E-mail: bmaxim@umich.edu

Classroom: 1420 PEC

Meeting Time: 4:35-5:50

Office Hours: 1:30-4:30

This course is a continuation of the material studied in CIS 487/587. The focus of the course will be hands-on development of computer games and computer game development tools (e.g. game engines). Students will study a variety of software technologies relevant to computer game design, including: 3D graphics, computer animation, data-driven game design, multiplayer game programming, and game AI. Lecture topics will be taken from several areas of computer science: simulation and modeling, computer graphics, artificial intelligence, game theory, software engineering, human computer interaction, and game content development.

The term project for this course will focus on the development of a 3D computer game. The term project will require students to go through all phases of system life cycle: specification, design, implementation, and evaluation. There will be 4-6 graded assignments as part of the term project. All assignments will include design activities and students will be expected to make use of existing programming tools. Each assignment will be accompanied by an oral presentation. Your scores on the project deliverables and presentations will determine your grade in this course. The final game deliverables will count for 40% of your grade. Late work will be penalized, as will evidence of cheating in any form.

Texts: Unreal game Development

Ashish and Okita, AK Peters, 2010 (required)

The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

Schell, MK Kaufmann, 2008 (required)

Mastering Unreal Technology: Unreal3 Volumes 1, 2

Busby et.al.,Sams, 2010 (recommended)

AI Game Development by Champandard, New Riders, 2003

Week of	Topic	Reading
01-09	Unreal Basics	Unreal 1-2
01-11	Game Pitch Presentations	Unreal 3-4
01-16	Martin Luther King Birthday Unreal Level Editing Teams Organize	Unreal 5 Unreal3v1 : 1-5
01-23	Terrain and Lighting Unreal Game Types	Unreal 3-4 Unreal3v1 : 6-8 Notes
01-30	Interactive and Reactive Elements And Kismet Game Treatment Presentations	Unreal 6 Unreal3v2 : 5
02-06	Unreal Karma Actors Bot Navigation	Notes Unreal3v2 : 4
02-13	User Interface and Menus Scripted Sequences	Unreal 7-8 Unreal3v1 : 9-10
02-20	Team Meetings Game Alpha Release Presentation
02-27	Spring Break
03-05	Custom Cinematics Dynamic Objects and Particles	Unreal 9-10 Unreal 11-13
03-12	Unreal Scripting Creating Unreal Mutators and Mods	Unreal 24-25 Unreal 26-27
03-19	Weapons and Characters AI	Unreal 28 Unreal 29-30
03-26	Team Meetings Game Beta Release Presentation
04-02	AI Engineering and Games Movement and Obstacle Avoidance	C1-C3,C49,C36-C43 C5-C10,C11-C12
04-09	Tactics, Targets, and Weapon Selection Path Planning and Goal Driven Agents	C13-C28 C13-C28
04-16	Learning and Decision Making Course Evaluation	C29-C35,C44-C48
04-27	Term Project Fair (4:00 – 8:00 pm) Gold Release Deliverables Due