evl.uic.edu/spiff
Office Hours: 2032 ERF: Friday 10:30am-2pm

TA:

Muxuan Wang (email: mwang30 at uic.edu)
Office Hours: TBD

Course Description

This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of video game design and programming. Video game programming is one of the most challenging disciplines in Computer Science because it attempts to combine, in real time, concepts in: computer graphics, human computer interaction, networking, artificial intelligence, computer aided instruction, computer architecture, and databases.

In this class students will form project groups consisting of both CS and Art majors, to design, build and demonstrate a simple video game. Some of the topics you will learn include:

Video game history
Taxonomy of video games
Gameplay design - components of a video game experience
Software architecture for video games
Intro to 3D graphics and stereoscopic computer graphics
Hardware architecture of contemporary video game platforms
Human physical and perceptual limits & stereoscopic computer graphics
Game AI (artificial intelligence)
Multiplayer game design
Game physics
Intro to real time shading effects, such as Toon Shading, Reflections, Lens flares, Shadow

Warning: This class will take up a lot of your time. Do not expect to get an A in the class unless you are able to put in a lot of effort. It's a fun class but it's a lot of work!

Projects from previous years are available to look at here.

Class Photos and Press Reports

Required Course Materials

Both undergrad and graduate CS students, as well as MFA students in Art, Communications etc, are encouraged to enroll. Undergrad students should have at least had CS 107 (Intro to Computing and Programming) and CS 201 (Data Structures). Art students should have at least some experience with using computers and software paint packages.

You need to own your own PC and a copy of the following software to take the class. PC must have hardware 3D acceleration and sound card.

You can choose your own Game Engine and Tools. It can get confusing to try and figure out which engine is best. Here are some suggestions (these are not free so you have to pay for them yourself). To get a summary of their features search for them in Wikipedia:

If you can't make a decision consider these, they are FREE:

Electro (Cross-platform Script-based using Lua)
DarkGDK (Visual C++ based API based on DarkBASIC)
Irrlicht (Cross-platform C++ based)
Processing (Cross-platform Java-based scripting)
Wings3D (www.wings3d.com), DAZ3D (www.daz3d.com), or Blender (www.blender.org) or any 3D modeling package you prefer as long as it can export OBJ files. Also, download the tutorial for Blender.
Texture Editor, free and very good texture creator and editor. Local copy here.

Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net)
The following Data Sets might be useful to you:

Models - a collection of 3D models (135MB)
Textures - a collection of texture maps (17MB)
Sounds - a collection of sound effects (57MB)

This year's theme is "Anything except Violent Games"
If you are interested in using things like Wii-Mote controllers here's how:

The Wiimote items as well as additional software you need can be found here.

Look at these videos on clever ways to use the Wii.

Course Schedule and Logistics

Schedule for Fall 2008

Textbooks & Resources

Optional Textbooks:

Core Techniques and Algorithms in Game Programming by Daniel Sanchez-Crespo Dalmau, New Riders Press.
Game Design: Theory and Practice by Richard Rouse, Steve Ogden
AI Game Programming Wisdom series of books