ICS 485: Video Game Design and Development

Description: Students will team design, build, and demonstrate video games or related interactive entertainment environments and applications. Topics will include emerging computer science techniques relevant to the development of these types of environments.

Objectives: To teach students: 1. to conceptualize effective game play. 2. to develop storyboards exemplifying game play. 3. how to apply techniques to implement game play. These include: Artificial Intelligence, Computer Graphics, User Interface Design, Psycho Acoustics, Human Perception. 4. how to manage a multi-disciplinary game development team. 5. how to evaluate game play.

Course Learning Outcomes: 1. Students will remember key rules of thumb in video game design. 2. Students will understand how video game design decisions are made. 3. Students will apply video game design rules toward the development of video games. 4. Students will analyze algorithms for constructing games. 5. Student will evaluate effective and ineffective video game design rules. 6. Students will create an entire vertical slice of a video game from concept to implementation.

Program Learning Outcomes

Prerequisites: two ICS 300-level courses.

Textbook(s): Course notes

Grading: Project 1 - 20% Project 2 - 80%

Schedule